BlackBerry PlayBook headed to Sprint on June 5th for $500?

We're still waiting for some completely official word on the matter, but it looks like a Sprint exec has let slip the carrier's launch details for the BlackBerry PlayBook. While the post has since been removed, Sprint Marketing Director Gerald Evans revealed on his personal blog earlier today that the WiFi-only, 16GB version of the tablet will be hitting Sprint stores on Sunday, June 5th for the usual $499.99. Unfortunately, there was no mention of the carrier's 4G version which, last we heard, was still on track for a summer release.

BLACKBERRY PLAYBOOK REVIEW

Heres a review of RIMs first tablet, the BlackBerry PlayBook.

RIM recalls at least 900 faulty BlackBerry PlayBooks

We found the BlackBerry PlayBook to be a pretty solid piece of hardware, but it seems there was a problem batch -- an inside source tells us that nearly 1,000 faulty tablets were shipped to Staples, and now they're being recalled. We're hoping that Staples (and any other affected retailers) will reach out to customers and inform them of the problem right away.

BlackBerry PlayBook now on sale in the US and Canada, starting at $500 with 16GB of storage

Today is the day in BlackBerry land. The wait for a dual-core device with an up-to-date operating system and that stylized BB logo is now over, and a vast array of stores in the US and Canada are now ready to sell you your PlayBook. Whether you'll actually want to buy one is less clear-cut, however, as basic productivity apps like native email and calendar aren't yet available, Android app compatibility hasn't yet been rolled out, and the PlayBook has an unfavorable dependency on having a BlackBerry smartphone nearby in order to be the best tablet it can be. Still, if you believe in RIM's ability to overcome those early software hurdles, the PlayBook's ready for ownership in exchange for $500 for the 16GB model, $600 for the 32GB version, or $700 for the 64GB-equipped top option (prices are the same in both US and Canadian dollars).

BLACKBERRY PLAYBOOK APPS AND GAMES DEMO

PhoneArena presents to you a video demonstration of certain apps with the BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet.

BLACKBERRY PLAYBOOK REVIEW

The folks at Engadget reviews the BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet. RIM BlackBerry PlayBook is introduced as the first “professional tablet” keeping with the BlackBerry’s heavy usage in the business world. The specs are hot enough to interest both consumers and business users. The PlayBook features a 7 inch capacitive LCD display with resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels. Instead of the new BlackBerry 6 OS, a new tablet version of the BlackBerry software devised by the recently acquired QNX is running the show. The tablet will have some power under the hood with a 1GHz dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM on board. There are two cameras. The front facing shooter is 3MP with a 5MP on back. The WebKit browser will allow for HTML-5 and Adobe Flash Player 10.1.Review after the break...

RIM adds Android app support to BlackBerry PlayBook via 'optional app player'

You read that right -- RIM just announced that its forthcoming BlackBerry PlayBook will support both BlackBerry Java and Android apps. That includes native C/C++ development support, HTML5, Flash and AIR support, not to mention game engines from Ideaworks Labs (AirPlay) and Unity Technologies (Unity 3). That means that you'll have access to to over 200,000 Android apps should you choose to procure one on April 19th, but you'll need to dive into one of two optional "app players" in order to do so. It's also worth noting that RIM's presser only focuses on Android "2.3 apps," and while we're assuming Honeycomb apps will eventually be supported, there's no mention of Android 3.0 just yet. Furthermore, devs can look forward to an imminent release of the native PlayBook SDK, which will specifically enable C/C++ application development on the BlackBerry Tablet OS. We're told that folks who are already building for the BlackBerry or Android platform can "quickly and easily" port their apps to run on the BlackBerry Tablet OS, with the two app players available to download from the BlackBerry App World at launch. So, now that you can look forward to digging into the near-limitless Android Market, are you actually considering the PlayBook?