When the BlackBerry PlayBook was first announced back in September at DevCon, one of the highlighted features was the front facing camera on it. The idea was to be able to use your BlackBerry ID to call other PlayBook users over a WiFi network; similar to the idea of Apple’s FaceTime.

Fast forward to April 2011, and the official North American retail launch of the PlayBook; being somewhat rushed out, the device has met both praise and brash words from bloggers alike. There was talk of bridging issues, lack of native email/calendar usability, lack of BBM support, and of course the lack of video chat. RIM — being RIM — dodged the negativity, asking consumers to focus on the fluent multi-tasking, flash support, and gorgeous 7″ screen; needless to say, they didn’t. Two official updates have been pushed out OTA (over the air) since launch; both still lacking the BBM bridge support and video chatting capabilities that consumers have been salivating over, leaving them to attack RIM on all fronts (forums, Twitter and various blogs)

Now we are in Orlando for BlackBerry World 2011 — the place-to-be for BlackBerry die-hards — and the time for RIM to shine in front of both investors and their ever-loyal users alike.

During yesterday’s PlayBook talk, RIM announced an update being pushed out that would bring both Video Chat and BBM functionality (over the bridge), and as you can see by the image above: video chat works and is what the doctor ordered. It works seamlessly, offers little to no delay or lag — even when calling the person right next to you — and honestly, runs smoother than Apple’s FaceTime.

I will do a more in-depth video hands-on in the coming days, but for now, if you have a PlayBook get on the update and have some fun with it!