The BlackBerry tablet is here, and it looks astoundingly nice. Nicer than anybody expected it to be. Here’s what you need to know about the PlayBook, in 10 easy steps. More »
Today at Research In Motion’s annual BlackBerry Developer Conference, CEO Mike Lazaridis announced the company’s new tablet — the PlayBook. The tablet will utilize an OS created by the recently acquired QNX (just as we’d heard previous to the announcement) called the BlackBerry Tablet OS which will offer full OpenGL and POSIX support alongside web standards such as HTML5 (which is all tied into RIM’s new WebWorks SDK). Lazaridis was joined on stage by the company’s founder, Dan Dodge, who said that “QNX is going to enable things that you have never seen before,” and added that the PlayBook would be “an incredible gaming platform for publishers and the players.” RIM also touted the PlayBook’s ability to handle Flash content via Flash 10.1, as well as Adobe AIR apps. The new slate — which Lazaridis described as “the first professional tablet” — will sport a 7-inch, 1024 x 600, capacitive multitouch display, a Cortex A9-based, dual-core 1GHz CPU (the company calls it the “fastest tablet ever”), 1GB of RAM, and a 3 megapixel front-facing camera along with a 5 megapixel rear lens (and yes, there will be video conferencing). There was no mention of onboard storage capacity during the keynote, though the devices we just spied in our eyes-on post are labeled 16GB and 32GB on their back panels. The PlayBook will be capable of 1080p HD video, and comes equipped with an HDMI port as well as a microUSB jack, 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi, and Bluetooth 2.1. The device clocks in at a svelte 5.1- by 7.6-inches, is only 0.4-inches thick, and weighs just 400g (or about 0.9 pounds).
In terms of interface, the OS looks like a mashup of webOS and the BlackBerry OS, even allowing for multitasking via what amounts to a “card” view. Interestingly, RIM and QNX boasted of the PlayBook’s multimedia and gaming functions, but Mike Lazaridis also described the tablet as “an amplified view of what’s already on your BlackBerry.” That’s due largely in part to a function of the tablet which allows you to siphon data off of your BlackBerry handset via Bluetooth tethering and display it on your PlayBook (a la the ill-fated Palm Foleo). While the PlayBook doesn’t seem to rely on phone content alone, the press release from the company says that users can “use their tablet and smartphone interchangeably without worrying about syncing or duplicating data.” RIM didn’t hand out any solid launch dates beyond “early 2011,” and of course, there was no mention of retail price. We’ve got a slew of content after the break, including the PlayBook spec rundown, the company’s press release, and a full video of the device (and UI) in action — so take a look!
Gallery: BlackBerry PlayBook press shots
Continue reading RIM introduces PlayBook — the BlackBerry tablet
RIM introduces PlayBook — the BlackBerry tablet originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Sep 2010 16:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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RIM’s BlackBerry Developer Conference is going down this week in San Francisco, and as you might expect from a developer-focused event, there are a handful of newsy items that’ll affect the development community first and consumers down the road. Here’s a roundup of what’s what:
Nothing on the so-called BlackPad so far, but at any rate, seems like this roundup is great news for anyone looking to slide some content into App World over the next few months.
RIM announces WebWorks development kit, in-app payments, ad platform, and BBM API originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Sep 2010 16:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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We’re seated in the blogger pit (which bears no resemblance to a casino pit, sadly) at the General Session of RIM’s BlackBerry Developer Conference; it’s scheduled to run a mind-boggling two and a half hours, but co-CEO Mike Lazaridis is scheduled to speak, so things could get interesting. Tune on in!
Continue reading Live from the BlackBerry Developer Conference 2010 keynote!
Live from the BlackBerry Developer Conference 2010 keynote! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Sep 2010 15:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Apple may have validated the tablet market with the successful launch of the iPad, but the competition won’t simply cede that space to Cupertino. From the Samsung Galaxy Tab and a host of other Android-based products, to HP’s ethereal Slate and rumored WebOS tablet to a potential “BlackPad” from RIM, everyone wants a piece of the tablet market. The net result? We’re going to see a whole host of devices starting in the fourth quarter of this year well into the first quarter of 2011, and based on what we’ve seen from various public leaks and vendor conversations, these products are going to be all over the place. Sadly, it appears many haven’t learned the lessons why ‘tweener devices failed in the past, and most of these devices will not do well in the market. Many of these efforts appear rushed to market before the holidays and few will be remembered by this time next year. It’s one thing to clone a successful product but imperfect clones usually tend to work out for the worst.
Continue reading Entelligence: Begun these tablet wars have
Entelligence: Begun these tablet wars have originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 26 Sep 2010 18:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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At first, we thought we were looking at the back of yet another standard design Bold or Curve — but check out that nice, fat hinge up top. Indeed, we have every reason to believe we’re looking at the long-rumored BlackBerry 9670 clamshell here, and the test reports confirm the presence of 802.11b / g / n and dual-band CDMA in this particular version — in other words, it’ll almost certainly be coming to either Sprint or Verizon. Given what we’ve seen of this little monster so far, we’re going to need to reserve judgment until we play with one; RIM’s BlackBerry Developer Conference is next week, and we wouldn’t be shocked if it showed up there. Here’s hoping!
BlackBerry 9670 series clamshell earns FCC love originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Sep 2010 14:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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RIM, come on, guys, you’re killing us here! We don’t know exactly what the story is yet, but there’s a BlackBerry in the wild now with model number 9570 — and it looks exactly like the existing Storm2, which lines up nicely with BGR’s insistence earlier this week that the Storm3 is very much a warmed-over Storm2 with BlackBerry 6 and some minor spec bumps. In terms of strategy, we guess this would line up with the Bold 9780 we’ve been seeing around the block, which looks almost exactly like a Bold 9700 — but in terms of customers understanding that this is a new product, it looks like a recipe for disaster. Of course, this might not be known as the Storm3 when (and if) it’s released — they might stick with the Storm2 or call it something like Storm2 Plus or Storm2.5 — which might make more sense since we still don’t know what that other spy shot of a completely different device is. Sure, we have no doubt that a few people would be interested in a refreshed Storm2, but would it be enough to justify the R&D and marketing costs?
BlackBerry 9570 is definitely a refreshed Storm2, but is it called the Storm3? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Sep 2010 12:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Last night I received an e-mail from Virtualization firm Citrix stating that the company, “confirmed today that [it] will support the upcoming Blackberry Black Pad when it ships.” Odd, I thought to myself. I’m pretty sure RIM hasn’t actually announced the thing.
There has been a rumor floating around for several months now, that Research in Motion is set to reveal a BlackBerry OS-based business tablet to break into the consumer tablet space currently dominated by Apple’s iPad. The product has yet to come out of the rumor stage, however. I wondered if it was possible that I had missed a major news cycle somewhere along the way–or perhaps I was simply losing my mind.
I contacted a Citrix spokesperson, who told me,
The product has not yet been announced. However, I wanted to give you a head’s up that Citrix is committed to support the device when it is released (Citrix already supports the iPad, iPhone and other mobile devices). Let me know if you’re interested in learning more or speaking with Citrix on this topic.
The question, then, was whether Citrix was simply trying to drum up some press based around a product that, for all intents and purposes, might as well be vaporware (the spokesperson did, after all, manage to get that little plug for the company’s other products)–or whether the company knew something the rest of us didn’t. After all, it’s not unusual for a company to give a third-party the head’s up on a product before it’s official announced. What’s a bit more unusual, however is when that third-party lets that information slip first.
The Wall Street Journal is saying that RIM’s now very close to being ready to show off this long-rumored tablet they’ve been cooking up — and the public unveiling could come as early as next week when the company will be holding its Developer Conference in San Francisco. The QNX operating system rumor is apparently correct, as is the talk that the only means of connectivity will be WiFi and tethering through a BlackBerry; in other words, you won’t need a dedicated service plan for the tablet and it won’t be sold on contract (good call). The manufacturing wizards at Quanta are rumored to be on tap for manufacturing it with some sort of Marvell power under the hood, and even if the tablet ultimately fails Foleo-style, it could still be a huge launch: WSJ’s sources are also saying that RIM will end up migrating all of its phones to QNX in the long term.
As for the name? WSJ doesn’t seem to know, though it does report that “BlackPad” is being thrown around internally; we’re kind of partial to “SurfBook” ourselves, especially since “BlackPad” will make it tough to sell the thing in any color other than black. Seriously, who wants an orange BlackPad? Follow the break to sound off in the poll!
Continue reading WSJ says BlackBerry tablet could be announced as soon as next week
WSJ says BlackBerry tablet could be announced as soon as next week originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Sep 2010 19:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Look, we know that every new BlackBerry model is going to bear a striking resemblance to the model it replaces — that’s just how RIM does things — but isn’t this getting a little out of hand? The BlackBerry 6-equpped Bold 9780 has been leaked a few times at this point, but we’re seeing it now for the first time totally unshackled from Mr. Blurrycam’s surly bonds… and yeah, if you had any doubts as to whether it was a dead ringer for the 9700 it’ll likely be replacing, you can put those doubts to rest. Of course, when you’ve got a keyboard as good as the Bold series does, sometimes it’s best to leave well enough alone, we suppose — just makes that lucrative early upgrade market a little tougher to tap.
[Thanks, Dion]
BlackBerry Bold 9780 in the wild one more time, still looks exactly like a 9700 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Sep 2010 01:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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