Next Amazon Kindle due in Q3, may have better display

The next generation of the successful Kindle Fire tablet may come in the third quarter of 2012 with an improved screen, a tech site reported Monday.

 

AllThingsDigital cited sources familiar with Amazon's plans as saying the new tablet is also likely to retain a form factor similar to that of the original.

 

It said Amazon's plans involve launching the next Kindle Fire "late in the third quarter" - even as Amazon updates developers on the new hardware.

 

“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,” DisplayMate President Raymond Soneira told AllThingsD.

 

Citing its sources, AllThingsD said the upcoming new Kindle Fire will be thinner and lighter than the original, and will also have a built-in camera and an improved display.

 

It added Amazon has instructed developers to build their apps for a display with a 1280 x 800 pixel resolution - an improvement from the original's 1024 x 600 display.

 

AllThingsD said consumers can "presumably" expect a faster chip, improved graphics, and an updated version of Android.

 

Soneira said the 1280 x 800 is an "improvement" over the 1280 x 800 displays used by other tablets like the 10.1-inch Toshiba Thrive and the Acer Iconia, and Google's Nexus 7.

 

“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,” he said.

 

On the other hand, DisplaySearch senior analyst Richard Shim downplayed the possibility of the higher resolution affecting battery life.

 

“The increase in pixel density isn’t as drastic as it was in the 1024 x 768 iPad 2 to 2048 x 1536 new iPad, so it’s less likely to significantly alter battery life or thickness,” he said.

 

iPad Mini

 

With Apple rumored to be working on a mini version of its top-selling iPad to launch this fall, Amazon sees more urgency in its efforts.

 

"If Apple debuts a sub-$300, 7-inch to 8-inch iPad later this year, as has been rumored, Amazon will have a new and formidable rival in the 'tablet-light' market that it hoped to split off from the high-end, feature-rich tablet market that Apple created with the iPad," AllThingsD said. — TJD, GMA News