So all the rumours were true. RIM finally took the wraps off its tablet, the BlackBerry PlayBook, a few hours ago. The device will run a new software, dubbed BlackBerry Tablet OS, developed by QNX Software, a company RIM acquired earlier this year. The specs are certainly impressive: a seven inch 1024 x600 display with support for multi-touch, a 1 GHz dual core processor, 1 GB RAM, dual HD cameras for videoconferencing and recording HD video, HDMI video output, support for Flash, and of course, out of the box compatibility with BlackBerry Enterprise Server, and finally, the option to pair it with a BlackBerry smartphone and view the phone’s contents on the tablet. Top that off with what we are sure will be excellent battery life and one of the sleekest form factors that we have seen (well, it looks better than the Samsung Tab) at 130mm x 193mm x 10mm, and a weight of around 400 grammes, and the PlayBook seems quite a proposition.
So far, the only sore points seem the total absence of any sort of wireless data connectivity (you are going to have to rely on Wi-Fi to go online) and the fact that the device will be available in North America only in early 2011 and the rest of the world in Q2 2011. Now, that is a long time in technology.
Not a game changer. Just a defensive move
Oh very. And worst of all, will be released only in 2011. That is a very long away.