Fixed Mobile Convergence

Well, it's CES (Consumer Electronics Show) time: a time of year when us gadget geeks get more excited than kids in a candy store. 

Research in Motion (News - Alert) has posted two new videos of its new PlayBook tablet device on its official blog, one of them showcasing rich multimedia content – video, gaming and social networking – on the device. 

 

The other video shows some of the tools developers will have at their disposal when creating new PlayBook apps, according to Mashable.

In one of the videos, PlayBook is shown playing both HTML5 and Flash-based video without difficulty (or “hiccups” as Mashable called them). Both YouTube and Facebook (News - Alert) are rendered on the PlayBook screen as full desktop versions in the video, and both are quite responsive, even when scrolling and zooming. Fans of Web-based gaming will be impressed – playing a Flash game, even inside the Facebook environment – works without noticeable glitches, no small feat.

As the tablet market heats up, sellers will need to outdo one another in features and content, and RIM has taken an impressive step with its PlayBook (which debuted initially to mixed reviews).