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RIM rolls out PlayBook OS 2.0: Too little too late

Summary: RIM's latest OS for the PlayBook brings built-in email and calendar features to the device.

Larry Dignan

By for Between the Lines |

Research in Motion rolled out its BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 in a move that brings built-in email and calendaring to its beleaguered tablet.

The fact that RIM is trumpeting built in email and calendaring as its best PlayBook 2.0 feature illustrates how behind the company has become. After all, RIM is known for its email and calendar and these features should have landed a year ago.

What remains to be seen is whether the PlayBook OS 2.0 can breathe life into RIM's tablet. It's probably a bit late in the game even if RIM keeps prices low. On the bright side, RIM's release of the PlayBook OS highlights that the company can keep a schedule and is developing the base for what will anchor its superphone strategy.

Among the key features:

  • Built-in email and calendar. A social hub integrates contacts from Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
  • BlackBerry Bridge, which will allow you to use the BlackBerry smartphone as a remote control for the PlayBook.
  • A feature called Open On, which allows you to transfer documents and photos from the BlackBerry to the PlayBook with one click.
  • Android apps in the PlayBook store.

I---like a lot of PlayBook owners---will dust the device off to give the PlayBook OS 2.0 a try.

Topics: Security, Mobility, BlackBerry

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42 comments
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  • I disagree it is too little too late.

    The email, calendar, contact apps are great, and integrated seamlessly the various accounts and other applications. Performance is great, the UI is very nice and fluid. Personally, I prefer the PB 2.0 experience to the iPad experience, and I've been playing with my iPad for more than a year. And with RIM announcements of further features for PB 2.0, I am excited!
    SFbeartech
    Reply Vote

    • RE: RIM rolls out PlayBook OS 2.0: Too little too late

      @SFbeartech

      Ty from RIM here. Glad you???re enjoying the PlayBook 2.0 experience! In addition to the native email/calendar/contacts you mentioned, PlayBook 2.0 includes several other features, as well. Thousands of new apps are being added to BlackBerry App World today (including a range of Android apps that will run on the BlackBerry PlayBook), and I recommend checking out ???Open On,??? which allows you to open your documents, photos and links from your BlackBerry smartphone onto your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet with one click.

      We have a new post today on our Inside BlackBerry Blog that highlights more of the new features of PlayBook 2.0. Here???s a link if you???d like to check it out: http://bbry.lv/yqiDz2. Enjoy!

      Cheers,

      Ty, RIM Social Media Team
      TyWilliams
      Reply Vote

    • Look at all the Rimtards...

      @SFbeartech <br><br>Are you trolls paid to post this lame fan BS or do you bozos do it for free???<br><br>Considering your writing style is identical to Ty for Rim... I would say it's pretty obvious you are paid to post your fan fluff... I would say there is an extremely good chance that Ty from Rim has multiple accounts and enjoys stroking himself/yourself...<br><br>Rim lost it a long time ago... At this point its just embarassing and painful to watch. The Rim experience is a joke. Take some time away from your lies and use it to do something beneficial like looking for a new job.
      i8thecat4
      Reply Vote

      • RE: RIM rolls out PlayBook OS 2.0: Too little too late

        @i8thecat4

        Please go away child...Troll somewhere else. Your ignorance is showing.
        It'sNotMe
        Reply Vote

      • Re:Look at all the Rimtards...

        @i8thecat4: Please, take your thumb out of our mouth and try to act like an adult...if you can.
        ryork272
        Reply Vote

    • RE: RIM rolls out PlayBook OS 2.0: Too little too late

      @SFbeartech
      This update had only been available for a few minutes when you posted your comment detailing how it had changed your life. You managed to test its performance over a few minutes, and integration for a few minutes, and you feel this is enough time to give a big thumbs up to the update. And you want us to believe you are not a RIM employee? Things must be desperate if you have to write fake reviews.
      Gromit1704
      Reply Vote

      • RE: RIM rolls out PlayBook OS 2.0: Too little too late

        @Gromit1704 I installed yhe playbook last night and set up the e-mail today - this thing is works great - e-mail works beter then email on my laptop - blaybook is real fast on the web - glad I got this little unit
        e.fiesel@...
        Reply Vote

      • @Gromit1704

        I have now used it for a couple days and can tell you with certainty that the new apps are kick butt. I have an iPad 2 and the email, contacts and calendar apps all exceed the iPad capabilities.

        Its too bad RIM took so long to get it right. But lets give them credit where credit is deserved. And with the new $199 price point, this little devil is a bargain.
        ryork272
        Reply Vote

    • RE: RIM rolls out PlayBook OS 2.0: Too little too late

      @SFbeartech

      Yes, there is nothing actually 'wrong with' 2.0, but the actual performance, features and what not doesn't actually matter because this isn't really a 'review', ZDNet's official ediorial position is that everything RIM says and does is wrong no matter what, and so they are following that line.....who cares what the actual facts are?

      I'm so sick of the 'Apple and Google can do wrong, RIM can do no right' editorial spin of every fricking article at this site.
      Doctor Demento
      Reply Vote

  • Dust it off?

    I wrote a response, but decided that it was not worth the effort and erased it. All hail the mighty Apple. May Jobs be with you.
    happyharry_z
    Reply Vote

    • RE: RIM rolls out PlayBook OS 2.0: Too little too late

      @happyharry_z Where does he mention Apple in his article?
      themarty
      Reply Vote

      • RE: RIM rolls out PlayBook OS 2.0: Too little too late

        I guess his point is... look at the stories for any other tablet, then iPad stories. Look at the messages and the tones.
        Michael Alan Goff
        Reply Vote

      • RE: RIM rolls out PlayBook OS 2.0: Too little too late

        @happyharry_z So you assume the blogger likes his iPad more then he does the Playbook, which he owns by the way. There's something to be said about 1) First impressions and 2) the tools you actually use. Of what I hear the Playbook didn't give a good first impression. When you want to compete against a giant like the iPad, you have to be more than perfect and it wasn't. RIM must concentrate on its strength which is the business world and forget about non-biz consumers. They've lost this one. They still have a slippery hold on the biz world and should concentrate on that. Otherwise they'll fail. And I don't want them to fail, I'm Canadian.
        themarty
        Reply Vote

      • Where does he mention Apple?

        Are you incapable of reading between the lines and actually "thinking" on your own or does it need to be completely spelled out for you?
        ryork272
        Reply Vote

      • @themarty

        So who annointed you the "expert" on the tablet industry? This is a 2 year old market with enormous potential. Remember Atari? How about Commodore Computer? Or how about Apple back in the 90's? One stumble and the leader can take a BIG fall. Yeah, you are the expert. Sure.
        ryork272
        Reply Vote

  • RE: RIM rolls out PlayBook OS 2.0: Too little too late

    If the playbook can run android apps without compatibility issue could it compete with the kindle fire? Both are 7" and I saw deals for the 16gig playbook for 199$.
    Jean-Pierre-
    Reply Vote

  • RE: RIM rolls out PlayBook OS 2.0: Too little too late

    Should the Playbook have shipped with this software? Yes. Will the Playbook ever compete with the iPad at the same price point? No. Will the Playbook ever beat iPad in market share? No. However, the Globe and Mail reported over the weekend that Playbook's market share has grown from 5% to 15% in Canada, largely due to deep discounting, which indicates that contrary to popular opinion on this site, there is a market for lower priced, 7" tablets.

    Yes, the iPad is a fabulous product, but tech writers on this site need to understand that not everyone needs, wants, or can afford a premium brand. Most tech writers on this site would never make it as automotive journalists - for the simple fact that once they were given a Porsche to test drive, every other car they reviewed would be considered a piece of crap.
    mcksmith
    Reply Vote

    • RIM Rules

      @mcksmith

      Not too little. Not too late!!! The PB 2.0 makes the iPad 2 look like an etch-a-sketch. The iPad is a POS. The PB is amazing, better than the iPad 2 in every way. Apple sucks in every way. RIM rules in every way. Long RIM.
      Volitility
      Reply Vote

      • ROTFLMAO!!!!

        @Volitility <br><br>Long Rim???? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! OMG!!! WHEW!!! Good One... I spit out my coffee... <br><br>You go long on Rim and come back and tell us how you like living on the streets as a homeless person... LOL!!! <br><br>I've been shorting RIMM for the last year and am loving every minute of it... RIMM is down to a piddly 15.20... They are going to loose about 4 to 5 more dollars and then they will be vine ripe and ready to be purchased, and then, RIM will go the way of palm/Dodo...
        i8thecat4
        Reply Vote

    • Well said

      @mcksmith Nuf said.
      happyharry_z
      Reply Vote
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