Hands on with the native email app in PlayBook OS 2.1 - Portrait style

By James Richardson on 3 Oct 2012 12:12 pm

With the BlackBerry PlayBook OS getting an update this week to version 2.1, one of the improved features is the ability to now use the native email client/messages application in portrait mode. It looks kind of weird at first but I suppose that is just because we are so used to only using it in landscape after over a year.

From a personal viewpoint I think it's a great update, mainly as it brings us one step closer to BlackBerry 10. It isn't the same experience as BB10 as we don't have the 'flow' and 'swype' between messages, it still relies on taping the screen, but we need to get used to using out touch screen devices in portrait mode. Typing within the email app is certainly easier this way. I struggle a bit using two thumbs to type in landscape mode so this will more than likely make me use the tablet a bit more for managing my emails.

All the same functionality tabs are still present when in a message - it is just that the email now takes up the whole screen, which is great use of the 7 inch PlayBook's real estate. Once in an email you also have the ability to jump quickly to the next message as we now have two arrows at the top right of the screen. Perfect for reading through all your mail if you prefer to see the full content and not just the basics.

The top bezel of the PlayBook still drops down an options tab. In portrait mode we loose a couple of the tabs but the comprise email, settings and help one still remain. Nice work RIM - I'm happy with new viewing option.

We will of course cover the other new features in the PlayBook tablet 2.1 update over the coming days so keep your eye peeled.

Topics: Email BlackBerry Playbook Update Messages PlayBook 4G LTE 2.1 BlackBerry Apps

James Richardson 566 (articles) 91 (forum posts)

36 comments

NamelessStar Oct 3, 2012 at 12:18 pm

new update ftw lol dont really use the email much on my PB but than again could change very quickly at times

Dave79 Oct 4, 2012 at 5:02 am

Not so fast - still no outlook sync via DM..

boldkeyboardholic Oct 3, 2012 at 12:36 pm

one of the biggest dissapointments (with 2.0 ) is solved.

again I get my potrait style keyboard back.

writing mails with the PB is again good/with word correction, very nice.

cletis Oct 3, 2012 at 12:37 pm

This capability has been available in the beta for the several months of its release, so many of us have a lot of experience with it. Here's my take: Hate it. Specifically, I hate that I don't get a choice as to whether the message list appears on the screen at the same time as the currently selected message when in portrait mode. It simply does not, and cannot -- and I get no say in the matter. (It could appear on the top half of the screen, while the bottom half is used to preview the selected message.) This is a systemic problem, IMO; unlike the phone OSes, the PlayBook OS is rampant with these omitted settings; forcing one option down our throats. What's up with that?

sk8er_tor Oct 3, 2012 at 1:06 pm

What's the point of having the inbox message list open at the same time as a message when in portrait mode? You won't be able to read the message anyway.

cletis Oct 3, 2012 at 1:19 pm

Please re-read my comment for a explanation of a mind-numbingly simple way to implement this feature.

Blackberry_boffin Oct 3, 2012 at 1:48 pm

I hear you, but I would be upset if RIM spent so much time on the PB and neglected BB10 when that is also headed to the PB anyway. The PB OS will be diying sooner than later, and the device didn't catch enough to warrantt excessive time invested in it in its present form, hence BB10.
In this case; you want to see message and inbox side by side? Use landscape, you want to type away quickly without excessive scrolling? Use potrait.

cletis Oct 3, 2012 at 2:06 pm

Reasonable points.

sk8er_tor Oct 3, 2012 at 1:49 pm

Where will the keyboard go when you want to reply?

cletis Oct 3, 2012 at 2:08 pm

Composing new messages and replies would be done in full-screen mode as it is now; only when browsing does it seem desirable to me to have the same option in portrait as in landscape.

kozmo68 Oct 3, 2012 at 2:37 pm

If I understand your original point, its about having the choice more so then the function itself, do I read that correct.. On that Yes valid point, however to Blackberry_boffins point, why bother in the short term.. For me I've been using the beta since release so the added functionality of portrait has been awesome.. Right now I could careless if they make any other changes to the current playbook OS.. I rather they spend every waking moment on making sure BB10 is going to rock it out on January 1 (ok maybe wishful thinking but you get the point).. I want BB10 on my new phone, on my playbooks, in my car and hopefully on a laptop!

#BB10Believe!

cletis Oct 4, 2012 at 10:58 am

You grok my meaning most completely. Yes, my concern is that the PB OS has been, from the start, much more dumbed-down and unconfigurable than the BB OSes have been, and this does not bode well, methinks, for BB10. Since the PB OS is in many ways a pre-release of BB10, it seems reasonable to assume that BB10 will also be dumbed-down in the Settings department. Therefore, every phone from here on out will also suffer from what I feel is a major step backwards in functionality.

(And a piece of advice: You know full well that the release date will be a long way after Jan 1; if it were to be anywhere near that early, they would have dropped it before Dec 25. Don't work yourself up into an expectant lather, only to crash down into despair when the actual release date ends up being more like Mar 12. And yes, that was a random date I pulled out of thin air; I have NO desire to start a baseless rumor.)

kozmo68 Oct 4, 2012 at 12:03 pm

I was being facetious with the Jan 1 date, I think we all very well know that's not going to happen. If its March that's fine too, hopefully not the case.. For me the bottom line is that when it does come out it, it absolutely needs to be B_itchen, and from what I've seen so far it's definitely on the way to being that.. It needs to come out with the right apps to attract casual users and if BB can pull that off I think it has a great shot at being a success. We all know the playbook OS is just a bridge and I'm thinking at its core it's the chassis of BB10. Currently it's just available in the base model and BB10 will feature all the required Bells and whistles we've been craving..

#BB10Believe!

chaosdivine Oct 3, 2012 at 12:51 pm

I don't know if you want to take down this video and redo it and repost but you showed a PayPal receipt with some details that are visible in your video and in this world full of crazies you expose yourself to identity theft.

I'd change it out if I were you...

I had a credit card hacked once and so now I am paranoid.

camera531 Oct 3, 2012 at 1:52 pm

just fyi, native email hasn't been available for anywhere near a year...

Rootbrian Oct 7, 2012 at 1:36 am

Yes it has. Since OS 2.0.

dugggggg Oct 3, 2012 at 1:59 pm

"We need to get used to using our touch screen devices in portrait mode"

Bull shit. We need touch screen devices to operate properly, regardless of orientation. That goes for BB10 as well.

cletis Oct 4, 2012 at 10:59 am

Agree. This statement reeked of settling for the inevitable; regardless of its desirability.

xtremesniper Oct 3, 2012 at 3:50 pm

I think any complaints about this feature from a design perspective are unneeded.

Everyone and their dog knows that RIM is busy working on porting BB10 over to the PlayBook. Why would you want or care for RIM to waste any more time on PB OS 2.x when we all know they should be putting as much resources into BB10 as possible?

Take what you've got. You're not going to get anything more until BB10 is released, and that's the way it should be at this point.

Driftdreams Oct 3, 2012 at 4:38 pm

I've been having problems setting my my email and social apps ever since the 3rd OS update. None of them will sync... Not email, fb, twitter, ect... Can anyone help this matter?. I'd really appreciate it. Mg.garcon@gmail.com

NewCat427 Oct 3, 2012 at 5:22 pm

HELP:
I am still having problems with POP3 Mail.

I was told by RIM 4 months ago that the POP3 mail was going to be fixed.
It deletes from server when deleted on PB.

With the 2.1 update you do not even have the option to turn on or off delete from server, and it still deletes from the server when you delete from PB.

Anyone have a resolve to this?

Otherwise seems like an OK update. I will have to play with it for awhile to see what all is going on - and keep any eye on the CB posts..

Battery drain problems from last update at this point appear to be OK, but will know by the end of the evening.

sk8er_tor Oct 3, 2012 at 5:35 pm

That probably won't be put in place until BB10 comes out.

NewCat427 Oct 3, 2012 at 7:15 pm

The option was there until I did the update this morning.
Why would they screw up something that was there and they said they had fixed?

fredlight Oct 4, 2012 at 9:45 am

Right, it is stupid from RIM to remove this option that was working well.
Hope they read and listen, and bring it back ASAP, already have enough troubles with side loaded Android apps broken.....
RIM, give us back the PUSH ON/OFF option!!
Thanks :)

cletis Oct 4, 2012 at 11:01 am

Working well? The antecedent post -- and many others like it -- made the point that mail is deleted from the server independent of which value you choose for this setting. Are you saying that you are getting messages to remain on the POP server?

NewCat427 Oct 4, 2012 at 1:18 pm

Fred:
There was nothing "working well" on this option.
It has not worked from day 1 of email on the PB and when I called PB support they told and assured me that it was going to be fixed with the last update and was not and now on this update they have taken away the button for selecting the option.

With everything that they have done right, why did they have to do this wrong?????

I am not the only one who uses POP3 and if you do not know about the deletion of emails by the PB, you may be having a lot of stuff deleted off your server that you do not want to.

There is no mention of this problem anywhere that I have been able to find.

If there is a solution it needs to be published ASAP.

Thanks:
NC427

cletis Oct 5, 2012 at 12:53 pm

Of course, from a cynical perspective, removing the option can be considered a fix for the problem. When the option was available, the native mail app had a feature which did not work. By removing that feature altogether, it no longer has a feature that does not work. That this cynical approach (a) is taking something away from the customer which was previously available, a rule which no company should ever break, (b) creates a client which does not fully support the POP3 standard, and (c) adds another setting to the list of those which the PB does NOT expose to the user -- a pet peeve of mine which I have touched on elsewhere in this thread -- is a whole other discussion.

BB_Bmore Oct 3, 2012 at 6:11 pm

From what I understand we can expect incremental updates for PlayBook here on out until it get BB10. We will see as this was the case when 2.0 hit also.

BB_Bmore Oct 3, 2012 at 6:18 pm

Some of you talk like RIM will have to abandoned the PlayBook to get BB10 out. I know for a fact there are internal builds of BB10 already on the PlayBook and I know for a fact they are testing BBM and an app called Navigator internally...on the PlayBook.

Doesn't seem as if PlayBook is abandoned to me. Heck updates are still coming out for OS 7. When RIM says "All hands on deck for BB10" that doesn't mean all other RIM products have been abandoned. They are fully capable of multi tasking. As a matter of fact,they arE the best in the buisness at multi tasking ;)

robsteve Oct 3, 2012 at 9:36 pm

How do you mark emails as read without opening them. I figured out the select process, but which icon do you press for mark as read?

NewCat427 Oct 4, 2012 at 1:21 pm

Robsteve:
on the top right hand corner after you select messages, there is a flag - just below it are 2 envelopes.
Tap the envelopes and you can toggle between read and not read marking of messages.
NC427

martinjdub Oct 3, 2012 at 11:27 pm

Nice work James!

marcusharris Oct 4, 2012 at 12:37 am

I don't know if it's just me, but my bridge messaging app doesn't have the same top and bottom elements that his did in that video?

I'm running the latest BB PlayBook OS that was distributed today (2.1.0.1032), and with the exception of being able to view the messages and the message list in portrait mode, everything else about my BB bridge messaging app looks the same as it did in 2.0.1.X?

Particularly, the top (light blue) border with the buttons allowing the user to navigate between messages with a touch, and the black border area at the bottom of the portrait view w/the refreshed icons, etc. I don't have any of that?

Who would I be able to contact about this to investigate? Many thanks!!

andrian0empat Oct 4, 2012 at 11:59 am

I have same problem.
I am from indonesia.

w0qj Oct 4, 2012 at 2:21 am

Thanks BlackBerry for the "Portrait" mode email viewing...

But actually I was expected (hoping) that this "Portrait" mode email viewing when PlayBook OS v1.0 came out ...

Let's hope OS10 is better than this...

vivforu Oct 5, 2012 at 5:42 am

Love this feature had been waiting for this update for a long time now. Much easier to write long mails now. Thumps up RIM. Would have loved if Twitter was now a native app. Hope RIM does that in the next update obviously before BB10.....

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