Disqus
Today at Mobile World Congress 2011, RIM announced two new 4G-ish varieties of the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. In the second half of the year, there will be one PlayBook that runs on LTE and Wi-Fi, and another that runs on HSPA+ and Wi-Fi, in addition to the WiMAX version headed to Sprint.
The rest of the specs on either version stay the same: the 7-inch 1024 x 600 display, the 5 megapixel camera on the back and 3 megapixel camera on the front, the dual-core 1 GHz processor, 1 GB of RAM, and new operating system built for multitasking and multimedia. Take a look at our hands-on video with the BlackBerry PlayBook for the deep dive.
The news is somewhat expected, seeing as RIM is the type to support as many networks as possible, and LTE and HSPA+ are far more global standards than WiMAX. It’s too bad no carriers stepped up to the plate and announced that they would be selling the LTE or HSPA+ PlayBook, but I think it’s safe to assume T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon will all be biting sooner or later.
[via RIM]
About The Author
Simon Sage
Simon Sage’s education largely surrounded writing, technology and online community, leading him to begin his blogging career at www.BlackBerryCool.com and to quickly discover a vibrant and active community surrounding BlackBerry and mobile technology. In exploring RIM’s platform, he has learned what enterprises are looking for in mobility as well as what makes the innocuous BlackBerry so appealing to them. Recently Simon’s been covering RIM’s gradual move into an already-crowded consumer market, and the impact of burgeoning challengers, such as the iPhone, as well as long-time leaders, like Nokia, on BlackBerry’s advancement. With plenty of content under his belt, Simon will be branching off a bit to see what other smartphone manufacturers are working on while still using BlackBerry as a barometer. At IntoMobile, you can count on his posts being even-handed, well-informed and thought-out.
