Jun 03

Adobe CEO has no beef with Apple, no answer for poor Flash performance on Android (video)

Posted in: adobe, Android, Apple, AppStore, blackberry playbook, BlackberryPlaybook, business, developer, flash, interview, playbook, steve jobs, SteveJobs, Today's Chili, video

The Adobe-Apple Flash war used to be one of the juiciest catfights around, but, much like two aging boxers, both sides now appear willing to act like adults put it all behind them. Speaking at yesterday’s D9 conference in Palos Verdes, California, Adobe head Shantanu Narayen confirmed that he and Steve Jobs have reached an unofficial armistice, bringing an end to their prolonged war of words. According to the CEO, Apple’s Flash issues stemmed from the company’s “business model,” rather than any legitimate concerns over quality. “It’s control over the app store that’s at issue here,” Narayen said, implying that Flash’s wide-ranging platform compatibility may not have jibed with the Cupertino ethos. He went on to remind moderator Walt Mossberg that developers can still use Adobe’s AIR software to get their products to the App Store, adding that his company is looking forward to the rise of HTML5 and “actively contributing” to its development.

Mossberg, meanwhile, seemed to blindside Narayen when he brought up Flash’s poor performance on Android devices. “I have yet to test a single one where Flash tests really well,” the columnist claimed. “I’m sorry, but it’s true.” Narayen sputtered a bit, before pointing to the BlackBerry PlayBook as an example of the progress that Flash has made. When Mossberg reminded him that the PlayBook doesn’t run on Android, the CEO not-so-subtly sidestepped the question by emptily declaring that Adobe’s mission is simply to provide people with the best tools to create content. Apparently satisfied with this non-answer, Mossberg changed the subject back to Apple, allowing Narayen to wax poetic about their new Pax Romana — and, perhaps, to breathe a sigh of relief. See the full interview after the break.

Continue reading Adobe CEO has no beef with Apple, no answer for poor Flash performance on Android (video)

Adobe CEO has no beef with Apple, no answer for poor Flash performance on Android (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Jun 2011 06:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jun 01

Next PlayBook to have 10-inch screen, 4G radio, and white color option?

Posted in: 10-inch, 4G, blackberry playbook, BlackberryPlaybook, playbook, research in motion, ResearchInMotion, RIM, rumor, speculation, Today's Chili
A 10-inch followup to the BlackBerry PlayBook seemed inevitable and indeed, tidbits about a rumored larger-screen version are starting to flow fast and furious. N4BB, which recently managed to spy the 9900 before it was unveiled, is citing anonymous sources who claim it will have a thinner bezel, a SIM card slot, a white color option, and, like the soon-to-be upgraded 7-inch version, 4G / WiFi connectivity. What’s more, these sources assure us this new PlayBook will have native email and calendar apps and be able to connect to BlackBerry Enterprise Server without the help of BlackBerry Bridge — a confounding quirk on the current model. That’s all well and good (and fairly realistic), though we’ll just have to wait until that rumored holiday launch — or a more unequivocal leak — to see what RIM has up its sleeves.

Next PlayBook to have 10-inch screen, 4G radio, and white color option? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Jun 2011 11:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 17

RIM Recalls PlayBooks Thanks to Software Glitch

Posted in: BlackBerry, playbook, RIM, Tablets and E-Readers, Today's Chili

Poor RIM can't catch a break. Now the PlayBook is being recalled due to OS problems

Oh, RIM, can nothing go right for you? Now, on the back of a lackluster launch, the already crippled PlayBook is having yet more problems. RIM is recalling around 1,000 faulty BlackBerry PlayBook tablets.

Sure, 1,000 may not sound like much, but if I was being mean I might suggest that I’m surprised that RIM has shifted that many. The affected units (check your serial number at Engadget) suffer from a dodgy OS build that prevents them from loading software on boot. Here’s the official line from RIM, as related by the CrackBerry blog:

RIM determined that approximately one thousand BlackBerry PlayBook tablets (16 GB) were shipped with an OS build that may result in the devices being unable to properly load software upon initial set-up.

The majority of the affected devices are still in the distribution channel and haven’t reached customers. RIM is working to replace the affected devices.

In the small number of cases where a customer received a PlayBook that is unable to properly load software upon initial set-up, they can contact RIM for assistance.

It appears that there’s not much to worry about, as most of the problem PlayBooks are still unsold (that’s one advantage of being unpopular, we guess), and RIM has certainly acted smartly and swiftly. However, along with the other launch problems of RIM’s piece of beta hardware, it adds up to yet another headache for the company.

And one last thing: Why on Earth were RIM’s engineers dickering with OS builds when they should be finishing up the email, messaging and contacts apps already?

Official Statement from Research In Motion regarding recall of approximately one thousand BlackBerry PlayBook units [CrackBerry]

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May 17

BlackBerry PlayBook coming to the UK on June 16th, 16GB model costs £400

Posted in: 7-inch, BlackBerry, blackberry playbook, BlackberryPlaybook, launch, official, playbook, pre-order, price, pricing, release, research in motion, ResearchInMotion, RIM, slate, tablet, Today's Chili, uk, united kingdom, UnitedKingdom

Brits eager for a taste of the first 7-inch BlackBerry device have just under a month of anticipation left to go. UK retailers have today revealed the date and prices at which they’ll be selling RIM’s PlayBook: depending on how much integrated storage you want, you’ll have to pay up £400 (16GB), £480 (32GB), or £560 (64GB) for your slate, starting from June 16th. Aside from the gigabytes, you’ll be getting the gigahertz too, with a dual-core 1,000MHz TI OMAP4430 processor keeping the PlayBook’s insides warm and its outsides responsive. Availability will be widespread, with Carphone Warehouse, Phones 4u, Insight, and Best Buy UK having already announced they’ll be stocking the tablet. You can even hit up the source links now and lay down some cash to secure your pre-order.

Continue reading BlackBerry PlayBook coming to the UK on June 16th, 16GB model costs £400

BlackBerry PlayBook coming to the UK on June 16th, 16GB model costs £400 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 May 2011 05:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 14

RIM recalls 900 faulty BlackBerry PlayBooks, here are the serial numbers (update)

Posted in: BlackBerry, blackberry playbook, BlackberryPlaybook, exclusive, playbook, RIM, tablet, tablet pc, TabletPc, tablets, Today's Chili

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.

Update: RIM tells Crackberry that the faulty batch of the 16GB tablets was indeed limited to the approximately 1,000 units described here, and that they had a faulty build of the OS “that may result in the devices being unable to properly load software upon initial set-up.” Furthermore, the company says that only a few went out to customers and that most are still in distribution, so with any luck you’ll never have to deal with this problem to begin with.

Continue reading RIM recalls 900 faulty BlackBerry PlayBooks, here are the serial numbers (update)

RIM recalls 900 faulty BlackBerry PlayBooks, here are the serial numbers (update) 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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May 14

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

Posted in: BlackBerry, blackberry playbook, BlackberryPlaybook, exclusive, playbook, RIM, tablet, tablet pc, TabletPc, tablets, Today's Chili

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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May 06

RIM demos Android apps on a PlayBook

Posted in: Android, apps, BlackBerry, Gadgets, playbook, RIM, tablet, Today's Chili

One of the features that makes choosing to pick up a BlackBerry PlayBook a little safer is the compatibility with Android apps. You can run RIM‘s official apps and those of third-parties developed specifically for the platform and OS, but there’s the thousands of Android apps to fall back on too. The only problem is […]

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May 06

Engadget Podcast 238 – 05.06.2011

Posted in: 4G, Android, Apple, att, BlackBerry, blu-ray, droid, imac, LG, netflix, nintendo, playbook, podcast, podcasts, sony, Star Wars, tivo, Today's Chili, verizon, wii, windows 8, Windows8

We’ll tell you what: if you even blink these days, you’re gonna miss a special guest on the Engadget Podcast. This week we’ve got Joystiq‘s Chris Grant in the house to shoot the shizzle on Sony’s network hurt and the Wii 3D IMAX rumors bubbling up all around us. And we lure Richard Lawler to step out on his old lady, the Engadget HD Podcast, for a romp on the possibly slightly wilder side of the tracks. Let’s do it: let’s talk tech.

Host: Tim Stevens
Guests: Chris Grant, Brian Heater, Richard Lawler
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Music: You Shook Me All Night Long

02:15 – Apple iMac hands-on, with dual 30-inch displays! (video)
03:00 – Apple iMac refresh official: Thunderbolt and next gen quad-core processors
03:45 – AT&T officially announces HP Veer 4G, available May 15th for $100 (update)
04:55 – Star Wars Blu-ray set ships Sept. 12th/16th (world/NA), has 40 hours of special features
06:35 – Dish Network, EchoStar will pay TiVo $500 million to settle DVR lawsuit
07:55 – Latest Windows 8 leaks reveal cloud-based settings, more app store evidence
09:35 – Droid Charge review
11:16 – Verizon document suggests LG Revolution will have Netflix pre-installed
13:47 – Sony promises ‘phased restoration’ of PlayStation Network and Qriocity starting this week
20:22 – Sony woes continue as SOE confirms data breach (update: 24.6 million accounts affected)
31:03 – Sony responds to Congress: all 77 million PSN accounts compromised, finger pointed at Anonymous
33:52 – BlackBerry Bold 9900 hands-on (update: video)
34:30 – BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 (Bold Touch) official
34:45 – BlackBerry Bold Touch makes brief appearance on RIM’s website
35:05 – Android apps on PlayBook eyes-on (video)
35:48 – RIM announces BlackBerry 7 OS with better browser and BlackBerry Balance, but no legacy support
38:10 – Nintendo drops Wii price to $150 from May 15th, throws in a free Wii Wheel and copy of Mario Kart
48:05 – Nielsen estimates show first drop in TV ownership in 20 years, Mayans nod approvingly
50:40 – We won some Webby Awards, and now you can win a BlackBerry PlayBook!
51:44 – Listener questions

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Engadget Podcast 238 – 05.06.2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 May 2011 12:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 05

TAT-astic native PlayBook development discussed and demoed on video

Posted in: app, BlackBerry, demo, hands-on, playbook, RIM, Today's Chili, video

Yesterday at BlackBerry World 2011 we were fortunate to sit down and chat with Chris Smith, Senior Director of the BlackBerry Developer Platform, along with Rasmus and Karl from The Astonishing Tribe. One of RIM’s recent acquisitions, TAT is known for some rather, well… astonishing user interface designs, and for infusing a bit of magic into some of the PlayBook’s apps, such as the bundled picture viewer and calculator. We were shown a number of demos, including the downloadable Scrapbook app, a rather nifty contact list, and a location-aware news reader. Over the years, TAT has built an engine and framework that make it easy for developers to create powerful and attractive UIs, and some of this will be making its way into the PlayBook’s native software development kit sometime this summer. Along with support for Open GL ES 2.0, SQLite, cURL, and POSIX (amongst others), this NDK will provide API’s to control the audio system, the cameras, and the sensors — possibly even code to enable stereoscopic 3D output over HDMI, as demonstrated before. We know that’s a lot of exciting stuff to sink your teeth into, so be sure to get a taste of it by watching our video.

TAT-astic native PlayBook development discussed and demoed on video originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 May 2011 08:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 03

RIM Demos E-Mail, Android Apps on BlackBerry PlayBook

Posted in: Android, apps, playbook, RIM, Tablets and E-Readers, Today's Chili

Criticized for its lack of native applications like e-mail, the Blackberry Playbook will debut that and other new features this summer. Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Most of the complaints aimed at Research in Motion’s BlackBerry PlayBook tablet have been based on its middling array of software. But after a live demonstration of soon-to-come apps at the company’s BlackBerry World conference on Tuesday, the naysayers may begin to shut up.

For the first time since the tablet’s release, RIM showed off a live demo of the three biggest features that have been MIA since the tablet’s launch: native e-mail, calendar and contacts applications. The company also ran a number of Android applications on the PlayBook, which will eventually be available in BlackBerry’s App World store.

Combined, the demos show that RIM is serious about shoring up the PlayBook’s shortcomings, and it’s willing to recruit the vast library of Android apps to help bolster its own tablet’s appeal.

Currently, those who want to access their e-mail on the PlayBook have one of two options: open a browser window and navigate to a web-based e-mail client, or use the BlackBerry Bridge feature, which requires tethering the PlayBook to an existing BlackBerry smartphone in order to view e-mail on the tablet. Those who don’t have a BlackBerry phone but still want native e-mail access are out of luck.

RIM has taken a lot of heat for launching the PlayBook without native e-mail, calendar and contacts applications. After receiving early test devices, many reviewers (including Wired.com) considered the tablet half-baked, formidable in its hardware yet unfinished in its software.

RIM’s strategy has been to address those shortcomings gradually, continuously pushing over-the-air updates to its customers. On Tuesday, for example, the PlayBook received video chat capability. Later this summer, the PlayBook will receive a native Facebook app, with e-mail and calendar apps to follow.

Some have criticized this release schedule as compensation for a premature product release. But with the first generation iPad already beating every other tablet to market by a year, RIM’s release strategy seems to be a necessary compromise: If it had shipped any later, and the PlayBook would have been even more irrelevant.

The company has also been criticized for its small amount of apps available for the PlayBook in its App World store, roughly 3,000 at launch. But 3,000 is far more tablet-specific apps than Android Honeycomb-powered tablets like the Motorola Xoom and Acer’s Iconia A500 Tab have available to them. As of this week, the Android Honeycomb tablet app count hovers somewhere in the range of 50.

In order to supplant its lack of PlayBook apps upon launch, RIM decided to allow Android apps to be ported over to the PlayBook Tablet OS by developers. After a developer submits his or her Android app to BlackBerry App World, RIM vets the apps and releases them to its store if deemed acceptable.

Android applications ran in an “Android Player” app, which expanded to fill the tablet’s entire seven-inch screen. The apps seemed to run smoothly throughout the demo, with no crashing or visible stuttering. Though it should be noted that the apps RIM demoed were not Android version 3.0 (Honeycomb), “tablet-optimized” ones, but rather version 2.2 (Froyo) applications. It hasn’t been said if the PlayBook will be able to run Honeycomb-tablet apps.

Whether an Android or BlackBerry app, all are available through App World without differentiation. RIM calls this its “one-app experience.” Since there are many more Android apps than there are for the BlackBerry at the moment, it’s probably a better move by the company to keep the two uniform in look. Imagine looking down at a RIM product filled with nothing Android apps — it might be enough to make you wonder why you didn’t buy an Android device in the first place.

RIM said it plans to release the three native applications “later this summer” in an over-the-air software update. The Android applications weren’t given an exact ETA.


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