RIM Playbook

I know I'm a little late with this one but I had some trouble getting the post to forward and save.  An overview, partially from Gizmodo.

  

The BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet:  10 Things You Need to Know

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.

It's a 7-inch tablet with a 1024x600 screen that weighs 0.9 pounds

Meaning it's smaller and lighter than the iPad, with a more pixel-dense screen (i.e., text is gonna look cleaner and less pixel-y). It's a little bigger and heavier than the Samsung Galaxy Tab, on the other hand. (Then again, the Galaxy Tab looks more like a really big phone.)

It's running BlackBerry Tablet OS

As rumored, the BlackBerry PlayBook isn't running "BlackBerry 6," but the BlackBerry tablet OS, which is "powered by QNX technology." QNX is a software company RIM bought in April, whose software is used in products by Cisco and GE, among others. The OS is built on QNX's Neutrino microkernel.

It supports a whole bunch of standard platforms and technologies, like POSIX OS, SMP, Open GL, BlackBerry 6, WebKit, Java, Adobe Flash and AIR, along with RIM's new BlackBerry WebWorks platform. Apps written for WebWorks will run on BlackBerry 6 or the PlayBook, while Java makes it easier for developers to port Java-based BlackBerry 6 apps. Oh, and OpenGL means there's serious potential for graphically intense games.

It's got a tablet-optimized UI and multitasks out of the gate, unlike the iPad. And unlike Android, it has a nicer interface for navigating through applications, like a cross between webOS's cards and Apple's CoverFlow. It's got an onscreen keyboard for typing. The snippets of App World in the preview video look a lot like what you have on BlackBerry phones, a grid of tiles. The music player looks a bit like the iPod app on the iPad, but skinned in a slate color.

Dual-core 1GHz processor and 1GB RAM

That means it's got the horsepower to multitask, output 1080p video and run high-powered apps. The 1GB of RAM is particularly important for running applications in the background, and opening multiple tabs in the web browser, as iPad owners know from opening more than a few tabs in Safari and watching them get flushed as the iPad runs out of memory.

It's got "true" multitasking

By saying the PlayBook has "true" multitasking, RIM seems to be pointing at the fact that multitasking on the iPad is still limited in a lot of ways. Apps can't fully run in the background on the iPad like on a full computer, they can simply perform select actions, like playback audio or finish a download in a given amount of time. The implication is that the PlayBook will let things run willy nilly in the background, more like a standard BlackBerry phone.

"Flash-Loving," with Adobe Flash 10.1 and Adobe AIR built in

It runs Flash and AIR, which means Flash sites that don't work on the iPad will at least be viewable on the PlayBook. It'll be interesting to see how well Flash works on the PlayBook versus less powerful Android phones, where it can run into performance issues. AIR, on the other hand, opens the door for some app opportunities. Combined with the WebKit browser, it should be a pretty decent web experience.

Dual cameras with video conferencing and lots o' ports

This is swanky. The rear camera is a 5-megapixel shooter, while the front is three megapixels. From the back, it shoots video and from the front you can video chat.

It supports a handful of video formats—in 1080p—like h.264, WMV, DivX and MPEG, and it'll output video through a mini HDMI port. Also, it's got a standard micro USB port.

There's a Kindle App on the way

The PlayBook is more book-sized than the iPad, so fortunately a Kindle app for reading is already on the way, Amazon confirms. We're very excited about this.

Integrated with BlackBerry stuffs

It'll pair with a BlackBerry phone, so you can use the tablet to look at anything that's on the phone, like email, calendars or BBM without syncing the two. And it connects with BlackBerry Enterprise Server out of the box, along with all that entails.

It's coming out next year, but don't ask how much it costs

Specifically, RIM says it's coming out in the US in early 2011, with other places getting it sometime after March. There's gonna be 3G and 4G models in the future. RIM's not saying how much it's gonna cost yet, but since RIM loves the carriers, expect it to be offered through them for a discount. (In the preview video, it's mentioned that it works with existing BlackBerry smartphone data plans, so we'll see what that means.)

Overall, the PlayBook is a lot more exciting than anybody expected a BlackBerry tablet to be, especially given how thoroughly mediocre their last major product, the BlackBerry Torch, was. In fact, we're a little more amped about it than the Galaxy Tab. Now RIM's just got to carry through the ball forward.

Official Specifications

• 7” LCD, 1024 x 600, WSVGA, capacitive touch screen with full multi-touch and gesture support
• BlackBerry Tablet OS, powered by QNX technology with support for symmetric multiprocessing
• 1 GHz dual-core processor (capable of symmetrical dual-core processing per the OS)
• 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
• Audio playback: MP3, AAC, WMA
• HDMI video output via standard Micro HDMI port and DLNA media streaming
• Wi-Fi – 802.11 a/b/g/n
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
• Pair with a BlackBerry smartphone via secure Bluetooth connection for full access to:
• Push technology systems/services
• Email, Calendar, BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), tasks, documents, more/etc.
• BlackBerry security and data efficiency

• Connectors: micro HDMI, micro USB, charging contacts
• Open, flexible application platform with support for WebKit/HTML-5, Adobe Flash Player 10.1, Adobe Mobile AIR, Adobe Reader, POSIX OS, OpenGL, Java , SMP.
• Ultra thin and portable: 
• Measures 5.1”x7.6”x0.4” (130mm x 193mm x 10mm)
• Weighs less than a pound (approximately 0.9 lb or 400g)

• Out-of-the-box compatibility with BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES)
• Seamless pairing for a secure window into your BlackBerry smartphone
• 3G access via existing BlackBerry smartphone service plan.
• Corporate data access
• Secure and manageable.

• Additional features and specifications of the BlackBerry PlayBook will be shared on or before the date this product is launched in retail outlets.
• RIM intends to also offer 3G and 4G models in the future.

Looks pretty cool.  I currently think the iPad looks useful and a lot of fun so I'm excited to see this as well.  Regardless, I don't have the money for either so it'd be cool if I got one to use for work or something.  I could legitimately use the iPad with all the PDF articles I read.  If I had an iPad, I'd probably want to make it more excessive by getting the ColorWare "Grip". 


Gizmodo's rant about it is kind of funny.

anyone else want a tablet, something in between your phone and computer?