Consumer Reports reviews new Amazon Fire phone

Amazon is set to release its first smartphone on Friday.

Experts at Consumer Reports tested an earlier version of the Amazon Fire phone and were excited about some of its features.

"Overall, this is really a cool phone. Beginning with dynamic perspective, which gives the phone a 3-D look. And Firefly, which helps you identify objects in front of you by scanning them. It can even identify music and movies by listening to them," said Mike Gikas, a senior editor at Consumer Reports.

But how well do all the phone's features actually work?

Gikas said he found the hands-free gesture feature "clunky."

"It didn't always work. And Firefly sometimes had trouble identifying movies, songs and objects in front of it," Gikas said.

Another feature of the Fire is called Mayday, which is free video tech support with live people. Customer service can access phones and fix problems or change settings while users watch.

The phone also comes with free Amazon Prime for a year, which includes some free two-day shipping and unlimited streaming music and video.

So, is all this new technology worth switching over?

"Bottom line, this is a really fun phone with a lot of unique features. But some people won't like the fact that it can't run popular Google apps like YouTube or Gmail," Gikas said.