All Play, No Work? – RIM Announces The PlayBook
The highly anticipated Blackberry tablet has finally been announced and it looks pretty good too. Smaller than the current Apple iPad (rumors are rife that Apple are bringing out a smaller iPad in 2011). The PlayBook as Blackberry have christened their tablets stands in a 7 inches tall, weighs less than a pound, fueled by a 1GHz dual-core processor and dual HD cameras for both video conferencing and video capture. Also, a great additional advantage over the iPad is the inclusion of an HDMI-out port, allowing output to an external display. And that’s just a few of the features, see more below:
Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO at Research In Motion explained, “RIM set out to engineer the best professional-grade tablet in the industry with cutting-edge hardware features and one of the world’s most robust and flexible operating systems. “The BlackBerry PlayBook solidly hits the mark with industry leading power, true multitasking, uncompromised web browsing and high performance multimedia.”
Capacity still remains a bit of a mystery but rumors point to 16GB and 32GB.
Blackberry have also ensured support for Adobe Flash Play, Adobe Mobile AIR and HTML-5. It has built in Bluetooth, so if you already have a Blackberry smartphone you can pair that up with your PlayBook and view email, calendar, tasks and any other content that’s on your smartphone on the larger screen of the PlayBook.
It should be reasonably fast to operate with 1 GB RAM.
Dual HD cameras (3 MP front facing and 5 MP rear facing) and supports 1080p HD video recording. As well as video playback with 1080p HD video, H.264, MPEG, DivX and WMV. Audio playback is via MP3, AAC and/or WMA.
Connectors include – MicroHDMI, MicroUSB
So, all in all a pretty good package – the PlayBook is expected to be available in retail outlets and other channels in the United States in early 2011 with rollouts in other international markets beginning in (calendar) Q2.
Joanne Carter
Joanne Carter is a British photography journalist, editor, curator, and the founder of *TheAppWhisperer.com*, one of the world’s leading platforms dedicated to mobile photography and art. Since its launch in 2009, TheAppWhisperer has become an international hub for artists of all levels to discover, learn, exhibit, and engage with contemporary photographic practice.Built on principles of inclusivity, accessibility, and artistic excellence, Joanne has spent almost two decades championing mobile photography as a serious artistic medium. Through interviews, critical essays, exhibitions, competitions, and education, she has helped shape and document the evolution of mobile art on a global scale.Her work has taken her internationally, lecturing on photography and mobile art at institutions and events including the Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea, alongside appearances in the UK and Europe. She has served as a juror for international photography and mobile art awards across Portugal, Canada, the United States, South Korea, Italy, and the UK.Joanne is also the founder of *TheAppWhispererPrintSales.com*, one of the first online galleries dedicated exclusively to collectible mobile art, connecting artists with collectors across Europe, the United States, and Asia.Before founding TheAppWhisperer, Joanne worked extensively in print journalism and photographic publishing, including roles at a paparazzi photo agency and as deputy editor of a leading photography magazine. Her freelance journalism, criticism, and commentary have been published widely in both the UK and the US, with bylines in *The Times*, *The Sunday Times*, *The Guardian*, *Popular Photography*, *NikonPro*, *DPReview*, *Which?*, *Vogue Italia*, *LensCulture*, the *BBC*, and more recently, the *Financial Times*, where her published letters on photography continue to contribute to wider conversations around the medium.Alongside her editorial and curatorial work, Joanne’s own photographic practice has been exhibited internationally across the UK, Europe, South Korea, and the United States. Her work increasingly explores themes of grief, loss, death, memory, and the body.Her current research interests centre on grief, death, and poverty, with forthcoming postgraduate study leading towards doctoral research in these areas.Joanne is currently developing new long-form writing and photographic projects and is available for commissions, editorial projects, speaking engagements, and collaborations.Contact: joannetheappwhisperer@gmail.com)
