Last week, Amazon announced its upcoming Fire smartphone. The hardware puts it at about the same size as the Samsung Galaxy S5, the same battery life as the Apple 5S, and with a better camera than both. But it’s the new Firefly program that really sets the phone apart.
Firefly is an audio-visual identification program that recognizes barcodes, QR codes, images, objects, text, music, and even TV episodes. Use Firefly to snap a picture or listen in, and the phone will bring up more information about the content and the opportunity to purchase it from Amazon. The Fire phone features a physical button for the program and Amazon has provided a software development kit for third-party app developers. MyFitnessPal has already adapted the program to identify nutritional values for images of food.
By Prasana William