PlayBook Lock Button

Back when the BlackBerry PlayBook was first available for sale, power options weren't readily available. You could tap the Turn Off icon from the home screen or you could hold down that much-maligned power button. That was pretty much it.

In later OS updates, Research In Motion introduced a popup window to give you more options however. Tapping the battery icon at the top of the home screen would give you the status of the tablet's battery as well as options for turning off, restarting, and placing the PlayBook into standby. These newer options worked quite well with one exception: if you had set a password on the device, standby would almost immediately lock it, requiring you to enter your password before the tablet would awaken.

The new PlayBook OS 2.0 software addresses that problem with a new fourth button on the battery popup window: Lock. If you haven't set a password on your PlayBook, you won't see the new control; but once you set a password, the Lock button will be there. So that begs the question: what's the difference between Lock and Standby?

Simply put, tapping the Lock button will immediately place your PlayBook on Standby and require you to enter your password before you can use your tablet again. Tapping the Standby button will allow you to awaken your tablet with a single swipe across the screen, no password needed. I should note that if you leave your BlackBerry tablet in Standby mode for long enough - from 10 to 30 minutes depending on your settings - it will lock itself and require that password.

So what is your choice? Do you use a password to lock your PlayBook? Or do you just opt for the simple standby mode? Sound off in the comments!

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