Fire Phone - make it normal! (OS 4.6.1)

Latest prices on the fire phone range from $130 straight from Amazon to $140 including one year of Prime on Ebay. That's a 2.2ghz Quad Core phone at $40. That's a steal. I'll walk you through getting the slightly crippled Amazon phone up to snuff with Google Play and all the trimmings you're used to having on an android device.

Please note these aren't my instructions, just my summary. All credit goes to the guys at XDA.

These instructions can be completed entirely from the phone, no need for a PC.

TLDR version:

• Update Phone OS to latest (Settings/Device/Install System Updates)
• IF ATT PHONE, get the 4.6.1v820 update below, move it to the SD root (up one level from Downloads), Go to settings/update and run the update from 320 to 820
• Reboot
• Install 4 Google Play Services apps in the order listed (Steps 1-4 below)
• Reboot
• If you get a white screen when you go to Play, go to Settings/Applications and Parental Controls/Manage Applications/Google Play Store/Force Quit/Clear Data. Then relaunch the Play Store.

Slightly longer version with more explanation:

Quick History: If this phone is so awesome, what is the problem? Why is it cheaper than a crappy burner from a mall kiosk? The initial problem with the phone was that it was too expensive. The hardware, for >$500 was underpowered and it came with an OS that was hobbled intentionally to an app store with 25% of the apps of the regular Google Play store. Couple that with atrocious battery life on the first versions of the OS and you had the perfect storm for internet hate and terrible public perception. BUT, now that the price has come way down for unlocked versions and, Amazon's very friendly policy allowing side-loading, you can have an excellent phone and 1 year of Amazon Prime for only $140 total!

Here are the instructions I used to install Google Play the first time. This forum, XDA, is the best place for information on Android in general and it's been the best place for info on the Fire Phone I've found.

NOTE: If you have an ATT version, you'll need to bump the OS up to 4.6.1 (xxx820) from 4.6.1(xxx320). To do that, get the 1.2gb dl and move it up one folder from the Downloads folder to the root directory of your SD card (you can use ES Explorer to do this). Go to Settings/Device/Install System Updates and you will see that 820 is ready for install. It'll verify the integrity of the package, reboot, and you'll be ready to install the Google Play Store!

I actually took that download from the XDA thread (big zip file) and placed the individual files on a box account so I could just download them with the phone's browser instead of dealing with unzipping them on the phone itself. Here are my links I made. Make sure you do them in the right order: Account Manager, Services Framework, Play Services, finally Play Store.

1. Account Manager https://app.box.com/s/qeetg0vfe01ri83l2e1nosl8rzmax41q
2. Services Framework https://app.box.com/s/x6gkj91qkwxse2abqhz0at4uq6wtpe91
3. Play Services https://app.box.com/s/cas5ctu356rnm088c6l4ngo8b5r0hd1z
4. Play Store https://app.box.com/s/pjtgrmfl1t3by9tuhvb6vm5i04m7falk

The first one you try to install (Account Manager) you'll get a warning that it's an unknown source and offer to take you to settings. Go to settings and enable App Installation (allows installations from other sources (read: Google Play))

Apps you'll want to install (some you might not think of right off the bat)

• Gmail
• Google Calendar
• Google Drive
• Google Docs
• Google Sheets
• Hangouts 
• Hangouts Dialer
• Photos
• Play Books
• Google Rewards
• Google Voice
• Google Authenticator (or Authy)
• YouTube