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64 Comments

BlackBerry PlayBook 2.0 promo video shows off new features

By Adam Zeis on 1 Mar 2012 11:41 am
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The latest promo video for the BlackBerry PlayBook has turned up in the CrackBerry forums and packs a load of features into just under 3 minutes. While it's more of a promo than and actual commercial (similar to the original PlayBook promo) it's a well done spot that shows off all of the new features in the BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 software. It puts the PlayBook into the hands of people during their daily routines and shows off how to use the tablet in various different ways.

It's definitely one of my favorites so far and would have made for an awesome teaser before the actual launch of OS 2.0. The video itself shows off the features of the PlayBook including native Messages, Calendar and Contacts, video chat, "open on", presenter mode, camera, browser and more. What's cool here is that unlike some of the other commercials from RIM that I harp on, this one actually does an awesome job of showing just what the PlayBook can do in both business and casual environments. We've seen plenty of ads that really just show one or two features of a device or don't dive too much into them at all, and that really does work to sell the device at all. This promo is not centered around just a few features, but rather packs them all in and does it well. Hopefully we'll see plenty more like this for new devices down the road. Check out the full promo above and let us know what you think in the comments.

Read our full BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 Walkthrough

Topics: Commercials BlackBerry Playbook BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 BlackBerry PlayBook 2.0 News & Rumors

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Adam Zeis Adam Zeis 3028 (articles) 2790 (forum posts)
64 comments

con4n007

nice ads

and OH FIRST!!!!

takeo

Pretty boring - and why would RIM never learn???? People LOVE GAMES! That's why Apple decided to focus on them, pushing them and implementing strong GPUs in all devices. Apple had to learn this lesson too.

And now RIM only shows that old and crappy Need for Speed in the commercial? Seriously????

EDIT: the woman walks like a robot... annoying.

ciscobear

Yeh that robotic walked freaked me out too

JackKennedy

I'm more concerned about the children...What was the implication when she was meeting friends and date/husband and drove away without her children...Did she use the playbook to abandon them...

Is that the main selling point now? Distract your children with the playbook while you abandon them...

anyway, these ads, not just BB but all smartphone ads, really need to be more realistic and don't show off things that don't work the way they are shown. The slideshow was on-screen before the playbook was even plugged in...if there is a delay between plugging in and displaying on the screen then don't show that part...why do all these ads have to fake these things and make things seem smooth when in reality, they're troublesome and slow.

mjs416

@ JackKennedy:

Seriously? You are concerned with a woman abandoning her kids in a commercial? You do realize her living room isnt physically right next to her work board room too right? You people are ridiculous.

kennyliu

I am more concerned with a child playing a T-rated game, which "may not be suitable for children under the age of 13" as it may contain elements of "realistic violence", "infrequent/mild sexual content, situations or themes", "infrequent/mild profanity", "infrequent/mild alcohol, tobacco, drug use", etc. :D

daves_25

The parent gave the game to her kid, so the assumption is that that the child has parental approval. If the kid's Mom is okay with him playing NFSU, good enough for me. I was actually bothered more by the fact that Mom wasn't thinking about her daughter. It would have been better if she brought up a group game on the HDTV, rather than a single-player game.

JackKennedy

so basically, a mom wants to get rid of her kids while she goes on a date that night, so she load up whatever games there are already in the playbook, regardless of how inappropriate it is for the children, and give it to 1 of them then just nod to the other and abandon them...

This doesn't really show how the PB is useful...out of all the things they can do, couldn't they show the Mom video conferencing with kids at work to check how they are doing or play with her children (both of them) with some educational app instead of just abandoning them with a game inappropriate for their age loaded...

So many useful things are not shown...this is just stupid...

bbaddict30

As soon as I read this I was rolling on the floor laughing!

canuck_67

Ever see an apple commercial? Talk about skimming over he lag and drag. Does anyone see the "some (read all) sequences shortened". Get a freakin grip people. I just saw a nissan truck snowboarding. Everything on TV is NOT REAL!

And yes I have used an iPad. Just not for me, that doesn't mean that it's a bad product, well maybe.

the brother

I noticed the legs, didn't pay much attention to the walk.

But it was the part of how she left the kids alone in the house to play NFS while she went on with her day and eventful evening that was captivating.

I hope she dumps that douche in the sequel and we get to see more of her lounging around the house in her jammies.

XPEH

Crude but funny. I noticed that she looked pretty good for a mom with two kids. And the music was awful and reminded of a cheap softcore movie. Ok promo otherwise.

berrydroidapple

Not everyone likes games, and I dare say most BB owners are more concerned with real life activities such as work and being connected with people.

The ad is awesome.

JackKennedy

and what is the chance of your friends also using Playbook...RIM needs to drop the assumption that if Playbook can communicate with Playbooks/BB then its communicating...

berrydroidapple

Forgot

I have 2 Apple products, Android tablet, and now my Playbook. On all of my devices I have but 1 game, but a ton of apps to help me with research, writing a Thesis, read documents, type docs, etc...

Nigelbrown

I liked this ad, it finally is specifically highlighting feature sets that are only on the playbook. I am a huge promoter of the playbook, and a lot of guys in my office say I show them feature they didnt even know were there...this add is helping people see what is on this platform......

alexkinsella

Hi @Nigelbrown,

Alex from RIM here. Nice work becoming your company’s resident PlayBook expert. PlayBook OS 2.0 has many new features, including enhanced messaging functionality and thousands of more apps, so thanks for helping to spread the word. Both you and your co-workers may be interested in this post on our Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog focusing on using PlayBook OS 2.0 in the workplace: http://bbry.lv/yOqDtV.

Cheers,

Alex, RIM Social Media Team

stevedee

Although enjoyable, I would have liked to see the received table embedded into the slide show - and perhaps more about the integrated social media in messages. The robotic type walk? That is the languid, relaxed gait of a woman who isn't worried - her playbook can handle it all....

Curve 8330 CDMA (eww, I know, u/g to Torch soon!)
Winner of EA Mobile SE Playbook - rockin' it!

Kamika007z

Finally, version 2.0 has been released and an an add that showcases its strengths.

A GREAT add.

pgerhard

is it me or some of the transitions between apps, rotating of screen etc was slightly improved/sped up. I wish the PB had that speed and responsiveness...

but hey it's impressive (even if not totally true)

And to the poster who suggested to post more games: NO. iPad is for games and fart apps. We do productivity AND some games

Abrante

With you all the way on the first paragraph!

guerllamo7

Very cool add. It should help people see how versatile the Playbook is. Especially since it is so portable.

Go Playbook!

Abrante

Versatile, yes! fast and smooth like this video claims it is, NO!... My PlayBook takes more than 1 minute to boot and atleast 13 seconds to get from a click to the NFS screen that the kid saw in 1.2 seconds. lol

The 4G commercials do exaggerate their speeds too, so I guess it is cool. lol

daves_25

In other news, apparently squeeze bottles of household cleaner don't actually wear microphones and do sports commentary. Those squeeze bottles are being portrayed as far more awesome than they really are. It's the nature of marketing.

SixYearBlackberryUser

Very cool ad. Is a 30 sec commercial ever on TV to showcase the new and updated PlayBook?? No one will see this ad unless you search for it.

Speaking of commercials and marketing Blackberry to the masses, that one spot with the two DJ's is one of the worst commercials for a product I have ever seen. The spot tells the viewer NOTHING about the Bold/Blackberry phone(s). It seems it is more about promoting those two guys. RIM should do some test marketing & research to groups and ask if the commercial tells you what the product is about or the features. Nice 3 min promo above though :)

yauchunh

i completely agree, and the two DJs dont appeal to me at all. They already got people like JLo and Marc Anthony and nhl players using the pb/bb, I dont get why we are still seeing these 'no names' that does notthing to add to the bb brand.

Rim has to start making better ads and hire some popular Canadian celebrities. Steve Nash, or Bieber would be a good start.

mnokia

+1

Not only is the commercial just flat out boring, but it focuses more on their life than the product...And I get irritated every time I hear "we need tools, not toys.."

hopper76

Though I am glad they are showing off the goods in this commercial, I'm glad I'm not the only one who found this a bit slow and boring. After watching a minute of it I wanted to stop it. Oh and yes the movement was a tad bit robotic.

Make a commercial with more up beat music and better actors. PEACE!!!

shebmiller

I'm surprised a few things were left in the video, screens were clearly simulated for clarity and brightness but why would a upward swipe from the applications lower the dock and open this one app as she shows the couple their "house" on the PB.

I get it, I know why this video was made. And although it was okay, they could have made it way better. Also, too bad there the PB doesn't have Bluetooth audio streaming, they could have added that to the section where she get's in the car instead of checking her cal.

I know, I know.. I'm being really picky... but I can't not be anymore.
I love my BB and my Playbook but the more battery pulls I do, the more crashed my Playbook has, and the longer I wait for my universal inbox on 2.0 to refresh, the more frustration I get. (yeah, it took 2 minutes to refresh my inbox and another 2 minutes to open a message. nothing spectacular in content, very basic stuff, but it took way too long and it's happening way too often)

|end-rant|

kritikal

because an upward swipe does in fact lower the applications list and she actually tapped on the app card to maximize it.

shebmiller

Can't seem to reproduce... A downwards swipe lowers the applications and makes only the dock visible. upward swipe while the screen displays all applications or a folder just tries to scroll down the app list...

Ohhh, from the Bezel!!? Yeah... okay, my bad

Giancarlobc

The ad is nice, it really shows some efficiency from the pb.

louzer

This is not a commercial for Television - it's too long. This is probably a video that they had running on a kiosk at MWC. Hopefully, there will be a series of 30 second ads that will focus on particular functionality.

I noticed that she is using her calendar in the car. Since there is no bridging capabilities for PIM apps, I had to replay that section to notice that she was only viewing a calendar entry for directions. I assume the functionality they were showing off was that the calendar data is stored locally so you don't need a connection to access it. When I re-viewed it, I realized that she was looking at the calendar event to refer to the driving directions to the rock climbing place. It would have been nice if instead of looking at directions that someone obviously typed into the appointment, she clicked on an address which brought up (ugh...) Bing Maps to help them navigate.

I hope that there's a TV campaign that hits harder than this. There is some great functionality showcased here. I hope that, for TV, they present it in a more compelling and targeted manner.

belleg

PIM apps fully utilize Bridge connection when WiFi is not available. As a matter of fact, a bit too "fully" :)

yauchunh

nice video...bad music.

siddo_d

Beautiful, powerful, portable, playbook.

siddo_d

Beautiful, powerful, portable, playbook.

G-bone

Cool.
And you notice she has the purse : that means the whole family has to get one!

staraf

Nice promo. That's it ;-)

ice4u2

This video explains why I tend to always have my Playbook on me while my friends tend to keep that other "fruit company's" tablet at home.

pmich

so funny you mention this because my playbook is with me while my ipad is at home :)

klinton

Like my playbook. Shame add is so bad. So very bad. Have RIM totally lost it?

pmich

I instinctively 'whipped it out' upon hearing the music to this...

the real awkward part is that i'm at work.. how embarrassing.

Abrante

My PlayBook would have been more of a joy to use if it was as fast as the one the first kid is playing with. lol... His went from a click to the NFS screen in under 2 seconds. Mine takes 8 seconds in the "optimized for PlayBook" screen alone. lol... I am sure it'll get better as more updates get released.

BigAl_BB9900

What is the "view on playbook" function she accesses when she opens the email attachment?

I have the latest os 2 on my playbook and 7.0.2406 on my 9900 - how can I access this functionality? Is it something you need 7.1 for?

pmich

If your playbook and phone are connected via bluetooth, you should be able to open and view any attachments on an email on your phone straight on your playbook.

CDM76

Need latest BB Bridge / BB Remote app installed on your BB Phone

BigAl_BB9900

Big Thanks to pmich and CDM76

did a battery pull on the BB9900 and suddenly the option to view attachment on PlayBook appeared

Many thanks, this is excellent, and the type of functionality I actually bought the PlayBook for in the first place

(now just waiting for the other things I bought the PlayBook for... DLNA video streaming from my NAS, Skype, Scrabble.....)

CDM76

Not bad .. step in right direction ... but is SLOW and boring. Couldn't even watch the full video. Anyone 40 and under was brought up with MTV, hundreds of TV channels and multiple gaming systems. A great portion of this age group want speed, action and constant change. Just look at top 10 commercials for each of last 4 decades.

These are stale and boring. Is a good start but could be MUCH better. . .

MXBerry

This is what RIM needs to do to get to the consumers!!! Great ADD!!!!!

GGKoul

Sure I can control my PB with my phone, but they forgot the greatest feature with the Bridge.. Being able to tether your PB with you existing BB phone and be online anywhere...

PipeLady09

I really like the ad. I find new things I can do on my PB everyday. One of my favorite things (there are so many in 2.0) is the Print2Go. I've found several ways to use that app. Now a shorter version for TV is needed. You rock RIM.

Thanks

collapsed

Right after watching this video I ran and gave my playbook a hug.

I love it! <3
Great device and this promo really shows it's potential.

City Kid 4 Life

I think it's a great ad! It shows the versatility of the PlayBook with its new features. Remember it's just a commercial.

Social Sentry

They forgot the fine print that says that pretty looking calendar doesn't sync with her BlackBerry. They should have had a section in the middle of the promo where the music stops dead and she's there manually entering every date twice. Or maybe that's why she has her PlayBook with her at all times... Because her calendar can't sync with her BB and she has no choice but to carry it around!

Buffer93

Awesome ad! This needs to be plastered all over the TV and then watch the PB just fly off the shelves!

Superfly_FR

40 minutes, tongue out, to write my thread ... ruined. lol
Glad it has been, this is good "mid power": enough until OS10.
thanks for the info. Already on my FB page.

anthogag

I like this promo video. It shows the many quality ways to use the playbook.

This should be playing on demo playbooks in stores, late night infomercials, on monitors in airports,...

Vanti

Thank god for proper effective advertising these commercials where needed about a year and a half ago...

rc.simpsons

Love it so much! Especially showing how capable PB is in shooting without autofocus. RIM rules!

Bolderholder

Clearly RIM is catering its advertising to a different, professional and sophisticated demographic in this ad. The message delivery isn't condescending nor is it saying that if you don't have this iProduct, you're not worthy. Let's leave that to others.

The Playbook is not just about games and apps. Anyone that has a bb and not an iphone knows what I'm referring to. It's about everything else. Why play in the same sandbox as the other kids?

The PlayBook has to be seen and regarded as a different tool. "Not a toy". Why do you figure iPads are left at home by the majority of its owners.

That's my $.02 worth. Cheers!