“The BlackBerry PlayBook is expected to begin shipping in the U.S. in Q1,” RIM said in an email statement.

And there you have it.

Meanwhile, the device is garnering mixed reviews at CES. After some hands-on time with it, Engadget described the PlayBook as “blazingly fast, comfortable to hold, and intuitive to use.” Gizmodo liked it as well, talking up its hardware, responsive display and UI. “RIM’s got something here that could really stand on top of the bajillion other crappy tablets that are going to launch this year,” the site concluded. “They just have to take it the rest of the way.”

Wunderlich Securities analyst Matthew Robison agreed. “RIM’s PlayBook strategy [is] exceptionally compelling— pending successful execution,” he wrote in a note from CES. “The company’s ace card in tablets is sure-fire security for IT departments who loathe adding another piece of client software to enterprise networks.”

But others, like Wedge Partners analyst and RIM bear Brian Blair, were not so impressed. Though he praised the device’s sturdy build and crisp screen, he slagged its lack of native email and calendar support.

“There is not a built-in e-mail program that we saw, nor is there a calendar: arguably the two most critical features of a Blackberry,” Blair said. “Calendar and Email are only available, if the PlayBook is “tethered” to a Blackberry. Short of that, users need to use the browser for e-mail and calendar.”

And, admittedly, that does seem silly. Unless you’re a CIO. In which case, you probably prefer to push data (and remotely wipe it, if necessary) from one device instead of two, and appreciate the gesture.

Still, Blair came away with the impression that the PlayBook isn’t yet fully baked, and to be fair, it isn’t–after all, this is a pre-release device.

“We know this is an early build and that bugs are being worked through over the next couple of months, but nearly every feature we tried on our demo unit was having problems,” he concluded. “The video player froze and the games wouldn’t play. The only thing that worked was the ‘Coverflow-like’ scrolling of the different applications, which the device did with ease.”

But as Blair himself observed, a lot can change in three months. And presumably RIM is doing its damndest to ensure that it does–before Apple debuts the iPad 2, which will undoubtedly become the new standard against which all tablets are compared.

In the meantime, here are a few PlayBook promo videos RIM released in conjunction with CES.

Between interpretive dance numbers and overly scripted interludes by a boy wearing a strange fur hat, Boo-Keun Yoon, president of Samsung’s Visual Display business, announced partnerships with Comcast, Time Warner and Hulu.

Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts and Time Warner Cable Chairman and CEO Glenn Britt shared the stage to demonstrate some of the features that are available with the help of connected TVs, which Samsung is calling “Smart TV.”

Comcast’s offering starts out pretty mild, with a new interface on the TV that is more enjoyable to browse, like a Web site, rather than a TV guide. The tablet version lets subscribers search listings, access DVR recordings and watch video on demand from thousands of content choices. Some of the more far off stuff was being able to change the TV channel from the tablet, and then watching a movie on a tablet, pausing it and then resuming it on a Samsung Smart TV.

The announcement builds on what MediaMemo’s Peter Kafka reported yesterday. Comcast said it will be launching a live TV service for both iPad and Android tablets, but it will restrict watching live TV to subscribers’ homes.

Britt similarly demonstrated how Time Warner subscribers would be able to access their cable subscriptions on Samsung Smart TVs and the Samsung Galaxy Tab in the home.

Jason Kilar, CEO of Hulu, also made a brief appearance and–without disclosing too many details–said Hulu Plus will be “coming soon” to Android phones.

Tonight’s presentation demonstrated that while Samsung is always focused on the performance and the appearance of TVs, as shown yesterday by the unveiling of TVs with ultra-thin bevels, it is also interested in improving the software experience via partnerships with operators. Yoon said: “TV will become the focal point of content access and sharing.”

Samsung is using the lingo “Smart TV” to explain the multiple-screen and Internet-connected approach. The live subscription features are expected to be available from both cable operators later this year, but it’s unknown how it will be priced or how functional they will be from the beginning.

Before ending the keynote with another song and dance routine (this time with ladybug umbrellas!), Samsung wrapped things up by detailing two pats on the back: A pitch about how green Samsung’s gadgets are these days, and how Dreamworks has been using Samsung’s 3-D TVs to develop on for 18 months.

The event is set to kick off shortly and Mobilized will have live coverage here.

1:05 pm: Well, despite timely warnings to get in our seats beginning at 12:45, it’s now five minutes after and the techno is still pumping.

1:11 pm: Okay. Getting started. Loud music gets louder. Cue video.

Tony Melone and Marni Walden take the stage and CEO Daniel Mead (at least I think it is Mead) is doing an intro.

1:15 pm: Another video now playing with partners. Since HTC CEO Peter Chou is in there, I think it is probably safe to say their oft-rumored LTE smartphone will make an appearance.

1:16 pm: Samsung and Ericsson execs also in the video.

1:17 pm: Verizon exec now touting the advantages of its 4G network including its spectrum, which it says will give it the best in-building coverage.

Also talking about how it is sharing its spectrum with rural service providers.

1:18 pm: Mead: “We’re very pleased to be part of bringing broadband to rural America.”

1:21 pm: Mead hands off to CTO Tony Melone to talk 4G and LTE.

Melone says that the company knows there is a lot of skepticism of the company’s move to go straight to LTE but that the bet is paying off with more networks and running faster than planned.

“The customer feedback we are getting is everything we had hoped for and then some,” Melone says.

Melone talks about 4G LTE plans.

Thirty-six months from now we will have the nation covered with LTE, Melone says. Two-thirds of the population will be covered in 2012. This year alone, he says, Verizon will add 140 new markets, including places like Little Rock, Detroit and Sioux Falls.

1:26 pm: On to devices.

Ten devices coming by mid-year being shown on stage: Four smartphones, two tablets, two notebooks and two mobile hotspots.

1:33 pm: LG CEO shows off the LG Revolution, what appears to be a slimmish smartphone.

Next up, Skype’s CEO talks about a new partnership that will allow for Skype to be always on and integrated into the address book of all of Verizon’s LTE smartphones,

1:34 pm: He’s followed by HTC CEO Peter Chou, who introduces the HTC Thunderbolt.

Chou says he’s been personally testing and using the Thunderbolt, which features the new Skype video chatting along with HTC’s Sense user interface.

“Let me tell you, it’s blazing fast,” Chou says.

Other features include a built-in 4G hotspot and a 4.3-inch Super LCD screen.

1:37 pm: He thanks Qualcomm and Google engineers that worked together to create the device, so guessing this one isn’t using Nvidia’s Tegra chip.

Next up is Electronic Arts VP Travis Boatman. EA’s mobile games lineup ranges from Monopoly and Tetris to Need for Speed and the FIFA 11 soccer game.

The new mobile version of Rock Band for Verizon’s LTE network lets people form a band and remotely jam over the network.

Samsung executive goes onstage to show off three devices for the LTE network, One is a mobile hotspot, one is a smartphone and the other is a 4G version of the Galaxy Tab.

Phone packs 4.3-inch Super Amoled Plus display, which is said to boost colors and offer improved display. It’s got an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera with HD video and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video chat.

The tablet has a 1.2GHz processor developed by Samsung, while the hotspots provide connections to up to five users at a time.

Most impressive is the fact that the Samsung executive pulled all three devices out of various pockets.

Marni Walden shows off the remaining devices–a Novatel MiFi hotpot that works with both 3G and 4G networks.

There is also a Compaq Netbook, an HP notebook, as well as the previously announced Motorola Xoom and Motorola Droid Bionic.

1:47 pm: On to Q&A (hoping laptop No. 2 holds out through the end of question time.)

First question has to do with LTE speeds, which often exceed the 5- to 12-megabit speeds promised. Mead says that the company’s goal is to meet the promised speed range once the network is fully loaded, something that is not the case today.

Next question is on battery life. Melone says the company believes it will be able to meet customer expectations in that regard.

The company says it won’t announce pricing or rate plans for the 4G products, beyond noting its current prices for 4G laptop cards and service.

As for simultaneous voice and data, Walden says the company intends that at least some of its 4G launch devices will support talking and accessing data at the same time.

“It could be on some devices and not all,” Walden says.

Walden also confirms all the phones it showed Thursday are running Android.

1:55 pm: Asked about net neutrality, Mead says that what the industry needs is “unfettered development.”

“We think the free market system works very well, and we don’t need a lot of heavy intervention.”

“Our network will continue to keep pace with the growing demand,” said T-Mobile CEO Phillip Humm, who said the company is embracing its status as a challenger brand (marketing speak for “the little guy”).

T-Mobile used a press conference on Thursday to announce the network and show off the LG-built G-Slate tablet that it plans to introduce in the first half of the year. T-Mobile also said it expects to offer a 7-inch Dell Streak tablet in the coming weeks.The Streak has a dual-core Nvidia Tegra processor along with support for Adobe Flash and a Gorilla Glass screen. T-Mobile said it will be sold at a “consumer-friendly price,” but didn’t share details.

Humm told reporters that the company has now sold 900,000 devices that run on its HSPA+ network, which it bills as America’s largest 4G network.

“This proves the rapid adoption,“ Humm said, adding that the carrier expects to be offering more than 25 4G devices by the end of the year, ranging from smartphones to mobile broadband.

T-Mobile Chief Technology Officer Neville Ray showed a slide that he says shows that HSPA+ has a strong road map to get faster in the coming years, though he said that T-Mobile does believe in moving to LTE in the future when the time is right. (T-Mobile currently lacks the spectrum to build such a network, among other issues.)

Ray said that T-Mobile has been testing T-Mobile’s new HSPA+42 network in Las Vegas and said its average speeds are on par with those provided by Verizon’s LTE network, even before that network has much load on it.

8:29 am: FYI, Consumer Electronics Show Association head Gary Shapiro is up first, so he may talk for a bit. Verizon CEO may not start until 9:00.

8:32 am: They are still letting folks in. Mobilized suspects she could have gotten an extra 10 minutes sleep and is moderately bitter.

8:32 am: With no appreciation for irony whatsoever, they have just asked their “friends in the press” to cease using wireless in 10 minutes.

8:40 am: The giant video screens just changed to a big Verizon logo. “Our program will begin shortly,” comes the voice from above, asking participants to silence their mobile devices and us press to kindly refrain from doing the job we are expected to do–I mean turn off our wireless cards.

8:43 am: I think it’s okay for me though, because I am on 4G and I keep hearing how robust and capable it is.

8:46 am: Lights dim. Music peppier. Still no Gary Shapiro, but I think we’re moments away from the man before the man we’ve all been waiting for.

8:47 am: Shapiro delivering the expected announcements on how the world is full of innovation and possibility.

“Each year I await the CES like a kid awaiting Santa Claus,” Shapiro says.

8:48 am: Interesting pitch on how the CEA is trying to keep the show affordable for attendees and exhibitors.

Economy slowly improving after years of trouble, Shapiro says.

8:51 am: Innovation is our secret sauce. It’s on our jeans. Oh, wait. No. It’s in our genes.

8:54 am: Faint applause as Shapiro makes a pitch for freeing up more of the wireless spectrum for broadband and other uses.

He notes that only 10 percent of TV is now consumed over the public airwaves, as opposed to 100 percent some years ago.

“They are squatting now on our broadband future,” Shapiro says of the TV industry.

8:56 am: Now showing a propoganda video on how some in Washington are threatening innovation.

Images of burning money and cute little kids as the announcer offers up more scary talk.

8:59 am: It’s a pitch for the CEA’s Innovation Movement.

Shapiro now back and pitching his new book: “The Comeback.” He’ll be signing books after the keynote. Um, Mobilized would, but we have to do our hair.

9:01 am: Interesting stat: By 2014, CEA says 70 percent of consumer electronics will connect to the Internet.

9:04 am: CEA is planning some sort of tech week event next summer in New York.

9:04 am: Las Vegas Convention Center will now also be known as the Las Vegas World Trade Center. (I guess that sounds better than the O.J. Simpson Coliseum.)

9:07 am: Shapiro finally introducing Verizon’s Seidenberg.

Seidenberg began his career as cable splitter’s assistant at New York Telephone.

9:08 am: Another video, this one with stars, and voiceovers of people talking about technology.

9:10 am: Seidenberg takes the stage.

9:11 am: Seidenberg begins by telling crowd to ignore ban on wireless.

“When Verizon’s on, turn ‘em on,” he says. “Ping all you want.” Loud applause

9:13 am: Ten years ago only one in three Americans had a cellphone. Now it is 90 percent, Seidenberg says.

Ten years ago, few people had broadband–now 85 million American households have broadband.

Ten years ago, video accounted for less than 10 percent of Internet traffic. Now it’s more than half and could go to 90 percent, Seidenberg says.

Now it’s time to turn the wheel again, he says. “What will consumers want in 10 years?”

9:15 am: Seidenberg is joined on the stage by president and COO Lowell McAdam.

9:16 am: Talk shifts to Verizon’s new LTE (Long Term Evolution) higher-speed 4G network. Verizon announced its commitment to LTE in 2007. Network launched last month.

“As people are discovering, not all 4G is created equally,” McAdam says, touting the advantages of Verizon’s network, such as the fact it operates on a contiguous area of spectrum.

McAdam talks about how Verizon is expanding its LTE lineup beyond laptop cards. He mentions the Motorola Droid Bionic smartphone and Xoom tablet that were announced on Wednesday. But, he says, people will have to go to Verizon Wireless’s press conference to see the other devices coming this year,

Now McAdam is talking about FiOS, which covers 15.4 million homes and will cover 18 million when finished over the next year.

“We didn’t do all this for bragging rights,” McAdam says. “We did it to transform the (broadband) experience.”

9:25 am: Oooh, Time for special guests.

Jeff Bewkes, Time Warner CEO is the first guest.

9:26 am: Bewkes says this is the second golden era of television. “Everything is up,” he says, pointing to ratings, advertising and more.

All of the great TV content, he says, is going on demand, on every device. Quality is going up from HD to 3-D.

9:31 am: Getting ready for the product announcement.

Starts with a video of Conan and other Time Warner stars watching clips of themselves and others on various devices. Charles Barkley is looking at hoops video on an iPad.

Ellen DeGeneres is watching clips of herself on a cellphone while ignoring a guest.

9:34 am: Bewkes talking about TV Everywhere.

Idea, introduced about 18 months ago, is that once you pay for a piece of content, you should have it anywhere, on any device.

“You shouldn’t have to have a PhD as a consumer to figure out how to get all this,” Bewkes says.

9:38 am: Bewkes says that to replicate TV everywhere without that approach you would have to cobble together dozens of services. He shows a chart with logos including Netflix, iTunes, ESPN 3 and a whole bunch more.

9:40 am: Exit Bewkes. Welcome Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha. (So I guess we’re not getting anything new really on TV everywhere–Support for Live TV is a key missing component.)

9:42 am: Jha is talking about the origins of the original Droid and its successors, and the growth of Android.

Jha holds up the just-introduced Droid Bionic phone, which supports Verizon.

I call this device the end of waiting,” Jha says, noting it can offer video conferencing without jitters, and fast sound downloads.

9:44 am: Next Jha holds up the Motorola Xoom, the tablet that Motorola showed off yesterday. They are playing the same Android 3.0 video shown at Motorola’s press conference yesterday.

9:47 am: Jha says that Xoom will ship as a 3G device in February and will be upgradeable to 4G in the second quarter.

Now Google is onstage giving an overview of Honeycomb. Google executive (whose name I didn’t catch) says that the company spent a year trying to adapt Android for tablets.

“We wanted our tablet experience to be better and not just bigger,” says the Google guy,

All the controls in Honeycomb are virtual buttons on screen–pixels rather than paint, he quips.

The benefit is such buttons can reconfigure themselves and shift depending on how the tablet is being held.

9:51 am: Now Google demos tabbed browsing in Honeycomb. “It’s really like a desktop experience,” he says.

Gmail has been redesigned for tablets, resembling the iOS version of Yahoo mail, with various panes.

Maps turn to 3-D once you zoom in close enough and can be rotated and the perspective changed with the swipe of a finger.

Notifications now include a photo of the person. Demo guy gets a message from Andy Rubin reminding him to show the improved task manager feature.

9:56 am: Honeycomb version of YouTube shows a 3-D wall of different videos to watch.

Books presented in a similar 3-D carousel.

9:57 am: Video chat part of Google Chat. Sometimes you want face-to-face communication, Google guy says. Now Honeycomb supports that.

10:03 am: Things are starting to wrap up, with McAdam giving an overview of what Verizon has at its booth, including a Cisco enterprise tablet, health care monitoring tools, as well as its crop of phones and laptop cards.

However, even with the masses descending upon Las Vegas this week, Cricket has decided to delay the Muve music service and the launch of its first Muve-compatible phone.

Cricket had hoped to launch service in Las Vegas this week along with a number of other markets later this month.

Under its revised time frame, Cricket plans to launch the service in Las Vegas later this month, add nine more cities in February and roll it out to the rest of its markets this spring.

Although all the necessary licensing is in place, Cricket spokesman Greg Lund said that the company needed the extra time to ensure all of the software bugs were ironed out before it started asking customers to pay for the service.

“It’s got to be just perfect,” Lund told Mobilized in an interview at CES in Las Vegas.

Me, I’m a peppy, perky guy. Ask anybody! Still, if I were a gloomy Gus, I’d spend some time reminiscing about 2010′s Consumer Electronics Show, where I spent a bunch of time checking out:

• Hearst’s Skiff e-reader
• The Plastic Logic Que e-reader
• Palm’s new line of smartphones
• Keychest, a dizzingly dull rights-management scheme from Disney.

A year later, and they’re all gone: Either officially dead, or just pining for fjords, and very unlikely to perk up.

Not all of this stuff was vaporware, in the technical sense. Palm, at least, really did sell a few of those Palm Pre Pluses before it gave up and sold out to HP.

Still, an 0-for-4 experience like that is enough to make a humble media correspondent want to avoid checking out new technology altogether, and that’s basically what I’m going to do.

I might take a look at the UltraViolet media locker demo, but that’s about it. I’m headed to Las Vegas this morning* with the primary goal of talking to media people, many of whom live in New York, just like I do.

So yes, it might seem a little odd to head across the country to talk to people who live and work a few miles away, but there’s a logic to it. Trust me!**

And if you do want smart, incisive technology coverage, trust the rest of the All Things D team: Walt, Katie, Kara and Ina are on the ground already, and the rest of the gang is monitoring developments from their home bases. It’s good stuff!

*Not just because I enjoy being fashionably late, but because it was many hundreds of dollars cheaper to fly out today than earlier in the week. (And also because I’m old, and at my age every extra day you spend in Las Vegas is a dog year.)

**Totally not a boondoggle. Note the line about saving money on airfare, above.