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BlackBerry PlayBook reviews

52K views 286 replies 62 participants last post by  PG44 
#1 ·
#96 ·
I bought a Playbook a week ago, and returned it yesterday.

In some ways I loved the device, the size, shape and general feel, I even mastered the various swipes after a minute or two. Indeed, I found it to be relatively easy to use but there were just too many niggling little, or maybe not so little, things wrong with it.

I found many of the preloaded apps were half baked, e.g. Sheet to Go. A spreadsheet without the ability to re size columns or to copy and paste, the very key to using a spreadsheet. Downloadable apps were very basic and mostly came with little or no documentation.

Upgrades had the problem of causing some apps to disappear, especially Need for Speed and Tetris. Oh yes, there was a fix, found after exhaustive search of the Crackberry Forums. And that is another story, the Playbook has a Forum, so called, but with no entries since February, obviously abandoned so one must go to Crackberry. Now this is a mix of RIM Cell Phone and Playbook, but while searching I was unable to single out Playbook instead getting answers that mostly pertained to phones. Maybe it was just me, being not too bright, but I found it extremely confusing and difficult to work through. And support forums play a major role in adjusting to a new device, hence the value of this forum.

Overall I liked the Playbook's potential but I consider it like buying a new car only to be told that it only comes with three doors, the right rear passenger door will be released in June, the diesel engine it uses today will be replaced late Summer with an unleaded gasoline one, and for the moment the leather seats are actually cardboard.

Maybe, in a few months Playbook will be ready to use and enjoy, for me I guess it's put my name down for the next available iPad 2.
 
#98 ·
Some further thoughts after a couple of weeks of use:

  • the size and format is a good one for reading e-books. Unfortunately, there does not seem to be much of the way in e-book readers available. The Kobo reader only works with books bought from Kobo. You can, however, use the PDF reader or the browser, which is better than nothing. For example, the browser works fine for Baen books (Baen Free Library), and http://www.epub-to-pdf.com/ can be used to convert epub documents into PDF.
  • the lack of a directory structure within apps is going to be a problem as I load more and more files on to it. Similarly, it would be nice to have way to group bookmarks in the browser as well as a couple of more options for dividing up apps (beyond the built-in groups "Favourites", "Media" and "Games").
  • videos work quite nicely. Videos embedded in websites generally work fine and I watched a movie on Rogers on Demand this morning and it was smooth and clear. The sound is pretty good for a device this size as well. I don't have an HDMI cable yet, so can't say how videos look on a TV.
 
#99 ·
Just came back from holidays. Can't help but be in love with my newest toy. Did a great job surfing on a less than great public wifi and the the internal duo cameras are just fantastic.

Compared to my 10" netbook, this was a marvel.

Perfect size for travel. Had no problem with the glare while on the beach though it's no Kindle.
 
#100 ·
Very disappointed in Playbook - very inferior to iPad

After two weeks I have given my Playbook back to my IT department. Although I have had an iPad for over a year I am a large Blackberry fan - I would never consider giving up my BB for an iPhone. I currently use a BB Torch which is (I believe) my 6th BB over the last 9 years - my first BB predates the time when BB's had phone functionality.

But I was HUGELY disappointed in the PB. It simply is not ready for primetime. It is a Blackberry with a large screen and without a keyboard. Other than enterprise apps like corp email, calendaring and contacts it is inferior to an iPad. But I don't need anything other than my BB for contacts and calendars. It is somewhat useful to have a larger screen for reading emails but even that is buggy as it often seems to not retrieve all emails from the BB and you have to close and reopen the Messages app to resync. Occasionally it would not retrieve the body of emails. There is no way to get personal email onto the device other than a web based browser.

Playbook is supposed to have Flash but not all Flash sites seem to work. For example live streaming of Stanley Cup playoffs from the CBC's site did not work - I would get the commercials before the game but the live hockey game would not stream.

The battery life is weak - you can't use it all day and not worry about the battery. You have to be conscious of battery life, unlike an iPad.

When you go to many web site including Twitter and (ironically) Blackberry's own support forums the mobile website launches rather than the full version.

The size is too small for reading documents, especially image documents. You can't mark up Acrobat docs. You can't save emailed docs to the PB, although you can save them to your BB. There is no directory structure. A document reader is the real "killer app" for the corporate market on a tablet but the PB fails in this department.

There is no Dropbox app for the Playbook - there is an app called Bluebox but it does not have full functionality.

The Playbook cannot see photos, videos or music files using the Bridge Files app - it can only see Word docs and Acrobat apps. You can't take a photo on your BB and then view it on your PB - that is totally stupid.

And the Playbook is really lacking on apps and it is not clear if there will ever be significant app development for the device.

As mentioned above - the only book app is Kobo. No way to read Kindle books for now. Now app for the Economist magazine.
 
#102 ·
This weekend was tablet mania at my house. My wife bought an iPad2 and I bought a PlayBook. She's an iPhone user, I'm a BB user. So, no big surprise we ended up where we did. ;)

We're getting the best of both worlds with this setup. My 4-year old daughter certainly prefers the iPad2 with it's big screen and already familiar interface (she's been using our iPod Touch for quite a while now). Naturally, the App selection on the iPad2 is significantly larger.

I love the bridge functionality on the PlayBook as well as the browsing and media experience. Very slick. The QNX OS certainly does seem to have some great potential.

Both tablets are great and it's all about finding one that suits your needs. Hopefully the app selection for the PlayBook will grow.

We are having a devil of a time trying to figure out how to sync my wife's contacts/calendar/mail between her iPhone/iPad2/iTunes... not an easy task apparently. Too bad they don't have a "bridge" app like the PlayBook. Heh.
 
#103 ·
I am really enjoying my PB tablet. The build and finish quality. Very smooth, solid function. Am looking forward to this free OS update.

Have installed the PB desktop manager on the laptop as well. Nice.
 
#105 ·
I picked up a Playbook during the first round of sales and have been very impressed. I tried out the iPad and various Android tablets, and while all have their strengths, I preferred the smaller form factor of the Playbook, and the UI is the best of all of them. It is so intuitive and fluid, and allows for multitasking. The OS 2.0 upgrade will be a welcome addition for sure.
 
#106 ·
I received one for Christmas (about 2 weeks after changing from a BB phone to an iphone) and I love it. I really think they got hosed by the media, it seems all the reviews repeat the same lines. I use Wi-fi at home or connect it to my iphone's hotspot to get internet and really don't miss having been able to try tethering to a BB phone. My only complaint is the lack of apps, so I hope this upgrade to 2.0 opens that up.
Actually I'm sort of glad it got bad reviews, otherwise I woudln't have recieved one since I'm sure thats what dropped the price.
 
#109 ·
I love my Playbook, can't wait for the update. Can't think of a time where I feel that I got this much bang for my buck in an electronic device. The new OS will be nice as it will iron out a few software kinks the device has.

I tether all the time, spent the better part of my morning (in a doctors lobby / non-wifi) web surfing and answering company emails on it.
 
#111 ·
I really appreciate the quality of the audio from the speakers. Am listening as I type now. I think we all can relate to experiencing "crap" speaker audio from laptops for example, and perhaps other tablets as well (crackle, weak).

Solid, I think, in comparison, FWIW

I also bought a leather (sorta) case from Blackberry as well when I purchased the tablet. The case that folds over to perch the tablet as I browse, view comfortably. Love it.
 
#112 ·
+1

Got a PB boxing day sales (delivered 27 Dec.!) after reading a Globe & Mail review. I like it for the size and weight (compared to my uncle's iPad which is a heavy clunker). Works great and I like the multitasking (experiencing single tasking with a iPod Touch and I don't like it).

Lack of apps is my big bug bear, is the lack of an ereader other than Kobo. What I do love over a iThingie is that I can store and view/edit Excel and Word docs. I've scanned various books for an upcoming trip to France and being able to view them in PDF is nice.

BB Appworld's continued allowance of some shady operators (hint: they sell a plethora of apps that allegedly provide offline maps all over the world) to continue to sell phony/scam ware is another turnoff.

I have managed to tether a BB phone (old hand-me-down Bold 9000) after some frustrations (secret SIM password which is usually 0000, 1111 or 1234) but since my SIM provider is PAYG, I can't test the data usage.
 
#113 ·
IF i did not already have an dual booting(android) 150$ Touchpad i would have snagged one of these on the latest sales. I just love the PB size and screen..
 
#114 ·
Cockroach; Book Reader is an excellent app for all types of ebooks. The Kobo reader is 'locked in' to the Kobo website and will not recognize any side-loaded ebooks; only those downloaded from the Kobo website.
I was really surprised at how pleasant it is to watch long movies on the PB; the screen definition and brightness, as well as audio quality are superb. No 'laptop/notebook fatigue' at all with the PB.
 
#117 ·
I bought a Acer Icona tablet a few months back and lets just say it seemed to perform better in the store.

A couple of weeks ago I walked into staples ( and other retailers) and they just dropped the BB Playbooks down to $299 for all sizes. I snatched up a 64GB for my wife and she absolutely loves it (cuz she has BB torch too)

Comparing both Acer and PB, I would have bought another PB if I didnt already have the Acer Tab. video quality and browser are so much better in comparo. only problem is lack of apps and lack of external storage interface on the BB PB. The acer has usb and micro SD butI rather prefer the size and power of the BB PB. Battery life and power consumption seems much better too on PB
 
#118 ·
I received one for Christmas and love it. I had tested the Ipad (have an Iphone) but found the PB faster, more intuitive and the graphics amazing. Only downside is lack of apps. I truly think the media is all about Apple and have not spent time enough with the other tablets to see the benefits. I am actually thinking of switching to a Blackberry smartphone when the time comes - time will tell.
 
#119 ·
I wonder if the prices for the 16GB and 32GB versions will eventually be reduced further, or if retailers will start offering other inducements or bonuses for them. I don't really understand the marketing strategy of selling all versions at the same price. Who's going to buy the smaller-capacity ones? :confused:
 
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