Take a closer look at the BlackBerry PlayBook, a 7-inch tablet developed by RIM.
Bonnie Cha
Bonnie Cha was a former chief correspondent for CNET Crave, covering every kind of tech toy imaginable (with a special obsession for robots and Star Wars-related stuff). When she's not scoping out stories, you can find her checking out live music or surfing in the chilly waters of Northern California.
Donald Bell has spent more than five years as a CNET senior editor, reviewing everything from MP3 players to the first three generations of the Apple iPad. He currently devotes his time to producing How To content for CNET, as well as weekly episodes of CNET's Top 5 video series.
The RIM BlackBerry PlayBook was unveiled at the 2010 BlackBerry Developer Conference. It's the first tablet for the company and will be available during Q2 2011, with 3G and 4G versions planned for the future. Pricing was not announced at this time.
Another aspect of the PlayBook's OS that has us smiling is the on-screen keyboard. The virtual keys are well-spaced and responsive. The overall tablet dimension and bezel size makes it easy to reach your fingers across the screen. And in a design twist we think is pretty smart, RIM groups their numeric keyboard all on the left side, making number entry a little more natural (especially for fans of BlackBerry's tactile smartphone keyboard).
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Man purse not included
The trouble with 7-inch tablets is that they're too big for your pocket, but not big enough to present web pages and documents at full size. Plus, guys will need to succumb to a man purse to tote it around.
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BlackBerry Bridge
For the BlackBerry loyal, users can momentarily pair (over Bluetooth) their BlackBerry phones to the PlayBook using a free optional app called BlackBerry Bridge. By making this connection, a new tab will appear in the PlayBook's app menu with options to display and manage your phone's bread and butter apps: BBM, Mail, Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, and Memos.
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Power button
The top edge of the PlayBook is a case study in bad design. The problem is the power/wake button, which is so small and recessed that you'll need to whittle down your finger tip to use it.
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Portrait
RIM's BlackBerry Tablet OS can be used in portrait orientation, but the overall design lends itself better to landscape view.
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PlayBook dock
An optional $69 charging dock is available for the PlayBook. Oddly, it's only good for charging and includes no pass thru ports for USB or HDMI.
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Design
The PlayBook features a 7-inch, WSVGA (1,024x600)capacitive touch screen with multitouch support. The tablet measures 5.1 inches tall by 7.6 inches wide by 0.4 inch thick and weighs just under a pound.
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Cameras and video chat
RIM's tablet will feature dual HD cameras: a front-facing 3-megapixel camera and a rear-facing 5-megapixel camera with support for HD video capture.
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Photo gallery
During the unveiling event, RIM President and co-CEO Mike Lazaridis said the PlayBook was capable of true multitasking. Unlike BlackBerry smartphones, the device will run its own tablet OS called QNX and will be powered by a 1GHz dual-core chip.
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BlackBerry Messenger
BlackBerry Messenger addicts will be pleased to see that you'll be able to use the instant messaging app on the PlayBook as well. RIM also announced that it has opened up the BlackBerry Messenger Social Platform to applications.
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E-mail
RIM described the PlayBook as "enterprise-ready." The tablet will be compatible with BlackBerry Enterprise Server out of the box, so you can easily access your e-mail, calendar, tasks, and so forth.
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Calendar
Here is a screenshot of the calendar app on the PlayBook. Other features of the tablet, include 1GB RAM, an HTML5-capable browser, Adobe Flash 10.1, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n).
