The BlackBerry PlayBook is a tablet computer by Research In Motion (RIM), the Canadian telecommunications company best known for the BlackBerry smartphone. The company indicated it would deliver the machine to enterprise customers and developers in October 2010, and release it to consumers in early 2011, putting it in direct competition with Apple's iPad, iPad 2, and a slew of Android powered tablets. Also announced was a new operating system, the BlackBerry Tablet OS, based on QNX Neutrino, to run on the tablet. The device was released for general purchase in the United States on April 19, 2011, and early sales figures note that approximately fifty thousand (50,000) were sold on launch day, and some analysts estimate RIM to sell 3 million during their first year.
The tablet has been surrounded with much hype since it was announced and received positive reviews from technology critics including at the Consumer Electronics Show. It was rumored for some time that the Playbook would be able to run Android applications, which was finally confirmed. Although the PlayBook won't have access to Google's Android Market, Android apps may be uploaded by developers to RIM's App World to be made available on the PlayBook.
The BlackBerry PlayBook supports up to 1080p video playback. PlayBook Features a 3 MP front-facing camera for video chatting over Wi-Fi and a rear-facing 5 MP camera that records 1080p video. The PlayBook has a 1024×600 WSVGA, 7-inch display and 3D graphics acceleration, as well as HDMI-out. It features a variety of sensors, including gyroscope, magnetometer, and accelerometer. The PlayBook uses the Texas Instruments OMAP4430 Processor.[8] The BlackBerry PlayBook supports high resolution video playback (H.264, MPEG4, WMV), and audio (MP3, AAC 5.1, WMA 5.1 audio playback) formats. It also has a micro-HDMI port for HDMI video output. Among the PlayBook, Apple iPad, & Xoom from Motorola, the PlayBook comes in lightest at .9 LBs, compared to 1.33 LBs & 1.59 LBs, respectively.