--- description: Using a combination of cameras, sensors and software, Amazon might solve the biggest problem with oversized smartphones. title: Amazon Phone Rumored to Have Tilt Motion Interface image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Tech](/tag/time-section-tech/) ## Tech Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Tilt Interface for Amazon's Rumored 3D Phone Sounds Neat, and Hopefully Not Aggravating by [Jared Newman](/author/jared-newman/) ## Jared Newman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 22, 2014 4:37 PM CUT by [Jared Newman](/author/jared-newman/) ## Jared Newman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 22, 2014 4:37 PM CUT One thing that’s never been clear about Amazon’s rumored [3D head-tracking smartphone](http://time.com/63450/report-amazons-smartphone-might-include-eye-tracking-3d/ "undefined") is how it would rise above cheap gimmickry and actually prove useful. Now, [Boy Genius Report has a possible explanation](http://bgr.com/2014/04/22/amazon-smartphone-specs-details-kindle-phone-exclusive/ "undefined"): --- > “” --- BGR’s “trusted sources” provide some examples of how the Amazon phone could work: You might be able to tilt the phone in the Kindle app to bring up Amazon’s X-Ray feature, which provides supplemental information about what you’re reading. You could potentially tilt in the messaging app to bring up a panel of camera options, or tilt in the maps app to see Yelp ratings atop your search results. Even the phone’s menu system could be tilt-based, letting users slide a panel of options onto the screen by twisting the phone. The immediate concern here is that all the tilt detection would become an aggravation. You wouldn’t want a bunch of menus to pop out of nowhere just because you shifted your weight. But I very much like the idea of tilting a big phone to bring far-flung elements within reach. Larger smartphone screens are wonderful for many reasons, but do require some contortion of the hands and thumbs for one-handed use. Being able to tilt a distant button into thumb range could be just the solution that no one’s thought of yet–as long as it actually works. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/71973/amazons-3d-phone-sounds-neat-and-hopefully-not-aggravating/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/71973/amazons-3d-phone-sounds-neat-and-hopefully-not-aggravating/"},"headline":"Tilt Interface for Amazon's Rumored 3D Phone Sounds Neat, and Hopefully Not Aggravating","datePublished":"2014-04-22T16:37:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:02:02.334Z","description":"Using a combination of cameras, sensors and software, Amazon might solve the biggest problem with oversized smartphones.","url":"https://time.com/71973/amazons-3d-phone-sounds-neat-and-hopefully-not-aggravating/","keywords":["Tech","Amazon","Smartphones","Rumors"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jared Newman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jared-newman/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/71973/amazons-3d-phone-sounds-neat-and-hopefully-not-aggravating/","name":"Tilt Interface for Amazon's Rumored 3D Phone Sounds Neat, and Hopefully Not Aggravating"}}]}] ```