Taking A Walk Through BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 And New Features

Posted by admin

February 22, 2012

I admit, when I updated my PlayBook, I was anxious. And when it finally rebooted, I immediately began searching through it, signing into everything, checking settings, making sure my apps still worked, checking to see if I needed to set up my previous apps. Here’s some of what’s new with OS 2.0.

In the settings, you will find the Accounts. In Accounts is where you’ll find Manage email, calendar, contact, and social accounts. It’s in here that you add your emails, your Facebook, your Twitter, and your LinkedIn. Everything else seems the same until you look at the Keyboard settings. You can actually make some more changes with the keyboard. The UI is changed and I was surprised to see it looking so new. Even though you see videos, it still does not prepare you for the change. The main apps in front are Messages, Contacts, Browser, Calendar, and App World.

If you have set up your Accounts, then your Messages, Contacts, and Calendar will reflect the newly added accounts. Messages opens and has All Accounts in the left hand column, while the messages are shown in the panel to the right. Much like Outlook. You still need to download images. It’s so much easier and replying is even easier, or deleting. But it’s all native. You can also answer from Twitter or Facebook within messages. Everything is truly integrated.

Contacts is pretty nice. There’s an ABC tab on the left hand column, the information on the contact in the right pane, and the you can easily read about your contact or edit the information. You can even see their location provided you have the right information in the contact information.

The App World has been revamped as well. It’s much more efficient and easier to find apps, and still has the categories you come to look through.

The BlackBerry Bridge has it’s own icon that opens up the Bridge apps. Very nice and it comes out and goes into itself when closed out. Video Chat is very different. The contacts are in the left column with the video symbol and it’s green when they’re available. It’s a really neat change and makes it even more personalized. Docs to Go has a little bit of a lift as well, looking a bit more vivid.

Now let’s take a look at some new features. The Video Store powered by Rovi. There’s not a ton of movies available, but there’s some and there’s some tv shows as well. Prices for buying or renting range with rentals at $3.99 and buying at around $9.99 or $19.99. I really love seeing we have an option for movies and hoping we see the available movie selection grows.

There’s Print To Go. This is a really fun feature. You can send a file from your PC with Print To Go, to your BlackBerry PlayBook. Take your files on the go.

There’s the Press Reader. The Press Reader by Newspaper Direct allows you to choose your country and subscribe to various newpapers. Not bad for mobile reading.

There’s an icon for the Accessories Store which takes you to the BlackBerry Store online.

Which feature have you become most fond of? I have to admit that so far, I haven’t found anything I don’t like. I won’t use the Press Reader more than likely, but that’s the only thing. Everything else I know I’ll put to use. I just wish Skype and Kindle would show up for us soon.

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