14 DAY TRIAL // Research In Motion teased the upcoming release of the BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.1 a few days ago and promised that it would deliver the new platform soon.
Today, the Canadian company announced the immediate availability of the PlayBook OS 2.1 Beta. Even though this has yet to be released to the public, developers can register their PlayBook tablets and download the latest version of the operating system.
Although the OS 2.1 Beta can be downloaded by anyone who is willing to register their PlayBook tablet, RIM recommends that this upgrade should be installed only if you are a developer that needs to test apps using BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.1.0.560.
According to RIM, this upgrade supports apps developed using the following platforms: BlackBerry Native SDK 2.x or earlier, BlackBerry WebWorks, BlackBerry Tablet SDK for Adobe AIR 2.x or earlier.
Among the changes introduced with this release, devs should expect the following:
- Improved HTML5 support; - Portrait support for Email, Calendar and Contacts; - Improved folder support including IMAP folder support; - Full device encryption is now supported, so that the whole device and personal partition can be secure; - Screenshots are now saved in lossless PNG format; - Each Android app will now run in its own window. This greatly improves the user experience and consistency among the other application runtimes; -Access to the Camera hardware is now supported for Android apps, allowing many more application types to work on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet; - In-App Payment is now supported through the BlackBerry Payment SDK, so Android applications can include virtual items for sale in their applications.
Keep in mind that some applications previously installed on the PlayBook may not be fully compatible with this release. In addition, RIM also mentions that apps purchased from App World while using PlayBook OS 2.1 may not work on other versions of BlackBerry PlayBook OS.
Developers who wish to test apps on this OS 2.1.0.560 should head over to RIM’s devs support site and register their PlayBook tablets.