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RIM Announces BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet

Posted by Soulskill on from the getting-into-the-game dept.

siliconbits writes "Today, at the BlackBerry Developers Conference in San Francisco, company President and co-CEO Mike Lazaridis kicked off the event with the widely-anticipated news that RIM is developing a tablet PC of its own. Called the BlackBerry Playbook, the device is a 'Flash-loving,' 'device-paring,' 'enterprise ready' tablet, says RIM, with a 7-inch screen. It is 9.7 millimeters thick and features a 1024x600 widescreen display. It also supports 1080p through HDMI and has a USB port." The tablet will run on a dual-core, 1GHz CPU and have 1GB RAM. Its browser will be WebKit-based, and the device will be running a brand new operating system developed by QNX software. The tablet won't have 3G access of its own when it launches, but will be able to tether to existing BlackBerry devices via Bluetooth.

4 of 184 comments (clear)

  1. this is fucking hilarious by larry+bagina · · Score: 2, Funny

    They're using WebKit (the leading mobile browser) since it's LGPL. They're also using QNX, which, while not exactly open source, was shared source. Key word: was. RIM (as in rim job) closed it up after buying QNX.

    --
    Do you even lift?

    These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.

  2. Re:Must really hurt to be MS these days by larry+bagina · · Score: 2, Funny

    It's true. For example, I can look at the linux source code today. I can look at the darwin source code today. But if I want to look at the QNX source code, I need to develop a time machine so I can go back in time, back before RIM cut off access to it. (Might as well go back before QNX required you to submit 10 pages of paperwork and a DNA sample as well).

    --
    Do you even lift?

    These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.

  3. Hardly...the GUI sounds very bad by Roger+W+Moore · · Score: 2, Funny
    I doubt it. Given that:

    The OS is built on the QNX Neutrino architecture

    Interacting with the thing is going to be just about impossible. All we need now is for the marketing guys to describe it as a "quantum leap" and their utter failure to understand the physics terms they are using will be complete...particularly ironic given that the owner of RIM financed the creation of the Perimeter Institute for theoretical physics in Canada!

  4. Re:hmm... 7 inches by fotoguzzi · · Score: 2, Funny

    7 inches should be enough for anybody.

    --
    Their they're doing there hair.