BlackBerry PlayBook 4G reappears as launch comes closer

From time to time, we have seen indications that the BlackBerry PlayBook 4G tablet was getting closer to being launched. The latest word from RIM CEO Thorsten Heins has the tablet coming to market in the near future. A couple of BlackBerry centric sites, N4BB and BB FR managed to grab some alone time with the tablet, which not only had 4G connectivity, but also ran on software version OS 2.0.1.354.

Those who had some hands-on time with the tablet said it ran faster than the current version of the BlackBerry PlayBook. Much of that could be due to the faster dual-core 1.5GHz processor on the newer tablet. There is some speculation that RIM has started to push these tablets to its corporate partners and other channels of distribution, which means that a launch for the general public can't be too far away. Of  course, RIM being RIM, it appears as though BlackBerry Messenger is not installed on the tablet. If BBM wasn't one of the most popular BlackBerry applications, no one would care, but as it stands, those with BlackBerry Bridge will be able to access BBM.

The recent confidential roadmap we told you about a few days ago shows the 4G PlayBook launching in this year's Q4 with a BlackBerry 10 version of the tablet expected in the first or second quarter of 2013. Then, in the third quarter of next year, RIM is supposed to launch a 10 inch tablet currently code named