Hasta La Gadget!

Given that Canada is the home ground for RIM, we guess it’s not surprising that several police departments in Canada have utilized RIM’s Blackberry Playbook in their operations. Well it looks like the Sussex Police in the UK have decided to come on board as well. The police will be trialing the new system which will see Playbook tablets installed in 400 police vehicles. With the Playbook tablet not being such a hit with consumers given the alternatives out there, this is probably pretty good news for RIM. The Playbooks given will unfortunately be the WiFi only model, but it seems that police officers will be given Blackberry smartphones in which they can bridge their phones with the tablet in order to go online when WiFi is not available.

There will be specific apps created for the police officers and thanks to the Playbook’s camera, photos and videos can be recorded and uploaded remotely. According to CrackBerry, it seems that the police force in Wales is interested in the Playbook setup as well and are awaiting for the Sussex police force’s report on the trial at the end of the month before proceeding. Given that iPads and Android tablets seem to be the preferred choice these days in enterprises, we guess it’s nice to see that the Playbook still has a lease on life in a market dominated by iOS and Android.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: 4G LTE Blackberry Play could be headed AT&T’s way, 10″ BlackBerry PlayBook spotted?,

It’s no secret that the iPad is the most successful tablet computer on the market by a giant margin, but a statistic in RIM’s recent earnings call on the sales of their own BlackBerry PlayBook should flip your lid. Noting that they’d had sales of 130,000 units with the PlayBook throughout the last quarter, Research in Motion inadvertently showed how the tablet is doing up against its Apple competitor. In comparison, Apple’s most recent earnings report showed the company to be selling approximately 188 thousand iPads a day.

The numbers make for an interesting comparison, even after one gets over the fact that 17 million iPads in a quarter is in an absolutely different universe than the PlayBook’s 130k of their own unit. It’s not the same market, on the other hand, as the iPad continues to market their device as the dominant device in the field – it’s not a tablet, it’s an iPad – while the PlayBook is still aimed very much at the hobby user – and businesses. RIM just released an update to the PlayBook’s software this week bringing up to a newly business-friendly level of compliance, mind you.

It’s not as if RIM isn’t marketing the PlayBook, on the other hand. They’ve not yet given a hint as to how or even if they’ll ever release another tablet again, and do indeed continue to manufacture this unit from not months, but years ago. Have a peek back at our full review of the BlackBerry PlayBook to see how things were back in the old times. Now we’re here in 2012 with not just software superiority from both iOS and Android, we’ve got hardware from all companies coming in and leaving the PlayBook very much in the past – even the Kindle Fire, a device that was originally modeled after the PlayBook, no longer takes cues from BlackBerry’s designers.

The iPad is also preparing to receive a baby brother – or so the rumors say – with the iPad mini legend finally coming to a place where it might become reality. With a size that’s just about as close to the PlayBook as it could be and features that place the hammer down on the heart of the BlackBerry tablet, Apple will – possibly – finally cut the life cord from that device.

[via WSJ]

More iPads shipped daily than BlackBerry PlayBooks each quarter is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

RIM’s attention around its QNX-based platforms might revolve around BlackBerry 10 as of late, but don’t think that it’s leaving BlackBerry PlayBook users behind. A PlayBook 2.1 update is rolling out today that fills in some of the gaps left by 2.0 earlier this year. Habitual messagers can now start SMS text messages directly from the tablet when tethered through BlackBerry Bridge; they also get overdue support for a portrait view in email, calendars and contacts. If communication isn’t the cornerstone of your life, you’ll still find a few niceties such as Android App Player support for the camera and in-app purchases, device encryption that extends to personal data and wireless printing beyond the local network. For now, you’ll have to be an owner of the original, WiFi-only PlayBook to leap on the 2.1 train today — those who sprang for the usually carrier-bound PlayBook 4G LTE should get their upgrade within a month.

Filed under: Tablets, RIM

BlackBerry PlayBook 2.1 update goes live with SMS, portrait email originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Oct 2012 10:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RIM just can’t quit keyboards, and neither can many of its fans: even the BlackBerry PlayBook has an official Mini Keyboard case. It almost shouldn’t be a surprise, then, that the company is applying for a patent on a tablet design with a stealthy keyboard built-in. The layout hides a full, hinge-attached QWERTY keyboard from critics (and accidental key presses) underneath a back-mounted cover. When an owner’s urge to use physical buttons becomes overwhelming, the keyboard swings into action and relies on the cover as a kickstand. It’s a clever solution to lugging around a separate keyboard or specialized case, but it’s hard to say if RIM will implement what it’s learning into a finished product — the firm isn’t in the best position to experiment with new tablet concepts, and we’ve already seen a few imminent solutions to the concealed keyboard problem from other vendors. That said, the patent does show that the folks in Waterloo would like to keep a love of keyboards alive in the tablet era, even if it requires some subterfuge.

Filed under: Tablets

RIM applies for patent on tablet with concealable keyboard, keeps your QWERTY love a secret originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Sep 2012 20:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While RIM’s Blackberry Playbook tablet isn’t exactly the device that everyone’s queuing up for or selling out, the company has made it a more attractive device by adding 4G LTE support to it. Unfortunately at this point in time, the 4G Playbook is only available in Canada, although plans to roll it out to US, Europe and the rest of the world is definitely in the cards, but how soon, and more importantly, which carriers in the US will be supporting it?

Thanks to the latest developer beta OS for the Playbook that has been rolled out today, bundled AT&T apps were spotted, thus suggesting that AT&T could be one of the carriers to support RIM’s 4G LTE Blackberry Playbook. It should also be noted that Verizon is another possibility as the Verizon Wireless store tab made a brief appearance in the App World in the past. In any case this isn’t a confirmation but if you are looking forward to the 4G Playbook, then perhaps you might want to keep an eye on both these carriers. Until then be sure to check back with us for more updates.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Blackberry Playbook with LTE gains FCC approval, 4G LTE capable Blackberry Playbook has reportedly been confirmed,