Playbook OS 2.0 Released

Alt-kun writes "On February 21st, The Blackberry Playbook finally received its long-promised overhaul. Called Playbook OS 2.0, this major upgrade provides native email and calendaring apps, limited support for Android applications (the developer has to repackage the app for the Playbook), and a bunch of other features. There are some fairly positive initial reviews, although one can no doubt expect a lot of too-little-too-late naysaying from various quarters as well. The Globe and Mail article also contains this somewhat interesting note: '...until RIM began deep discounting ... the device languished way behind rivals such as the iPad in terms of market share. One recent report by Toronto-based Solutions Research Group, however, pegs RIM's share of the tablet market at around 15 per cent, a big jump after discounting over the holiday buying season.'" ZDNet has some screenshots of the new features, and El Reg has a piece on an interesting bit of the new software.

Comments

Take note

[Anonymous Coward]

10 and a half months after release, the Blackberry Playbook finally doesn't suck.

Much.

I hate subjects

[Anonymous Coward]

The fact that the Playbook didn't have native email (without tethering to a Blackberry phone) from the start speaks enormously about what's wrong with RIM (or RIM's management, to be precise). The guys in charge thought "this will increase phone sales since people will want email." Not only is that idiotic reasoning considering all the tablet competition, it's a shitty attitude to have towards your customers.

Make people WANT to buy RIM phones, not have to.

Re:I hate subjects

[Nimloth]

You're looking at it wrong. They didn't cripple it to sell more phones, they developped the product when they still had good market share in the mobile world and wanted to sell PlayBooks into existing BlackBerry accounts. It was a way to bypass IT having to manage another device and piggyback on the already-approved BlackBerries in enterprise (think FIPS approval, etc). They did not expect then that nobody would want BlackBerry devices anymore, and that it would be a major handicap to the PlayBook to not be able to function as a standalone device.
Short-sighted yes, malicious tactic I think not.

Re:I hate subjects

[accessbob]

Well, I remember actually going to the developer days before the Playbook was launched, and applying for my free Playbook, and the whole tech presentation was about how it worked as an extension to your phone and why that was good for business.

The engineers seemed to know what they were making, and what their priorities were. The CEOs and their marketing department on the other hand were living in some strange parallel universe... I note that the CEOs have gone, and they are shopping around for a new Marketing director. I'm not surprised.

Re:I hate subjects

[ArhcAngel]

As someone who has a BlackBerry Torch and a PlayBook I can attest to how well the two are integrated. Once I had Bridge installed on my Torch and paired with the PlayBook you would swear there was a native email/calender/contacts list on the device (as long as the phone was close by). I really don't understand the hate on the device. It is an impeccable mobile device with arguably the best browser of any mobile OS. I haven't needed an app that wasn't available. I have several Android applications installed and they work flawlessly. I guess people need to feel good about their purchase so their put down the device they didn't get.

In your face!

[Anonymous Coward]

BOOM! Native Email Application! YOUR MOVE APPLE!

market share

[Anonymous Coward]

One recent report by Toronto-based Solutions Research Group, however, pegs RIM's share of the tablet market at around 15 per cent, a big jump after discounting over the holiday buying season.

That's 15 per cent of the Canadian tablet market. One would figure they're doing much worse outside Canada.

Re:Good app recommendations?

[Dzimas]

First off, try Evernote (cloud note service) and Poynt (location based search). Taptu is probably the best blog/news aggregator for PlayBook. It's actually an Android app that runs within the new Android Player. Magellan Compass is a nice GPS navigation tool that uses Google Maps and integrates Yelp and Flickr. Box is a nice cloud storage solution for sharing files between the PB and other devices and your desktop. I think they offer something like 15GB free storage. GeeReader bring Google Reader to the platform. The free version has a banner ad on the bottom of the reading pane, but it's easy enough to ignore.

As far as free games go, PewPew is a quite attractive vector graphic shoot-em-up that's a great stress relief at the end of the day. Celestial Slingshot is another free game that's quite addictive if you don't mind accidentally launching dozens of ships into the sun.

Release of the Zinio reader is imminient, and I'm sure we'll see a flock of Android apps in the AppWorld in coming months. Ignore the wisecracks from the iPadistas - the Playbook is good value for $200.

Re:I don't believe this for a second

[haus]

That would be 15% of the tablets owned by members of RIM's executive team.

Re:Good app recommendations?

[Anonymous Coward]

Spent mod points so have to post as AC, check out "GeeReader" if you use Google Reader for RSS, "Remote Desktop" if you want to RDP to your desktop using native MSTSC TCP 3389 with no additional software clients, there is "Telnet/SSH" which is basically PutTY compiled for Playbook OS, "ProInsights" is a very nice eye candy for your LinkedIn account (not very functional, but very cool to show off), "Book Reader" lets you open any ebook, including Kindle... for games - just look at the top rated tab in the new App World. Ok, I think that's it.