Shortcomings aside, there are two things I absolutely love about my Kindle PaperWhites and Voyage: They work outside and they last forever.

They even fit in my man pockets.

I’ve always wondered why a slightly different aspect ratio Kindle with 3G isn’t Amazon’s phone. It would have excellent battery life. It would work outside. Presumably Amazon could figure out how to make data and voice included with Prime (since using a ton of data would be difficult if restricted to GSM 3G and what you could do with e ink).

While the fire phone barely even had a chance against Android, an all day phone that’s also a damn good reader (and frustrating browser but I know I could write good weather app) would seriously make me reconsider my iPhone. If the contract was baked into prime, I bet a lot of people in the Apple camp who love their Kindles would pony-up for it and use both simultaneously until it was time to renew their AT&T – and then they would have to make a choice.

There’s no question this would also be a better throwaway phone for people who just don’t want a smartphone.