14 DAY TRIAL // Today, Canadian mobile phone maker Research In Motion officially confirmed the upcoming availability of the 4G LTE flavor of its BlackBerry PlayBook.
The company announced that the new device would land on shelves in its homeland country first, and that other markets would receive it in the coming months.
Bell, Rogers and TELUS are the Canadian wireless services providers that will launch the new device first. Their users will be able to purchase the tablet PC starting with August 9th, 2012.
Wireless carriers in the United States, Europe, South Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean have announced plans to add the new device to their offering soon, the handset vendor notes. There will be various LTE and HSPA+ flavors of the slate released in these countries.
The new flavor of the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet arrives on shelves with better connectivity capabilities packed inside, but with the same features as the already available model.
“Now you can enjoy cellular network access with the 4G LTE BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, so there’s no need to be within range of Wi-Fi to experience the web, check your email, or download the latest apps,” RIM notes.
“Simply purchase a Micro SIM card and data plan from your wireless service provider, and whether you’re in the park, around town, or on the beach, you’ll be able to stay connected wherever you have mobile coverage.”
The new flavor of the device sports 32GB of internal memory and runs under the BlackBerry Tablet OS 2.0.1 right from the start.
The same platform release was made available for download for the Wi-Fi PlayBook as well, currently up for grabs as a maintenance update.
One of the top reasons for which users should choose to purchase the new device is the fact that it is much faster than the previous model, RIM notes. It can easily keep users connected to friends via Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, as well as via email, messenger and other communication means.
Other features of the new device would include:
Sized right — take it with you: As a frequent traveler, one thing I know is that I don’t like to be bogged down. The size of this tablet is ideal for me because of its compact size and light weight.
Browse the web like you mean it: When I’m looking for information on-the-go, I prefer not to get the watered-down mobile version, especially when there are tons of websites built to have a rich multimedia experience. This tablet supports more HTML 5 content than any other native tablet browser on the market and it plays Adobe Flash for that side of you that loves streaming videos and playing games. Movies and TV shows in your hands: Along with the introduction of the new 4G LTE variant, all Canadian BlackBerry PlayBook tablet customers will be able to access the BlackBerry Video Store for the first time. The app is available for download in the BlackBerry App World storefront. Now you’ll have access to a video catalogue filled with thousands of movies and television shows, with new releases to be made available for purchase or rent the same day they come out on DVD.
