Hasta La Gadget!

When the first PlayBook from RIM was announced a few years ago, it did look as though it was going to give the Apple iPad a run for its money, but unfortunately, the PlayBook all but sizzled and faded out from the scene. It was more from the lack of software support than anything else, never mind that the hardware itself was rather solid on its own. Well, perhaps it is time to right those wrongs with the announcement of the 4G LTE BlackBerry PlayBook tablet from RIM that will boast of a sleek and ultra-portable form factor without sacrificing on an overall faster performance compared to its predecessor. Not only that, to keep up with the times, RIM has thrown in 4G LTE network support as well, where the 4G LTE BlackBerry PlayBook will first launch in Canada before it makes its way to the rest of the world. (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: BlackBerry PlayBook 4G seem ready for a release, RIM launches BlackBerry PlayBook 2.1.0 beta for developers,

FCC filings, leaked roadmaps, and comments from RIM’s top brass all pointed to the existence of an LTE-capable BlackBerry PlayBook — the only question left was when the thing would finally launch. The answer, according to a new statement released by RIM, is very soon.

RIM’s LTE PlayBook will launch in Canada on August 9 (with support from a handful of Canadian carriers), where it will remain for the time being. The company hasn’t provided any specifics on when the 4G-capable tab will trickle into other markets, saying only that it will be available in “the coming months from carriers in the US, Europe, South Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.”

Interestingly enough, there’s very little word on what (if any) changes RIM made to the tablet aside from the inclusion of an LTE radio and a microSD card slot. All that RIM has revealed as far as the refreshed tab’s spec sheet is that it sports 32GB of internal storage — not much of a shock considering RIM killed the 16GB PlayBook line back in June. Also notably absent from today’s announcement are any specifics when it comes to pricing for the tablet, though that’s probably the sort of detail that’s best left for RIM’s carrier partners to disclose.

UPDATE: RIM representatives have just confirmed to me that the LTE PlayBook indeed sports a new 1.5GHz processor, instead of the 1GHz chip seen in the original models.

While the 4G PlayBook’s existence has been an open secret for months now, it’s sort of heartening to see RIM getting ready to push it out the door. If the roadmap I previously alluded to is accurate, then the refreshed tab looks appears to be the last major bit of hardware RIM was planned before the first BlackBerry 10 devices make their debut in early 2013.

Considering how much the company has riding on a successful launch, it’s probably good for them to be able to take one more thing off their already-loaded plate. That said, the market for a RIM tablet appears to be slowly drying up — RIM reported that it shipped 260,000 PlayBooks in its most recent earnings statement, down nearly 50% from the previous quarter — and the inclusion of an LTE radio may not be enough to turn that trend around.

The last we heard, all notions of a 10-inch PlayBook had been shelved, with rumors suggesting that RIM wanted to concentrate on its BB10 plans and next-gen smartphones instead. However, we’ve just received these images from Tinthe, showing off something that looks very much like the bigger BlackBerry slab. A handful of photos, comparing the tablet to the existing 7-incher and an iPad, were sent in by forum member quang3g, who appears to be involved in BlackBerry sales.

Looks-wise, the hardware’s largely unchanged, aside from the bigger footprint and a screen ratio that appears closer to the iPad competition, rather than the widescreen shape that arrived on RIM’s first tablet. According to the brief teardown shot, there’s a potent 7,250 mAh battery housed in the still-slim 10-inch frame, while it’s worth noting that the tablet also includes a SIM holder and cellular radio — though there’s not enough meat here to discern whether it deals in 4G or 3G (HSPA+) radio waves. While we wait for the official word on the existence (or cancellation) of this flavor of PlayBook, you can take a skeptical sideways glance at several more pictures of the tablet at the source below.

Filed under: Tablet PCs

Mysterious 10-inch BlackBerry PlayBook appears in Vietnam originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Jul 2012 03:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Apple iPad may as well be called the Teflon Tablet for now, since challengers can’t quite stick. Thanks to those 17 million iPads shipped in the second quarter, Strategy Analytics estimates that Apple held on to the 68 percent of tablet market share that IDC credited to the company in the previous season. That may not sound like a change in the status quo, but it’s a significant jump from the 62 percent Apple had a year ago — and not very good news for anyone else. Android is still holding on at 29.3 percent, although that’s slightly underwhelming given the surge of extra devices in that time frame. The real hurt was dished out to Windows 7 tablets and “others” like RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook, both of whom were cut down to just 1.2 points of share each in the spring. We’ll see if the newer crowd moves the needle for Android in the summer, although the well-received Nexus 7’s current scarcity won’t help its chances — and both Microsoft as well as RIM are in holding patterns for the next several months.

Filed under: Tablet PCs

Strategy Analytics: iPad keeps riding high in Q2 tablet market share, Android doesn’t budge originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Jul 2012 16:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’ve been holding out for a BlackBerry PlayBook with LTE connectivity, you apparently won’t have to wait much longer. MobileSyrup has scored some info that shows the long-awaited tablet will finally be landing next week, or on July 31st to be exact. That date comes by the way of Bell Canada, just one of the carriers planning to offer the LTE variant of the tablet when it does go on sale.

The 7-inch slate will come with 32GB of storage, so it looks like RIM was serious when it said it would no longer 16GB as an option. Better yet, the processor will also see a bump to a 1.5Ghz dual-core model, although it’s not clear if it’s the same TI OMAP processor or perhaps one of Qualcomm’s offerings with an integrated LTE modem. The other specs remain the same, including 1GB of RAM, a 5-megapixel rear camera and 3-megapixel front-facing camera, plus PlayBook OS 2.0.

If you want a LTE connected PlayBook, you’ll be paying $549.99 unsubsidized. If that sounds fair, then you only have to wait a week or so, and you can take comfort in the fact that RIM will upgrade the tablet to BlackBerry 10 when the operating system launches early next year, assuming the company can overcome its financial and market troubles.

[via Engadget]

LTE BlackBerry PlayBook due on July 31st for $550 is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
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