BBMGroupsOnline.com

We keep seeing more and more good things come from RIM and others on the PlayBook front, and with TAT on board it’s full steam ahead. We already saw a sweet scrapbook application running on the PlayBook, and now the guys from IntoMobile have snagged the above video of some more amazing demos. The first app shown is a media viewer hooked up via HDMI to an external display. It shows extremely well and even has some crazy 3D too. Then we get another look at Scrapbook, and finally check out a multimedia app called Frontrunner. All of them look amazing and really show off the capabilities of the PlayBook. The apps look so smooth and run without a hitch – that “double multitouch” really wows me too. Take a look at the video above for all the goods then sound off in the comments.

Source: IntoMobile

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UPDATE: We’ve been told that the image above is a mockup – so Skype isn’t confirmed for the PlayBook. Too bad because Skype would be really awesome on the tablet.

The first look at App World on the PlayBook reveals that Skype will be coming to the BlackBerry Platform via the PlayBook. We’ve been hearing about Skype coming to BlackBerry for a long time now and the only devices to get it are on Verizon. Other than Skype, App World for the PlayBook has a really slick interface and we’re expecting some awesome apps to be ready when the device launches.

Hit this link to see a roundup of other apps you can expect to see on the PlayBook.

© BlackBerry Cool for BlackBerry Cool, 2011

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Following up on Kevin’s post from earlier, here are two more BlackBerry PlayBook videos from RIM: Your Portable Life and Striking Power. I really like the one with the cowboys. All this advertising lately is very encouraging to those of us waiting anxiously for any indication of just when the PlayBook will be released. Check out the videos after the break and make sure to stay close for more coverage from CES 2011!

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Aside from the BlackBerry PlayBook itself, the thing I was most excited to see (thus far) is definitely the BlackBerry PlayBook Charging Pod. We didn’t get the greatest look at it since it’s behind RIM’s “don’t touch me” glass, but seeing it up close is good enough for me. There isn’t a lot to it obviously, but it still looks pretty sweet. It holds the PlayBook on a slight angle so it makes for a great “nightstand” device or for watching movies while in the charger. Very cool stuff. No word on pricing yet but we’re pretty sure it will be available at launch of the PlayBook, which means you’ll definitely be able to pick it up at store.bbmgroupsonline.com.

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Before we left CES 2011 we again sat down again with Ryan Bidan, the Senior Product Manager on the BlackBerry PlayBook team to work through a bunch of the questions we’ve been seeing here on CrackBerry related to the BlackBerry PlayBook. At the CES BlackBerry booth many of the same questions have been getting asked, so the Inside BlackBerry Blog did a quick interview with Ryan addressing the big questions they too have been hearing.

We’ll follow up with our written BlackBerry PlayBook FAQ soon, and in the meantime you can check out the video above. There’s been a bit of a misconception going around online that in order to use the BlackBerry PlayBook that you’ll need to own a BlackBerry Smartphone, which is not the case. A native email and calendar client may not be there at launch, but it is definitely on the roadmap (likely sooner than later) for the PlayBook and new OS. In the meantime there will be the BlackBerry Bridge for BlackBerry owners that turns the PlayBook into a big screen for your phone’s email, calendar, contacts, tasks, and BBM (no data stored on PlayBook) and access is there via the web browser as well. It’s clear that the QNX-based BlackBerry Tablet OS is still in early days and it’s going to be evolving rapidly. Unlike the phones where carriers dictate OS update releases, with the PlayBook RIM will be able to push them out to consumers quickly, and I’m sure we’ll be in for a lot of updates in the early days. It’s a solid base to begin with, and it’s only going to get better, that’s for sure.

Source: Inside BB

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You knew this was coming – there’s always a part of me that gets excited when I see cases for new devices (or even new cases for old devices). Along with all of the insane BlackBerry PlayBook goodies being shown off here at CES 2011, BlackBerry has a huge line of cases ready to roll with the PlayBook. There are loads of styles including the BlackBerry Neoprene Sleeve, BlackBerry BookBinder, BlackBerry Zip Sleeve, BlackBerry Envelope case and BlackBerry Hard Shell case. Overall great to see such a variety will be made available at launch so there will be plenty to choose from. Keep reading for more images.

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CrackBerry.com‘s feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. First Look: BlackBerry PlayBook Cases

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The BlackBerry “Super Phone” is coming, just maybe not tomorrow. Mike Lazaridis sat down with PCMag at CES 2011 to discuss a bit about RIM’s future and what we can expect in the coming years. During the interview Mike confirmed the plans to bring QNX to BlackBerry smartphones, but also said that current multi-core processors aren’t quite what they need to make this happen. “Battery life, size, weight, thickness, cost” are all factors here, and until those are all up to par for what RIM has planned, it doesn’t look like we’ll be seeing QNX on our devices. Future QNX devices are coming, just no word on when exactly. RIM isn’t in a hurry. “First they made RIM a global business, now they’re delivering the PlayBook, and super phones are on the to-do list”, he said. Mike alluded to the next 10 years of BlackBerry, and the growth they are preparing for in BlackBerry both in handheld devices and tablets.

We spent the last three years building a global company. Putting in all the infrastructure, building the relationships, building the supply channels, the infrastructure, the distribution, the manufacturing capacity, that’s what we did! And we continue to grow, right? What we’re setting up is for the next 10 years of BlackBerry. We just finished the first 10 years, actually closer to 12 – the first decade of BlackBerry. Now we’re setting up for the next decade of BlackBerry. Right? That’s what we’re doing.

I think it’s because we’re always thinking ahead, we’re always planning ahead. I think in this kind of business you have to have a lot of planning. It’s one thing to take a reference design and package it. It’s another thing to build a platform that can grow with your customers’ needs, that can grow with where the market is going as opposed to where the market is today. To provide that uncompromised performance for enterprise, for government, for large corporations as well as provide an experience for the consumer that’s unique.

So how do you feel about these statements? Are you optimistic for the future of BlackBerry, or are you starting to get impatient? With RIM re-branding WES to BlackBerry World, all of us on the CrackBerry team are hoping we’ll see RIM use this event to announce some BIG things for BlackBerry Smartphones (not just tablets) this May. Maybe Mike L is just setting us up to blow us away. I for one am excited to see what RIM brings us this year, and for years to come. They definitely have a solid foundation world-wide to build on, and I can’t wait to see where they go. For the full interview, check out the link below.

Source: PCMag

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While running around in the chaos that is the BlackBerry booth here at CES there was definitely a lot going on. From the demos to the accessories we’re really getting our fill of all that is the BlackBerry PlayBook. During one of the on-screen promos RIM has running, we noticed this screen of what will be BlackBerry App World for the PlayBook. Simply put it looks great. It’s a big jump from what we know now as App World and we’ll welcome it with open arms. We know that apps can only be installed to the PlayBook from App World (at least at the start) so having a great interface is definitely needed. While we haven’t seen it on an actual device the image above is really all we have to go with for now.

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We’re making a list of all of the BlackBerry PlayBook questions you have and will work today on getting them answered, but in the meantime we recorded this little follow-up vid yesterday taking another look at some of the features and UI elements on the BlackBerry PlayBook.

Multitasking – RIM is really pushing true multitasking as one of the features that sets the PlayBook apart as a professional tablet. In a lot of the video demos you see a movie still running as you jump into another app. In the video above we see the PlayBook definitely has the horsepower to handle a bunch of open apps.

A BlackBerry experience with no Menu Key – BlackBerry Smartphone users live and die by the BlackBerry button, or menu key (the one to the left of the trackball/trackpad). That’s where all of your menu options are that allow you do things beyond what you can see on the display. In the video above, we take a look how the new OS handles this. Suffice to say, it’s a pure touchscreen experience. Option elements are either presented via a button, such as the edit pencil on the homescreen for when you want to re-arrange homescreen icons, or are swiped in, such as when you’re in the web browser and want to jump between open tabs. It’s definitely a different sort of BlackBerry experience.

Keep those questions coming in the comments… and we’ll keep coming back with more answers!

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Following up on our BlackBerry PlayBook Review yesterday, today we were finally able to see the paired BlackBerry Smartphone/PlayBook experience, which allows you to use your PlayBook as a big screen for your BlackBerry phone. The BlackBerry bridge is carried out via bluetooth, and the means for pairing is really simple. You’ll download a BlackBerry Bridge app onto your phone from App World. On your tablet, you’ll tap the options icon on the top right corner of the PlayBook (the gear) and from there will be an option to display a barcode. You’ll scan the barcode of your PlayBook with your BlackBerry and that will pair the two devices. From there, you can run BlackBerry Messenger, your calendar, emails (and maybe more??) from your PlayBook. Check out the video above to see it in action! (note, we do the BBM pairing at the very end).

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A Hands-On Pre-Release Review of the BlackBerry PlayBook

I’ve FINALLY gone hands-on with the BlackBerry PlayBook and thus it’s time for me to report back with my initial review and impressions of Research In Motion’s first tablet device featuring the all-new QNX-based BlackBerry Tablet OS. The time to get prep this post to go live for the embargo was tight and we’ll have even more opportunities throughout CES to play with the PlayBook, so I’m going to keep this initial review as concise as possible and we’ll likely add to it over the days ahead. Oh, and as for those questions of pricing and release date, those are still TBA, though RIM is still sticking to their Q1 release which means you’ll be able to buy a PlayBook before the end of March. This isn’t just another new BlackBerry we’re talking about here… the PlayBook is ALL new for RIM. Suffice to say, the way too long review will be coming once we log some real hours on it. But in the meantime, we still have a lot to say (hint: it’s pretty awesome!!), so start reading! read more C

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[YouTube link for mobile viewing]

Attention BlackBerry® PlayBook tablet developers! As a follow up to our BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet Webcast series, we’ve put together a video overview demonstrating how easy it is for developers to use the BlackBerry Tablet OS SDK Beta2 for Adobe® AIR® and the BlackBerry PlayBook Simulator Beta to develop BlackBerry PlayBook applications. Read more at the BlackBerry Developer’s Blog »

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We heard rumors that the BlackBerry PlayBook was getting delayed until March 2011. Reports are coming from Kaufman Bros. analyst, Shaw Wu, claiming that his sources say the delay has been caused due to poor battery life.  The BlackBerry PlayBook is currently said to have “just a few hours” worth of battery life. The competition, such as the iPad has 10 hours worth of battery life.

“[This is] likely why [RIM] pushed out its launch to the May 2011 quarter,” Wu said, referring to the March to May timeframe. “Keep in mind that QNX wasn’t originally designed for mobile environments but rather for devices like network equipment and automobiles where battery life isn’t as much [of] a constraint.”

Shaw Wu was also pessimistic on how well the PlayBook might do. Wu believes RIM is making “good progress” with QNX and the PlayBook, but feels there is “simply not enough apps or users” from App World to make it a success. Wu believes RIM will sell  only 700,000 PlayBooks in 2011.

If RIM can’t fix the battery life issue, will this impact your decision to purchase it? Would it matter if the PlayBook was heavier to support a larger battery?

via Electronista

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We’re excited to announce that starting today, you can now submit your BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet apps to the BlackBerry App World™ vendor portal!

As announced at the Adobe® MAX conference earlier this year, developers who create an application for the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet that is approved for distribution through BlackBerry App World prior to the tablet’s initial release are eligible for a free BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. This is subject to certain terms and conditions*.

We like to keep things simple here at BlackBerry App World HQ. How simple? Submitting a BlackBerry PlayBook tablet app is the same as submitting an app for BlackBerry smartphones – only you’ll be submitting .BAR files instead of .COD files.

Here’s a reminder of what you’ll need when submitting an application:

Get the details at the BlackBerry Developer’s Blog »

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YouTube link

Today has been an awesome day for BlackBerry PlayBook video and information. Most recently, we’ve learned a few new things from the above video including:

• The entire bezel is touch sensitive and can be used to swipe between apps and bring up menus.
• The virtual keyboard and screen are multitouch. You can also get the keyboard in both landscape and portrait.
• There are swipe gestures galore.

While the event is an Adobe event meant for developers, a lot of media have been showing up to take a look at the device. Even though they’ll tell you they got a “hands-on”, it looks like RIM isn’t letting anyone play around with it too much as the device isn’t ready for consumption. It would be cool to hear more about the APIs and features that will be available to developers. We’ll try and get you those details soon.

© BlackBerry Cool for BlackBerry Cool, 2010

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As we mentioned previously, the Rogers TabLife event was held today in Toronto. A lot of folks were on hand to film the event and now, some of that footage is making its way across the web. The above video shows off the BlackBerry PlayBook demo given by David Neale, Vice President of Special Projects at Research In Motion.

While the video itself is really just more of what we’ve seen previously it does provide some finer details. In the video, you get a brief look at some of the specs of the BlackBerry PlayBook more specifically, the processor running on the device. As noted in our forums, the BlackBerry PlayBook appears to be running that oft rumored TI OMAP 4440 processor which makes the BlackBerry PlayBook a pretty powerful device. Thanks Dave!

Join The BlackBerry PlayBook Discussion In The CrackBerry Forums

CrackBerry.com

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At the Web 2.0 Summit, RIM’s co-CEO Jim Balsillie did not publicly demo the BlackBerry PlayBook when announcing a few new features. However, afterwards Engadget was able to get a quick little sneak peek at the PlayBook and how it performs. The PlayBook is really looking great so far and we’re impatiently waiting to see more in the future. Hit the break for the video.

What are your thoughts so far? Will the BlackBerry PlayBook be a winning device for RIM?

Join the forum discussion on this post

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