BlackBerry PlayBook gets an update

The BlackBerry PlayBook gets a software update pretty often but this one has some nice new features I thought are worthy of a mention. This new version, OS v1.0.7, brings us BBC News and BBC iPlayer web icon (shortcuts) which will be pre-installed. Sure it would be nice to see proper BBC apps one day but to be honest as the Playbooks web browser is so awesome it doesn’t really matter.

As well as the BBC gubbins the below features are also added in this update:

Improved connectivity & productivity with the BlackBerry Bridge application

Enhanced Support for Saving Attachments – The BlackBerry® BridgeT app offers you more flexibility around where and how you save attachments for viewing and editing. You can now save an attachment to a removable SD card, or to your BlackBerry smartphone’s internal flash memory.
ZIP Attachment Support – The BlackBerry Bridge app now gives you access to ZIP files received as an email attachment. While bridged, you can now download a zip file from an email to your smartphone SD card and then extract compressed contents for viewing or editing on your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet.

Additional Multimedia Features

Portrait Support in Pictures App – With BlackBerry Tablet OS v1.0.7, pictures that you’ve taken with your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet or transferred from your PC can now be viewed in either portrait or landscape formats for the layout that best fits your needs.
Pinch to Zoom in Video App – Use the pinch gesture to zoom in on the finer details of your favorite video content, just like you would with a website or picture today – all while the video continues to play.

Additional Language Support

With BlackBerry Tablet OS v1.0.7,RIM have also added support for the following 15 languages:

Basque
Catalan
Czech
Danish
Galician
Hungarian
Bahasa Indonesia
Norwegian
Polish
Portuguese Brazilian
Portuguese European
Swedish
Turkish
Romanian
Russian

How to update to BlackBerry Tablet OS v1.0.7

Best of all, these updates are free and can be downloaded over-the-air from your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. Users who purchase and activate a BlackBerry PlayBook tablet on or after Wednesday, July 13th, 2011 will be automatically updated to v1.0.7 as part of the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet setup process. Existing BlackBerry PlayBook tablet users will be presented with a software update notification on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet status ribbon, or they can check for the software update at any time in the Settings Menu under Software Updates.

Nice to see RIM being so pro-active when it comes to updates. Now where is my native email application!

Posted by: James