RIM has released the PlayBook OS 2.1 for its BlackBerry PlayBook tablets. The change-log was first leaked back n July giving us an idea of what to expect in the 2.1 update.

This is the first major update for the device since February and will initially roll out to the WiFi variant of the PlayBook and follow with the other variants based on carrier approval. The update brings several new features and improvements along with better support for Android apps, improvements to BlackBerry Bridge, email and PIM.

Check the detailed change-log of the PlayBook OS 2.1 update below:

• Updated BlackBerry Bridge: Now you can view, respond and compose new SMS messages on their BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet when connected to a BlackBerry smartphone over Bluetooth®. You’ll also enjoy increased performance and speed of other BlackBerry Bridge functions as well. So you can do more, more efficiently. Txt away, my friends.
• Email and PIM Enhancements: You’ve asked for it and we’ve delivered portrait support for email, calendar and contacts, giving you the option to use your tablet in either orientation to message. This will definitely come in handy for those of you who enjoy thumb typing in portrait mode like I do.
• Improved Android Application Support: Includes Multi-Window Applications, Camera Support and In-App Payments. We all love a richer app experience, and with the improvements to the Android runtime, that’s just what you’ll get. Running the applications in separate windows allows you to multi-task between Android apps easier, and in-app payments will make it easier for you to enhance your app content. Game on!

The BlackBerry PlayBook is getting set to receive a new software update labeled PlayBook OS 2.1. The update will bring new features, most of which will take advantage of the cellular data enabled variants of the PlayBook.

The full leaked change-log of the PlayBook OS 2.1 update follows

• Software updates are no longer mandatory during setup. The customer can choose the best time to update for them
• Setting Up WiFi connection is no longer mandatory at setup
• Software updates can be done over a cellular network (4G models only)
• Portrait Mode can now be used with the Email, Calendar, and Contacts App
• Greater flexibility and control over which folders are wirelessly synced when using Active Sync
• Full access to IMAP Email folders
• The BlackBerry PlayBook now gives you the ability to conduct a video chat over 4G Cellular Networks (Some Carrier Restrictions May Apply)
• Print To Go - Now you can send content to your BlackBerry PlayBook even if it’s not connected to the same WiFi network
• Android Apps will now run in individual windows rather than being lumped into one Android Player Window
• Apps which require access to the camera are now supported
• In-App Payments can now be submitted. Buying that next power-up in your game is easier than ever!
• Video Store is now available in Canada. Thousands of movies and TV shows, new & old, available on demand to rent or buy New releases available same day as DVD
• Text Messaging is now supported with BlackBerry Bridge. When Bridged you can read, send and receive text messages on your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet.
• When Bridged, and connected to WiFi, the BlackBerry PlayBook automatically sends and receives data over the WiFi network to decrease cellular data usage, and increase performance.

BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0  for the BlackBerry Playbook may not be considered a major update but it brings some valuable features to the RIM tablet giving it a full range of functionality. The visual changes in the update are minimal. The menu has been changed a little and the visuals for the docked icons has also been updated.



The functionality has some welcome changes starting off with an improved e-mail application, a calendar application and an updated contacts app which brings LinkedIn and Twitter integration. Other improvements include the addition of folders and an enhanced BlackBerry Bridge which allows you to control your PlayBook from your BlackBerry smartphone and visa versa.

Check out the following demonstration of BlackBerry PlayBook OS at the CES 2012 courtesy of PhoneArena.

RIM announced some updates they will be sending to BlackBerry smartphone and tablet users during the CES 2012. The BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 and BlackBerry OS 7.1 were previewed.

BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 is a huge enhancement to the BlackBerry PlayBook. The much anticipated email application is now available with a unified inbox, management tools, multi-tasking within email, rich text email composing and editing.



The update also brings improved social networking to the PlayBook with integration of social networks with your contacts app and calendar. The updated BlackBerry Bridge now allows you to control your PlayBook from your smartphone or visa versa. This allows you to take advantage of the larger screen when you want to edit a certain document. The Documents To Go and Print To Go apps have also been updated and device management functions for corporate environments have been improved.

The updated PlayBook browser features 'reading view' which allows you to take advantage of your full display real estate when you are reading something  Last but not least is the BlackBerry Video Storefront which allows you to buy and rent movies and TV shows which you can enjoy when you are on the move.

BlackBerry OS 7.1 which is comparatively a smaller update brings hotspot functionality to your phone (carrier dependent) for up to five devices. The update also brings BlackBerry Tag which lets you invite people to BBM by tapping your NFC enabled BlackBerry devices against each other. Other updates are for the BBM Messenger, Traffic app, Travel app and the universal search. BlackBerry Curve 9360 and BlackBerry Touch 9380 users now have access to their FM radios.
The official press release follows:

RIM Previews BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 at CES

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA--(Marketwire - Jan. 9, 2012) - (CES 2012) - This week at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ:RIMM)(TSX:RIM) will be previewing new features of BlackBerry® PlayBookTM OS 2.0 that will enable customers to stay even more connected and productive in their personal and professional lives. 

"BlackBerry PlayBook is already recognized for delivering powerful performance, true multi-tasking, advanced web browsing and HD multimedia in an ultra-portable design," said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO at Research In Motion. "With BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 we are building on this strong foundation, as well as leveraging our strengths in communications, social integration and productivity, to allow people to use their BlackBerry PlayBook in new ways throughout the day."

CES 2012 attendees who visit the BlackBerry booth at CES (South Hall 3 Booth # 30326) will get a sneak peek of upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 functionality including:
Advanced Messaging Experience:

• New unified inbox - a powerful unified inbox within the built-in messaging app allows users to quickly manage their personal email and work email accounts as well as the messaging capabilities of popular social networking sites like Twitter®, LinkedIn® and others - all in one place.
• Multi-tasking within email - by extending the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet's multitasking capabilities to 'tabbed email', users are able to reference one email while they compose another.
• Rich-text email composing and editing - new features within the Messages app enable users to benefit from full support of fonts, formatting and editing of email threads, offering a robust email experience similar to that of a PC or laptop.
• Inbox management tools - allows for powerful inbox search across multiple email accounts, as well as the ability to set out-of-office messages and email signatures directly from their tablet.

Deep Integration of Social Relationships:

• Innovative people-centric calendar - in addition to standard calendar features that help users plan and organize their day, the powerful built-in Calendar app provides the unique ability for users to view their calendar by who they are meeting with that day and review valuable information about that contact. Information is consolidated automatically from social networking sites about that contact and/or their company.
• Relationship-centric contacts app - more than just an address book, the new built-in Contacts app serves as a social hub - merging and consolidating information from multiple sources (including email and social channels) into one contact file for each person in their address book. Each contact file includes information such as recent status updates, conversations, related news articles and mutual contacts that are kept up-to-date automatically.

Making Your BlackBerry Smartphone and Tablet a Powerful Pair:

• Remote control for the BlackBerry PlayBook - new BlackBerry® BridgeTM features allow a user's BlackBerry® smartphone to act as a keyboard and mouse for their BlackBerry PlayBook - effectively providing a wireless remote control for their tablet. Perfect for pausing a movie when a BlackBerry PlayBook is plugged in to a TV with an HDMI connection, or for using the tactile QWERTY keyboard on a BlackBerry smartphone to compose a message or document on the BlackBerry PlayBook.
• Opening content on the BlackBerry PlayBook - BlackBerry Bridge allows you to take documents, emails, multimedia files and web pages found on your smartphone and open them quickly and directly on the BlackBerry PlayBook so you can use the larger high resolution display for an optimized viewing and editing experience.

Improved Mobile Productivity:

• Updated document editing capabilities - updated Documents To Go® functionality makes it easier for users to create and edit documents while on the go. Improvements include: enhanced support for the virtual keyboard, the ability to view and update embedded charts and chart sheets within spreadsheets, a new formula wizard with over 100 functions as well as the ability to edit presentations including text, bullets and formatting.
• Print To Go application - this app allows users to wirelessly "print" from their laptop or PC directly to their BlackBerry PlayBook over Wi-Fi®. A digital printout is created on the BlackBerry PlayBook so that users can view, sort and manage their digital printouts as though they were physical sheets of paper. The Print To Go app is the perfect way to consolidate info from various related sources like a hotel web confirmation, an airline boarding pass email, the show event schedule or even a map of the destination city and make them available for quick access on the go.
• Increased control and manageability of corporate data - the combination of BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 with BlackBerry Mobile Fusion and BlackBerry Balance will help to overcome many barriers to widespread tablet deployment, including device manageability and the ability to secure, manage and control confidential corporate information on the device. Plus BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 supports dedicated shelf space inside the BlackBerry App World storefront to allow IT departments to control distribution of enterprise applications and to make those approved enterprise applications easily available to the organization's end users.

New Apps and Content:

• Your favorite apps plus thousands more - many exciting new applications built for the BlackBerry PlayBook will be made available on BlackBerry App World with the availability of BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0. From gaming and lifestyle to business and productivity, RIM is showcasing some of the latest apps available for the BlackBerry PlayBook at CES 2012 including Angry Birds, Cut the Rope, Groupon, Thomson Reuters, Zinio and many more.
• Video store - a catalog of thousands of movies and TV shows will be available through the integrated BlackBerry Video Storefront* with new releases to be made available for purchase or rent the same day they come out on DVD. Users will be able to begin watching media as soon as they start to download the file, so users won't have to wait for the entire file to transfer before they can enjoy great entertainment on the tablet's high resolution display, or on an HDTV via the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet's HDMI output.
• Enhanced web browsing - the BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 browser also includes a new reading view, which is designed to make web sites even easier to enjoy by eliminating page clutter at the touch of a button. What's left is a cleaner format that is great for reading online news articles, blog posts, or websites that contain heavy amounts of text.

Availability
The BlackBerry® PlayBook OS 2.0 software update will be available as a free download for all BlackBerry PlayBook users and is expected to be available in February 2012.

• BlackBerry Video Store will initially be available in the United States. Support for other countries is expected to be added later this year.

RIM has released the native SDK 2.0 for the BlackBerry PlayBook to developers. This is the first beta of the release and gives developers access to the latest BlackBerry Tablet simulator.







This release also includes:

• Added Sensors API (magnetometer, gyroscope, and accelerometer support) (device only for now, not available for the simulator at this time)
• Added Payment Service support for subscriptions and in-app purchasing
• IDE improvements in usability, performance, and reliability
• Scoreloop SDK 1.0 Beta 1 is included - try out some social game features for your apps, such as leaderboards

This update is not intended for general consumers, and meant for developers only. If you have updated and want to downgrade you can use this guide to do so.

GUIDE
For you to be able to install the Native SDK 2.0 you will first need to register your BlackBerry PlayBook PIN using a form hosted in the microsite.

To register your device head over here and enter your BlackBerry PlayBook PIN and your email address; Reveiw the Terms and Conditions, check the box to indicate your consent and click Submit.

Within an hour you will see an icon ( ) appear in your status bar on your device and you will have 24 hours to complete the upgrade. To update,

1. Select the top-right corner of the screen
2. Select 'Software Updates'.
3. Select 'Check for Updates'.
4. Wait for the update to complete.

You can download Groupon HD for your device directly from the App World or by using the link below.





With Groupon HD for BlackBerry you can:

• Find unbeatable Daily Deals near you and view them on a map
• Get nearby deals on demand with Groupon Now!
• Purchase deals with your phone
• Keep track of all your purchased Groupons by location, expiration date, and purchase date
• Redeem deals with your phone. Save time and trees!

BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 (Developer Beta) was  made available for the BlackBerry PlayBook to developers following this year's DevCon in the U.S.

The purpose of this release was to help developers prepare Android apps to run on the PlayBook.

This release does not feature any end-user features or functionality and may affect the normal operation of applications which have been built for BlackBerry PlayBook OS 1.0.7. So in the event that you have installed the Developer beta, this guide will show you how to restore your PlayBook back to the stable 1.0.7 firmware.

NOTE - Restoring the 1.0.7 firmware will erase the contents on your tablet. You will not be able to restore a backup made while running the 2.0 Developer Beta, so in the case you don't have an old backup please make sure you have all the important files saved before restoring your firmware.

REQUIREMENTS

• Download and install BlackBerry Desktop Software [ PC | MAC ]
• Make sure your tablet has at least 20% battery life
• USB Cable for BlackBerry PlayBook
• Active Internet connection

GUIDE

1. Turn off the BlackBerry PlayBook.
   
2. Run BlackBerry Desktip Software.
   
3. Connect your PlayBook to your computer using the USB cable.
   
4. When the message appears that the desktop client cannot communicate with the device, click 'Update'.
   
   

   This message will disappear if your device boots up. Please start from step one if the message disappears.

5. When prompted enter your email address or uncheck 'Yes email me when updates are available'.
   
6. Depending on your computer type select the option which suits you:
• PC Users - Select 'Install'.
• Mac Users - Select 'Repair'.
  
7. Your BlackBerry PlayBook will be restored to the stable release 1.0.7

BlackBerry users cant seam to get a break. Some bad news has surfaced regarding the BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 for the BlackBerry PlayBook will be delayed until February 2012.

The other bad news is that BBM will only be available for the PlayBook throgh the use of BlackBerry Bridge. Having to own a BlackBerry smartphone to use BBM on the PlayBook is just not acceptable.

Senior VP of the PlayBook team, Dave Smith said that the BBM app for the tablet will wait for a subsequest release of a PlayBook OS biuild and that the 2.0 build has been delayed because RIM wants to make sure that software meets the expectations of developers, enterprise customers and end users.

Developers meanwhile have access to the gold release of the native SDK for the PlayBook along with a beta of the tablet's OS 2.0.

The full official press release from RIM follows:

We know that many of you are looking forward to BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0, and we wanted to provide you with an update on the progress that we're making.

As much as we'd love to have it in your hands today, we've made the difficult decision to wait to launch BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 until we are confident we have fully met the expectations of our developers, enterprise customers and end-users. And here's what we're doing to accomplish that.

First off, we have decided to defer the inclusion of the BBM application to a subsequent BlackBerry PlayBook OS release. We are committed to developing a seamless BBM solution that fully delivers on the powerful, push based messaging capabilities recognized today by BlackBerry® users around the world and we're still working on it. In the meantime, BlackBerry smartphone users will be able to continue to use BlackBerry Bridge to securely access BlackBerry Messenger on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet's high resolution display.

Secondly, we are excited to now be providing developers with the gold release of the native SDK for the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet as well as a beta of BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 (launched last week at BlackBerry DevCon Americas). The developer beta allows developers to begin porting their native apps to the PlayBook platform. In the following months, the developer kit will be updated with the full Cascades animation and UI engine that was first demonstrated at BlackBerry DevCon. We expect that the developer beta will generate thousands of new applications for BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0.

Shortly we will also be starting a series of closed betas of BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 with select enterprise customers from our Early Adopter Program (EAP). These betas will be rolled out over the course of this year and are an important next step to bringing our unmatched enterprise app deployment, device manageability, security and email integration capabilities to the tablet category. The betas will be conducted within global enterprise environments and will test the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet solution from end-to-end within corporate IT infrastructures. Feedback and improvements from these betas will benefit the overall BlackBerry PlayBook customer experience.

We believe BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 will deliver a great experience for our customers, building on the powerful performance introduced with BlackBerry PlayBook tablet earlier this year. The software update will add advanced integrated email, calendar and contact apps, a new video store, as well as new functionality that will allow your BlackBerry smartphone and BlackBerry PlayBook to work together even better.

For the enterprise, we're addressing many barriers to tablet adoption, including device manageability and enterprise application deployment. Enterprises will uniquely have the ability to manage tablets from a centralized server, while BlackBerry Balance ensures a seamless user experience for personal and professional needs and gives CIOs the peace of mind that corporate data is secure. Plus BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 will provide dedicated shelf space inside the BlackBerry App World storefront to make approved enterprise applications easily available to an organization's end users. Together these features will help change the way enterprises view and use tablets.

So when could an end user get the new update? We expect to deliver the new BlackBerry PlayBook OS to customers in February 2012 and we'll continue to keep you updated as we progress to the launch.

- David J. Smith, SVP, BlackBerry PlayBook, Research In Motion 

Developers who visited the BlackBerry DevCon received a beta version of BlackBerry Tablet OS 2.0 for the BlackBerry Playbook. The update is expected to bring the much anticipated Android app player - which allows users to use Android applications on their BlackBerry PlayBooks. A video has been posted online demonstrating the features of BlackBerry Tablet OS 2.0

Some of the new features offered in the update are:

• Ability to personalize the home-screen.
• Create custom pages instead of the preset pages
• Ability to run Android apps

Check out the update in action in the following video

Head over to the original post to read the full review.


source - Engadget

The Apple iPad 2 is expected this year, but there is also a whole heap of competition it will have to deal with. Meanwhile lets compare the original iPad with some devices that are looking to steal it's thrown.

Check out this video demonstration of the BlackBerry PlayBook. The tablet features a 7 inch touch display, up to 64GB of internal storage, a 5 megapixel camera capable of 1080p HD video capture, a secondary camera for video calls and is powered by a 1GHz dual core processor.

The BlackBerry PlayBook features include BlackBerry Bridge, multitasking, Flash technology and secure access to business applications such as flash enabled Dashboards from SAP Business Objects.