Amazon smartphone will be an AT&T exclusive

Amazon said to be working exclusively with AT&T on phone, will offer version of Sponsored Data

Amazon is expected to unveil its brand new 3D smartphone tomorrow, and word on the street is that it will follow a number of its predecessors in being an AT&T exclusive. It’s in mixed company. While the iPhone started out as an AT&T exclusive, so did the Facebook HTC phone and the Nokia Lumia 700. Whomp whomp…

One of the phone's key selling points will reportedly be a wireless plan called "Prime Data," which may imitate AT&T's "Sponsored Data," which allows companies to pay for traffic to certain apps so that the data usage doesn't count toward a user's data cap. That would be right up Amazon’s alley, which has been known in the past to absorb losses to cut costs for consumers and drive up sales until they reach a point of equilibrium.

Last week, Amazon teased its new phone (without identifying it as such) with a promo showing a bunch of people are looking down at something off-screen while swiveling their heads like idiots and saying things like, “wow! That’s amazing! How does it do that?”

That’s because the Amazon smartphone is believed to have no less than six cameras. Five front-facing cameras give the smartphone unique head-tracking capabilities in relation to the display, allowing the software to modify the visuals for a 3D effect, sans glasses. Interestingly, this will reportedly apply to apps as well. For example, when using the phone’s maps app, tilting the phone will alter the visuals of the map and give the user different perspectives.

AND it will apparently apply to mobile shopping on Amazon.com. By tilting the phone, users will supposedly be able to see 3D images of the items they’re viewing.

The phone will reportedly be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and will come with 2GB of RAM. Like the Kindle Fire family, the smartphone will run on a forked Android system. Interestingly, even with all the 3D effects, the phone will come with relatively low pixel density—just 720p HD resolution, compared to the 1080p resolution found on other smartphones.

Several reports have it that Amazon is actually gearing up to debut two smartphones, with only the higher-end phone coming with 3D capability. The lower-end phone, which will reportedly ship later than the higher-end version, will not have 3D effects.

Yesterday, Amazon revealed that its Kindle Appstore has been exploding—tripling its selection of apps in the last year. The company has also introduced its very own music streaming service, Prime Music, this month. And back in April, Amazon unveiled its own streaming TV device, Fire TV.