We’ve known that a BlackBerry 4G PlayBook is coming to Sprint this summer for some time now. The device will be WiMax enabled and Sprint is set to display the 4G PlayBook at CTIA. Sprint has also set up a website for the BlackBerry 4G PlayBook where you can register to get updates and a ready-to-buy reminder just before the device becomes available.
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Back at BlackBerry DEVCON Asia Research in Motion announced the BlackBerry WebWorks SDK for BlackBerry Tablet OS which provides developers with an additional mechanism for writing applications for the BlackBerry PlayBook. A series of 4 webcasts for the BlackBerry Weborks SDK for BlackBerry Tablet OS which will be hosted by by Application Development Consultants Adam Stanley and Prosanta Bhattacherjee has been set and the schedule is as follows:
Feb. 1, 2011: Getting Started (2:00 PM EST / 11:00 AM PST)
Feb. 3, 2011: My First App (2:00 PM EST / 11:00 AM PST)
Feb 8. 2011: BlackBerry PlayBook Integration (2:00 PM EST / 11:00 AM PST)
Feb. 10, 2011: User Interface Guidelines and Best Practices (2:00 PM EST / 11:00 AM PST)
If you would like to attend the webcast series, register here…
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We see hi-resolution photos of the BlackBerry PlayBook in landscape orientation all the time, however, marketing photos of the device in portrait orientation have been pretty scarce. That, at least, was the case until recently when a friend of BerryReview noticed that RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook landing page now has a few renderings of the PlayBook in portrait mode.
Something tells me that most folks won’t have a hard time thumb typing on the BlackBerry PlayBook, but, I’ll leave that of another post…
[Source]
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Research in Motion is inundating CES 2011 with BlackBerry PlayBooks and Kevin from CrackBerry.com was able to get his hands on one. To make a long story short… “It was love at first touch”.
[Via CrackBerry]
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Inside BlackBerry has posted a new video which covers web fidelity on the BlackBerry PlayBook where Mathew from the Browser team at RIM takes you through rich web video content using both HTML5 and Adobe® Flash®, social networking with Facebook® Chat, and even Facebook Flash games and viewing embedded content in your News Feed.
The BlackBerry PlayBook is still looking like it is going to be a pretty sweet tablet that will give it’s competitors, namely the Galaxy Tab and the iPad, a run for their money…
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All the buzz in the world of BlackBerry over that past couple of days have been about comments Kaufman Brothers analyst Shaw Wu made stating that the BlackBerry PlayBook may be delayed due to battery issues. Well, Research in Motion has released their own statement, and, to make a long story short, this is simply not true…
Any testing or observation of battery life to date by anyone outside of RIM would have been performed using pre-beta units that were built without power management implemented. RIM is on track with its schedule to optimize the BlackBerry PlayBook’s battery life and looks forward to providing customers with a professional grade tablet that offers superior performance with comparable battery life.
We still don’t have an official release date on the BlackBerry PlayBook, however, it does look like it will be sooner rather than later.
[Via Erictric]
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Developers can now submit apps and become eligible for a free BlackBerry PlayBook
Waterloo, ON – Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today opened the BlackBerry App World™ vendor portal to begin accepting BlackBerry® PlayBook™ apps from developers. In addition, RIM outlined how developers can become eligible to get a free BlackBerry PlayBook if their app is submitted and approved for distribution on BlackBerry App World prior to the launch of BlackBerry PlayBook in North America*.
“Interest and momentum behind the BlackBerry PlayBook continues to build and we are thrilled with the positive response from both the developer community and our customers. With its groundbreaking performance and robust support for industry standard development tools, the BlackBerry PlayBook provides an exceptional platform that appeals to a wide range of mobile app developers, including Adobe® AIR® and Flash® developers, HTML web developers, corporate developers and application hobbyists,” said Tyler Lessard, VP Global Alliances & Developer Relations at Research In Motion. “We are very pleased to be working with developers in advance of the product launch and the opening of BlackBerry App World to accept BlackBerry PlayBook apps is an important next step.”
BlackBerry PlayBook App Development
RIM also recently released an update to the Beta version of the BlackBerry Tablet OS SDK for Adobe AIR. The update now supports Flash Builder 4.5 (Burrito/Flex Mobile) with plug-ins that work with either Flash Builder 4.0 or the pre-release version of Flash Builder Burrito. Support for Flash Builder Burrito adds drag and drop capabilities, making it even easier and faster for developers to build applications for the BlackBerry PlayBook. The latest Beta of the SDK also supports Windows in 64-bit and includes a simulator for Linux.
What Developers Are Saying
“Developing for the PlayBook has been a pleasurable experience. The APIs are straightforward and optimized for the device and the environment is cross-platform,” said Jerome Carty, President, JCX Systems, Inc. “The thing that impresses me the most is the potential for the hardware. The gestures for the PlayBook make the device feel as though you have unlimited surface area since they extend beyond the screen to the bezel. This will make for a fun and unique experience for developers and end-users.”
“The BlackBerry PlayBook has some stellar hardware specs which will support Adobe AIR quite well,” said Randy Troppman, Founder, RunningMap. “I recompiled several of my AIR apps with the BlackBerry Tablet OS AIR SDK and they worked the first time. Unmodified. Piece of cake. Now I just need to take advantage of the BlackBerry PlayBook’s touch screen to take these apps to the next level.”
“Model Metrics is thrilled to be working to deliver scalable enterprise applications on the BlackBerry PlayBook,” said John Barnes, CTO, Model Metrics, Inc. “The ease of development and deployment sets a new bar for the tablet market and Model Metrics is looking forward to offering the 2GO platform for the BlackBerry PlayBook.”
See more examples and comments at http://devblog.blackberry.com/2010/10/blackberry-playbook-apps/.
Free BlackBerry PlayBook Offer
Registered developers who submit a qualifying BlackBerry PlayBook app that is accepted into BlackBerry App World prior to the initial product launch in North America will receive a free BlackBerry PlayBook, subject to certain terms and conditions. Although developers are encouraged to submit multiple apps, there is a limit of one free BlackBerry PlayBook per registered developer in BlackBerry App World. For additional information on the offer, including the Terms and Conditions, visit www.blackberry.com/developers/blackberryplaybookoffer.
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Check out the this video preview of the BlackBerry PlayBook. See the specs after the jump…
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We thought for a little while this morning that the BlackBerry Tablet which has been rumored for months wouldn’t actually get officially announced today during the BlackBerry DEVCON 2010 keynote. Well, so much for that…
Mike Lazaridis’ portion of the keynote pretty much centered around the BlackBerry PlayBook, an ultra thin (9.7mm), 1GHz Dual core processor tablet with 1Gb of RAM, standard HDMI output, both front and back facing hi-def video cameras, with HTML 5, Flash 10.1, and Adobe Air support. Oh, and, did we mention that the PlayBook is enterprise ready?
Needless to say we will have much more to talk about once we can get our hands on a full spec sheet…
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