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The 3G version of the Blackberry PlayBook is now available in the UK, CrackBerry reports. The new, more pwoerful tablet has a 1.5GHz processor, up from 1GHz chip that can be found inside the Wi-Fi-only model.
Head to the UK BlackBerry site and you’ll see the PlayBook 3G+ and Wi-Fi is up for grabs now. Just tap up Insight UK or Misco UK and get your money ready. It’s only available in 32GB size, costing £415.19 including VAT from Insight, or £424.79 from Misco.
That’s certainly a lot cheaper than the 32GB iPad with a data connection. Which is great, except that us Brits now have a 4G service from EE (in some cities anyway). It’s just like RIM to launch a device just as some better technology becomes available. RIM has a 4G LTE version of the PlayBook available overseas too, so it’s not as if it couldn’t launch that over here as well.
The PlayBook hasn’t been a huge success so far, with the lack of a 3G option being a big part of the reason. We gave it a rather lukewarm review, noting that video calls only work between PlayBooks, and there are far fewer apps available than for the iPad or Android tablets.
RIM has been keen to boast about how popular its BlackBerry App World store is. This summer it passed 3 billion downloads, with more than 90,000 apps available. Admittedly that’s nowhere near as many as Apple’s App Store, which passed 25 billion downloads in March, and has 700,000 apps. Google Play has about the same number.
RIM has been struggling of late, with disastrous financial results meaning job cuts. Next year it’ll launch BB10, its new mobile OS, which many think will make or break the company. Here’s hoping a 3G PlayBook helps revive its fortunes in the meantime.
What do you think of a 3G PlayBook? Let me know in the comments, or on our Facebook page.
