Blackberry PlayBook

[miir]

1 GHz dual core processor
7" screen
9.7mm thick
Less than 1 lb
Full 1080P HD
HDMI out
Flash and HTML5 capable
Front and rear facing HD cameras
Full integration with BES and all security features of current Blackberrys.
Bluetooth, Wifi and tetherable to your current BB (no need for a second data plan, yay) (3G/4G models at a later date)

Gonna reserve judgement until I see the UI/OS but the specs are in a different league than the Ipad.

[Animalor]

Looks pretty damned solid. You also get huge benfits if you're already a blackberry user. Let's wait and see next year if RIM is able to deliver.

[Winnow]

Gonna reserve judgement until I see the UI/OS but the specs are in a different league than the Ipad.

Depends on what you're looking for. As a media consumption device, the iPad will dominate and has no power issues. I'd be curious to see the UI on this thing and the apps available. If it doesn't come through in that department, it's fail. Might be ok for business. Portable devices are all about convenience and usability.

By the time this finally comes out, Apple will be announcing the next generation of iPads, most likely with retina diplays, front facing cameras, etc etc etc, which will meet or beat the tech specs and blow to doors off it in UI usability/maturity and Apps. There will already be 10's of millions of iPads out in the wild with a shit-ton of app developers looking to develop for the biggest market. Android apps are still crap and there is constant complaining about the lack of a quality app market for that OS. 7" seems a little small as well. I like the size of 9.7"iPad screen. Speed is already not an issue with the current iPad so battery draining power (how's the battery life compare to 10 hours of video on the iPad?) Short battery life is a killer.


I don't see any reason someone would go with this unless they're stuck with Blackberries at work or something.

[Aabidano]

Looks pretty cool but at a guess it'll be a niche device.

The iPads real competition will be a Windoze system like this:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/07/veri ... tablet-pc/

Given some other stuff I've read I'd expect to see it in time for Christmas. Surprised there's no rumors of an Atom based device at about the same time.

[miir]

Haha, it's funny watching winnow get all defensive of his technologically gimped ipad.

[Funkmasterr]

I hear the character customization on the PlayBook sucks.

[miir]

Prices are going to start at $499.

This is going to be huge on an enterprise level.

[Boogahz]

yeah, but can it really do much in any market other than enterprise?

[miir]

Research in Motion is actually doing pretty well in other markets... the Playbook will simply tighten their current stranglehold on Enterprise.

[Aabidano]

Was looking at a Color Nook, it'll do everything I'd have wanted an iPad for @ $250. Too bad it runs Android, only thing not to like so far.

[Winnow]

Samsung Galaxy Tab Review: A Pocketable Train Wreck

http://gizmodo.com/5686161/samsung-gala ... rain-wreck

Looks like the Galaxy Tab isn't so hot

[Animalor]

Research in Motion is actually doing pretty well in other markets... the Playbook will simply tighten their current stranglehold on Enterprise.

I've got a few hardcore Blackberry fans in my office that have been asking me about the playbook and outright expressing that they want one.

[Animalor]

So I've had a Playbook in my posession for about a day and a half now and it's a pretty slick device. The hardware feels great, solid and sturdy. The system is very responsive and the screen is gorgeous. RIM is actively updating the device (on the 2nd update as of the time of this writing since I got it) and they're working hard at working out bugs.

The OS is a joy to use and flows very nicely. The keyboard leaves a bit to be desired and with no auto-correction, you have to be careful what you're typing. The build-in apps are good and the only thing really missing are the mail, calendaring and contact management.

Where this thing really works well is when you have a Blackberry phone to pair it with. The bridge software allows your tablet to access your mail, contacts and calendaring on the phone from the Playbook. The playbook also respects the security settings of the phone like passwords etc. When the phone rings or you get a meeting reminder on the phone, the same notification is displayed on the Playbook. If you don't have wifi, simply switch on Phone Internet tethering and you're online without a 2nd thought (or a 2nd data plan).

Browsing on the thing is on par with iOS with the noticable exception that this thing has flash. It's a good implementation at least as far as videos go. Nice and fast and high quality.

Apps are handled with App World like on the phones. App Updates are listed under the My World section and are pretty seamless. Selection is, as expected, very sparse at the moment. A few of them that are there are really really well done however. (Weather Network HD comes to mind)

I've played with the camera and the picture quality is jaw-dropping good. Video recording is also fantastic.

I'm a huge fan of the 7" form factor for tablets. Much better than browsing on a iPod Touch. The widescreen aspect ratio also makes for a confortable thumb typing experience when holding it landscape.

IMO RIM has an awesome package here and it can only get better with time. As stated above, they're iterating the updates very rapidly so they should hopefully be on par, at least feature-wise, with the other players in the field.

In closing, not completely baked but a very solid. Should make anyone with an office-supplied Blackberry quite happy if offered to them.

[Fairweather Pure]

My wife needs a new Blackberry (from work), I'll suggest this to her to filter to the higher ups. I'm curious to monkey with one.

[Animalor]

To properly do the pairing, you need to have a phone with at least OS 5 or 6. Most phones released in the last 18-24 months should work.

One of my gripes is that you don't have a magnifying glass when you try to put a cursor in already typed content.

This post was written on the playbook.