Research In Motion today announced plans to make the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet available in more than 20,000 retail outlets in the U.S. and Canada, on April 19.
The BlackBerry PlayBook with Wi-Fi will be available in three models and will start at $499 in the United States and Canada. The lineup of retailers and wireless carriers currently expected to carry the BlackBerry PlayBook in the United States and Canada includes AT&T, Verizon, Best Buy and Radio Shack.
BlackBerry PlayBook Specifications
- 7″ 1024×600 WSVGA capacitive LCD touch screen
- 0.9 lbs (425g) and 5.1” x 7.6” x 0.4” (130mm x 194mm x 10mm)
- 1 GHz dual-core processor
- BlackBerry® Tablet OS with support for symmetric multiprocessing
- MP3, AAC and WMA audio playback
- Support for high resolution video playback (H.264, MPEG4, WMV)
- 1080p HDMI output
- Dual 1080p HD cameras for video conferencing and video capture (3MP front and 5MP rear)
- 1 GB RAM memory
- Up to 64 GB internal storage (16, 32 and 64 GB models)
- GPS, Orientation Sensor (Accelerometer), 6-Axis Motion Sensor (Gyroscope), Digital Compass (Magnetometer)
- Stereo speakers and stereo microphones
- Wi-Fi® (802.11 a/b/g/n) connectivity
- Bluetooth® 2.1+EDR support
The BlackBerry PlayBook features a 7-inch display with support for Adobe® Flash Player 10.1, true multitasking, HD multimedia, and a robust development environment. The BlackBerry Playbook operating system is based on QNX software with impressive multitasking capabilities.
At Best Buy, the BlackBerry PlayBook with Wi-Fi will come in three models, featuring 16GB, 32GB or 64GB of storage at $499, $599 and $699 respectively.
In other tablet news, T-Mobile has announced plans to offer the LG G-Slate for $529 after rebate to customers who sign up for a 2 year service contract.
The G-Slate features an 8.9 inch display, Google Android 3.0 Honeycomb, and two 5MP cameras on the back of the device for capturing 3D video or HD video. There’s also a front facing camera for making video calls. The tablet has 32GB of storage and it’s powered by a 1 GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor. It supports WiFi and T-Mobile’s HSPA+ 4G network. T-Mobile will include T-Mobile TV, Need for Speed Shift HD, and the Zinio eBook reader apps.
