BlackBerry PlayBook - the BlackBerry tablet

At Research In Motion's annual BlackBerry Developer Conference, CEO Mike Lazaridis announced the company's new tablet -- the PlayBook. The tablet will utilize an OS created by the recently acquired QNX (just as we'd heard previous to the announcement) called the BlackBerry Tablet OS which will offer full OpenGL and POSIX support alongside web standards such as HTML5 (which is all tied into RIM's new WebWorks SDK). Lazaridis was joined on stage by the company's founder, Dan Dodge, who said that "QNX is going to enable things that you have never seen before," and added that the PlayBook would be "an incredible gaming platform for publishers and the players." RIM also touted the PlayBook's ability to handle Flash content via Flash 10.1, as well as Adobe AIR apps.

The new BlackBerry PlayBook tablet is powered by a 1 GHz dual-core processor and the new BlackBerry Tablet OS which supports true symmetric multiprocessing and includes 1GB RAM, Wi-Fi – 802.11 a/b/g/N wireless LAN connectivity, and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR wireless connectivity.

The new BlackBerry PlayBook also features Dual HD cameras – a 3.0 megapixel front facing camera for video calling and a 5 MP rear facing camera for high-resolution still picture capture and full 1080p HD video recording. The PlayBook tablet also allows video playback supporting 1080p HD Video, H.264, MPEG, DivX, WMV and audio playback supporting MP3, AAC, WMA files.

BlackBerry PlayBook - the BlackBerry tablet

In terms of interface, the OS looks like a mashup of webOS and the BlackBerry OS, even allowing for multitasking via what amounts to a "card" view. Interestingly, RIM and QNX boasted of the PlayBook's multimedia and gaming functions, but Mike Lazaridis also described the tablet as "an amplified view of what's already on your BlackBerry." That's due largely in part to a function of the tablet which allows you to siphon data off of your BlackBerry handset via Bluetooth tethering and display it on your PlayBook (a la the ill-fated Palm Foleo). While the PlayBook doesn't seem to rely on phone content alone, the press release from the company says that users can "use their tablet and smartphone interchangeably without worrying about syncing or duplicating data."

Key Features & Specifications of the BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet :

• BlackBerry Tablet OS with support for symmetric multiprocessing.
• 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.
• HDMI video output.

“The BlackBerry PlayBook solidly hits the mark with industry leading power, true multitasking, uncompromised web browsing and high performance multimedia.”