Feb 25

BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 now available for ...

The highly anticipated BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 is now globally available and ready for download. The new software delivers an enhanced tablet experience and allows you to use the BlackBerry PlayBook in new ways throughout the day – at work and at play.

“Building on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet’s proven web browsing, multimedia and multitasking strengths, the new BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 introduces a range of new communications and productivity enhancements as well as expanded app and content support,” said David J. Smith, SVP Mobile Computing, Research In Motion.

New BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 features include:

• Integrated email client with a powerful unified inbox: With BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 you have the option to use a unified inbox that consolidates all messages in one place, including messages from Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, as well as personal and work email accounts.

• Social Integration with Calendar and Contacts apps: The built-in calendar harnesses information from social networks and makes it available where and when users need it. Contact cards are also dynamically populated with updated information from Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to create a consolidated view of contacts.

• Updated BlackBerry Bridge app: BlackBerry Bridge is a unique app that provides a Bluetooth connection between your BlackBerry PlayBook and core apps on your BlackBerry smartphone (including BBM, Email, Contacts, Calendar and Browser) in order to let you view the content on the larger tablet display. With BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0, it’s easier and quicker than ever to take documents, web pages, emails and photos that appear on your BlackBerry smartphone and display them on your BlackBerry PlayBook for an optimized viewing and editing experience. The updated BlackBerry Bridge app also provides a new remote control feature that allows a BlackBerry smartphone to be used as a wireless keyboard and mouse for a BlackBerry PlayBook.

• Improved mobile productivity: Updated document editing functions, the new Print To go app, and increased control and manageability of corporate data with BlackBerry Balance allow you to get more out of your BlackBerry PlayBook every day. plus, an updated virtual keyboard with auto correction and predictive next word completion learns how you type to enable faster, more accurate typing.

• New apps and content: Thousands of new apps are being added to BlackBerry App World (including a range of Android apps that will run on the BlackBerry PlayBook). Enhanced web browsing capabilities are also available with BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0.

In conjunction with the release of BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0, RIM is making available an initial release of BlackBerry Mobile Fusion that will include support for managing BlackBerry PlayBook tablets and BlackBerry smartphones in an enterprise. The full release of BlackBerry Mobile Fusion (with mobile device management capabilities for iOS and Android devices) is planned for general availability in late March 2012. for more information about BlackBerry Mobile Fusion, please visit www.blackberry.com/mobilefusion.

The BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 software update is now available as a free download for all BlackBerry PlayBook tablets.

BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 now available for download

Jan 31

Report: Dell Planning Consumer Tablet for Late ...

Despite all the innovative products emerging from this week’s tech conflab in Las Vegas, one of the biggest pieces of news may be that Dell has finally decided to toss its hat into consumer tablet ring.

Details of the upcoming product were revealed during an interview with Dell’s chief commercial officer Steve Felice who said, “You will see us enter this market in a bigger way toward the end of the year.”

Acknowledging the difficulty many companies have faced with regards to offering an iPad hardware competitor that can also offer a robust software and content support system, Felice said, “When you are talking about the tablet or the smartphone, people are interested in the overall environment its operating in… as we have matured in this, we are spending a lot more time in the overall ecosystem.”

CES 2012

Talk of a new consumer tablet push from Dell is big news for a number of reasons, not the least of which being the fact that the tech landscape is littered with the corpses of consumer tablets that failed to match the popularity of the iPad. Felice declined to say whether the new tablet would be based on the upcoming Windows 8 operating system or Android, but indicated that the final decision would be based more on consumer tastes rather than an internal preference on the part of Dell.

Dell’s most recent tablet disappointment was the Android-based Streak 7, which was introduced this time last year, and then quietly removed from the company’s website just last month. The Windows 7-based Dell Inspiron Duo and new Latitude XT3, category-defying netbook-meets-tablet hybrids, remain popular with some, but have failed to garner much excitement for those watching the tablet space. In the way of pure tablets, Dell’s pricey ($759) Latitude ST, a Windows 7-based device announced back in October, is an interesting device, but it’s geared primarily for business, government, education and healthcare organizations.

now that the Amazon-catalog-backed Kindle fire has emerged as the only consumer tablet to momentarily break the spell of the iPad 2, Dell is likely focusing much of its attention on how to crack the software and content ecosystem problem that has felled other would-be iPad competitors. Dell’s previous attempts at tablet hardware have garnered relatively positive marks in terms of design and feel, but with software now becoming the linchpin for any successful tablet launch, the latter half of this year may offer some surprising partnerships for the computing mainstay.

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Report: Dell Planning Consumer Tablet for Late 2012 Launch