North of the border there’s reason for RIM fans to celebrate, as the company has finally unveiled the BlackBerry PlayBook 4G LTE. It goes on sale August 9, almost 16 months after the original Wi-Fi only version landed on retail shelves.

There’s more to the update than the addition of HSPA and LTE connectivity, of course. The PlayBook 4G has been upgraded to a 1.5GHz dual core processor, a minimum 32GB of internal storage, and PlayBook OS 2.0.1 comes preinstalled. “Select carriers” in Canada will be offering up the tablet initially, which should come as no surprise — RIM’s home base is in Ontario, after all, and Canada still has a fairly large base of loyal BlackBerry users.

Other countries will see the tablet soon, too, with the U.S., Europe, Latin America, the Carribbean, and South Africa following soon after.

It’s nice to see the PlayBook’s configuration upgraded to match other current tablets, but it seems unlikely that the addition of 4G connectivity, a speed boost, and the opening of the BlackBerry Video Store in Canada will do much to boost its standing in the market.

At least if you buy a PlayBook you’ll be receiving the upgrade to BlackBerry 10 OS next spring — which can’t be said for folks who purchase any of the BlackBerry smartphones that are currently available.

via Inside Blackberry

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Lee Mathews

Computer tech, blogger, husband, father, and avid MSI U100 user.

3 replies on “BlackBerry PlayBook 4G LTE unveiled, arrives August 9th”

  1. I think “next spring” is a bit optimistic for the BB10 update – RIM have said that they’re concentrating on their initial phone offering and the Playbook will follow. Given their current rate of progress and their deteriorating market position, I’m not holding my breath.
    I was hoping that the LTE Playbook would launch with OS 2.1, but RIM are obviously struggling to deliver that update as well. Honestly I don’t see my Playbook getting any more updates at all.

    1. Well, they did release a “maintenance” update to 2.0.1.668 (about 318 MB) today, which will probably cover the 4G for now. So they’re working their way to the 2.1 update.

      You could try the 2.1 Beta if you want to try it out before its official release though.

      Mind that the release now is just for Cananda and it’ll still be a few months before the 4G model hits the US and by then the 2.1 update should be out.

  2. This probably won’t restore them to relevance or even semi-relevance in the market. I don’t know anyone whose rabidly waiting for one of these. Especially with the $200 Nexus 7 sucking the oxygen out of the market and 4G data plans being slightly less than reasonable here in the U.S.

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