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BlackBerry PlayBook 2.0 brings native e-mail and Android Apps

by Alistair Lowe on 23 February 2012, 12:00

Tags: RIM (TSE:RIM)

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Many months later and RIM's latest 2.0 update for the BlackBerry PlayBook has finally arrived and with it, some interesting and useful new features and a whole bunch of polish.

Most important of the new capabilities brought about by the update is the availability of native email, native calendar and native contacts clients, which add support for unified inboxing, tabs, rich-text editing and retrieval of contact and event information from multiple sources.

Other improvements involve a redesigned video chat app, an enhanced browser with improved HTML 5 support, updates to Documents To Go, the addition of Print To Go and a new file manager. Though it's yet to grace UK shores, RIM also launched a new Video Store over in the US.

To top-off changes, thousands of new applications will be entering the BlackBerry App World as the 2.0 update brings support for Android applications.

With all these new editions and some fine tuning of existing features, the PlayBook 2.0 update takes leaps forwards, however is it enough to save the struggling PlayBook tablet and secure the BlackBerry brand as an early window into the offerings of the BlackBerry 10 OS?

A hands-on video from TheVerge



HEXUS Forums :: 11 Comments

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upgrade is a nice improvement no doubt, but not that i will make much use of the features as mine is essentially an e-reader cum web-browser.
Not sure why one would even consider this over the many native Android tablets out there, or even the ipad. Seems like RIM and clutching at straws to stay in the tablet market.

RIM - its over… your done….
Brewster0101
Not sure why one would even consider this over the many native Android tablets out there, or even the ipad. Seems like RIM and clutching at straws to stay in the tablet market.

RIM - its over… your done….

but it could be had quite cheap. so well known brand with the build quality etc that goes with it, plus the software support. one of these for £125 compared to an ipad1 second hand or refurbished at £250 when the new ipad3 is supposedly due out soon
Brewster0101
Not sure why one would even consider this over the many native Android tablets out there, or even the ipad. Seems like RIM and clutching at straws to stay in the tablet market.

RIM - its over… your done….

because up until ICS at least multi-tasking on android has sucked, whereas the user experience with PBOS is sublime.

also the fact that you cannot get an android tablet of comparable build quality for the same price given the massive discount on playbooks since October.

finally, tegra2 is rubbish, and that tends to be the most popular choice for android tablets where an even slower solution is not chosen. Omap4 with 1GB, on the other hand, is an excellent SoC.
RIM had a decent market share with the phones and they were the choice for business, had the playbook been released a lot earlier then they could of really made a killing in the business world, imho of course, however, again imho it could very easily be a case of too little too late..