AfterDawn: News

RIM unveils 'Playbook' tablet

RIM has unveiled their long-anticipated Playbook tablet today, throwing their contender into the market dominated by the Apple iPad.

"Every successful professional has a great PlayBook," said Mike Lazaridis, co-CEO of RIM.



The tablet will measure in smaller than the iPad at just 7 inches, but it is thinner at 9.7 millimeters.

Furthermore, the tablet has a rear and front-facing camera, and the ability to natively playback Flash videos.

BlackBerry smartphone owners can tether their devices and use the 3G on the tablet.

The Playbook will not run on RIM's new BlackBerry 6 OS, however, instead it will run on a brand new mobile operating system created by QNX Software, which was acquired by RIM earlier in the year.



Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 27 Sep 2010 18:00

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• 11 comments

• xyqo

  This will eat the soul of all other slates. Seriously not even KB can be negative about it (yeh right he'll find a way).
  This is a beast RIM are not going the way of nokia they're really getting their head in the game.
  

  XXYYQQOO!!! Yeah WELCOME TO JAMROCK
  
  

  27.9.2010 21:56 #1

• DVDBack23

  Originally posted by xyqo: This will eat the soul of all other slates. Seriously not even KB can be negative about it (yeh right he'll find a way).
  This is a beast RIM are not going the way of nokia they're really getting their head in the game. I agree the tablet looks excellent, but we have to wait on price before making ANY decisions here.
  

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  27.9.2010 22:00 #2

• xyqo

  Well lets hope it's at least the price of the cheapest ipad.
  I expect $400-$650 (RIM can be a bit pricey) and that would be for the 16 gig (I saw a pic with 16GB on the back).
  

  XXYYQQOO!!! Yeah WELCOME TO JAMROCK
  
  

  27.9.2010 22:04 #3

• KillerBug

  Originally posted by xyqo: This will eat the soul of all other slates. Seriously not even KB can be negative about it (yeh right he'll find a way).
  This is a beast RIM are not going the way of nokia they're really getting their head in the game. You are right...I found a possible issue.
  
  "BlackBerry smartphone owners can tether their devices and use the 3G on the tablet."
  
  From the sounds of it, there is no built-in 3G.

  27.9.2010 22:38 #4

• xyqo

  Originally posted by KillerBug: Originally posted by xyqo: This will eat the soul of all other slates. Seriously not even KB can be negative about it (yeh right he'll find a way).
  This is a beast RIM are not going the way of nokia they're really getting their head in the game. You are right...I found a possible issue.
  
  "BlackBerry smartphone owners can tether their devices and use the 3G on the tablet."
  
  From the sounds of it, there is no built-in 3G. There isn't but there's a version of the ipad without 3g and a version of the samsung tab without 3g. Plus RIM says there are 3g and 4g versions that will be out
  

  XXYYQQOO!!! Yeah WELCOME TO JAMROCK
  
  

  27.9.2010 22:42 #5

• DVDBack23

  Originally posted by KillerBug: Originally posted by xyqo: This will eat the soul of all other slates. Seriously not even KB can be negative about it (yeh right he'll find a way).
  This is a beast RIM are not going the way of nokia they're really getting their head in the game. You are right...I found a possible issue.
  
  "BlackBerry smartphone owners can tether their devices and use the 3G on the tablet."
  
  From the sounds of it, there is no built-in 3G. I think that's better. I'm not a BB owner but I would hate to have to pay for my smartphone data plan and an additional one for my tablet.
  

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  27.9.2010 22:47 #6

• elbald90

  im sorry guys but i still cant see the point of these devices you can either have a smartphone that is truly portable or a laptop which is less so but will do anything you want it to
  

  28.9.2010 02:38 #7

• KillerBug

  I have not really found much use either. If this thing had 3G and skype, then it could almost function as a big-screen phone...but those are two "if"s that don't currently exist.

  28.9.2010 06:12 #8

• joepet200

  Got to hand it to Blackberry, they know how to market their stuff to Big Business. "Playbook" football, NFL, Pros... vs iPAD?
  C'mon.
  
  That's marketing.
  
  
  

  28.9.2010 10:27 #9

• shaffaaf

  talk about ripping Palm's folio concept (google it ;)) and webos's cards metaphor.
  
  still. sexcellent tab, love how it is, and i might pick one up! that is unless a webos tablet is realeased befoer or soon after.

  28.9.2010 18:12 #10

• KillerBug

  I can't think of any use for a tablet right now...I guess that is a good thing considering we will not see any good tablets until summer.

  29.9.2010 04:42 #11