The TestM diagnostic mode offers 26 tests, which range from testing the cameras, touchscreen, microphone, and even the haptic engine, to a comprehensive stress test that pushes ...
Meet PlayBook: The 'enterprise-ready' iPad killer?
Meet PlayBook: The 'enterprise-ready' iPad killer?
BlackBerry-maker RIM ended months of tablet-based speculation last night at its DevCon developer conference in San Francisco by taking the wraps off the forthcoming BlackBerry PlayBook, pictured above.
The device - the smartphone maker's first foray into the larger, tablet form-factor - is more than just a big BlackBerry, however, as it will run a whole new operating system too, known as the BlackBerry Tablet OS. The new OS, which has a Neutrino-based microkernel architecture, was developed by QNX, a company RIM acquired earlier this year.
The PlayBook is 130mm x 193mm x 10mm, weighs around 400g and is described by RIM as "ultra thin and portable". There's a seven-inch LCD, 1024 x 600, WSVGA, capacitive touchscreen with multi-touch and gesture support; 1GHz dual-core processor; 1GB RAM; 802.11 a/b/g/n wi-fi and Bluetooth 2.1 but no cellular connectivity. It does have cameras though, two of them, including a front-facing camera for videoconferencing.
In a pitch aimed at wooing developers away from rival mobile platforms such as Apple's iOS and Google's Android OS, RIM said the BlackBerry Tablet OS is fully Posix compliant, to facilitate easy porting of C-based code; supports symmetric multitasking; has Common Criteria EAL 4+ security; supports Open GL for 2D and 3D graphics-intensive applications such as gaming; and will run applications built in Adobe Mobile AIR. PlayBook will also support Flash Player 10.1.
Last night RIM also announced BlackBerry WebWorks at DevCon - a web application platform that enables HTML5 developers to create integrated web apps for RIM's devices, in addition to using CSS and JavaScript.
RIM said it has released the WebWorks framework to the open source community - another carrot for developers, allowing them to access and contribute to the web application platform and tooling components.
The BlackBerry Tablet OS SDK is planned for release in the coming weeks, it added.
Caption by: Natasha Lomas
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