Hasta La Gadget!

A slew of leaked video tutorials for upcoming BlackBerry devices is finally giving us a glimpse into what RIM has in store to keep its diehard fans from ditching the platform. Among some more video of the all-touchscreen BlackBerry Monaco / Touch, we’re finally seeing how the popular Bold form factor will benefit from some touchscreen magic in the aptly named Bold Touch. We’re longtime fans of the traditional form factor, but if anything, the addition looks to be more trouble than it’s worth. Like its sliding cousin, the Torch, touch input seems even more gimmicky given that all the same functions can be performed using the familiar (and beloved) optical trackpad — which doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. Sure, touchscreens are all the rage these days and pinch-to-zoom is nice, but we can’t help but wonder if RIM is simply killing time until its dual-core QNX-equipped phones hit unsuspecting BBM’ers. Of course, the company has been impressing us with its use of touch on the Playbook, so there’s no telling what it might have in store come BlackBerry World. You can peep the Monaco action after the break, or check out a torrent of others at the source link as well.

[Thanks, Reagan M.]

Update: Uh oh, looks like the original Monaco video got yanked, but fret not, as Crackberry has just posted some more clips — we got one of the new ones after the break as well.

Continue reading BlackBerry Bold Touch previewed in leaked tutorials: prepare to pinch-to-zoom (updated)

BlackBerry Bold Touch previewed in leaked tutorials: prepare to pinch-to-zoom (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 16:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There’s not much else to say about this chart. According to Gartner, the world spent $9.6 billion in tablets. According to Apple’s official numbers, the iPad got $9.566 billion. More »

RIM's PlayBook will ship without the core functions that make a BlackBerry a BlackBerry. Photo: Charlie Sorrel

Oh, RIM! What are you doing? According to a leaked internal document, the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet will ship without native support for e-mail, contacts or messaging. To use any of these services, you’ll have to either hook up a BlackBerry handset, or access them through the web browser.

The document, a seven-page FAQ for the upcoming tablet, lays out the details. To use these core BlackBerry services you need to use “BlackBerry Bridge”, which displays the BlackBerry’s apps on the PlayBook’s screen. Here’s the full text from the relevant section:

Q: Will apps such as e-mail, contacts, calendar etc. be available natively on BlackBerry PlayBook?

The BlackBerry PlayBook can be used in conjunction with a BlackBerry smartphone or it can be used on its own (i.e. standalone).

The BlackBerry Bridge feature creates a secure Bluetooth link between a BlackBerry PlayBook tablet and BlackBerry smartphone allowing BlackBerry smartphone users to view and interact with the email, BBM and PIM apps on their BlackBerry smartphone using the larger BlackBerry PlayBook screen.

In addition, users can access their e-mail via the BlackBerry PlayBook’s web browser without any need for a BlackBerry smartphone.

In a future software update for the BlackBerry PlayBook, we will also provide native e-mail, calendar, and contact apps for those customers who prefer to have these apps directly on the tablet.

[Emphasis added]

Some might argue that this doesn’t matter, as a “future software update” will bring native apps. But what this document really says is, “We rushed it.” RIM is so desperate to get an iPad rival on the market that it is cutting corners. So many corners, in fact, that the PlayBook may just turn out to be shaped like a real Blackberry.

Let’s look at the evidence:

• The software development kit (SDK), which will allow developers to write native apps, isn’t yet finished.
• In order to bring what RIM’s CEO Jim Balsillie calls a “tonnage of apps” to the PlayBook at launch, RIM has added an emulator to run Android apps.
• The PlayBook will ship with Wi-Fi only, no 3G. To connect without Wi-Fi, you need to tether  a BlackBerry.
• RIM, whose business is built on messaging and communication apps, is shipping its tablet without messaging or communication apps.

Not enough? I got a chance to play — briefly — with the PlayBook at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, and found it to be clunky and rather laggy. I tried the e-reader software Kobo, which will come pre-installed on the device. Kobo on other platforms is fast, slick and a pleasure to use.

On the PlayBook it was rather janky, and certainly not smooth. This may be due to the software being in beta. (Or not — I didn’t ask that question. It is also not a criticism of Kobo, which usually makes great apps.)

You can almost smell the desperation that has crept into RIM ever since the iPhone arrived on the scene. RIM went from making the best messaging devices on the planet to making the worst wannabe iDevices around. It started with the awful “touch” screen Storm and continues with the PlayBook — all products rushed to market before they’re finished.

If RIM wants to avoid going the same way as Palm, then it should stop trying to chase Apple and start making some new devices of its own. And it should maybe try to finish them before showing them off to the world.

Leaked BlackBerry PlayBook FAQ (.pdf)

BlackBerry PlayBook FAQs [Scribd. Thanks, AngryMonkeyGeek]

See Also:

• RIM Unveils Tethered Tablet, the BlackBerry PlayBook
• Hands-On With the BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet
• PlayBook Smokes iPad Browser in Blackberry Speed-Test Video
• Video: Adobe Air, Flash Demonstrated on RIM PlayBook Tablet
• Video: Blackberry Playbook Hands-On Demo

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

When Apple introduced the iPad, it had but a smattering of third-party applications, but the company stressed its own. As Apple iPhone software SVP Scott Forstall stated in the iPad introduction video, “We looked at the device and we decided: let’s redesign it all. Let’s redesign, reimagine and rebuild every single app from the ground up specifically for the iPad.”

Compare this to the strategy employed by RIM, makers of the upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. One year after the iPad’s debut, Apple’s head start in apps has proven a formidable advantage against the onslaught of slates announced by its competitors in the smartphone world. Some have chosen to latch onto Android and attain backwards compatibility with over 200,000 existing smartphone apps. HP, with its TouchPad as flagship, will circle its wagons of PCs, printers and phones around the webOS platform. However, the announcement this week that RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook will support Android apps says much about how the company sees its position in the tablet wars.

Continue reading Switched On: The PlayBook polyglot

Switched On: The PlayBook polyglot originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 27 Mar 2011 20:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bill Gurley thinks that Android is an unstoppable freight train that will prevail against all its rivals. For Google, Android is not even a product with a business plan. It’s just a weapon at the service of their master domination strategy, a way to destroy any potential threats that may eventually kill their search monster. This is how they are doing it and the potential consequences. More »