The upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook is going to take on other tablets such as the Apple iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab and even the new Motorola tablet that will be unveiled at CES this year. The PlayBook is “The world’s 1st professional tablet” and some notable specs have it coming with a 7-inch LCD display, 1GHz Dual Core Symmetrical Multiprocessor with 1GB RAM. In addition, early rumours have this to be priced at the $500 mark.
As for a availability in Canada, Rogers has confirmed they will be releasing this to their customers. Wind Mobile is “working really hard” on bringing this to their network and finally TELUS CEO Darren Entwistle recently stated he was “bullish on the PlayBook”, so you can expect it to be available with them as well.
News today from Shaw Wu of Kaufman Bros. who says that the most significant hurdle the PlayBook has to overcome is its battery life. Wu says his sources tell him that the relatively poor battery of the PlayBook only lasts a few hours – and the main reason for the drain is the QNX OS. Compared to the Apple iPad which has a duration of 10 hours, Samsung Tab averages about 6. Wu stated “From our understanding, this [is] likely why RIMM pushed out its launch to the May 2011 quarter. Keep in mind that QNX (the OS on which PlayBook runs) wasn’t originally designed for mobile environments but rather for devices like network equipment and automobiles where battery life isn’t as much a constraint.”
Time will tell… but the PlayBook still looks awesome.
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