When you think of a beautiful and relaxing summer day at the beach, in the garden, or by the pool, what sort of items do you picture yourself needing? At the beach you’ll need sunscreen, a blanket, and maybe a game to keep the kids occupied. In the garden, odds are that you’ll want a spade, plants, and a pretty good plan. By the pool, don’t forget a towel, pool toys, and a good book. Pay attention, because here’s the really cool part: The BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet can help replace one of these items no matter where you go this summer! Let me show you how:

Life’s a Beach!

Kids love the sand and the swimming at the beach, but sandcastles and shells can sometimes give way to sighs of “I’m bored” right when you finally get comfortable. BlackBerry PlayBook tablet to the rescue!

• Encourage the kids to take pictures of their sand creations and send them to family members or post to social networks. Check out the photo frame apps in the BlackBerry App World™ storefront for that extra touch!
• Fire up a game like TETRIS™ or Monopoly for the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet for the whole family to play while enjoying the waves.
• Browse the Internet with the kids to learn the history of the beach and some of the wildlife that occupies it. Searches for “shark attack” should be avoided, however.

No Green Thumb, No Problem

While navigating the mysteries of your garden, budding botanists and pros alike may sometimes wonder what to plant where, what grows best in shade, and what’s with that leafy thing that never seems to die. The BlackBerry PlayBook tablet has your back again.

• Browse the Internet to research the best places to plant, when to plant, and what to plant to create your dream garden. Some websites may even let you buy plants online and pick them up at the store.
• Photograph plants you are unsure of whether to dig up or water, and share them with experts or friends to get the whole story. Was that poison ivy you just stepped on?
• Show off your beautiful garden when you’re done by sharing 1080p HD movies and photos!

Poolside with the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet

An afternoon by the pool can be among the most relaxing of summer activities, but all that laying around can sometimes get a bit boring. After all, we are “BlackBerry People”, and we like to get things done! Here’s how the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet can help.

• Load up a book in Kobo Reader and get lost in your favorite fiction, cower from a thriller, or swoon through a romance novel from the comfort of your deck chair.
• Watch your favorite movie or television show from the video store with the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet Video Store. It’s like having a whole video store at your water-shriveled fingertips.
• Shoot high-quality HD video and pictures of the kids diving from the high-dive or jumping into the pool. You never know when you may need to access it later for an Olympic highlight reel or a wedding slideshow!

These are just a few suggestions and my favorite ways to use the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet in the summer, but I’d love to hear yours as well. Where will you and your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet go to chill?

You know that feeling you get when the kids are out of school, the weather is warmer, the days are longer, and you’ve finally found your favorite flip-flops? It’s summertime! One of the greatest freedoms that comes with summer is the ability to pack up the kids for a family vacation, or even send them to camp and have a mini-vacation all for yourself. Whatever your summer travel plans entail, you’re first going to want to grab these top travel apps for your BlackBerry® smartphone or BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet before leaving the house.

BlackBerry® Travel – By Research In Motion® Limited (RIM®)
This one is a must-have – and it’s free! Using the BlackBerry Travel app allows you to plan, book, and manage your travel plans by offering destination, hotel, and transportation options for finding the best price and most convenient flight times. You can also book your travel elsewhere online, and then pull your details into the app with the trip scanning feature; this gives you the whole itinerary right at your fingertips. BlackBerry Travel’s best feature? This app will notify your BlackBerry smartphone of a late or cancelled flight.

KAYAK Travel search Flights Hotels Cars Flight Status Trips – By Kayak.com
KAYAK rocks the bargain-hunting at a near mind-blowing level. Their app – which won the 2010 Gettie Award winner for best BlackBerry smartphone app – helps you to compare deals on flights, hotels, and car rentals across multiple websites for the best deal. If you like to travel on the cheap (and who doesn’t?), I highly recommend checking this app out.

Compass – A Premium GPS-based Compass – By SRID Games
Hikers, climbers, and outdoors enthusiasts of all skill levels can appreciate a good compass, and this one from SRID Games is a beauty. Using your BlackBerry smartphone’s internal GPS, Compass can help you find your way home from whatever adventure you’re returning from. This app also includes your movement speed (perfect for runners), latitude and longitude, and the direction of True North — which is perfect for trips to Canada to see your favorite OS, smartphone and tablet maker!

Navita Translator – By Navita Tecnologia
If you are headed abroad in your travels, this nifty free app Navita Translator is the perfect solution to make you seem like a local. Translator translates more than 50 languages, and can speak English, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, French, German and Russian from words or phrases from e-mails, web pages, SMS messages or arbitrary text typed into the software. If you need to share your translations, Translator also allows you to send translations through Twitter®, email, or BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™).

These are just a few of our favorite travel apps for summer that I collected from asking around the office, but I’d love to hear your contributions, too. How do you get the best deal, not get lost, or go native with your BlackBerry smartphone when you travel?