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BlackBerry PlayBook reviews

52K views 286 replies 62 participants last post by  PG44 
#1 ·
#4 ·
NYT's David Pogue

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/14/technology/personaltech/14pogue.html?_r=1&ref=technology

[T]he PlayBook does three impressive things that its rivals — the iPad and the Android tablets — can only dream about.

First, with a special HDMI cable (not included), you can hook it up to a TV or projector, which is great for PowerPoint presentations...

The second cool feature has to do with loading the tablet with your music, photos and music. [O]nce you’ve set up this process using a USB cable, you can do it thereafter over Wi-Fi — wirelessly. The PlayBook can even accept such wireless transfers when it’s in sleep mode, sitting in your purse or briefcase across the room.

Finally, there’s a wild, wireless Bluetooth connection feature called BlackBerry Bridge. In this setup, the PlayBook acts as a giant viewing window onto the contents of a BlackBerry phone. Whatever e-mail, calendar, address book and instant messages are on the BlackBerry now show up on the PlayBook’s much roomier screen — a live, encrypted two-way link.
...
The PlayBook, then, is convenient, fast and coherently designed. But in its current half-baked form, it seems almost silly to try to assess it, let alone buy it.

Remember, the primary competition is an iPad — the same price, but much thinner, much bigger screen and a library of 300,000 apps. In that light, does it make sense to buy a fledgling tablet with no built-in e-mail or calendar, no cellular connection, no videochat, Skype, no Notes app, no GPS app, no videochat, no Pandora radio and no Angry Birds?

You should also know that even now, only days before the PlayBook goes on sale April 19, the software is buggy and still undergoing feverish daily revision. And the all-important BlackBerry Bridge feature is still in beta testing. It’s missing important features, like the ability to view e-mail file attachments or click a link in an e-mail.

If all of this gets fixed, the apps arrive, and the PlayBook can survive this year’s onslaught of rival tablets, then it may one day wind up in the pantheon of greats. For now, there are too many features that live only in R.I.M.’s playbook — and not enough in its PlayBook.
 
#5 ·
Review by Walt Mossberg was negative.

He liked the device and the user interface but was negative on the inability to do email etc without being tethered to a blackberry and the lack of apps.
 
#6 ·
There are a few pieces of software that are not available at launch time and tethering is the short term solution.

These items are coming but not at launch.

Not a issue for me since my Blackberry smartphone works fine with my POP3 personal email but I'll be glad to have it on the device as well. I'll be patient.

I can also access email via webmail.

Once wifi tethering comes out for Blackberry handsets, it will also improve the overall experience since my experience with bluetooth tethering wasn't as straight forward.
 
#10 ·
Not a very warm reception looking at the first half-dozen or so reviews that are coming across the wire, with most reviewers panning the lack of apps, browser performance and particularly Flash performance as below expectations.

Most reviews concede there is strong potential, but many important elements are not available at launch. Given that RIM is last one to the party, I would have hoped they could waited and released a mature product instead of racing in with an unfinished offering. At the very least, an email client and a PIM, which is the one thing they should have had going for them!!!

But...reviewers are known to be twits, so let's see how the market responds. Here's hoping that RIM can reinvent themselves with Playbook!
 
#13 ·
Interesting how much leeway james99 is willing to give Blackberry on their release, while so quick to find fault with the iPhone and iPad. ;)

From the reviews, it sounds like they're rushing it out the doors just to say they have it released; for all intents and purposes, though, it sounds like another few months of development time would have lead to a much stronger first impression among many pundits.
 
#14 ·
Yeah but it does Flash!

IMO, I think this is a huge disaster for Blackberry.

Coming to market with a half baked product was a huge mistake. No one will care six months from now when the PlayBook finally lets you send texts and emails with it.

And don't get me started on the tethering issue!

Since it's baseball season, I'd say Apple's hit a home run, the Tab struck out, Xoom hit a single and the Playbook got on base with a walk.

Next up: Acer and HP.
 
#15 ·
RIM's approach always seems to be staid. I really don't see them taking the general tablet market by storm any time soon. They just don't have the "flash" (sorry) to capture that audience. As good, solid business tools, they rule, but I don't see a solid business reason for the Playbook. Do I really want to have to carry both?
 
#16 ·
Yup. Releasing a tablet that requires tethering to a another device shows the kind of arrogance that's going to kill RIM off one day. Not only are their devices essentially the same as they were three years ago (the incremental changes in that time from the Curve 8330 sitting here beside me are negligible compared to what Android and iOS devices have done) but they have the stones to think that their customer base is so loyal that they'll snap up a half-finished device that was rushed to release with the need for tethering and minimal app support.
 
#23 ·
Yup. Releasing a tablet that requires tethering to a another device shows the kind of arrogance that's going to kill RIM off one day.
How is that arrogant?

You don't have to use the tethering if you don't like it. You can always use browser-based email which is fine.

Tethering is an add on that makes a 2nd 3G/4G plan unneeded if you already own a Blackberry. No more no less.
 
#20 ·
I don't think it requires tethering, it's just a wifi tablet. AFAIK, the only part that requires tethering is BIS access.
From the reviews that I have read:
You can connect to the internet via wifi and use the regular browser.

You can connect to the internet via bluetooth through any bluetooth-enabled phone that supports tethering.

You can connect to the internet via the Blackberry Bridge through most blackberries. Blackberry Bridge allows you to access your email and calendar on your blackberry, as well as the files on any internal SD card. It also includes a browser with which you can browse the internet through your BB -- this method does not involve tethering (should your carrier charge extra for tethering). There are indications that you might be able to use it to browse your corporate intranet as well (through your BES server).

There isn't any built-in way to access your email without using Blackberry Bridge, but there should be email apps available soon such as this one: http://www.playbookdaily.com/2011/04/16/another-look-at-the-playbook-email-app-early-bird-video/
 
#21 ·
iOS has a glut of horrible copy cat apps

I'm very serious about there being maybe 500 good unique apps

The number 500 is obviously one I've just made up to illustrate a point, but let's not pretend that there isn't a HUGE number of fart/mirror/flashlight apps that balloons the numbers up that apple likes to quote
 
#26 ·
I'm not really sure how pointing out flaws in the device makes him an apple fanboy.

I believe his point was that at this point RIM shipping now or shipping in a month would make very little difference from a market share point of view, but shipping with a more complete experience would.

If I hand someone a tablet and to access mail they have to open the browser, find their mail bookmark, login etc that's going to be a negative no matter how you spin it.
 
#27 ·
The groundwork is there for this to be a stellar device. However coming to market about 4 months too early without a functioning email/calendar/contacts program that's not tied to a Blackberry, without any real apps to speak of and with an OS that still seems to be working the bugs out, well, that seems to be a big mistake. While they were under pressure to meet their target release date and get it out before a couple of competitors' tablets made their appearance, I think first impressions mean a lot and they blew it on that score. The old rock and hard place scenario, I suppose. RIM is an important business for Canada's tech industry and so I hope they get their act together quickly or they run the risk of the market passing them by.

One thing I wish they had done is offer it in a 10" version, as well as the current 7" model. I got the wife an ipad for Christmas and I wouldn't want anything smaller for browsing on the web, reading email or reading a book. I could very well be an exception but I think if they want to expand into the consumer market in a meaningful fashion, they'll need a larger model.
 
#28 ·
I am coming from a background of a BB user for about 7 years and an iPad owner for one year. I have had my hands on a playbook and I think this device is a disaster for RIM although they still have the best smartphones on the market if you care about text entry.

RIM is pushing this as a corporate device but when you look at their marketing campaign they seem to really be pushing the media playback aspect which is much more a retail feature.

The UI is really nice, including using the bezel, and the multiple-tasking works well.

Since the current device does not have an email app they are limiting their potential market to owners of BBs that seems stupid to me. They have given out several hundred pre-release versions of the Playback but to set it up for email you need to download Blackberry Bridge from the BB app store - but it isn't available yet - WTF?

The size is good to hold in one hand but much smaller than the iPad. Since RIM expects you to carry a BB plus a PB I think this is a mistake and they should have gone with a bigger screen since the most important business use of a tab over a smartphone is document reading.

One thing on apps - the PB doesn't need as many apps as the iPad since it runs Flash. The reason that you need lots of apps on the iPad is that you can't use the video from the website.
 
#29 ·
Since RIM expects you to carry a BB plus a PB I think this is a mistake and they should have gone with a bigger screen since the most important business use of a tab over a smartphone is document reading.
I wonder how many iPad users also carry a phone around?

As for reviews, I thought this one was somewhat ironic:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2383525,00.asp
Multitasking on the PlayBook is good in theory, but weak in implementation. The view you get of open apps is similar to that on the Xoom—meaning, you typically will get a "live" view of what you were most recently doing in each app. However, RIM made a fairly crucial mistake here—the apps are all actually running, it seems, even when in the background.
I'm actually somewhat surprised that someone that writes for a PC magazine doesn't understand the concept of multitasking. Multitasking does not mean that applications will stop when they aren't in the foreground.
 
#32 ·
The issue is that there isn't currently an app on the PB to do your personal email, like your Gmail or Yahoo Mail. With an iPad it is pretty easy to set up the iPad email app to work with these services. The only way to do this currently with the PB is to use the web browser to acess the web based clients for these services. Or you need a BB to use the Bridge feature.

So while everyone does carry a phone, in order to get decent functionality out of a PB that phone must be a BB. Your phone if you want to carry a BB and an iPad but you are SOL if you want to carry an iPhone and a PB.
 
#33 ·
OKay, just trying to understand. Gmail is available on the iPad through a dedicated app instead of through the browser?
Are most of these dedicated apps just a customized version of a browser or do they contain other features that make the app easier to use. I'm not sure exactly what those features would be and I haven't used any of these apps so I guess I need to go and do some hands on at B&M store somewhere.

The part about no email when carrying a PB an iPhone would be that the two devices would not be synced together. Still wondering how other devices sync their email with phones/tablets/PCs. ie. I use my laptop to send an email, then my home PC when I am at home. The email on those two computers is not synced unless I use a browser based email program such as hotmail or Gmail. So having the apps sync mail automatically would be nice. How would I accomplish this? Sorry if it is a bit off-topic but the sync would apply to every device with the right software.

Thanks for your earlier reply.
 
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