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BlackBerry PlayBook caught on video showing off portrait mode!

By Kevin Michaluk on 3 Feb 2011 11:12 am
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It's real! We've been told since day one that the BlackBerry PlayBook will hit the market with both landscape and portait orientations working in full effect (they better be!), but to date we've never actually seen it display the OS in portrait orientation in real live action. Of course, we've seen some photos showing this off on the BlackBerry.com website, but that's easy to do in photoshop.

Jump forward to the 10m55s minute mark in the video at the link below that was captured at Lotusphere of a demo being conducted by Paul Steel of RIM, and you can see some portrait action of the homescreen and keyboard on the PlayBook. I guess Portrait orientation on the PlayBook isn't a unicorn afterall, though it still looks to be somewhat a work in progress on the software build shown off here (note that of the open apps, when shifted into portrait, two of them stack up vertically and it looks like an open weather app didn't really flip orientation (photo above). Mobile World Congress is coming up soon in Barcelona, so hopefully we'll see portrait mode running on all the demos by then. Between now and then, if you come across any other clips of the PlayBook online running in portrait, be sure to let us know as we want to get a better look!

See the BlackBerry PlayBook in portrait mode (skip to 10m55s)

Topics: BlackBerry Playbook News & Rumors Devices

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44 comments

zoomlink1

Cool, its about time we see something!

_StephenBB81

Looks Great!

I really like the way the OS looks, and the keyboard looks to be very thumb friendly!

kaiserczar

Cool how much would it cost one when this baby is official?

kameleon

6:50 "the reason it is in a case is there are some things I cannot let you see...." Hmmmmm Wonder what it is........

cornerofthemoon

So is RIM ever going to release this thing? They've been hyping it since the dinosaur age.

Dekerta

I'm pretty sure they've been saying a Q1 2011 release date all along, and if you watch the video, this is confirmed in the first minute.

So it'll be out before March 31 of this year

lazydogrex

PlayBook sales will be limited to hardcore Blackberry enthusiasts. Most non blackberry users won't give it a second look. The PlayBook's required bluetooth tethering to a Blackberry smartphone to access info will eventually lead to its demise. I predict this will be a long term flop for RIM. Too bad because the specs on it appear to be great. Just my opinion.

cornerofthemoon

I dunno, I doubt the Playbook sales will set the world on fire but I predict it will be a success. I would like to get a Playbook but I'm also interested in evaluating the competition from webOs and Android Honeycomb. I probably wont get an iPad as I would like Flash support and iOS is starting to get stale and boring.

sk8er_tor

Congratulations, you wrote the most foolish comment I've read all day. Next time before commenting, you should really know what you're talking about first. RIM already said native email, calendar, etc will be coming on the device. How many times does this need to be repeated???

BlackBerry.est08

"Will be coming" does not mean available at launch and that's the main problem people are having. RIM reps said it will be available as the platform matures doesn't exactly say it will be there at launch (unless you have a link saying otherwise), instead it looks like the PIM features will be available through an update.

Deathcommand

Apple didn't have app store at launch. was it a success?

Intosh

Here's reality: Consumers use the web browser to access their personal emails and calendars nowadays. Predicting the demise of this device solely on the lack of native email and calendar clients is stupid.

Drae80

I have to disagree with this statement because RIM has stated long ago that the Playbook can be used as a stand-alone tablet and does not need a connection to another blackberry device in order for you to access, store, or edit information. The Playbook will have its own stand-alone apps even the basic ones like notes and the calender.

afinebalance

An entire post and spy-camera shot of the PlayBook in portrait mode... let me say it again... PORTRAIT MODE... just shows how deprived we've been as BlackBerry users and the impending seizures we'll have when we actually have these babies in our arms.. er, hands.

jlb21

I like that Portrait will allow for good ol' Berry two thumb typing....

Nikeem24

lol man this is awesome, i cant wait. Got that tax return money ready for this......lol

gregorylkelly

Focus the damn camera!!!

jwmax

LOL, Right on! He even talks about how great his camera is. I hope he got his money back after seeing the output.

captainbdsc

I concur! Worst video recording of a PB ever!... well maybe not... at least we got to see portrait mode! :)

gregorylkelly

If I heard correctly, the PlayBook they are using at the beginning wasn't "connected" but I did see a BBM icon.

tumer

I got very suspicious feeling that at launch there will be two versions released a wifi only and a 3g one for at&t its rim they cater to everyone those that want to buy a data plan and those that don't its very simple the one that's in the case I bet is the at*&t one there's probably a logo on it . There is ti much hints about it for one at&t is field testing a 3g one now what do you think kevin

Intosh

There is really no hurry for a 3G/4G version. Apple only managed to sell a relatively minuscule number of 3G-capable iPads.

jwmax

Even so you know Walt Mossberg and all the other blog-o-fools will be blabbing this all over the place so that no one buys these and they buy iPads instead.

I think they really should build in a email and calendar interface for this on shipping if only to shut these fools up. Make some kind of gmail interface. Its a safe bet someone will anyway since this thing is supposed to be so easy to program for.

tprime

It's looking good. Can we get it already. I'm tired of just seeing demos. Cost? Available where?

dudeone#cb

I'm still worried about the battery life. I don't know if anyone else noticed but the battery life of "cased" device was at 47% when they started the demo, and towards the end it looked like it was around 25%.

Intosh

I tried hard but couldn't see that 25%. You sure?

jwmax

Ya, they are going to put out a tablet that lasts an hour. Be serious this is a company that knows mobile devices, that will not produce a phone at leading edge specs because they can't get it to last a day and then they are going to roll out this device to the market that can't last? I don't think so.

Besides the guy in the vid directly answers this by saying he gets a day out of his device and you can bet he's using it al the time.

Update: Just watched again the 47% is on "His" cased playbook, while the 25% you see at the end was on the first one, which was showing 25% at the beginning of the vid.

BravoBBY

So I'm sitting here at the office waiting for a meeting to start and im using the the offices' iPad. I tried to watch the video and of course it didn't work. The playbook would have worked lol.

Xecutioner88

i love this sh!t,

im anxiously waiting for a release date.. i cant take this much longer!!!

Livett

That might as well have been audio only.

skm67

This seem to be pretty basic functionality that should already be working if this thing is going to release this quarter. Isn't anyone else concerned that RIM is going to release something half-assed like they have so many times before?

BlackBerry.est08

I would imagine there would be some concern. No matter how many people on this forum say, the Storm and Storm 2 didn't have that market success RIM wanted it to have. Having a peek at RIM's roadmap, RIM NEEDS the Playbook to make a splash something the Storm, Storm 2 and even the Torch.

jwmax

Listen, brace yourself. There is going to be torrent of shitting on this device when it comes out. First will be all the apple fanboys desperate to find anything at all wrong with it ( do I hear no 3g? do I hear less than 100,000 apps?... and anything else they can think of).

There will also be the blackberry chicken littles who will be more than eager to point out any flaw and fear that this will bury the playbook. "Did I see it lag in the video? Oh no! That will kill it!" No there is no lag. "Ok, but what else might be wrong?????" Is it really made in Canada? If Americans find out they'll never buy it! OMG OMG OMG"

Meanwhile, buy yourself one and enjoy.

zensen

about time. but definitely portrait mode was the best way to go for "default"

santi29402

If the PB connects with your phone thru bluetooth, will your blutooth head set still work at the same time? Yea it might be a silly question, but just wondering.

dudeone#cb

Different bluetooth profiles can be active at the same time. You can have the stereo bluetooth profile active along with the headset profile - I do this all the time in my car. Good question nonetheless. I wonder if they are using the WAN profile to make this connection or a completely different proprietary profile.

Nojo73

I'm soooo excited about getting one of these!

Deathcommand

The reason he isn't able to take off the case.

Color options.

Heck yeah.

TheEagle19

hell if the ipad keeps its crappy screen and webcams then the playbook will easily beat it, i expect we will see something during the super bowl on the release date for the playbook

mpmtkd

I agree, I think they will do a superbowl commercial and announce the release date... (wishful thinking?)

HTC_Droid_EvO

Weak..small little tablet

RIM blows

kennyiceberry

I'd get one. It looks like the most grown-up option as far as tablets go.