[calvinw1000]

I just recently read and watched the keynote video of BlackBerry Jab Americas on the YouTube CrackBerry channel and I wondered, what features will be available for the PlayBook when BB10 actually releases? Will it be the entire OS as shown, with the updated UI on the browser, and the "Flow"? Or will there be only minor performance tweaks?

[ryacht]

And the question is, will the tablet contain different functionality or about the same? Will all the UI and gestures be similar, or will phones and tablets be 2 different UI and presentation worlds?

Sure, the core/technology will be the same (QNX will flow into the phones).

Ray

[BerryClever]

I think everything will be about identical with some tweaks here and there. To me, RIM will want to keep the OS intact and not have multiple versions of it.... much easier to maintain, cheaper to maintain, and easier for app developers.

They might tweak it for the larger screen restate, but it shouldn't be anything huge. Flow is a major aspect of BB10, so I am sure they will keep that, the UI is another major aspect of it, and that too should be kept.

Also remember at BB Jam they are focusing on BB10, not tablets and not phones (they are showing it on the throw away phones).

[greatwiseone]

K-Mich had mentioned during the podcast that he has no clue how BB10 is going to look on the PlayBook...we'll see.

[bluetroll]

I don't think it will run as smooth as the dev alpha b device.

There's a video on N4BB comparing the Dev A vs Dev B and the A is clearly more choppy.

I'm hoping it will be more optimized, but keep in mind that by the time BB10 arrives on the PB, it will be almost 2yrs old!

[calvinw1000]

I think everything will be about identical with some tweaks here and there. To me, RIM will want to keep the OS intact and not have multiple versions of it.... much easier to maintain, cheaper to maintain, and easier for app developers.

They might tweak it for the larger screen restate, but it shouldn't be anything huge. Flow is a major aspect of BB10, so I am sure they will keep that, the UI is another major aspect of it, and that too should be kept.

Also remember at BB Jam they are focusing on BB10, not tablets and not phones (they are showing it on the throw away phones).

But when they are "tweaking it for the larger screen restate", the unanimous changes are obviously going to be visible, aren't they? Plus, the hardware's two years old.

[BerryClever]

I don't think it will run as smooth as the dev alpha b device.

There's a video on N4BB comparing the Dev A vs Dev B and the A is clearly more choppy.

I'm hoping it will be more optimized, but keep in mind that by the time BB10 arrives on the PB, it will be almost 2yrs old!

Yes the PB will be old by technical standards, but luckily for us, RIM didn't go cheap with the parts. It should be able to handle BB10 very well.

[BerryClever]

But when they are "tweaking it for the larger screen restate", the unanimous changes are obviously going to be visible, aren't they? Plus, the hardware's two years old.

Not necessarily. I am not a developer but I am a designer and there are ways you can move things around to "tweak" the layout so that it may look different from the phone's layout, but not drastically. There is a different screen ratio between the two devices, but it isn't as drastic as it appears. I think with 3rd party app development (correct me if I am wrong), but you can make it so that the app knows what size screen you are using and have all the artwork resize and formatted accordingly (instead of a fixed/absolute ratio, you would have an adjustable ratio).

Also, iOS and Android uses the same OS on their tablets and phones (their mobile OS), and although I am sure their is tweaks to their systems, I doubt it is a major change. And with Google, they have a ton of manufactures who all use different size screens. It seems to me that Google cannot keep making the OS for each screen. When software is so dynamic now and hardware so varied, I do not think format size is AS big of a hurdle... especially for RIM who knows the sizes they have and have prepared for them.

[BB_Bmore]

I hear that the PlayBook will have six live tiles on the home screen instead of the four that we see on the phones.

[Brian Ouellette]

I can not wait for the BB10 update for the playbook. It will make it a whole new tablet.

[z_scorpio_z]

In terms of performance, also keep in mind that PB screen resolution is actually lower than full touch so maybe less resource intensive (though it is more than qwerty).

As far as designing for different screen resolutions, they have UI design guidelines (document link below, see Page 16). If you use provided components they say they will scale accordingly. There was other places where it provided more details like the action bar in the bottom takes less % of screen height than it takes on full touch etc. These kind of changes are subtle and allows the app developers to make less changes.

http://docs.blackberry.com/en/develo....0_Beta-en.pdf

[Smiley88]

Don't hope on BB10 on the PB anytime soon. If we are lucky it will be available 6months+ after BB10 release.

[calvinw1000]

Not necessarily. I am not a developer but I am a designer and there are ways you can move things around to "tweak" the layout so that it may look different from the phone's layout, but not drastically. There is a different screen ratio between the two devices, but it isn't as drastic as it appears. I think with 3rd party app development (correct me if I am wrong), but you can make it so that the app knows what size screen you are using and have all the artwork resize and formatted accordingly (instead of a fixed/absolute ratio, you would have an adjustable ratio).

Also, iOS and Android uses the same OS on their tablets and phones (their mobile OS), and although I am sure their is tweaks to their systems, I doubt it is a major change. And with Google, they have a ton of manufactures who all use different size screens. It seems to me that Google cannot keep making the OS for each screen. When software is so dynamic now and hardware so varied, I do not think format size is AS big of a hurdle... especially for RIM who knows the sizes they have and have prepared for them.

Great justification, thanks a lot!! Just one thing though.. When you say Google uses the same OS for all manufacturers, that is probably because the OS itself is Open-source and since a number of manufacturers are using it, they cannot design specifically for each one. As for iOS, Apple has always believed in simplicity. But speaking about RIM, this move is in the direction of uncharted territory for them. Since there's only approximately 10% chance BB10 will be liscened to others, I feel that they will restrain many changes on the PlayBook. However, it all depends on the designers now.. Only time will tell

[calvinw1000]

I hear that the PlayBook will have six live tiles on the home screen instead of the four that we see on the phones.

But from engadget's video, it was made clear that there would be a maximum of 8 active frames. As of now, we can open 10-15 on 2.1 beta without it going slow...

[sagec]

I heard at BBJam Americas, from a RIM employee, that there will be a "BB10 for tablets", whatever that means.

The lead engineer over RIM's Haxe project also stated, in the context of getting Cascades on the PlayBook, "I'm glad BB10 is coming for PlayBook...". It seemed to be a matter of fact to RIM's employees.

One other thing people seem to have missed is that RIM had PlayBooks everywhere at the conference, showcasing games, using them for surveys, etc. Their employees promoted them subtly in a one on one manner as well, so I think they are far from giving up on them, but this is just speculation.

[calvinw1000]

I heard at BBJam Americas, from a RIM employee, that there will be a "BB10 for tablets", whatever that means.

The lead engineer over RIM's Haxe project also stated, in the context of getting Cascades on the PlayBook, "I'm glad BB10 is coming for PlayBook...". It seemed to be a matter of fact to RIM's employees.

One other thing people seem to have missed is that RIM had PlayBooks everywhere at the conference, showcasing games, using them for surveys, etc. Their employees promoted them subtly in a one on one manner as well, so I think they are far from giving up on them, but this is just speculation.

So, whatever they mean by "BB10 for tablets", we are still uncertain about the final design and appearence of BB10 on PlayBook. RIM could also launch new tablets featuring hard-core BB10 altogether??

[peter9477]

calvinw1000, we're definitely uncertain about the final design and appearance of BB10 on PlayBook, because it's not decided. RIM hasn't finished that, and indeed is focusing on the phones so they really haven't decided themselves exactly how certain things will work on the BB10 tablets yet.

As for your question (was it a question?), if you're suggesting there will not be BB10 for the existing PlayBooks, there's never been any hint of that, but instead only commitments from them to the contrary. If you're wondering if there will also be new tablets, that's anyone's guess. I think there will be only if the BB10 phones succeed (and really, isn't that obvious?), but as I happen to believe they will succeed very well, I'm personally confident we'll see new tablets in future, and of course they will at that point be running the tablet-ized form of BB10.