Media App Preview: A Video Look at the Camera, Video Recorder and Pictures and Videos Apps on the BlackBerry PlayBook!
With it's 7" display and HD aspect ratio, the BlackBerry PlayBook is definitely a media-friendly tablet and since getting my PlayBook and reviewing it, I've been finding the camera/video recorder, pictures and video apps are getting used a lot.
One of the reasons I'm using the PlayBook's cameras so much are because the device is portable and I've been taking it everywhere I go. 1080p video recording as yet to come to an available-for-purchase BlackBerry Smartphone, so I've really been loving that. I've no synced over all of my photos onto the PlayBook too, which again thanks to the PlayBook's portability and screen size makes for a lot of fun (my gf's family finally got to see photos from all of the trips I've been on over the past couple of years). I also find myself opening the Pictures app and turning on a slide show whenever I put the PlayBook onto the Rapid Charging Stand. And the Videos app is getting a workout too - I watched a couple of flicks on it already (while hooked up to my tv via HDMI).
Check out the video above to get a quick overview of the camera/video recorders and Pictures and Videos apps. Now we just need RIM to get the Video Chat working on the PlayBook so we have a reason to use the front facing camera, and need an easy way to buy and download videos right on the device. But the apps are really nice to use and intuitive, so we're off to a good start!
Reader comments
BlackBerry PlayBook Camera, Pictures and Videos Apps
Being able to buy the latest films on the playbook would be killer, especially with my bbid
Kevin, I noticed you had the amazon cloud service running on the pb, surely its only a matter of time before anazon start doing this with films. They have done it with every other kind of media
Kevin, definitely the strength of the playbook evident here! Look forward to more info.
If they got rid of the HDMI out i wouldn't consider this tablet. Streaming can be complicated and poor quality. Plus not every Tv Can do it. Hdmi is pretty standard now days on tv's were as streaming is premium feature.
You've said that before, but nobody is planning on getting rid of HDMI. They are ADDING DLNA which is a networking standard for sharing media without requiring HDMI access. You get BOTH.
Kevin,
Is that your car in the photo in the background?
Nice.
Birddog2
There should be a quick way to jump to the Video and Pictures apps from the "camera" app.
There is. swipe down from top bezel. in camera mode, you can go to pictures. from video mode, you can go to videos.
I know from your previous review that there isn't a flash for the camera but at least with the good lighting, I see it takes a nice quality picture.
How about ZOOM for the video?
That's something missing for my Bold 9700...
I saw a "Download Videos" in the videos app can you show us that?
Do you have an option for 720p recording at 60 fps?
Hey Kevin,
What I really like about this playbook, and correct me if I'm wrong, but it can take the place of the Apple TV that I have whereby I can plug it into my tv via HDMI, purchase movies or music through 7 digital, and watch them on my tv.
Kick that up a notch and I can use my blackberry bridge to do this using my phone as a remote to control what I want to do. I'm pretty sure that Apple TV needs a computer and access to Itunes and correct me if I'm wrong but Iphone users can't bridge their Iphones with Ipads.
Lov'n this Playbook!!!
you sounded like john4lakers when you did the test recording lol,photo,cam, and video are all nice looking,and the front facing 3mp cam looks ways better then i thought it would
I notice when you go into pictures it shows nice named sets. I've not been able to organize my photos on the Playbook and figure out how to give the sets names. When I connected via USB and moved photos over to transfer them it put them together by date which made for lots of sets with only a few pictures each in them with their dates as the set name. How can I put the photos I want together in a set and name that set? Thanks.
Hey Kevin, you never mentioned that the video mode doesn't do zoom. Can you find out with RIM if they're gonna add that thru an update?
I like playbook camera quality, some phones have worst camera.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFoUOqZPqRE - front camera sample
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY8IaD2Zb98 - back camera
Just wait for bb 10 )