We were eagerly waiting for the release of RIM's 2.1 Playbook OS and finally it's coming today!
According to the tweets of RIM's PlayBook product manager, Michael Clewley, the company is set to release a beta version of its 2.1 Playbook OS by the end of May. That's today.
Replying to comments on Twitter, Clewley said on May 28 that the 2.1 beta will be available by today, stating: "I've said end of may." So, in all probability, it can be expected that in a few hours the next generation Playbook OS will arrive.
It has long been reported that the company is testing 2.1 builds of its PlayBook OS update for a while. But no solid evidence of release date was available till now. The company's last update, OS 2.0, was released in February and that update introduced a host of new features and apps including native email, calendar and contacts.
Clewley, meanwhile, has promised that he will add a blog explaining the new changes to the OS.
According to various reports, the latest OS for the 7 inch tablet will feature
- Email, calendar, and contact apps in portrait mode
- Personal encryption
- Multi-tasking support with Android apps
- Text messaging via BlackBerry Bridge (when paired with a smartphone)
- Camera API and in-app payments for developers
But, RIM VP Alec Saunders already tweeted in April confirming that the new versions of the PlayBook operating system will not support 'sideloading' of Android apps.
