Some really cool hands-on information showed up in the forums over the last couple of days. CB member theruined attended the LA PlayBook Training Event on Thursday and got to spend some one-on-one time with a BlackBerry PlayBook. He posted some video and some observations in the forums for us. Some highlights of what he found:

  • No sign of video chat yet, but reps did mention it will definitely be included in the BBM on the PlayBook though there was no mention of it being there at launch.
  • PIN's are going to be phased out within the next year or so and replaced with BBID - this is to push cross platform apps, messaging, and ease of use
  • Presentation mode was demoed. It works by splitting the media output stream into two outputs that are independent of each other; meaning you can watch a video or load a presentation on your HDMI OUT and still browse/play/chat/message on the PB screen. Orientation, volume, brightness, etc are all independent features controlled by a Presentation Mode switch function that allows you to swap screen, toggle screens, and control the options on each screen. (We saw this also at BlackBerry Dev Day)
  • Battery Life still unconfirmed but it was reiterated that we have a 5300mAh
  • The OS constantly updates battery performance
  • OS Updates are going to use a push-type system to be installed almost instantly on your device
  • Doc2Go will be Premium for Free!
  • The screen is very durable and hard to scratch
  • Orientation Lock Feature was present on this build
  • .MKV Videos will be supported via native OS soon after launch, but not initially at launch
  • Flash games on the web were not supported with keyboard controls. This wasn't programmed into the OS but may be in the future.
  • Power button will be fully programmable with options on what it does, kinda like your computer i.e. Sleep, Hibernate, Shut Down, Lock
  • BlackBerry Bridge has not been finalized but I have verified that carrier data will not be transferred during bridging. No Texts or call logs folks. This was due to controlling security on the devices, since RIM is transferring over only their data from their end of the game, it's easier to control.
  • The UI for the Bridge stuff was very polished, all updated, refined graphics and functions with even more options for stuff like adding events and such.
Since the PlayBooks that are being demoed are still pre-release models, things are still subject to change. I'm sure RIM is working until the final moments getting the UI polished and refined for us. You can check out the rest of theruined's thread and jump in the conversation over in the forums at the link below. Another CrackBerry member was also in attendance at the same event, and posted his experience in the forums as well. If you want to read his walkthrough of the event, you can do so at the second link below. He posted a lot of pictures of the venue and set up, which I always think are fun to see. Thanks UrbanGlowCam and theruined!

To check out the full post by theruined and join the conversation
For UrbanGlowCam's walkthrough and impressions on the event