Hasta La Gadget!

We found the BlackBerry PlayBook to be a pretty solid piece of hardware, but it seems there was a problem batch — an inside source tells us that nearly 1,000 faulty tablets were shipped to Staples, and now they’re being recalled. We’re hoping that Staples (and any other affected retailers) will reach out to customers and inform them of the problem right away, but just in case that doesn’t happen, we’ve compiled a searchable spreadsheet of all 935 alleged serial numbers for you to check against your own. Find it right after the break.

Continue reading RIM recalls at least 900 faulty BlackBerry PlayBooks, here are the serial numbers

RIM recalls at least 900 faulty BlackBerry PlayBooks, here are the serial numbers originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 14 May 2011 21:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We just spent some time with Ryan Bidan, senior product manager for the PlayBook, who gave us a hands-on demo of BlackBerry Messenger on RIM’s little tablet. It’s not a native app — it requires the PlayBook to be paired with a BlackBerry smartphone via BlackBerry Bridge. The functionality is being pushed out “tonight” with a Bridge update on the handset side, and an OS update on the tablet side. So if you and your PlayBook have been longing to get your BBM on, today’s your lucky day — assuming of course that you have a BlackBerry phone on another network than AT&T. Expect a standalone app sometime in the future, but in the meantime hit our video above for the full demo.

BlackBerry Messenger on PlayBook hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 May 2011 18:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What happened to the HTC Trophy, long overdue on Verizon 3G? How about the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, mysteriously missing a Verizon release date long before Japan’s catastrophe? Will Verizon commit to carrying the BlackBerry PlayBook this year? Just how much will LTE data cost for the Xoom and its tablet friends?

We may finally have some of the answers, thanks to Verizon’s fancy new online catalog. RIM’s tablet, the PlayStation Phone and the HTC Trophy are all listed as “coming soon,” and that’s not all — both the BlackBerry Bold 9650, Curve 3G 9330 and the Droid 2 Global are all “while supplies last,” suggesting successors may be inbound. Meanwhile, tablet LTE data plans look like they’re going to cost the same as 3G ones — $20 for 1GB, $35 for 3GB, $50 for 5GB and $80 for $10GB as usual. LTE netbooks will only be able to take advantage of the two highest-priced plans, but there are a pair of them on the way, including the 11.6-inch HP Pavilion dm1 (with a 1.6GHz AMD Fusion chip) and the 10.1-inch Compaq Mini CQ10 with an Intel Atom N455 processor.

Mind you, the catalog’s URL explicitly mentions “2011 Winter,” so it’s quite possible that “soon” won’t be as soon as you’d like, but to get a peek at all the goodies, check out the gallery below or shoot on over to our source link.

[Thanks, Thump3rX17]

Verizon doc suggests BlackBerry PlayBook, HTC Trophy and Xperia Play ‘coming soon’, prices LTE tablet data and intros 4G netbooks originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 01 May 2011 14:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The BlackBerry PlayBook may be noticeably lacking a calendar app of its own (at least for now), but it looks like RIM could soon have more scheduling options than ever — it’s just acquired fellow Canadian company Tungle, which specializes in syncing your calendar across platforms. At the moment, that’s done with either the company’s web application, or its iOS or BlackBerry app (an Android version has also been promised), which also let you share your calendar with folks inside or outside your company and, of course, tie it into your various social networks — so you can learn about the person you’re having a meeting with, for instance. As you might expect, however, RIM is staying mum on exactly what it has in mind for the company, and it also isn’t divulging any specific terms of the acquisition. Head on past the break for a video demonstrating how the current service works.

Continue reading RIM acquires Tungle, might soon bridge your calendar across platforms

RIM acquires Tungle, might soon bridge your calendar across platforms originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Apr 2011 10:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RIM wants Hulu Plus on the just-released Blackberry PlayBook. It also wants everyone to know it wants Hulu Plus on the Blackberry PlayBook, after the streaming video service unceremoniously blocked access to its videos just days after the tablet’s launch. Now, both PC Mag and The Wall Street Journal are reporting the same terse email statement from RIM: “We are in conversations with Hulu to bring the Hulu Plus subscription service to BlackBerry PlayBook users.” No word on the content of those conversations or a timeline for resolution, so for now PlayBook users will need to find another way to satisfy their yearning for Seinfeld reruns.

RIM wants Hulu Plus on the Blackberry PlayBook, ‘conversations’ continue originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 24 Apr 2011 12:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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