play books

So, who makes the processor humming under the new BlackBerry PlayBook's hood? That important question was not answered yesterday when RIM announced the 7-inch tablet.

Yesterday, when Research In Motion co-CEO Michael Lazaridis unveiled the BlackBerry PlayBook during the opening keynote event at the DevCon developer conference, the dual-core processor was touted by Lazaridis as a marquee feature. But little else was revealed about what is probably the single most important piece of internal hardware.

Here's what we know about the tablet, due early next year in the U.S.: The PlayBook uses "1 gigahertz dual-core processors that take advantage of built-in symmetric multiprocessing," according to Lazaridis during the keynote speech. In symmetric multiprocessing (SMP), the operating system handles all allocation of threads, or tasks, to the processors. Most current high-level operating systems have built-in support for this mode of operation, according to a description of SMP on ARM's Web site.

That open-ended statement by Lazaridis presents a few possibilities that could fit the bill. Nvidia is shipping a dual-core Tegra processor and Texas Instruments has a dual-core OMAP processor due soon. Both chips--technically referred to as application processors--are based on the ARM Cortex A9 design and support symmetric multiprocessing. And Qualcomm will offer a chipset with a dual-core processor running at up to 1.5GHz next year.

Linely Gwennap, principal analyst, the Linley Group, said the only dual-core 1GHz ARM processor that is in production today is Nvidia's Tegra 2. He also cited TI's OMAP 4, which is due to enter production in Q4 this year as a candidate.

But RIM is a longtime user of application processors from Santa Clara, Calif.-based Marvell Semiconductor.… Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--RIM put the rest of the world on notice that it's not just a boring, yet eminently reliable, buttoned-up smartphone maker anymore.

As was widely rumored, RIM did unveil its first non-smartphone device today at the opening keynote event at its DevCon developer conference here. The company is calling it the PlayBook.

The PlayBook is aimed at people who do more work than play--RIM's calling it "the first professional tablet"--but the company is certainly not ignoring the world outside of the office. In fact, even though RIM is playing very heavily to its reliable, … Read more

Judging from the number of times the words "professional" and "uncompromising" came up during today's Research In Motion announcement, we think it's fair to say the PlayBook isn't positioned to take on Apple as a budget alternative to the iPad. Instead, RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook is poised to attack the iPad on the basis of specs, such a 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, micro-HDMI output, symmetrical dual-core processing, and support for 1080p HD video playback. It also features both rear-facing (5MP) and front-facing (3MP) cameras, capable of HD video recording and still photos.

The PlayBook also distinguishes itself from other tablets with its size, featuring a 7-inch screen (1,024x600) that falls right between the iPad's 9.7-inch screen and the 5-inch screen of the Dell Streak. In all, the PlayBook's dimensions measure 5.1 inches tall, 7.6 inches wide, and 0.4 inch thick, weighing just under a pound.

On the software end, the PlayBook runs an OS designed from the ground up by BlackBerry, which is compatible with a number of BlackBerry services and apps. The BlackBerry tablet OS also supports Adobe Flash 10.1, WebKit, Java, Open GL, and Adobe Air. Supported video formats include H.264, MPEG4, and WMV, up to 1080p HD resolution (scaled down to the screen's lower native resolution).

Though it seemingly isn't required for users to have a BlackBerry smartphone to use the PlayBook, it certainly doesn't hurt. Existing BlackBerry users can pair with the PlayBook over Bluetooth to provide them with a secure gateway to connect with their BlackBerry e-mail, contacts, calendar, and tasks. In theory, pairing with a BlackBerry phone also allows the PlayBook to take advantage of the phone's cellular data connection for surfing the Web or streaming media, though carriers have yet to weigh in on how far users can take this tethering capability. On its own, the PlayBook features an integrated 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi connection.

With all of these specs, the PlayBook has rocketed to the top of our list of the iPad's most legitimate contenders. Of course, there are a number of details RIM neglected to mention that may make the tablet a nonstarter. … Read more

Amazon already has a Kindle app for BlackBerry, so it's not surprising that it announced that it will release an app for BlackBerry's upcoming PlayBook tablet, which has a 7-inch touch screen and will be released in early 2011.

In case you hadn't noticed already, part of Amazon's strategy for selling e-books and expanding the Kindle platform is to make sure that its Kindle app is available for a variety of mobile devices, the more the better.

"When you buy a Kindle book, you can already read it on iPhone, iPad, Android, PC, Mac, BlackBerry, … Read more

Research in Motion today unveiled its first tablet offering called the "PlayBook."

The device is due early next year in the U.S., with international availability coming in the second quarter of 2011. RIM has not yet announced a price.

The 7-inch, 9.7mm-thick tablet, which was debuted by RIM's President and co-CEO Mike Lazaridis at the company's DevCon event in San Francisco, features an HTML5-capable browser, both front- and rear-facing HD cameras, and HDMI and USB ports.

On the inside, the PlayBook runs off of a 1GHz dual-core chip and has 1GB of built-in RAM. … Read more