Five Tip Friday – BlackBerry PlayBook Gaming Tips

Today I’d like to share some tips for gaming on a BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet. Even if you are not a gamer, these tips will work for other activities on your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet.

1. Orientation Lock

When enabled, the orientation lock will keep the tablet locked in the current screen position. Since most games are designed to be viewed in either landscape or portrait, the orientation lock ensures your game play isn’t interrupted if you shift your holding position. If you aren’t playing games, this is a handy feature to use when watching videos or reading books.

1. On the Home screen, tap the Orientation Lock icon
2. Toggle the Orientation Lock “On” or “Off”.

Tip: You can quickly turn the orientation lock feature on or off using the status bar peek gesture while using an app or game. To do this, swipe in the top left or right corners on an angle as per the following image. To learn more, check out our blog post on how to use BlackBerry PlayBook gestures.

2. Headphone Audio Boost

The Audio Boost feature allows you to increase the output volume level from the headset jack on your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet if you feel it is not loud enough. Please understand the risks of enabling audio boost before doing so — for more information, check out the safety and product information guide for the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet.

1. From the Home screen of your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, tap the gear (settings) in the top right corner
2. Tap “Sounds & Notifications”
3. Slide the Headphone Audio Boost toggle to “On”.

3. Capturing Screen Shots

Share something you are building in a simulation game or show that you beat a friend’s high score by capturing screen shots and sharing them with friends.

To take a screen shot:

1. Press the volume up and down buttons at the same time (circled in red below)

2. Unless you have the sound muted on your tablet, you will hear a camera shutter notification when the screen capture has completed
3. View the screen capture by opening the Pictures app.

Want to learn how to transfer pictures to your computer? Read our blog post on how to copy and share photos taken with a BlackBerry smartphone or BlackBerry PlayBook to a PC.

4. Standby Mode using the Power Button

Place the tablet into standby mode quickly without exiting your game and then resume play when you are ready to continue. Standby mode saves battery life while leaving any active connections such as Wi-Fi® or Bluetooth® enabled, so you won’t miss that important message.

Enter standby mode:

• Press and hold the power button for two seconds or until the screen goes dark

Exit standby mode:

• Press the power button or swipe horizontally or vertically from bezel to bezel

5. HDMI Connection

If you get stuck inside on a rainy day, install a board game or multiplayer game from the BlackBerry App World™ storefront and connect your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet to an HDMI display so everyone can play. All you need is a BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, an HDMI display (such as a HDTV, projector or monitor) and a Micro HDMI cable.

If you haven’t used this feature before, check out our blog post Take your display to the next level with BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 and HDMI cables to get started.

Bonus: Need a Remote Control?

Have a BlackBerry smartphone and a BlackBerry PlayBook tablet? Don’t forget you can use your BlackBerry smartphone as a remote control for your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet! To find out more, see our blog post Remote control feature in BlackBerry Bridge 2.0 lets you control your BlackBerry PlayBook with your BlackBerry smartphone.

Have a tip for gaming with your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet? Leave it below to let us know!