On the video, Matthew quickly runs through a series of comparison tests with a PlayBook and iPad (running iOS 3.2.2), which demonstrate three things: the speed of the PlayBook Browser, its support for rich Flash content, and the performance of open web standards like HTML 5 on the PlayBook.
BlackBerry makers RIM have unveiled their latest toy ‘The BlackBerry PlayBook’ and are pointing it squarely at the “let’s pretend it’s work but shh it’s actually fun” generation.
The professional-grade tablet boasts unmatched power and web performance. Perfect for either large organizations or an “army of one”, the BlackBerry PlayBook is designed to give users what they want, including uncompromised web browsing, true multitasking and high performance multimedia, while also providing advanced security features, out-of-the-box enterprise support and a breakthrough development platform for IT departments and developers.
“RIM set out to engineer the best professional-grade tablet in the industry with cutting-edge hardware features and one of the world’s most robust and flexible operating systems,” said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO at Research In Motion. “The BlackBerry PlayBook solidly hits the mark with industry leading power, true multitasking, uncompromised web browsing and high performance multimedia.”
Measuring less than half an inch thick and weighing less than a pound, the BlackBerry PlayBook, with its 7″ high resolution display is ultra portable. One of it’s main selling points is multi-tasking. Its performance is jointly fueled by a 1 GHz dual-core processor and the new BlackBerry Tablet OS which supports true symmetric multiprocessing.
Another of PlayBook’s big selling points is its “Uncompromised Web Browsing” with support for Adobe® Flash® Player 10.1, Adobe® Mobile AIR® and HTML-5, the BlackBerry PlayBook provides users with an uncompromised, high-fidelity web experience and offers them the ability to enjoy all of the sites, games and media on the web. For more than a decade, the mobile industry has worked to bridge the gap between the “real web” and mobile devices through various apps and technologies and, in fact, a significant number of mobile apps today still simply serve as a proxy for web content that already exists on the web. RIM are also encouraging developers and content publishers to work with them to develop applications and content.
The BlackBerry PlayBook features dual HD cameras for video capture and video conferencing that can both record HD video at the same time…possibly to capture the scene you’re looking at and the look of amazement on your face at the same time…and an HDMI-out port for presenting creations on external displays. The BlackBerry PlayBook also offers rich stereo sound.
For those BlackBerry PlayBook users who carry a BlackBerry smartphone, it will also be possible to pair the tablet and smartphone using Bluetooth. This means they can opt to use the larger tablet display to seamlessly and securely view any of the email, BBM™, calendar, tasks, documents and other content that resides on (or is accessible through) their smartphone. They can also use their tablet and smartphone interchangeably without worrying about syncing or duplicating data.
The BlackBerry Tablet OS is built upon the yummiest sounding operating system – the QNX® Neutrino® microkernel architecture. It’s been used in everything from planes, trains and automobiles to medical equipment and the largest core routers that run the Internet.
The Specifications and Key features of the BlackBerry PlayBook include:
7″ LCD, 1024 x 600, WSVGA, capacitive touch screen with full multi-touch and gesture support
BlackBerry Tablet OS with support for symmetric multiprocessing
1 GHz dual-core processor
1 GB RAM
Dual HD cameras (3 MP front facing, 5 MP rear facing), supports 1080p HD video recording
Video playback: 1080p HD Video, H.264, MPEG, DivX, WMV
Blackberry makers Rim have released a video revealing their new Blackberry operating system “OS 6”. I’ve tried to gather as much information from the video as possible but I’ve had to mute it as too much “boom, boom, pow” could probably hypnotise you. If it doesn’t then they’ve recruited gyrating, guesturing and tie straightening dancers to finish the job.
In case you were like me and got distracted; here is what I’ve gathered:
Features multi-touch for touchscreen but OS 6 will be available on both touchscreen and keypad phones. It looks to be more intuitive and has a customisable home-screen with different pages accessible by flicking in different directions.
Scrolling also features “Rubber-banding” which I presume means that when you accidently scroll a little bit too far it boings back. I could be wrong.
It also features pop up menus showing the functions that appear to be short-smart-shortcut menus with big icons.
The graphics are slicker and they appear to have integrated youtube into the OS.
Media Player gets a makeover and features an album “cover flow” style music organizer so you can flick through the album artwork and click on them to play.
The new inbox is basically the same old familiar inbox except with bigger icons to differentiate between email, twitter, facebook etc. messages and it also includes integrated RSS feeds. From what I can tell; emails now support image thumbnails.
The universal search looks quite handy searching contacts, calender, emails, Internet, social feeds etc all from one search bar on the home-screen.
There’s a new app for intergrating multiple social feeds to ensure you can never ever ever escape!!!
It also includes the Web-Kit based browser (better than the current one with widgets, fast panning and zooming and full HTML5 support and tabs)
It’s thought that it might be available from July but it’s not yet known whether current handset owners will be able to update their firmware to the new OS.
