Just starting out with the Fire Phone, unlocked version being used with T-Mobile.
Found the YouTube instructional video for loading the Google Play Store and got it to work fine after about 27 updates to the phone and store downloaded.
After trying a half dozen different launchers, went back to the stock version as seemed to work the smoothest and couldn't get any others to do what I wanted anyway.
Questions for current users:
1. Phone gets warmer than any phone I've used before. Is this normal?
2. Any way to dock a useful time/date widget and a weather widget on the home screen (or front of the Carousel)?
3. Any way to get rid of or minimize the mostly useless Carousel without using a different launcher? I'd rather see my wallpaper and place a few icons around the screen, then it'd be perfect.
4. If no way to remove the Carousel without using a different launcher, is there a launcher that gives a simple, clean interface and the ability to have your own wallpaper, a date/time and weather widget on home screen, and standard icon and icon folder placement ability? None of the ones I tried gave me that. I find it bizarre that custom wallpaper is not a standard option on every single launcher.
5. Battery life is pretty bad. Walking around for just about two hours yesterday playing Pokemon Go drained my 100% battery entirely. Is that normal?
6. I'm seeing people mention "turning off fancy stuff" and the like in threads here to improve battery life, but cannot find where anyone says what specifically to turn off or how to turn it off...help?
7. Any way to customize the left-hand tilt menu? It is mostly useless links...the "Music" link doesn't even go to Prime Music -- what's up with that? I'd like to customize what gets launched from the links, but it seems impossible.
8. The "swipe up" back button feature is really annoying as it is so picky and just plain doesn't work in some situations and some apps. Any way to improve it?
9. Any way to tell what apps are currently running to close some? My last phone would show the list if you held down the main button, but this phone just brings up a microphone service when I do that.
10. Is Alexa on the Fire Phone a junior version? It can't do anything I ask it and I'm used to Alexa from my Fire TV. I want to do stuff like "Alexa Play Adele" or "Alexa What Time is It?" but it just shows the "I can't do that" text. (On a related point...any way to get the "Okay Google..." talking function?)
11. Is the GPS a bit weak? Maps don't always load, rather annoying.
12. When I'm talking on the phone, I can't figure out how to get the screen to turn on again if I have to enter numbers, change speakerphone, or check something. Others phones just automatically turn on when I take it away from my ear, but the screen just stays off with this one. Is there a button to push to get it turn on again?
My primary uses for the phone are Prime Music, the Camera, and texting, so it is really a great phone for me. With more reliable mapping, better battery life, and a good back button, it'd be an excellent phone despite the other above gripes.
If you can help with any of the above questions, that'd be great. Thanks!
