San Francisco — Hot on the heels of their BlackBerry Bold Touch announcement, and as Research In Motion’s BlackBerry World conference reeled to life Monday morning in Orlando, RIM announced a forthcoming dedicated Facebook app along with a video chatting application for the BlackBerry PlayBook, both due later this month.
RIM promises that the Facebook app for BlackBerry PlayBook, which will be the first official app available on BlackBerry App World later this month, will give access to the social media network’s popular features in a way that is optimized for the PlayBook’s 7″ multi-touch screen, and is meant to augment the Facebook experience as used on BlackBerry handhelds.
The new Facebook app is packed with a number of basic features, such as–users will have the ability to view and add friends, as well as upload photos directly from the PlayBook’s picture library, watching videos and interacting via Facebook chat, as well as interacting with the news feed (liking, commenting, etc.).
Basically, it seems though the app is poised to deliver most of the features that are available on the desktop version of Facebook. For instance–Facebook Chat will come built in. Notifications of new chat messages will be displayed on the Notifications bar, so users can be notified instantly of new chats while they are browsing elsewhere on the app. And simply by pressing on any of the links in the news feed or on other windows will automatically open them in the PlayBook’s browser. The PlayBook can also be connected to an HDTV to display photos and videos in full 1080p HD.
“There are over 30 million users of our Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones app who are keeping in touch with their social media network while on the go,” Tom Goguen, VP, Collaboration and Social Networking at Research In Motion, said in a statement. “Now with Facebook for BlackBerry PlayBook we can also offer customers highly engaging social experiences optimized for the PlayBook including the ability to share Facebook pictures and videos with friends and family on an HDTV.”
Together with the new Facebook application, RIM also introduced a dedicated video chatting application that reaps the benefit of the PlayBook’s twin 5-megapixel cameras. The video chatting application, which will disappointingly only work over Wi-Fi (like Apple’s FaceTime), lets two people open up a voice and video call between two PlayBooks.
Moreover, the offers support for One-Click Video and Voice over WiFi Calls, Incoming Call Notifications via pop-up windows, which can be ignored or accepted, a picture in picture function. BlackBerry PlayBook Video Chat will come with its own friends list to help users keep track of those with whom they can conduct video chats.
“BlackBerry is a prestigious mobile communication solution for connecting users to the people and information that matter most throughout their day,” said Goguen. “With the BlackBerry PlayBook Video Chat application we are excited to be empowering our customers to share important moments and events with family and friends via video calls. With the BlackBerry PlayBook’s high-resolution video cameras and stunning display, a Video Chat call is the next best thing to being there.”
Nevertheless, RIM will be demonstrating the Facebook for BlackBerry PlayBook application later this week at BlackBerry World 2011 in Orlando, Florida. RIM did not say exactly when it will hit BlackBerry App World, but it will happen some time in the next few weeks.
Furthermore, RIM also disclosed two powerful new BlackBerry phones with high-res touch screens, fast 1.2-GHz processors, and a new OS that offers better graphics than BlackBerries had before.