Seeing that tablets are all the rage and that many people are hooked on them, RIM CEO Mike Lazaridis finally revealed BlackBerry’s answer to the iPad: the Playbook.
They have proven to be unbeatable ever since they launched the BlackBerry line of smartphones. Many people, from famous celebrities and well-known politicians to everyday people, now use BlackBerry phones. In fact, the BlackBerry was considered by many to be one of the best and most functional smartphones ever made. Now comes the playbook. This BlackBerry tablet makes use of the same operating system developed by QNX technology.
Playbook uses many platforms and technologies, some of which include AIR, Java, Adobe Flash, BlackBerry 6, Webkit/HTML5, POSIX OS, SMP, and Open GL. It is also equipped with RIM’s newest BlackBerry WebWorks platform. With that, the Playbook earned the title of being the “fastest tablet ever made by RIM.”
In addition to its solid operating system and multiple platforms, it has a pretty good storage space with 1 GB of RAM, a 5-megapixel rear lens perfect for those who want to video conference, and a 3-megapixel front-facing camera. It has ‘horsepower’ for multitasking with its 1GHz dual-core Cortex A9 processor. You can open multiple programs at the same time and it won’t affect performance. It won’t hang or lag. The Playbook is capable of recording videos and transferring files via Bluetooth or WiFi.
For those who like to watch videos, movies and listen to songs, they will never worry whether the files will be compatible or not. BlackBerry Playbook can play videos at full speed and in any format: MPEG, DivX, HD or WMV. File extensions for audio playback are also easy. You can listen to WMA, MP3 and AAC songs wherever and whenever you want.
One of the advantages of the Playbook over the iPad is that it is much smaller and more compact. Weighing exactly 0.9 pounds or 400g, it’s definitely lighter than the iPad but bigger and heavier than the Samsung Galaxy Tab. It measures just 7 inches, about half the size of the iPad. This will allow you to easily take your desktop with you everywhere and never have to worry about it fitting in your bag. The developers are actually hinting that they are developing 3G and 4G models of the Playbook in the future. For avid readers, you’ll be more than happy to know that Playbook will feature a Kindle app that will allow you to read as many books as you like.
Another advantage is that Flash sites that don’t normally run on the iPad tablet will be viewable on the Playbook. RIM promises to open up Playbook’s Adobe AIR to provide users with an uncompromising web experience. This means that you will be able to enjoy all the websites you want to visit without thinking about whether you will be able to access the sites. The Playbook is definitely more forgiving when it comes to what programs are allowed compared to the iPad.
