RIM announces the PlayBook (BlackBerry iPad)

Research in Motion has just introduced to us their first step into the tablet market. It’s called the PlayBook and it actually looks pretty nice. The question is though, is it nice enough to be a serious iPad competitor? Well let’s find out as we take a look at this new BlackBerry tablet.

The BlackBerry PlayBook is a 7-inch device that weighs in at just under 1 pound. It also boasts a 1024 x 600 display. Sure the iPad has a 1024 x 768 display but it’s also around 10 inches so the PlayBook’s screen is actually a lot better.

The BlackBerry PlayBook is not running the BlackBerry 6 OS, but instead a mobile operating system called the BlackBerry Tablet OS. It’s been developed by a company called QNX Technology which RIM purchased back in April. BlackBerry tablet OS supports a ton of great platforms such as POSIX OS, SMP, Open GL, BlackBerry 6, WebKit, Java, Adobe Flash, Adobe AIR, and RIM’s new WebWorks platform. The interface looks great as you can see in the video down below.

What kind of specs does this thing have? Were looking at a dual-core 1GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, 2 HD cameras (1080p video recording!), 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, HDMI video output, and Bluetooth 2.1 +EDR. The PlayBook also does multitasking which is a HUGE plus.

Overall, I’m thinking the BlackBerry PlayBook looks pretty awesome. We won’t be seeing them in stores until early 2011 in the US and we have no idea what pricing is going to be like. I’m excited though. Good move by RIM. Here’s a quick video: