The battle of the 7-inch tablets is heating up quickly, while our excitement levels surpass the roof and beyond. Recently, rumors alongside an image of what many are calling the Google Nexus 7-inch tablet, popped up on the Internet to much fanfare and fanboy chit chatter. Now we have reports of Amazon planning to announce its Kindle Fire 2 tablet this summer. The target launch date is July 31, and we await any information that could back up these claims. This comes right on the heel of rumored Google Nexus Tablet unveiling, which is said to be in June, most likely at the company's Google I/O developer conference on Wednesday, June 27.

Nothing in regards to specs have been revealed, but according to previous rumors, Amazon Kindle Fire 2 is expected to come packed with a higher resolution display set at 1280x800 pixels, a camera, physical volume buttons, and the price should be a cool $199. Such a target price is hard to beat, but Samsung has managed to do just that with its Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 which goes for $149, and it is more feature rich than the Kindle Fire. Too bad no one is buying it. Another tablet at $149 is the Lenovo IdeaPad, feature rich yet no one wants it. This goes to show how powerful the Amazon Kindle Fire has turned out to be.

It is also speculated that Amazon will drop the price of the current Kindle Fire to $149, a neat price for those who are entering the realm of tablets for the first time. Amazon also has a larger Kindle Fire tablet in the works, one that should debut with a 10-inch display; however, the company has put these plans on hold for the time being with high focus set on the Kindle Fire 2 and future Kindle eBook readers.

From what we are seeing, it is looking like Amazon has captured the 7-inch tablet market by the throat with no one in sight to take it away from the company any time soon. Google is coming with sights set directly on Amazon. However, for those expecting the Nexus tablet, we doubt it will unseat the Kindle Fire since the Amazon-integrated features are far more enticing that whatever Google has to offer. That said, Amazon would have to bump up the specs to match what Google is offering if it wants to secure its spot at the top.

Steve Jobs once lashed out at 7-inch tablets. If the man was alive now it would be quite interesting to hear his views on the success these devices are having.