Kindle Fire 2 to Ship in the Third Quarter

As Google prepares to ship its budget Nexus 7, rumors of Amazon’s Kindle Fire successor are starting to pickup steam. AllThingsD reports that Amazon has been in touch with developers warning them to get apps ready for the Kindle Fire 2. The device will supposedly launch during the second half of the year, with the current goal being Q3.

The site also reports that the device will be thinner and lighter than the current Kindle Fire and will have a camera and better display. Developers have reportedly been told to update their apps to support a resolution of 1280×800. The display will also have a different width-to-height ratio.

DisplayMate President Raymond Soneira explained what that means to AllThingsD. “The really interesting thing here is that the screen shape is changing slightly: From an aspect ratio of 1.71 (tall and narrow in its standard Portrait mode) to an aspect ratio of 1.60,” That is the same aspect ratio that the Nexus 7 uses. While some might not think the resolution change is significant, Soneira says it is. “That’s a 67 percent increase in total pixels, and it is visually significant. It gives the display a PPI (pixels per inch) of 216.” The display will not affect battery life, according to the report.