Hands-on look: BlackBerry PlayBook (photos)

RIM held a special media-only event in New York City on Thursday showing off the new BlackBerry PlayBook. Here's a hands-on look.

Nothing very new was revealed at the event, but it was a great opportunity to get a closer glance at a slate that is a bit out of the ordinary when compared to the slew of other tablets rolling out this spring.

[Image Gallery: BlackBerry PlayBook]

Dubbed as the "professional-grade" tablet, the PlayBook definitely fits in more as a business-friendly slate.

The BlackBerry PlayBook falls into the 7-inch tablet range along side the original Samsung Galaxy Tab. When I first held the device, it immediately reminded me of the feel of the HP Slate. That's mainly due to size and its professional-related apps, but the BlackBerry Tablet OS (which is partnered with Android) is much more graphic heavy.

However, one of the most outstanding features on the BlackBerry PlayBook is the video playback and the capacitive multi-touch display with its 1,024 x 600 resolution. It supports full HD 1080p video and a multitude of codecs thanks to the 1GB of RAM, a 1GHz processor and support for Adobe Flash 10.1. There are plenty of things to praise on the PlayBook, but it's questionable how useful it will be for non-BlackBerry owners - especially given the e-mail situation.

Check back tomorrow morning for an analysis on how well this might do in the consumer market!