-Hey, I'm Donald Bell, and this is the Blackberry Playbook.
RIM says their tablet mean business, so let's see how it handles a Powerpoint presentation.
The Blackberry Playbook makes a pretty mean presentation tool comes pre-installed with software for viewing and editing Microsoft office documents and includes a built in HDMI connection that can easily connect to any modern display or projector.
-It also has a few tricks at up its sleeve that you won't find on the iPad.
So, step one, make sure your Powerpoint presentation loaded unto the Playbook.
You do this by connecting to your computer with the included USB cable and dragging your document unto the playbook folder.
If this is your first time connecting the Playbook to your computer, you will probably need to install the Blackberry desktop software, which you can download at blackberry.com.
Now for the fun part, you will need an HDMI cable that ends with a Micro HDMI connection.
The longer the cable, the more room you'll have to move around.
A 6-foot cable should not cost more 20 dollars.
They can be found for less than 10 dollars on line.
Also be careful not to confuse micro HDMI with mini HDMI.
They are 2 different things and you want micro.
Connect the micro end to your Playbook and the standard HDMI bit into the display of your projector.
Make sure your playbook and the display are both powered on and the display is set to HDMI input.
With any luck, you should see your playbook home screen
Mirrored onto your display.
Next, lunch the slide show to go up.
Hit the browse button, select your Powerpoint document from the list and hit open.
You should see your presentation on the display.
In this mode, you can flick left to right to the slides or use the areas on the top, but if you really wanna go pro, use the presenter mode icon up here to look the full screen slide show to the HDMI output.
This will free your self up to configure the tablet however you like.
For example, you can tap the middle icon and see a thumbnail view on the tablet, but while maintaining a full screen view on the display.
Hit the button on the left and you can privately view what ever notes you might have that go along with your presentation.
While the presenter mode is locked, you can also jump out of the app by swiping up from the bottom.
This can be useful if you need to reference an e-mail, but don't feel like showing everyone your inbox.
It's also useful if you wanna cue up a video since the video player also has a presenter mode and can steal the lock from your Powerpoint doc.
When the video is over, jump back into your presentation and steal the lock back by hitting the presenter button again.
So, that's how to use the Blackberry Playbook for presentations, for cnet.com, I'm Donald Bell.
