It disclosed a senior vice president of RIM Jeff McDowell on the sidelines of a demonstration in the arena Playbook Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which opened today in Las Vegas.

Yes, for the first time since its launch late last year, RIM is giving a demo using seven-inch tablet, which is thought capable of competing with the iPad (Apple). Wi-fi version of his own new diperkiarakan will appear, March 2011.

The plan, RIM will hold Sprint as a service operator. According to McDowell, RIM’s decision to work with service operators in the United States the third most popular was because Sprint currently has the largest 4G network, such as quoted by Reuters on Thursday (01/06/2011).

Playbook IPAD could be the most awaited competitor than other competitors. Tablet market alone is estimated to increase to reach 50 million units next year.

McDowell claims, the corporation is now looking Playbook as an important tool owned by employees like cellular phone or PC.

Some time ago, the sticking issue if RIM is planning to delay the launch of the Playbook due to battery problems. However, McDowell asserts, Playbook battery can last like any other 7-inch tablet, or even longer. Still, he declined to give specific details.

The concept of a BlackBerry Empathy that carried Kiki Tang and Daniel Yoon from Art Center College of Design is much different from the concept design of the BlackBerry is currently available.

At first glance Empathy BlackBerry phone comes with a physical interface resembles a crystal and a unique form of biometric ring that serves to collect emotional data. It works when you touch with your friends via instant messaging (IM) and social networking services like Facebook, Twitter, and the other.

Each contact will have avatars, each circled the ring in two colors showing the emotional data. Of course, the color of the ring are influenced by emotions related contacts. For example, the colored ring that lies in part in the show’s emotional before. While the outer ring indicates a person’s emotional progress.

Lazaridis was joined on stage by the company’s founder, Dan Dodge, who said that “QNX is going to enable things that you have never seen before,” and added that the PlayBook would be “an incredible gaming platform for publishers and the players.” RIM also touted the PlayBook’s ability to handle Flash content via Flash 10.1, as well as Adobe AIR apps.

The new slate — which Lazaridis described as “the first professional tablet” — will sport a 7-inch, 1024 x 600, capacitive multitouch display, a Cortex A9-based, dual-core 1GHz CPU (the company calls it the “fastest tablet ever”), 1GB of RAM, and a 3 megapixel front-facing camera along with a 5 megapixel rear lens (and yes, there will be video conferencing). There was no mention of onboard storage capacity during the keynote, though the devices we just spied in our eyes-on post are labeled 16GB and 32GB on their back panels.

The PlayBook will be capable of 1080p HD video, and comes equipped with an HDMI port as well as a microUSB jack, 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi, and Bluetooth 2.1. The device clocks in at a svelte 5.1- by 7.6-inches, is only 0.4-inches thick, and weighs just 400g (or about 0.9 pounds).

In terms of interface, the OS looks like a mashup of webOS and the BlackBerry OS, even allowing for multitasking via what amounts to a “card” view. Interestingly, RIM and QNX boasted of the PlayBook’s multimedia and gaming functions, but Mike Lazaridis also described the tablet as “an amplified view of what’s already on your BlackBerry.”

That’s due largely in part to a function of the tablet which allows you to siphon data off of your BlackBerry handset via Bluetooth tethering and display it on your PlayBook (a la the ill-fated Palm Foleo). While the PlayBook doesn’t seem to rely on phone content alone, the press release from the company says that users can “use their tablet and smartphone interchangeably without worrying about syncing or duplicating data.”

RIM didn’t hand out any solid launch dates beyond “early 2011,” and of course, there was no mention of retail price. We’ve got a slew of content after the break, including the PlayBook spec rundown, the company’s press release, and a full video of the device (and UI) in action — so take a look!

By far the stand-out feature of the Curve 8520 is its new optical trackpad, which replaces the trackball for navigation –and it rocks.

In a confusing move though, the 8520 is the third Curve available on T-Mobile, in addition to the original and the 8900, which was released early this year.

The 8250 has several elements that depart from traditional BlackBerrys, beyond just the trackpad. Features such as dedicated media keys across the top of the device, a smaller LED indicator, updated look for the call and end-call keys, and new hidden’ convenience keys on the side of the phone all work together to position the 8250 to expand its reach to younger market segments that other BlackBerrys have failed to capture.

Other areas such as the screen and lack of 3G (though it does have Wi-Fi) indicate that RIM and T-Mobile weren’t willing to pull out all the stops for this one.

BUILD & DESIGN

Optical Trackpad
The Curve 8250 sports an optical trackpad rather than the usual trackball for navigation. Immediately after unboxing the phone, I felt the trackpad was an improvement over the ball, and haven’t looked back since.

The pad employs all the same gestures as the ball, and it feels similar to using a trackpad on your laptop. You can click the pad to select an option the same way you would with the trackball. The pad does not light up (it’s solid, and has no backlight).

An improvement I would like to see in future generations is the ability to continue scrolling by resting my finger on an edge of the pad. For me, this would be the ultimate in accuracy, ease of use, and functionality. There is little to criticize about the trackpad other than having to get used to its speed –otherwise this is a job well done, RIM.

Redesigned Side Keys & Other Styling
In addition to the trackpad, another departure from other BlackBerrys is the design of the convenience keys on the side. There is a rubber strip that wraps around the perimeter of the entire device, encompassing the keys on the sides. This makes the side keys of the 8250 look as if they’re bulging out beneath the rubber (see here).

This isa notable departure from the chrome trim found on other newer BlackBerrys, but it seems to work for the device. The bulging’ keys work with the trackpad and the lack of chrome trim to somehow make the8250 seem less delicate and more rugged than other BlackBerrys.

Across the top of the device there are three media keys: Next, Previous, and Play/Pause/Mute. These work in conjunction with the music player to help you navigate through music, a welcome addition that clearly plays to the younger market.This version of the Curvealso features an expandable microSD slot with a 1 GB card preloaded.

The last key-related item to note about the 8520 is that the four keys across the bottom of the screen: Talk, Options, Return, and End/Power have received a modest facelift, making them look a little hipper. The keys are all part of the same top level that the screen is, and don’t look as if they are individual keys though they act like it.

The back of the phone sports some of the same rubber band that surrounds the perimeter of the phone, with a black plastic piece across the bulk of the back. This plastic is curved a little bit, which beckons the user to spin the phone in a circle. Even after just a week of use, I’m already beginning to see the irreparable marks from all my spinning.

Screen and LED Indicator
RIM has been producing some convincing screens lately, but the 8520 doesn’t have one of them. Though it is an upgrade from the original Curve, it doesn’t hold a candle to competitors such as the BlackBerry Curve 8900, Tour, or Bold.

Though it functions fine, the screen doesn’t offer a crisp picture, high resolution, or adequate contrast that so many of its contemporaries offer. Physically the screen is about the same size as previous Curves, and is on par with that of the Tour.

One thing that’s annoyed me in the past about BlackBerrys is driving at night with Bluetooth enabled on my device. This is because I would get a blue LED indication flashing every few seconds bright enough to be a distraction. This type of problem is solved with the 8520 via a much smaller LED indicator. It is about the size of the tip of a pencil.

I suppose I should be careful for what I wish for, because the indicator does not seem nearly as bright as I’d like it. It could be that it is the same brightness in a smaller area, or it could be less bright overall — the point is that it isn’t adequate for spotting an unread message from across the room. This point might be moot however, because most smartphone users obsessively check their devices anyway.

Keyboard
The Curve 8250 maintains the keyboard found on the original Curve. If you thought you could escape the plastic spaced-out keys and trade up to a keyboard that’s easier to type on (such as the 8900 or the Tour), you’re out of luck friends.

PERFORMANCE

EDGE, Wi-Fi
For those of you hoping to hop on T-Mobile’s 3G network with this phone, prepare to be disappointed. The 8250 only sports EDGE and Wi-Fi, however it does support UMA calling via Wi-Fi (see below).

Updated OS
The Curve 8250 sports the BlackBerry OS 4.6.1.259 by default. The device is consistent throughout its hardware and software design, supporting its intentions to appeal to a younger market segment. This is most apparent by the red and white asterisks that litter the notifications section to inform the user about new messages or notifications. This is, of course, a nod to the iPhone which uses the same color scheme to indicate new notifications. These indications clutter up the home screen, especially the top status bar.

The OS also has by Facebook and MySpace built into it by default, and offers a slew of IM clients (AIM, GoogleTalk, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo, and of course BlackBerry Messenger). Finally BlackBerry Maps is also loaded by default into the device.

Other than the cosmetic updates of the notifications, little else about the OS seems to depart from other BlackBerrys. In certain applications thephone seemed to hang a bit longer than I was comfortable with, which was surprising given the 512 MHz processor, which seems like it would be plenty.

Naturally, it comes with the basic suite of BlackBerry software, with such apps as a web browser, address book, calendar, and Push e-mail. Like recent RIM models, it also has audio and video software and an Office suite — DataViz Documents To Go.

UMA
One feature T-Mobile offers that I’ve always been a big fan of is UMA, which T-Mobile calls HotSpot@Home.This provides native VoIP service where Wi-Fi is available.

The biggest benefit of UMA is, of course, that if you are in an area that does not have good T-Mobile coverage (you can definitely find some of those around), you can jump on Wi-Fi and instantly have crystal clear conversations.

When I first tried this feature with the BlackBerry Pearl Flip, I had some problems switching between UMA and EDGE (when for example I walked out of Wi-Fi range). The switch has been more seamless with this device. A few times I noticed that call would start in UMA and end in EDGE without dropping.

Camera
This version of the Curvesports a 2 megapixel camera that shoots video like all BlackBerrys. There are several styling cues throughout the whole device that indicate it’s going after the same market share that might be interested in an iPhone and the camera is one of them. Unfortunately, in terms of the camera RIM has lowered their game to be on par with the iPhone. Though it takes decent pictures, there is no flash (found on almost every other BlackBerry camera), and the round iPhone-eqsue lens is more exposed and subject to dust than other BlackBerry devices.

I would have preferred this phone to have the same 3.2 megapixel auto-focus camera with flash that we’ve seen on other recent devices, but for what it is, the camera is surprisingly decent.

Even video comes out smooth and sharp looking on the device (surprising given my earlier complaints about the screen’s resolution).

CONCLUSION

The BlackBerry Curve 8520 has several elements that position it to a younger market segment — the rubber outlay around the phone, the updated call and end keys, and the music keys are all evidence of this. Though notable, these are not the stand-out features of the phone.

The optical trackpad is a big step forward for BlackBerrys. It is easier to use, and more importantly makes the device seem more sturdy and sleek than other models with the trackball. Even with its shortcomings in areas like the screen and lack of camera flash, the trackpad makes up for a lot of otherwise lost ground.

If you’re looking to upgrade to a T-Mobile BlackBerry, normally I’d say the BlackBerry Curve 8900, butwith the advent of the trackpad on the 8520 I’d have to think twice.

Pros:

• New optical trackpad
• Redesigned side keys, top music keys
• Light, small form factor, uses same battery as previous generation Curves

Cons:

• No 3G support
• Screen not as advanced as it could be
• Keyboard hasn’t been improved from original Curve, is actually a step back from Curve 8900
• Plastic back cover is susceptible to marks

Despite all of this, the end product is somehow lacking. The Storm2 makes up for its predecessor’s shortcomings, but given the competition of large, touchscreen-based smartphones on Verizon, and the hordes of apps available for its prime target competitor, it’s hard to give this BlackBerry a solid recommendation.

DESIGN & BUILD

It’s hard to tell the Storm2 apart from its predecessor at first glance, but there are a few cosmetic changes. The chrome trim on the edges is subdued, and the function keys (Send, End, Menu, Escape) are now integrated as a part of the screen. The side buttons are a matte black and the headphone jack is now flush against the side of the device. Finally the top rocker button has a slight makeover where the left rocker key will first lock the phone, and then shut it down if depressed further. Other than these subtleties, the two can very easily be mistaken for one another.

The device is still a touch skinnier, thinner, and arguably better looking than the BlackBerry Bold, and sports a sleek overall design.

Screen
The Storm2 sports a 3.25-inch, 360×480 display at 184 ppi, and delivers a crisp, sharp picture. The screen retains its clickability, though it does seem more responsive and more natural than the previous generation.

Thedisplay offers multiple types of interaction — in certain applications, such as zooming in on the browser, just lightly touching the screen will drive behavior. In other applications, such as typing, the screen needs to be completely clicked in.

Itrecognizes multiple fingers for use in functions such as copying and pasting.

One annoyance I noticed almost immediately was clicking the integrated function keys at the bottom of the device. Sometimes the screen seems to stick around these buttons, forcing the user to click on the top of the screen first so that the bottom pops’ back out before it can be pressed again.

When you looked at the original Storm from certain angles, one could see a slight diamond latticework of gridlines, presumably sensors. This is not the case in the Storm2.

Size and Weight
The Storm2 feels heavy and solid in your hand, traits carried over from the first generation. Initially I could notice the added weight in my pocket, though it quickly becomes second nature.

Other Design Notes
One criticism of the physical design of this model is the placement of the volume keys. Like other BlackBerrys, the speaker during calls is plenty loud — sometimes to a fault. When trying to dial down the volume, I often found myself unsure of which key I was pressing. If the keys were moved up slightly they would be in a more natural and comfortable position.

Research In Motionis nice enough to send a pair of headphones with integrated microphone along with most of its devices. Unfortunately for those who pick up the Storm2, this headset is the same as the entry-level Curve, and is mediocre at best. This contrasts with the Bold which ships with a great ear-bud headset with multiple buds. Given how badly RIM and Verizon needed to knock it out of the park to make up negative perception, I’m surprised to see this lower-quality headset in the box.

PERFORMANCE

The overall experience of the BlackBerry Storm2 is far improved over the first generation. It’s more responsive, adds some nice UI elements such as screens that fluidly change/appear/disappear, and the display finally responds to you turning the device, though still not as fast as the iPhone.

BlackBerry OS 5.0
Thethis phoneships with BlackBerry OS 5.0 .0.287 on board, which is notably better than the earlier 4.x flavors. It offers Storm-centric features as well as other features generally applicable to any BlackBerry.

The second-generation Storm offers a much smoother — though not flawless — experience over the original. Scrolling through menus, switching screens, and switching from landscape to portrait are all much smoother, and execute mostly as expected. There tops of menus even playfully bump off the top of the screen when scrolling vertically or horizontally. This is a great improvement over the first Storm, which would freeze, lag, and ultimately do anything except for what the user wanted.

Some applications open from the center of the screen and explode out, a nice subtle effect. When adjusting the alarm time, a neat iPhone-esque scrolling wheel appears to help younavigate through time. Another aesthetic update is the icon the Storm2 uses to depict a BlackBerry. It’s gotten a makeover and looks sharper than previous ones.

This newmodel also makes it easier to navigate through messages. When reading an opened message, a flick to the left or right will open the next or previous message. Unfortunately not all messages’ work like this: if you flick into a Facebook message, you won’t be able to flick out of it to the next unread message — not a huge concession, and overall a cool feature.

Perhaps my favorite enhancements are the onesmade to the sound profile customization menu. Opening a profile, there are four simple expandable options: phone, messages, instant messages, reminders, and other. Opening up messages and then email for example allows the user to select one ring tone, a volume ranging from 1-10, and the option to set a custom vibration: short, medium, or long. This last feature makes for vibrations that are less noticeable to those around you when it goes off. Additionally in this section are two crucial improvements, two options named play sound and vibrate which offer “always, in holster, or out of holster”. All these come together to allow the user to more easily customize the volume, vibration duration, and makes it much easier to apply the same profile to both in and out of holster situations. There is also the option to integrate the vibration with the ringtone.

The OS and related experience are vastly improved over the first Storm, but not perfect.

I’ve noticed horizontal bars appearing on the bottom quarter of the screen when switching from landscape to portrait mode. It’s as if the entire screen switches except for the bottom quarter which quickly catches up. Switches from landscape to portrait and vice versa are sometimes slow and confused. When scrolling through messages the top date banner sometimes obstructs view of the messages that are scrolling by.

I noticed that at times when exiting an application the SSID super imposes itself over the LCD time display, making it hard to read either one.

Individually these quirks are not deal-breakers, though in summation they point to poor design and execution by RIM. These should be non-issues. They were present in the first Storm, and although diminished they are still present in the second offering.

Typing & Messaging
The Storm models are RIM’s first without physical keyboards, and its clear this company is still working its way up the learning curve.

The on-screen keyboard offers four modes: landscape QWERTY, portrait QWERTY, portrait multi-tap, and portrait predictive text (a nod to the keyboard styling of the Pearl).

Some keyboard behavior is awkward because of the software — it can be hard to call up the keyboard during a call, make navigating touch-tone menus difficult. There also isn’t a good way to erase a pressed key during a call. Like the first Storm, resting the phone on your shoulder sometimes results in accidentally hitting the End key.

In other environments it’s hard to hide the keyboard once its work is done. It took me several tries before I could successfully enter the WEP when setting up my Wi-Fi connection. I kept trying to hide the keyboard but ended up backing out of the application. I found similar difficulties when entering text on webpages.

These annoyances are minor compared to the major flaw of the Storm2′s typing: it’s FRUSTRATINGLY difficult to type quickly and accurately when having to click the screen in. The click-feature of the screen is changed and improved over the original Storm, and I can definitely type faster but it’s still difficult. Users will constantly find themselves hitting the wrong keys – which wouldn’t be a problem if the auto-correct was better. In portrait QWERTY mode it’s even more difficult. The majority of this frustration would be alleviated if the user didn’t have to click in, but could simply tap on the screen.

One of the Storm’s saving graces is at the end of the day – it’s a BlackBerry. It’s designed to be a crack messaging device, and integrates cool features to make messaging easy. When typing text messages, you can simply press enter to send, rather than options >> send. Email messages are delivered more reliably than its Cupertino rival, and there’s a good amount of integration between applications and messages (eg. Re-tweeting an email directly in the options menu granted you have the right client). Unfortunately, all of this great work is undone by the Storm2′s inability to type quickly and accurately.

If you’re willing to take it slow and you’re patient, this issue won’t bother you. If you want to be able to type without looking, or type without having to go back and replace your words, you’ll be sorely disappointed.

Two features worth noting in this arena, however, are the integration of phonebook entries into the custom dictionary (uncommon last names will pop up as recognized suggestions), and cut and paste. Though cut and paste is not new to BlackBerrys, the Storm2 utilizes its screen well to do so. On a message, or webpage, simply put both fingers on the screen. Two guides will appear and you can drag them left or right to correctly select the text you want. The options to cut, copy, and paste will automatically appear.

Browsing
The Storm2 offers just one browser: the default BlackBerry browser, which somehow seems surprisingly simple and straightforward for a Verizon product. The browsing experience is not vastly different from other BlackBerrys, and still lacks compared to the iPhone,Android, or webOS. The most noticeable browsing difference between the Storm2 and other BlackBerrys is aresult of the larger screen size.

Empirically Verizon’s network seems slower than AT&T’s 3G network, a problem that’s easily overcome by the addition of Wi-Fi. When connected to a hot-spot browsing speeds are decent, otherwise the experience goes largely unchanged.

The Storm2 and its quirky clickable screen actually offers a positive use when browsing. When on a page, tapping the screen (but not clicking it), will zoom into the page. If you wish to zoom out, you’ll have to click on the zoom-out key however. In order to select a link, you can rest your finger on it, ensure its highlighted and then click in. This is a useful application of the screen and actually makes browsing easier.

When entering a URL, the enter key on the keyboard dons a green outline and displays “go” instead of the standard return arrow. Likewise, the spacebar displays a period. These two features show the benefits of having an on-screen keyboard – it can change to become more relevant to your application.

Bundled Apps
The usual suspects are all present in this BlackBerry: App World, BlackBerry Messenger, download links for GoogleTalk, Yahoo Messenger, MSN, and AIM (conspicuously absent: ICQ, perhaps RIM got the messagethat this isn’t 1995 anymore). There’s the now-standard Documents To Go suite, along with social media apps from Flickr, MySpace, Facebook.

For entertainment, the Storm2 offers Tetris, BrickBreaker, World Mole, and the Sims 3 as an added treat! Finally the Storm2 offers BlackBerry Maps, Slacker Radio, and Application Center to manage and update all your apps — thoughthis seems to overlap the duties of App World.

There are of course, the Verizon additions to this bunch: V Cast Music | Rhapsody, VZ Navigator, a link to the My Verizon portal, and V Cast Song ID (poor man’s Shazam).

Connectivity
The BlackBerry Storm2 offers Wi-Fi, but by now anyone reading this review knows this. It’s standard issue 802.11 b/g and there were no significant quirks. It provided solid continuous coverage.

Likewise the GPS integrates nicely with your apps, including BlackBerry Maps which comes standard.

For the international travelers in the audience, the Storm offers a pretty impressive collection of antennae: EV-DO, UMTS/HSPA (2100 MHz), EDGE/GPRS/GSM network support. It comes preloaded with a SIM-card, but don’t be expecting to jump onto AT&T or T-Mobile’s network stateside without some wizardry.

CallQuality & Coverage
I’m generally a fan of Verizon’s call quality, and I’m generally impressed by RIM’s sound quality, but I was a bit let down by the Storm2 in this area. The sound quality suffered at the highest speakerphone volumes, and the call quality was sometimes choppy. I also noticed fluctuations in displayed signal strength, though calls always came through even if no bars were shown. At other times, there was outright no signal where I had AT&T and even T-Mobile coverage, a major surprise, especially given Boston’s urban setting I’m testing in.

The sound quality may rest on RIM’s shoulders, but the choppiness and coverage disparities point to Verizon. I’ll be optimistic and hope that this is due to a network being strained as Verizon prepares its next-generation network.

Camera
The Storm2 retains the solid 3.2 megapixel camera with auto-focus, flash, and video recording that the first Storm offered. It takes decent pictures, and allows you to use either the convenience key to focus and take pictures or the touch screen itself. It would be nice to see more digital zoom however.

Battery Life
Off a fully charged battery with Wi-Fi and GPS enabled, with moderate phone usage and normal BlackBerry messaging strain, the Storm lasted about 30 hours. Not bad considering the size of the screen it has to light up.

This is about on par with other smartphones — generally you’ll be charging any smartphone you buy every night.

CONCLUSION

The BlackBerry Storm has come a long way in its second-generation form, though ultimately it might be too little too late.

There are other touchscreen devices that make compelling cases, such as the Palm Pre, iPhone 3GS, HTC offerings, and the upcoming Droid. Often these have development focused on utilizing all of the features the physical device has to offer. Likewise, there are other messaging phones that offer better more reliable text input — the Tour and pretty much any other full QWERTY phone. The Storm2 sits in an odd place — it has some of the best of the touchscreen world, some of the best of the BlackBerry world, but ultimately comes up short, failing to deliver on either.

The original Stormseemed like a logical choice for those stuck on Verizonwho wanted something to take on the iPhone. Just a year later, however, it’s not apparent that it’s the obvious choice.

Verizon and RIM needed to really shake things up with the Storm2. Sadly, fixing the shortcomings of the first generation while failing to deliver any other true value-add isn’t going to be enough for most users.

Pros:

• Sharp, large screen
• Sleek form factor
• 3.2 megapixel camera with auto-focus, flash, video

Cons:

• Performance still lacks in some places
• Difficult to type quickly and accurately
• Poorer sound quality at loudest speakerphone levels