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It looks like Wakeful, the BlackBerry alarm clock application has made its way out of beta in an official launch.  For those who haven’t tried or heard of it before, Wakeful is an alarm clock app with the following features:

• Up to Speed, All the Time: Wakeful brings you the world’s latest breaking news each morning.
• Prepared for Mother Nature: Receive your local weather and plan your day as you’re waking up.
• On Top of Stocks: Get the most current stock information based on the world’s most important indexes.
• Tailor Made for You: Wakeful is customized to you, based on your geo-location.
• A Growing Platform: Wakeful is constantly adding new features that improve your morning.

It’s not your average alarm clock application, and is quite useful.  However, it goes for a not so cheap $14.99 but is definitely a great quality application.  Feel free to download the 7 day trial for Wakeful before making up your mind to purchase.

Purchase a copy of Wakeful >>

So at the moment there is no native email application for the BlackBerry PlayBook without syncing your BlackBerry smartphone via Bridge.  The feature has been expected to come out in a future update, but for now we have to deal with it.  Pepper.pk launched an email application for the BlackBerry PlayBook to bypass any bad feelings you have towards the vacancy of a native email client.

Pricing hasn’t been confirmed yet for Early Bird.  On their site, it shows that Early Bird is now available, but I am unable to find it in App World as of now.  Surely I will be checking it out as soon as it launches.

Check out Early Bird >>

Throughout the last couple times of testing out the BlackBerry PlayBook at promo events, I wondered if Hulu would work on the native web browser, but would always forget to try when being distracted by the tablet’s other great features.  Since I now have a PlayBook to mess with and review, I took the opportunity to see if Hulu works, and it does!  Full screen and window mode work beautifully, without any lag going in between the two.

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BlackBerry Desktop Software has just updated to version 6.0.2.42 bringing BlackBerry PlayBook support.  The Mac OSX version has also been updated to v2.0.1.14 supporting the PlayBook too.  As you all know by now, the PlayBook launches officially on April 19th, but developers are starting to get theirs in now, and reviewers have been since yesterday.  So if you have a PlayBook on hand now, you can grab the latest version of BlackBerry Desktop Software to sync it with.

Download for Windows >>

Download for Mac >>

Thanks Kai for the tip!

We’ve been seeing WordMaster release in different languages over the last few weeks.  Today I noticed that WordMaster for BlackBerry has launched again, but as a free edition.  I haven’t tried it out yet, but there’s no indication whether it’s ad supported or limited in any way here.  The bottom line is that it’s free, and everybody likes that.  This version is the English edition only so if you were looking for Italian and Spanish, those are still premium for $3.99 (sale price).

Download WordMaster for BlackBerry Free Edition >>

Some of you are saying “who cares” but I think it’s convenient.  At the moment I hate having only four icons across on the Torch 9800.  I didn’t really pay much attention to this before, assuming it would be like the Torch, but the BlackBerry Touch 9860 gets six icons across rather than just four when in landscape mode.  In portrait mode, it’s four just as it is on the Torch.  We’re used to having four whichever way you hold your BlackBerry up, but it’s switching up in the Touch 9860.

The BlackBerry PlayBook is being offered at many different retail channels and carriers.  Telus is differentiating itself from others by offering a free 45 minute session with a BlackBerry PlayBook “pro specialist” when you purchase the PlayBook from them.  Here’s the official note from Telus:

TELUS is committed to helping Canadians navigate their new smartphone and tablet purchases, including the BlackBerry PlayBook. The TELUS Learning Centre is a complimentary learning service designed to provide a unique in-store and online experience for all clients. With an easy and convenient web-based scheduling tool, TELUS clients can book a “how-to” session at 200 TELUS locations across Canada. TELUS’ Playbook Pro specialists in our stores will also show TELUS customers, in a 45-minute one-on-one session, how to get the most out of their BlackBerry PlayBook and other TELUS devices from trained experts.

So does this make you want to get a PlayBook from Telus due to the free session?  Do you need a session? Let us know in the comments!

Source: MobileSyrup

Staples Canada is beginning to stock up on its back shelves with some BlackBerry PlayBook inventory.  So far 16GB and 32GB models have been stocked up, with no love for the 64GB for now.  If you’re looking for a 64GB model, you might not find it at all the retail locations RIM announced the PlayBook to be available at.  I’m wondering if the majority of the shops carrying the PlayBook will only have the 16GB and 32GB, leaving out the 64.

Source: BerryReview

We’re close to approaching the launch date of the BlackBerry PlayBook, but reviews have already started surfacing all over the web.  We rounded up a few we could find, but in the event you spot one we don’t have listed, let us know.  Also, based on some of the reviews, there was an OS update available for the tablet, just as we saw the other night at the PlayBook event.  Any way, here’s some reviews:

• BlackBerry PlayBook Review | Engadget
• BlackBerry PlayBook Review | CrackBerry
• BlackBerry PlayBook Review | Cnet
• BlackBerry PlayBook review | BGR
• BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet Lacks All the Right Movies | Wired
• BlackBerry PlayBook review | This Is My Next
• BlackBerry PlayBook | LaptopMag
• BlackBerry Tablet, PlayBook, a Notable Debut | GigaOM

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Lastly is the BlackBerry Touch 9860 which also gets a promo commercial.  We don’t see much of the device here, but there are lots of animations that are trying to push features the BlackBerry has.  So far the Touch 9860 seems very promising with the leaked clips we’ve seen, almost no lag!