LAS VEGAS, US: Last week at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Research In Motion previewed new features of BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 that it says will enable customers to stay even more connected and productive in their personal and professional lives.
"BlackBerry PlayBook is already recognised 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."
Upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 functionality includes:
Advanced messaging experience:
- New unified inbox - a powerful unified inbox within the built-in messaging app designed to allow 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', RIM claims users will be able to reference one email while they compose another.
- Rich-text email composing and editing - new features within the Messages app are designed to 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 - are designed to allow 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 organise their day, the built-in calendar app is designed to provide 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 is designed to serve 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.
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.
For more information, go to www.rim.com or www.blackberry.com.
