Amazon Kindle Fire HD to get a sequel. Rumored for August - September launch

Kindle means ‘to be able to light fire’ and that is what the Amazon Kindle fire does. Any news about it seems to go ablaze. Amazon is said to be gearing up to launch the successor to the Kindle Fire HD tablet, dubbed as the Kindle Fire HD 2. As per a report by a Taiwanese web publication, Amazon is expected to launch its new range of Kindle Fire tablets which will include the Kindle Dire HD 2 sometime in the month of August or September. The report claims that Amazon has plans to launch three new Kindle tablets including a new Kindle Fire variant that will replace the entry level Kindle Fire priced at $159, the Kindle Fire HD 7.0-inch successor which would replace the current Kindle Fire HD 7.0-inch and a revamped Kindle Fire HD 8.9-inch tablet that replaces the existing 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD. If the rumours are true, Amazon's next generation Kindle Fire tablets would be up against the likes of the Google Nexus 2 and Apple iPad mini 2 which are also expected to launched later this year. While Google is expected to launch its next generation Nexus tablet in August with the latest Android version running, Apple is said to be gearing up to launch its iPad mini 2 in the holiday season. Amazon plans to launch next generation Kindle Fire tablets with new design and better screens. Amazon has plans to upgrade its 7.0-inch Kindle Fire entry-level tablet with a higher resolution screen of 1280x800 pixels. The new models of the Kindle Fire tablets are expected to be lighter and could feature a more angular design and the corners of the tablets would not be rounded as well. The KIndle Fire HD is a superb device, but we expect a follow-up device at some point this year. The KIndle Fire HD has some serious rivals in the form of the Google Nexus 7 and the iPad mini and so it seems certain that Amazon will want to capitalise on its success. It will also be interesting if Kindle launches a new model of the Kindle Paperwhite ereader, which was announced in September 2012 and featured a new illuminated screen. The existing Amazon Kindle Fire HD matches the Nexus 7 in terms of price and hardware and happily tramples all over the iPad mini on price and screen resolution. Kindles are going from strength to strength - indeed new research from April 2013 showed that new Kindle owners are not only buying significantly more books, but they are even buying more printed books than they would have otherwise as a result. Eight million people in the UK now own a Kindle, while the Kindle Fire makes up 22 per cent of US tablet sales. We'd expect the new Kindle Fire to have a release date around the same time of the year as the last Kindle refresh, so we were expecting something in September 2013 in time for the Christmas season. Starting from just £159, and offering a 7-inch HD display and a 1.2GHz dual-core CPU, the Kindle Fire HD appears to offer great value for money and we'd expect any new model to follow the same path to keep in touch with the Nexus 7. Expect the next Kindle Fire to be quad-core - the current model features a Texas Instruments 1.2GHz dual-core TI OMAP 4460 CPU which excels for most use, but it doesn't match up with the very best in the tablet space. This processor is based on ARM's Cortex-A9 architecture, which is becoming outmoded by Cortex-A15. This is an obvious area for improvement - while the Kindle Fire HD screen is great at 1,280 x 800 pixels, the 216ppi display has an insignificant resolution compared to the iPad 4, for example. Amazon is rumored to be coming out with new Kindle Fire tablets to compete with the likes of the Nexus 7 2 and iPad mini 2 and it looks like the company may be looking to launch the new Kindle Fires, including the Kindle Fire HD 2, sometime in August or September. While Apple’s iPad mini 2 and Google’s Nexus 7 2 have dominated the rumor mill as of late, there is a third name to throw into the hat. Amazon, which released its Kindle Fire HD tablets to challenge the likes of the Nexus 7, iPad mini and iPad in 2012, is also rumored to be developing next-generation tablets for release sometime in 2013. Other specifications remain out of sight for the moment though consumers can expect a heavily customized version of Android that features Amazon’s various services, design tweaks and cameras of some kind. Design-wise, the new Kindle Fire range will use a more 'angular' casing with a "flat slope out to the edges instead of a curved slope, and corners that aren’t as rounded". The source described it as 'chiselled'. The buttons will be positioned on the sloped part rather than the back to avoid accidental presses. The tablets will also be lighter than the current generation. This information can be classed as rumour for now but it doesn't seem farfetched. We'll keep our ears to the ground for any more information on the new Kindle Fire tablets.