Bloomberg has reported that RIM will start selling the 7″ BlackBerry Playbook in North America in Q1 2011 under US$500. That’s under RM1550 in our local currency today. According to RIM, the Playbook pricing is competitively priced against Apple’s iPad which starts from US$499. We can only hope that BlackBerry Malaysia will make it more affordable than the Galaxy Tab which retails at RM2699 for outright purchase.

It is too early to tell how well iPad’s real competitors will fare at the moment. The Samsung Galaxy Tab has just launched and the Playbook has yet to make an appearance. The new tablet rivals would also need to prepare themselves for a new iPad which is expected to offer newer features and a possible price reduction. So far the major differenciator for the tablet now are screen size & flash support. Looks like 2011 would be an interesting year for tablet wars.

[ SOURCE, VIA ]

	BlackBerry, Blackberry OS, Mobile Devices, Mobile OS
	blackberry, BlackBerry Playbook, BlackBerry Playbook Malaysia, BlackBerry Playbook Price, blackberry tablet, PlayBook, rim, Tablet

After weeks and weeks of rumours and speculation, BlackBerry has finally revealed it’s debut tablet device with the unlikely moniker — the PlayBook. At least BlackBerry proved the rumour of its tablet carrying name BlackPad as completely unfounded.

RIM claims the BlackBerry PlayBook is a professional grade and comes with a 7in touch-screen which is exactly the same size as the on on the Samsung Galaxy tab, larger than the Dell Streak and smaller than the 9.7in touchscreen on the device that it is competing directly against, the Apple iPad.

On paper, the PlayBook is packed with decent hardware to ensure that it can keep up with what the competition has to offer. Processing power is provided by a dual-core 1GHz processor with a whopping 1GB of RAM. In comparison, the magical iPad packs a 1Ghz processor with a paltry 256MB of RAM. Unlike the iPad the PlayBook has two cameras. There’s a 3MP foward-facing camera that’s will be used primarily for video calls and the likes while the rearward facing camera uses a 5MP sensor. No information on whether it can record HD videos at the moment but with the HDMI-out feature, why not.

Connectivity-wise, the PlayBook boasts HDMI-out and USB connectivity along with native capability to pair with BlackBerry smartphones for what we think is for data connectivity or sharing of media. There’s WiFi and Bluetooth on board but at the moment there’s no 3G connectivity built-in though RIM has indicated that this feature might be included in future incarnations of the PlayBook. Also, the PlayBook is capable of churning out 1080p video playback.

For the PlayBook, RIM abandoned BlackBerry’s own smartphone OS — the BlackBerry 6 — for a bespoke BlackBerry Tablet OS that delivers a navigation experience that is akin to that of Palm’s WebOS platform.

To the BlackBerry fans out there, if you’re all fired up to get one of these PlayBooks you’ll have to wait as there early reveal doesn’t make for an early launch. First units of this tablet will only hit the stores early 2011 in the US with an international launch slated for Q2 2011.

As always, we will try to get you the latest updates on the PlayBook as and when it happens, so keep it locked on to SoyaCincau.com

In the meantime, head on over to after the jump for official promo video of the BlackBerry Playbook and an official press release from RIM

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	BlackBerry, Mobile Devices
	blackberry, BlackBerry Playbook, blackberry tablet, PlayBook, rim, Tablet

RIM is believed to be unveiling a new tablet at a developers conference next week. This was rumoured to be the BlackPad but we believe RIM would give a better name for this BlackBerry Tablet. Some are even suggesting it could be called the SurfBook.

According to an article by WSJ, the tablet device is 7″ and it features either one or two cameras. Connectivity wise, it supports bluebooth and broadband connections but said to be exclusively possible through an existing BlackBerry smartphone device.

Another surprise is that it doesn’t run on BlackBerry 6 that was launched recently. Instead the tablet is to be running on a new platform built by QNX Software System which was recently acquired by RIM. So there you have it, now Apple, Android and Blackberry will be having their own tablets. We can’t wait to see the device next week.

Read the full details here.

[ SOURCE, VIA ]

	BlackBerry, Mobile Devices
	blackberry, blackberry tablet, Blackpad, rim, rumour, Tablet

A few days back, it was reported that RIM had purchased the domain name Blackpad.com. This sparked rumours that a possible new Blackberry tablet/ipad-like device is in the works.

A blackberry tablet was rumoured couple of months ago which said to feature a 8.9″ screen and connects via Bluetooth and WiFi only. It is also said that the focus is towards multimedia, ebooks or basically a tablet for the home, considering it lacks 3G cellular connectivity. This is a totally different product from the usual Blackberry range of products.

Nothing is concrete at the moment but we are eager to see what Blackberry could do with a tablet format which is currently dominated by iPads and with Android making an entrance soon.

[ SOURCE ]

	BlackBerry, Blackberry OS, Mobile Devices, Mobile OS, Rumour Mill
	blackberry, blackberry tablet, Blackpad, rim, rumour, Tablet

CNET reports that RIM might be gearing up for a Blackberry tablet with a possible debut sometime around the end of the year or perhaps early next year.

The Blackberry tablet is rumoured to be sporting a 7-inch touchscreen with a 1GHz processor plus a front- and rear-facing camera for video conferencing. A part from that, not much is known about the tablet and RIM has yet to even confirm the existence of such a device.

Chip marker Marvell which supplies the main processor for the Blackberry Bold 9700 is expected to supply RIM with the 1GHz processor to power the speculated tablet.

One possible chip candidate is the Marvell 1GHz Armada 610 processor, which is aimed at tablets, mobile Internet devices, and e-readers. The chip boasts full HD 1080p playback, 16-megapixel image captures, and advanced 3D graphics.

Looks promising, but if any device is going to make its debut towards the end of the year and beyond, the manufacturers had better look at next gen processors with capabilities above 1GHz. Already, there are rumours of a 2GHz smartphone in the works.

[Source via]
[picture credit]

	BlackBerry, Mobile Devices
	blackberry, blackberry tablet, Marvell, rim

Blackberry is really transforming itself now with its new touch friendly, social media savvy OS and a new range of devices that’s targeted to the less business crowd and more social media types. Even their new promo videos are looking decidedly casual.

Now Blackberry will be going into iPad territory, sources saying that RIM – the makers of Blackberry – will be producing a tablet device.

Details include 8.9 in screen but apparently no built-in mobile network connectivity (read: NO 3G or EDGE or anything of that sort).

The device will be required to tether to a Blackberry mobile phone (connectivity to other mobile phone brands could be possible too) via bluetooth or WiFi. The Blackberry tablet is said to be a multimedia centric device in which you do most of your video and photo viewing on and perhaps some eBook and email reading as well.

It’ll be interesting to see how the lack of mobile network connectivity will pan out for the Blackberry tablet considering its biggest rival – the iPad has it. And we’re thinking the other upcoming tablets from Android and WebOS (rumoured) will have a high probability of having 3G built-in as well.

Target launch date is December 2010 but it has been said that RIM is looking to have the tablet in the market before that.

Let the table wars commence!

[source]

	BlackBerry, Mobile Devices
	blackberry, blackberry tablet, new blackberry devices