RIM's New PlayBook

2010-09-27T16:51:00.000-07:00

Personally I think tablets aren't that amazing, and I'd much have a laptop, but this blog is as much yours as it is mine, so today I decided to do a review of the "BlackBerry" PlayBook. This one won't be so much of a review as it will be a description, simply because I'm not a fan of tablets, sorry guys.

Well to start, here's some of the hardware:

7-inch LCD, 1024 x 600, WSVGA, capacitive touch screen with full multi-touch and gesture support
BlackBerry Tablet OS with support for symmetric multiprocessing
1 GHz dual-core processor
1 GB RAM
Dual HD cameras (3 MP front facing, 5 MP rear facing), supports 1080p HD video recording
Video playback: 1080p HD Video, H.264, MPEG, DivX, WMV
Audio playback: MP3, AAC, WMA
HDMI video output
Wi-Fi - 802.11 a/b/g/n
Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
Connectors: microHDMI, microUSB, charging contacts
Open, flexible application platform with support for WebKit/HTML-5, Adobe Flash Player 10.1, Adobe Mobile AIR, Adobe Reader, POSIX, OpenGL, Java
Ultra thin and portable:
Measures 5.1"x7.6"x0.4" (130mm x 193mm x 10mm)
Weighs less than a pound (approximately 0.9 lb or 400g)
RIM intends to also offer 3G and 4G models in the future.

(Thanks, engadget.com)

Today at Research in Motion (RIM)'s annual BlackBerry Developer's Conference, the company announced this new tablet, the "PlayBook." This tablet will use a completely new OS created with the new QNX, which will offer full OpenGL and POSIX support along with web standards such as HTML5. While company founder Dan Dodge believes this will enable all sorts of new things and be an incredible gaming platform, I feel differently. (So much for no review, eh?) I think this thing's gonna turn into a clone of the iPad, and these things are pretty much useless, if you're gonna spend $1000 on something, why not just get a laptop?

Anywho, This will support Flash 10.1 and Adobe AIR apps. There will be the ability for video conferencing. In terms of interface, the OS looks like a mashup of webOS and the BlackBerry OS, even allowing for multitasking via what amounts to a "card" view. Interestingly, RIM and QNX boasted of the PlayBook's multimedia and gaming functions, but Mike Lazaridis also described the tablet as "an amplified view of what's already on your BlackBerry." That's due largely in part to a function of the tablet which allows you to siphon data off of your BlackBerry handset via Bluetooth tethering and display it on your PlayBook (a la the ill-fated Palm Foleo). While the PlayBook doesn't seem to rely on phone content alone, the press release from the company says that users can "use their tablet and smartphone interchangeably without worrying about syncing or duplicating data." RIM didn't hand out any solid launch dates beyond "early 2011," and of course, there was no mention of retail price.

Windows Phone 7

2010-09-25T23:45:00.000-07:00

Okay guys, changed my mind, and decided to post about this new OS coming out for smart phones.

Personally, I can't wait, I've been wanting a smart phone really badly, but I'm a windows kinda guy, and all the Windows Phone OS's have kinda sucked up until now. This one has a variety of features, such as:

Functional Xbox Live, including achievements.
Touch responsiveness that could possibly rival the iOS 4.
One touch posts to social sites.
Very innovative, organized layout.
Several neat apps developed with SilverLight.
Availability on many networks.
Cross-platform games.

However, there are a couple of cons that I have already noticed:

There is no copy/paste.
No tethering.

What are your opinions on the phone?

Basis

2010-09-25T23:19:00.000-07:00

This blog is about technology. The title may say the benefits, but I'd also like to take a look at the inconveniences that come a long with it. I believe tech is a great thing, I mean, even just this website proves how good it is. It enables me to communicate ideas with people all over the world quickly and easily.

Anywho, in this blog we will discuss different pieces of technology, as it is released, and we will consider the pros and cons of each piece. I'll start off tomorrow with our first product, hope you enjoy.

Hot and Fresh Tech

RIM's New PlayBook

Windows Phone 7

Basis