The BlackBerry PlayBook was supposed to have three "4G" varieties — LTE, HSPA+, and WiMAX — but the Wi-Fi-only model was the only RIM tablet ever to see release. That doesn't mean it was the only model to be manufactured, though, and a few units appear to have "fallen into the hands" of CrackBerry forum user Fakedeadmau5. His story as to how he acquired the devices is a little murky, but the photos appear to check out. Fakedeadmau5 didn't have a 4G SIM of any variety, so details of how the mobile data functionality actually works are still unclear, as well as exactly which model we're looking at here.

More interesting than the hardware, however, is the software. The 4G PlayBook is running what looks like a dev build of the OS numbered 127.0.0.2980 (the current release build is 2.0.0.7971), and the software features a new app layout that contains an icon for RIM's well-regarded BlackBerry Messenger. BBM's omission from the tablet even in the recent 2.0 software overhaul continues to confuse us, but at least there are now signs that the app may exist.