"Amazon.com Inc. is developing a smartphone that would vie with Apple Inc.’s iPhone and handheld devices that run Google Inc.’s Android operating system, two people with knowledge of the matter said," Bloomberg reported recently.

Accroding the to article, published on July 6, 2012, "Foxconn International Holdings Ltd., the Chinese mobile-phone maker, is working with Amazon on the device, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans are private. Amazon is seeking to complement the smartphone strategy by acquiring patents that cover wireless technology and would help it defend against allegations of infringement, other people with knowledge of the matter said."

Furthermore, John Paczkowski at All Things D reports: "The next iteration of [Amazon’s Kindle] Fire will be thinner and lighter than the original. It will also have a built-in camera and a much-improved display."

The All Things D article continues: "And, more importantly, developers familiar with the device have been instructed to build their apps for a display with a 1280 x 800 pixel resolution, which is a bit different than the 1024 x 600 display of the current Kindle Fire. Not only will that apparently make it sharper and more vibrant, it will give it a different aspect ratio, as well. In other words, the display has an entirely new width-to-height ratio.

“’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, when asked about what that means."