The BlackBerry PlayBook
got a major OS upgrade that made this solid tablet from RIM more
complete. When the PlayBook was first launched, the limitations it
presented made it only appealing to existing BlackBerry users because it
depended a lot on a paired BB smartphone. With the OS 2.0 upgrade
though, even non-BlackBerry phone owners can enjoy this tablet almost as
much as those who have BlackBerries.
Let’s take a deeper look at what the BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 has to offer and see if it’s now really ready for prime time.
Folders and Favorites
First thing I noticed in the main screen was that there are no more
Tabs (All, Favorites, Media and Games) which is what I prefer since
there’s not much apps to go around anyway. What’s left are six slots
which you can customize to hold your favorite apps.
Swipe up and you will see the rest of your apps divided into pages.
You can now also create folders to group your apps, similar to what iOS
is doing. Press the app until you see it pulsating then drag and drop it
on top of another app to create your folder.
Accounts
One of the first thing you would definitely do once you upgrade to
2.0 is to set up your accounts. You can set up E-mail/Calendar and
Contacts accounts, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. This will serve as
your starting point before you can make use of the other new apps. One
thing I noticed though is that you can’t enroll multiple Twitter
accounts which is something that RIM should allow on the next update.
Messages
One of the major update here is the Messages app which is more than
just a native e-mail app. Previously you can only access e-mail from
your BlackBerry phone via Bridge. RIM decided on this one for security
reasons but it really gave the PlayBook a huge limitation especially for
non-BlackBerry users.
With the new Messages app, you can enroll different e-mail accounts
including POP emails. I signed my Yahoo! and Gmail accounts without any
problem. You can also access, compose, and reply messages from Twitter,
Facebook and LinkedIn via this app.
The app is well-designed with a nice, simple layout that allows you
to compose, reply, delete, and all the usual e-mail commands in a single
touch. You can view threaded mails and conversations and you can also
filter the messages to be displayed by account so as not to be
overwhelmed. What it failed to do was get the custom folders from my
mail account and also the indications that a message has already been
replied to or forwarded.
