Blackberry Playbook

Research in Motion announced Tuesday that it has released an upgrade to its BlackBerry PlayBook operating system, finally bringing a native e-mail client to its 7-inch tablet after nearly a year on the market. In a company blog post , RIM's senior vice president of mobile computing, David J. Smith, said that "the features I'm most excited about with this launch are built-in email, calendar and contacts. " The e-mail client has a unified inbox, but the operating system still lacks some of the functionality you might...

BlackBerry pushed its first software update to BlackBerry 10 users on Friday, with fixes meant to improve app performance and battery life. The company said that the improvements were based off of feedback from early adopters and carriers and listed the five main changes included in the update on its blog: improvements to the camera for low-light settings; changes in how the system's browser handles video; and adjustments to the phone, calendar...

Things are looking grim for Research in Motion, which saw quarterly earnings fall by more than half , to $329 million, from $695 million in the same period last year. The company's report to investors revealed some not-so-pretty numbers for the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, only 200,000 of which were shipped in its last quarter, which ended Aug. 27. By comparison, in its last earning call, Apple reported in July that it had sold 9.25 million iPads between April and July. Ouch.

Research in Motion's report Thursday that it has reduced its losses and increased its revenue appeared to convince investors that the Canadian company's plans for the future were sound. The results weren't spectacular by any means, though they did exceed analyst expectations of $2.5 billion in revenue. RIM reported a loss of $235 million on revenue of $2.9 billion. It's significantly less than during the same period last year, when the company reported $4.2 billion in revenue. But the fact that RIM reduced its losses — last quarter...

Research in Motion has cut the price of its BlackBerry PlayBook for a limited time, offering all models (16 GB, 32GB and 64GB) for $299.99 through Feb. 4. The sale is going on now at the company's Web site. Sales of the PlayBook have been lackluster, partly caused by lukewarm reviews for the tablet. RIM itself has had a rough year in 2011, dealing with low sales, outages and delays. It is clearly trying to start 2012 on a high note. The real question is this: Will customers bite for the newly discounted price, as they did...

Research in Motion announced Tuesday that the BlackBerry PlayBook's operating system has received a huge upgrade. The Post's Hayley Tsukayama reports : Research in Motion announced Tuesday that it has released an upgrade to its BlackBerry PlayBook operating system, finally bringing a native e-mail client to its 7-inch tablet after nearly a year on the market. In a company blog post, RIM's senior vice president of mobile computing, David J. Smith, said that "the features I'm most excited about...

Does $199 sound like  too much for the BlackBerry Playbook  this holiday season? RIM seems to think so, but only for its employees. According to multiple sources, the 16GB 7-inch tablet is now available to RIM employees through a special corporate portal for $99. The 32GB version is $149 and the 64GB model for $199. We have also been told that employees can only order up to eight models. Of course, that means that it's only a matter of time before we start to see the QNX tablet on eBay, but hey, maybe RIM will just ...

Samsung is changing its approach to tablets. Rather than compete at the highest end with the iPad or the Transformer Prime , Samsung's aiming for a happy medium: all the features we've come to expect from an Android tablet, without necessarily top-notch performance or specs, for an appealing price. The tactic worked really well with the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 , a $249.99 7-inch tablet that outpaces the Kindle Fire , Nook Tablet , or BlackBerry PlayBook . The bigger brother in the...

BlackBerry pushed its first software update to BlackBerry 10 users on Friday, with fixes meant to improve app performance and battery life. The company said that the improvements were based off of feedback from early adopters and carriers and listed the five main changes included in the update on its blog: improvements to the camera for low-light settings; changes in how the system's browser handles video; and adjustments to the phone, calendar...

There are plenty of Android tablets on the market, but none have captured a portion of market share that can come close to rivaling the iPad. Right now, it looks like the most successful of all of them will be the Kindle Fire, which Amazon has modified so much that it's hardly recognizable as an Android tablet at all. So it might make sense for Google to jump into the tablet game, particularly after the launch of its unified tablet and smartphone platform,...

Samsung is changing its approach to tablets. Rather than compete at the highest end with the iPad or the Transformer Prime , Samsung's aiming for a happy medium: all the features we've come to expect from an Android tablet, without necessarily top-notch performance or specs, for an appealing price. The tactic worked really well with the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 , a $249.99 7-inch tablet that outpaces the Kindle Fire , Nook Tablet , or BlackBerry PlayBook . The bigger brother in the Tab 2 line is now upon us...

At the company's annual conference, Research in Motion's new chief executive said that plans are in place to release an LTE version of the BlackBerry PlayBook later this year. According to a report from Canadian Reviewer , the new tablet will have a 1.5Ghz dual-core processor and will include a near-field communication chip. The slide pictured in the article also indicates that the new tablet will support HTML 5 and Adobe Flash. The PlayBook has been a sore point for RIM since its...

Let me say this up front: if you've held out for a tablet, Apple's new iPad is the one to get. But if you're an iPad 2 owner and perfectly content with its lesser screen, the decision to upgrade is much tougher. Yet again, Apple is basically competing with itself in the tablet arena. Android tablets, aside from the cheap $199 Kindle Fire, continue to bombard consumers with features (Quad core processors! Flash support!), while offering a noticeably less functional experience than the iPad for around...

After months of speculation, Apple finally announced (well, sort of) that it will be showing off the next generation of the iPad by inviting media to a March 7 event in San Francisco. Apple is still indisputably at the top of the tablet market, but the next iPad (which most people are calling the iPad 3) faces a host of competitors that are clamoring after their own little niches. There is no tablet out there that surpasses the iPad 2 on every level, but here are 20 tablets...

Research in Motion announced Tuesday that the BlackBerry PlayBook's operating system has received a huge upgrade. The Post's Hayley Tsukayama reports : Research in Motion announced Tuesday that it has released an upgrade to its BlackBerry PlayBook operating system, finally bringing a native e-mail client to its 7-inch tablet after nearly a year on the market. In a company blog post, RIM's senior vice president of mobile computing, David J. Smith, said that "the features I'm most excited about...

Remember the BlackBerry PlayBook? Research in Motion's tablet stirred up quite a bit of hype last year, only to land with a thud . Now it's getting a new breath of life, though at this point I can't imagine anyone cares. RIM announced today that it has released the first major update for the tablet, BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0, which adds some very basic features it should have had from the beginning, including a built-in e-mail client, calendar, and contacts. Seriously, the...

Tablet makers are thinking small, as more companies worldwide look to jump into the 7-inch and smaller market — one that Apple has left wide open. There are already several competitors, such as the BlackBerry PlayBook, the HTC Flyer, the Dell Streak 7 and the 7-inch version of the Galaxy Tab. But the field may be getting more crowded as companies unveil new partnerships and products at this week's IFA conference and as more speculation about tiny tabs grows. Samsung had to pull its new 7.7-inch tablet from its booth display after a German...

Research in Motion's report Thursday that it has reduced its losses and increased its revenue appeared to convince investors that the Canadian company's plans for the future were sound. The results weren't spectacular by any means, though they did exceed analyst expectations of $2.5 billion in revenue. RIM reported a loss of $235 million on revenue of $2.9 billion. It's significantly less than during the same period last year, when the company reported $4.2 billion in revenue. But the fact that RIM reduced its losses...

Barnes & Noble announced Tuesday that it has introduced a new, 8GB version of its Nook tablet — for $199. The price puts the new tablet in direct competition with the Kindle Fire from Amazon, which sells for the same price and has the same amount of memory. Barnes & Noble launched the Nook Tablet late last year with 16GB of memory and a $249 price tag. The device has its advantages over the Kindle Fire — a better screen for reading, for example — but hasn't taken off in the same way, likely because of its higher...

Research in Motion announced Tuesday that it has released an upgrade to its BlackBerry PlayBook operating system, finally bringing a native e-mail client to its 7-inch tablet after nearly a year on the market. In a company blog post , RIM's senior vice president of mobile computing, David J. Smith, said that "the features I'm most excited about with this launch are built-in email, calendar and contacts. " The e-mail client has a unified inbox, but the operating system still lacks some of the...