Tag: playbook
BREAKING: RIM Announces BlackBerry 10 to the World
Research In Motion is trying to gain back the massive amount of customers they lost to Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android. At BlackBerry World 2012 going on from May 1 – 3 in Orlando, Florida, Thorsten Heins took the stage and announced the fresh new look to Research In Motion’s future Operating System, BlackBerry 10 (BB10).
They showed off the first BlackBerry 10 smartphone in a promo video below, as well as on stage while demoing the new OS. The device itself looks exactly like a 4inch model of the PlayBook with the volume up, play/pause and volume down buttons on the right side and the MiniUSB slot on the let side (same as the PlayBook in Portrait mode). Although the device wasn’t announced, the main event was showing off some new innovations of BB10. The device used is called a “Dev Alpha” model, which may never actually see store shelves in its current form. The device will be given to developers to test their BB10 apps for future release. That release of which was still slated by Thorsten Heins, RIM President and CEO, to be the ‘latter part of 2012′.
The BlackBerry 10 operating system is showing some refinements and promise. One of the most innovative parts of the OS seems to be the ‘timeline lens’ which captures images and still frames as soon as the camera app is loaded, even if you haven’t taken a picture yet. The idea is that you can ‘rewind’ the frames to grab a still frame you’d like to use if the one you thought you captured when taking a picture doesn’t quite cut the cake. The other innovation is with the BB10 touch keyboard which seems a little more intuitive with auto-correct, showing words right above the matching letters as you spell out words, rather than most other auto-corrects showing a collection of possible matches at the top of the keyboard.
Will this be enough to pull people away from the iPhone, Windows Phone 7 devices or Android smartphones? That remains to be seen in the latter part of 2012. Unfortunately for RIM however, is that the next iPHone is also expected to launch in the ‘latter part of 2012′ with iOS 6. To add icing to the competition cake is the new operating system from Microsoft with Windows 8, which will power smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktops. No doubt we’ll likely see a new announcement for Android 5.0 Jelly Bean as well sometime in the last weeks of 2012.
Sources – RIM, BlackBerry Devblog
Article first published as BREAKING: RIM Announces BlackBerry 10 to the World on Technorati.
Apple iPad Mini Coming in Q3 2012 before Windows 8 Tablets
Before the time of tablets and smartphones, a war raged between two technology giants. The PC era was dominated by Apple versus Microsoft, and we may very well see that war again in the “Post-PC Era” of technology. The iPad reigns supreme over Android and BlackBerry tablets, in fact, neither have come even close to challenging the sales figures of the Apple iPad generations. With Microsoft coming back into the game with Windows 8 tablets and PC operating systems, we may finally have a worthy opponent to the Apple iOS family. As Windows 8 launch looms ever nearer, Apple is getting their ‘ducks in a row’ to do battle once again.
We’ve heard about the rumors that Apple is planning an “iPad Mini” tablet which will be 7.85 inches in size. It was thought that this device will be to battle the 7inch tablets with Android and BlackBerry PlayBook OS. Really though, they don’t hold a candle to iOS, but Windows 8 would. All reports suggest that Apple will launch this new ‘Mini’ tablet under the $300 price to make it very competitive, which would basically force Microsoft into selling Windows 8 tablets under the same price line. The main difference however would be that Microsoft may not have a whole lot of control in dictating the sale prices of the Windows 8 tablets, as they are made by 3rd party manufacturers. Apple iPads are made by Apple (or at least manufacturers who build them with Apple’s full control).
Apple may already be testing these devices, and therefore, would be finalizing details on a release product soon. The latest report from NetEase shows Apple has 6 million units ready for launch in Q3 2012 (July – September). We’ll begin a new war for tablet dominance with the same two behemoths that started it 30 years ago.
Source – 163.com (Chinese Translated)
Article first published as Apple iPad Mini Coming in Q3 2012 Before Windows 8 Tablets on Technorati.
Research In Motion Executives Abandoning Ship
The burn seems to be continuing for Research In Motion. After a terrible 2011, and less than impressive sales of all BlackBerry Products, RIM seems to be unable to keep staff. Wall Street Journal is now reprting that several Executives have been leaving RIM.
Jim Balsillie had stepped down as the Chairman of the Board, just a couple months after RIM named a new CEO as well. Not only has Balsillie left completely (who was one of RIM’s co-founders by the way), but RIM has also recently seen the loss of Alistair Mitchell, who was the Vice President of BlackBerry Messenger. After them, Senior Vice President of the BlackBerry platform Alan Brenner is reported to be gone as well as CTO David Yach and COO Jim Rowan. These departures come after a hugely disappointing Q4 sales and earnings report was just announced this last week.
It’s not looking good for Research In Motion lately. They have some huge recovery and soul searching to do over the next quarter.
Source – WSJ
Article first published as Research In Motion Executives Abandoning Ship on Technorati.
RIM: BlackBerry PlayBook Will Get BlackBerry 10 Update
It’s hard to find good news about anything besides Apple’s new iPad which is hitting stores in North America tomorrow, Friday March 16th 2012. With that in mind, there’s some good news for BlackBerry PlayBook owners, so you may not want to trade it in for a new iPad just yet. Research In Motion has gone on the record and confirmed that it’s next generation Operating System for their mobile devices will also be released for the BlackBerry PlayBook.
RIM just put out the long awaited and highly anticipated PlayBook 2.0 update last month in February 2012, with much satisfaction of the tablets’ owners. The upgrade since has penetrated over 50% of the current PlayBook owner user base just a couple weeks after release.
The BB10 software is slated to be released with the first BlackBerry 10 smartphone this fall 2012. Although the new OS is QNX based, there’s no telling when the update will be launched for the PlayBook. RIM VP of Product Management made no reference to an exact date, but he did state the following:
We’ve said publicly a number of times that our first BB10 handset will be available towards the end of 2012, and that’s still firmly the case…At some point after the launch we’ll bring BB10 to our PlayBooks, yes.
Let’s all hope that holds true, and doesn’t get postponed like the PlayBook 2.0 upgrade did. That may spell certain doom for RIM, if there’s still anything left saving as it is.
Source – TechRadar
Article first published as RIM: BlackBerry PlayBook Will Get BlackBerry 10 Update on Technorati.
iPad 2 8GB Model May Launch With iPad 3 March 7th
We’ve heard rumors of Apple possibly releasing a smaller iPad, or iPad ‘Mini’ after the iPad 3 (or iPad Pro) launches this month. It’s been a lot of speculation and not a whole lot of solid foundation for the rumors. Currently, the iPad 2 comes in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models, which costs customers anywhere from $499 – $849 depending on whether it has WiFi and 3G connectivity respectively to the model size for internal storage as previously mentioned.
Apple may be planning on lightening the load on customers wallets who perhaps just could not quite afford to get into an iPad. Digitimes is reporting that people within the supply chain of Apple’s manufacturers for the iPad suggest they are also building iPad 2 tablets with 8GB of storage. This iPad 2 would reduce the price a little more than the expected reduction of existing iPad 2 devices after the iPad 3 launch.
It is expected that we see a $75 – $100 price reduction on the iPad 2, which would probably put an 8GB iPad 2 model around a price of $299 – $349. That seems to be a much more digestible price for many aswe saw huge sales numbers out of BlackBerry PlayBooks when they were reduced by $200 – $300 down to $299 and under for all models. The same thing is happening with Android tablets, where any marked down to $399 or less from $499 are seeing a resurgence in sales.
Source – DigiTimes
Article first published as iPad 2 8GB Model May Launch With iPad 3 March 7th on Technorati.
BlackBerry PlayBook 2.0 Installations Rise 44% After Release
Here’s something that Google and all its’ Android manufacturers can take a note from on how to get the latest software installed on machines as soon as possible. Android users often find the most frustrating part of having an Android device is that they need to wait for 3 different layers of companies to complete an update before it’s released to the public. That process has always been a thorn in Android users’ sides.
Research In Motion released the BlackBerry PlayBook 2.0 operating system update February 21st 2012 and it’s seen a huge installation increase over the past week as a result of PlayBook owners being very satisfied with the upgrade features. Over 44% of PlayBooks have already installed the update, and according to Chitika (who provided the research metrics), this should increase to over 75% within the next two weeks. Android users WISH they could grab the latest OS update that fast, for their smartphones or tablets.
Among the main improvements to the PlayBook 2.0 OS are integrated email, calendar and contact apps. Part of those include account integration for Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter for social networking messaging and notifications. An Android player has been made available which runs in the background of the OS, and comes to life when you download and install an Android application from the BlackBerry App World. Other improvements to the UI have been made such as the ability to place apps into created folders for organization as opposed to the default tab organizers in PlayBook 1.0.
If you have a PlayBook and haven’t grabbed the update, you should do it fast. You won’t be disappointed in any way when you do!
Source – Chitika
Article first published as RIM BlackBerry PlayBook 2.0 Installations Rise 44% After Release on Technorati.
RIM Releases BlackBerry PlayBook 2.0 Videos With Upgrade
Research In Motion released BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 earlier Tuesday morning. With the very long awaited and anticipated release came native email, contacts and calendar integration, with the addition of facebook, twitter and linkedin accounts as well. Further to that, the BlackBerry App World saw a facelift of its own, while the keyboard saw efficiency improvements by adding a number row at the top of the qwerty keys.
To highlight many of these new additions and features to the PlayBook OS, Research In Motion has created these new videos demonstrating the improvements as well as how the PlayBook can interact with your other devices. BlackBerry smartphone and DNLA communication make the PlayBook a seamless part of your electronic life. Have a watch below!
Sources – YouTube
Article first published as RIM Releases BlackBerry PlayBook 2.0 Upgrade (Videos) on Technorati.
Recent Comments