BlackBerry PlayBook gets official video chat app from RIM

By on May 2, 2011 at 8:43 AM
Tablets May 2, 2011

Research In Motion on Monday announced a new video chat application and service for its PlayBook tablet. The announcement, which came from the company’s BlackBerry World conference in Orlando, marks the addition of another service that likely should have been available on the device at launch last month, but may have been omitted due to the company’s rush to release the device. The video chat app itself looks like it covers most of the core video calling functionality users might desire, such as one-click calling, incoming call notifications, picture-in-picture so users can see their own feed in a small window while the other chatter’s feed displays full-screen, and the ability to swap between the PlayBook’s front-facing camera and its rear camera. RIM’s video chat app fro the BlackBerry PlayBook will be available for free in BlackBerry App World beginning May 3rd. Hit the jump for RIM’s full press release.

RIM Announces New Video Chat Application for the BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet

Allows BlackBerry PlayBook users to easily share special moments with friends and family

Waterloo, ON – Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced the availability of the BlackBerry® PlayBookTM Video Chat application – an easy and fun way for friends and family to place and receive video calls between BlackBerry® PlayBookTM tablets over an internet connected Wi-Fi® network.

“BlackBerry is a renowned mobile communication solution for connecting users to the people and information that matter most throughout their day,” said Tom Goguen, VP, Collaboration and Social Networking at Research In Motion (RIM). “With the BlackBerry PlayBook Video Chat application we are excited to be enabling our customers to share important moments and events with family and friends via video calls. With the BlackBerry PlayBook’s high-resolution video cameras and stunning display, a Video Chat call is the next best thing to being there.”

Key features of the PlayBook Video Chat application include:

  • One-Click Video and Voice over Wi-Fi Calls – with just one click users can make a call from their Video Chat contact list, log of recent calls or simply by entering the BBID email address of the person they want to call.
  • Incoming Call Notifications – users will receive a notification pop-up when a new video call comes in, allowing them to accept the call as either a video or voice call, or decline the call. For those quiet moments – such as when while watching a movie or playing a game -users will also have the ability to simply set the “Do Not Disturb” option and the BlackBerry PlayBook will automatically ignore all incoming calls.
  • Powerful In-Call Functions – by using the picture-in-picture function users can easily preview their own video image prior to placing the call in order to see what will be displayed on the other end. They can also easily switch cameras from front to rear so their friends can see what they are seeing, and for private moments users can mute/unmute audio or make or take calls using voice only.
  • Friends List – BlackBerry PlayBook Video Chat comes complete with a Friends List for maintaining your favorite contacts. A picture can easily be added to a contact to personalize the entry and a Call Log makes it simple to keep track of received and missed calls.

The BlackBerry PlayBook Video Chat application will be showcased this week at BlackBerry World 2011 (www.blackberryworld.com) in Orlando FL. It is expected to be available on May 3 and will be distributed to existing BlackBerry PlayBook customers through an over-the-air software update and will also be available on BlackBerry App WorldTM.

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  • Anonymous

    I spent some time this weekend playing with both a playbook and a xoom. Gotta say I’d go with the xoom any day over the blackberry. While I do not deny being in favor of iOS over either of them, I find honeycomb to be easier to navigate around in. At least on first impression the playbook’s OS, while pretty, isn’t as intuitive to move around in / get back to where I was.

    I also don’t get the size thing. Maybe some people like the Playbook’s portability, but if I’m buying a tablet part of the appeal is the larger screen. Something thats only marginally larger then a cell phone just doesn’t do it for me. Personally I’d probably call Samsung’s upcoming 8.9 incher the minimum I’d accept for a non-smartphone, non-notebook device.

    • Anonymous

      Same thing happen to me this week, I couldn’t believe how crazy small the playbook actually was. The Xoom on the other hand was a pretty cool device to look at and truly a iPad competitor, I just think moto needs to drop $100 on it so it can really take off. The Playbook on the other hand is dome.

      • Anonymous

        It would probably also help for motorola to put a little thought into display advertising. The Xoom was tucked away in a corner next to the netbooks, with absolutely no fanfare. I almost walked right past it.

        The fact that it’s $799 and sitting next to $299 netbooks, also isn’t exactly helping it out.

      • Anonymous

        This is another plus for Apple and their retail model.

        Samsung, Moto, Blackberry have to ‘buy’ shelf space. Apple has it front and center at it’s own store, and the demand (pent up, contrived, real, or whatever) drives it to the front of every electronics counter at the Big Box retailers.

        Vertical control. Means everything.

      • Awesome

        yeah…a true iPad competitor that shipped 200,000 of them in a quarter.

        lawl

        Honeycomb right now is crap.

      • Anonymous

        Well I personally own a iPad2 but if I had to choose anything other, it will be a Xoom. After trying the playbook I think rim is not even in the game if you ask me. But hey competition is always good and let’s hope I’m wrong.

      • bulletproof

        I like my PB cause it lets me be on the go. A home bound tablet doesn’t make sense to me since I have a 14 inch laptop for that. If I wanted 10+ inches screen to use at home, I would have bought a netbook. There is a device for every kind of buyer on the market.

        Also, what is easier to navigate that a real time carousel of your open apps accessible by one upward swipe? The ipad doesn’t be even do multitasking in my opinion and navigating on the XOOM is not easy when you have a number of open apps.

  • Anonymous

    playbook to playbook chat.

    I assume a separate friends list from my BB phone contact list

    okay… great. any phone clients? any desktop clients?

    no. no.

    And what makes this better than skype? facetime?

    seems to be about a year late, and lacking integration with the ‘blackberry core’ users.

    I would call this a fail, at least in the scope of delivery. Maybe there will be a ‘roadmap to video chat supremacy’ that will whet the faithful’s appetite, but I’m old enough to remember all the ‘roadmaps’ of IBM, MicroSoft, Palm, even Apple, to know that if it ain’t delivered, it ain’t real.

  • http://emmeff.myopenid.com/ EmmEff

    Still no email or calendar?

  • http://about.me/brandonmccall brandonmccall

    Great. Now Pete from the mailroom can video chat with Haywood from accounting.

  • RIMsucks

    Haha. This makes Android look pathetic now. Even RIM comes out with their own video chat that Android dithered with for a long time.

  • Kayleeajeffries

    Wonder if you can make an origional call. Like to a cell phone. Or if you can video chat to a computer or other devices. Hmmm a real mystery I guess.

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