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Screenshots: BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0

RIM's latest tablet operating system adds native email, an enhanced browser and support for some Android applications, among other features. Here's a tour of the new-look PlayBook OS.
By Simon Bisson, Contributor
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The new-look App World drops the carousel in favour of a set of tiles rather reminiscent of Microsoft's Metro.

Screenshots: Simon Bisson/ZDNet UK

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PlayBook OS 2.0 finally adds a native Messaging app — mixing email and social messaging tools in once place.

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Messages lets you work with Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, as well as several email accounts.

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To set up email, just fill in an email address and a password, and let PlayBook OS do the rest.

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If you need to set up mail manually, you can choose between Exchange, common webmail services, plus IMAP and POP.

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Once connected, you can choose what to synchronise. Here we're connecting to an Exchange email server, for messages, contacts and calendar.

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Messages brings email, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn into one single, unified mailbox, with support for rich HTML mail.

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PlayBook OS 2.0's message editor supports rich formatting, as well as setting urgent flags.

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You can drill into individual accounts, as well as showing a unified mailbox.

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As well as sending email, you can use Messages for social messaging — like sending Twitter DMs.

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The PlayBook OS 2.0 Calendar uses typography to show how busy a day is: the larger the number, the more appointments you have.

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Click into an appointment to see who you are meeting, and to get more information about your contacts.

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Press and hold items on the PlayBook front screen to delete unwanted apps, or to move them into folders or the task launcher.

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The task launcher is always visible when you're switching between apps, ready to launch favourites like the browser, or Messages.

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Create a folder by dragging one app on top of another, then give your new folder a name. Additional apps can be dropped into the folder.

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Documents To Go includes a tool for editing and creating Word documents, with drop-down formatting tools in the toolbar.

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Similarly there's an Excel editor, with support for cell formatting and for functions.

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New messages are shown by an icon in the top left of the main screen. Just click to open Messages.

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The browser's reading view gives you an uncluttered look at a web page you've already loaded. Just rotate to portrait to get the best possible reading experience.

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