With the BlackBerry Playbook release date quickly approaching, and considering the fact that 2011 will see many interesting tablets being released, a lot of people are curious if RIM’s PlayBook will worth its price tag.
It seems that, in order to keep its potential customers interested, RIM has begun to release more and more interesting details on its tablet. And if a couple of weeks ago Research In Motion has revealed that the BlackBerry PlayBook will have over 4000 apps available at its release date, now the manufacturer is back with more interesting details.
David Heit, VP of RIM, introduced us to the various ways in which the BlackBerry PlayBook’s 4 different profiles will be working. These are some very interesting features which I personally found as a nice addition to what RIM has been offering already with the PlayBook. As such the very first of the 4 different profiles is the Bridge mode, which I’m pretty sure that most of you BlackBerry users already know, but just to make sure that everyone gets a piece of the news…let’s get into some details.
The Bridge mode will require you to pair your BlackBerry handset to your PlayBook in order to access any PIM data like your memopad, your e-mails and contacts. This instantly gives the system and the profile security, something for which the company is very well known for.
The second of the 4 different profiles which were explained by RIM’s VP is using the device as a VPN device. Using it in this mode will allow you to use your PlayBook as a virtual desktop when it’s safely connected over a Wi-Fi connection. This is probably one of my favorite modes as it gives the option of getting some files from the office for remote workers. There are ways of improving this function, out of which we could go for using the tablet as a secondary display once you are at your desk, but it’s not too late to see that implemented.
RIM’s PlayBook doesn’t stop here as another one of the 4 different profiles comes to life in the form of “Balance” or dual-persona. This will allow the tablet to act in two different ways. In one aspect the device can be used for personal items and thus keeping work and your personal things separated. This profile will be coming to BlackBerry smartphones in the following BES update so considering that the PlayBook is a great multimedia device, such a mode only makes sense.
The device demoed was equipped only with Wi-Fi but presumably as soon as the 3G and 4G versions of the device will be coming out we will see a full enterprise-managed mode, so that IT admins can remotely wipe the device from anywhere if it comes down to that.
Yet even despite all these modes the thing which really got my attention were the specs of the Blackberry Playbook. The tablet will be coming to customers with a 7 inch display with a native resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels, dual-core processor clocked at 1 GHz per core, 1 GB of RAM, a 5 MP camera on the back while the front cam will have 3 MP with both of them being able to record videos in HD. Connectivity wise you’ll find Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and a HDMI-out.
RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook release date is said to be sometime at the end of March, beginning of April, and according to the most recent leaks it will set you back only $499 for the 16 GB version of the device. The pricing for the 3G and 4G versions are yet unknown, so until then, keep a sharp lookout for this little monster.
Thanks IntoMobile for letting us know about these BlackBerry PlayBook features.
