Hasta La Gadget!

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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What’s in a PlayBook? No, literally, what is in that thing? Well, most of the specs were known ahead of today’s release, but there was a bit of confusion about whether RIM’s 7-inch tablet did or didn’t have a gyroscope, which has now been set straight (it does!) by the crew at iFixit. They did their usual study of what it’ll take to repair your own PlayBook should the need ever arise, and gave it a repairability score of 7 out of 10. Replacing the front glass would be a bit of a pain to do, but then that’s the case with most portable devices. The motherboard also got a thorough examination, with all the power management, wireless connectivity, and memory chips getting identified and recorded for posterity. If you want to check iFixit‘s work, feel free to visit UBM Tech Insights as well, who have their own component list and closeup photography of that dual-core TI OMAP4430 system-on-chip. Yes, closeup photography.

BlackBerry PlayBook pried open, gyroscope and other goodies discovered originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Apr 2011 16:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lately, anything goes when a RIM CEO gets in front of the media. Fortunately, it was the other CEO, Jim Balsillie, talking to Bloomberg this time delivering a calm, cool rebuttal to all the lukewarm PlayBook reviews. His consumer defense is largely based upon the PlayBook’s ability to receive software updates (we received three in the brief time we had our review unit) throughout its lifetime. Jim, as you can imagine, preferred keeping the conversation focused on how the PlayBook is fully functional today when used in combination with a BlackBerry handset in business environments. Balsillie did seem to hint that the consumer experience could improve relatively quickly, saying, “We’ll have an over the air email client to announce very very soon. We have BlackBerry World — our user conference — in a couple weeks. Stay tuned for all capabilities we have coming out on this stuff.” See the man dance on the hotseat right after the break.

Continue reading RIM: PlayBook email client ‘very very soon,’ 3G model this summer

RIM: PlayBook email client ‘very very soon,’ 3G model this summer originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 15 Apr 2011 01:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The inundation of tablets upon these very pages from day to day should give you an idea that manufacturers see this as a golden opportunity to grab a big chunk of a fledgling market. According to Gartner, though, the prospects are a little less rosy — for the next five years, anyway. Analyst estimates indicate that the tablet market will boom over the next five years, from 17,610,000 units last year to 294,093,000 in 2015. No, not 294,092,000. 294,093,000. Apple will be the dominant force, its market share not dropping below 50 percent until the terminal year of this study. Android will take up the lion share of the other half, with the remaining dredges shared by MeeGo, WebOS, and QNX. The latter, which powers RIM’s upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook, is scheduled to have a 10 percent share. That’ll be the closest thing to a threat that Google and Apple will face — if you believe any of this.

Update: The figures above are in thousands of units.

Gartner: Apple will dominate tablet space for years, Android won’t drink its milkshake until after 2015 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Apr 2011 09:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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