BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.1 Now Available

Version 2.1 of the BlackBerry PlayBook OS has been released. The Inside BlackBerry blog has posted "New BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.1 Update Now Available: 3 Reasons to Download", which details some of the new features while an Inside BlackBerry for Business blog post details some of the others that may be useful to enterprise users.

A quick list of new and changed features in the 339MB v2.1.0.1032 update include the following but please refer to the posts linked to above for more information:

• Portrait Orientation for the Messages, Calendar, and Contacts apps
• Folders within an email account connected through ActiveSync can be synchronized individually
• WiFi can be used for bridging data between your blackberry phone and the playbook
• SMS Messages can now be bridged to the PlayBook
• Print to Go will now work across different networks
• Android apps will now be run in separate windows instead of one window for every Android app
• Android apps can now use the PlayBook camera
• In-App Purchases will now work in Android Apps

And, for folks keeping score, my PlayBook running OS 2.0 scored a 373 (+9 Bonus Points) on The HTML5 Test while PlayBook OS 2.1 scored a 393 (+9 bonus points). For comparison, Safari 6.0.1 on my OS X 10.8.2 Macbook Pro scored a 376 (+11 bonus points) but, in all fairness to Apple, Safari executes the test very quickly while there is a bit of a lag getting results from the PlayBook.

Finally, what looks to me like a regular bonus whenever a new PlayBook release comes out, two new games compliments of RIM and Union have been posted to App World: CreaVures and Shadowgun, both of which usually sell for $4.99.