Blackberry Playbook....

Yas786 · 4 May 2011 at 13:32

Sega Mega Dave said:
Im currently typing this on my PlayBook. It has a very smart and quality look and feel about it. Flash is great and QNX has lots of potential.

Once RIM iron out a few bugs it will be a cracking device and i much prefer it to my iPad.

Fingers crossed for Android apps as BlackBerry world is a big let down so far, there is nothing on it worth while.

Also bridging to a BlackBerry phone is great on mine and saves extra cost and data plan.

All in all a happy customer and things should only get better!

Good to see someone has one...ive got one sat in Canada at the moment for me 32gb wifi version...im flying out on business to Canada tomo so will pick it up from my brother when im there...cant wait to get it in my hands

...tegh playbook along with the new Bold touch will be a superb pairing for me...the bold touch videos on crackberry have made me jiz my pants numerous times

...definitely my next BB for sure.

Yes i know there are issues with the pb but the latest updates are fixing those issues and RIM has promised a bi weekly software update to the playbook so they are pretty much on top of things. Been doing a lot of reading/research over at crackberry and it seems people are much more happier now with the latest updates rather than before where they werent so happy....full native email and PIM functions are on their way in the next month or so, video chatting is now enabled and hopefully we will see android apps being able to run on the playbook...just saw a video from the BB world in florida where they were showing off android apps being run on the playbook OS.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWS6P3ahWYQ

Redmelo · 4 May 2011 at 14:44

Spawn said:
I'll be getting one asap..forget the ipad as i think this will rock..

...the playbook looks utterly awesome...

Playbook looks good..

Looks really good....cant wait for this to be released..

..definitely will be pre-ordering soon as they are available to order.

Cannot.wait.for.this.to.be.released.

..im waiting for a date myself as im ordering a few for my company and one for myself..

...obviously i get to keep one for myself...64gb model it is

...lucky for me that im off to Canada in a few weeks time to go see my brother and give him a hand with some work he needs doing...so ill probably pick one up from there..

...looks like ill pop over the border from Canada and just pick up one from there....

...so ill wait to see what people on crackberry say before getting one myself...im off to Canada in a couple of weeks myself for some business so ill probably pick up a 64gb version while im out there.

Personally im not even 110% sure if ill get a playbook..

Yas786 · 4 May 2011 at 15:22

Redmelo said:

Yep at first i was like

...then reading about the playbook when it first hit the shelves over in America/Canada i was like this

...then i was like :/ after reading more over the past few weeks and now with the latest OS update im back to

....so yep ive decided to go for one...if i dont like it ill just get my brother to return it and get his money back...ill know within a day or 2 whether or not ill keep it...so no one loses and its a win win situation no??.

Or does my fellow OCUK stalker have other points he wants to address about the playbook....and before you start, i know the playbook isnt perfect compared to the ipad2 or other tablets on the market....the ipad2 isnt even on my radar altho i did consider buying one for about 5 mins then went off the idea.

DAIR · 4 May 2011 at 18:34

Great review here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCv8ZBvbqdY&NR=1

Sega Mega Dave · 4 May 2011 at 22:25

Spawn said:
Good to see someone has one...ive got one sat in Canada at the moment for me 32gb wifi version...im flying out on business to Canada tomo so will pick it up from my brother when im there...cant wait to get it in my hands...tegh playbook along with the new Bold touch will be a superb pairing for me...the bold touch videos on crackberry have made me jiz my pants numerous times...definitely my next BB for sure.

Yes i know there are issues with the pb but the latest updates are fixing those issues and RIM has promised a bi weekly software update to the playbook so they are pretty much on top of things. Been doing a lot of reading/research over at crackberry and it seems people are much more happier now with the latest updates rather than before where they werent so happy....full native email and PIM functions are on their way in the next month or so, video chatting is now enabled and hopefully we will see android apps being able to run on the playbook...just saw a video from the BB world in florida where they were showing off android apps being run on the playbook OS.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWS6P3ahWYQ

You will love it trust me...

Like you say they are updating regularly and it gets better with each one, now with video chat and bbm (although i still type quicker on my phone lol) added it shows they're heading in the right direction!

I love my Bold 9780 but it will be replaced with the Bold Touch when it comes out, gotta love a physical keyboard...

All in all this is RIM's first attempt in this market, the hardware is bang on so any issues are solely software based which can be changed.

Remember it took apple how long to get the features we all wanted?

Dokinator · 4 May 2011 at 22:33

Me thinks it is a step too far for blackberry, you might think it is stereotypical, but arnt blackberry's mainly designed with business people in mind.............now they have made something with games in mind :S

Looks like they are trying to broaden their market

sarge78 · 4 May 2011 at 22:52

^ Agree.

Take the same internals/OS but create a high end 10"-12" notebook (macbook air or transformer concept) with a 15+ hour battery life, stunning keyboard, full suite of office tools from TAT and a virtualization client.

Job done.

Yas786 · 4 May 2011 at 23:03

Dokinator said:
Me thinks it is a step too far for blackberry, you might think it is stereotypical, but arnt blackberry's mainly designed with business people in mind.............now they have made something with games in mind :S

Looks like they are trying to broaden their market

Nothing wrong with that...if apple and Android are taking up market share then its pretty obvious that Blackberry will want a piece of that action...doesnt take a genius to figure that out in all honesty and it makes good business sense....so is it a step too far??..not in the slightest unless you want to see a company go under due to them not expanding their horizons etc.

Blackberries used to be for business people or corporate people due to their superb messaging system ie email...thats their bread and butter and even though they have taken on a more multimedia approach with their newer devices...it does not mean they have forgotten who have made their core business ie corps etc.

The Playbook was built and designed with this in mind...problem is that they rushed it out due to the ipad2 and losing sales....it was released incomplete but with the latest OS updates done OTA i might add...its become a better tablet as time has gone on and is getting much better with full email and PIM functions available soon through an update.

Dokinator · 5 May 2011 at 07:22

Spawn said:
Nothing wrong with that...if apple and Android are taking up market share then its pretty obvious that Blackberry will want a piece of that action...doesnt take a genius to figure that out in all honesty and it makes good business sense....so is it a step too far??..not in the slightest unless you want to see a company go under due to them not expanding their horizons etc.

Blackberries used to be for business people or corporate people due to their superb messaging system ie email...thats their bread and butter and even though they have taken on a more multimedia approach with their newer devices...it does not mean they have forgotten who have made their core business ie corps etc.

The Playbook was built and designed with this in mind...problem is that they rushed it out due to the ipad2 and losing sales....it was released incomplete but with the latest OS updates done OTA i might add...its become a better tablet as time has gone on and is getting much better with full email and PIM functions available soon through an update.

Yeah, I suppose you are speaking the truth, but it's just my opinion. If it was me, I suppose I would want some of the market share but hey.

Paul11 · 5 May 2011 at 07:35

so silly to release without a email/contact/diary app on the device

what are RIM thinking ...

Dokinator · 5 May 2011 at 07:47

Paul11 said:
so silly to release without a email/contact/diary app on the device

what are RIM thinking ...

Agreed

Sega Mega Dave · 5 May 2011 at 09:23

There is those apps but you do need to have a Blackberry phone to bridge too.

Also they will be released within a month so by the time of a UK release date they will be on there i would have thought, but yes i do agree it is a little silly.

Anyway after using it for a week or so i will give a little update.

Good Points:

Nice screen seems sharper than ipad to me.

Nicely built, feels well made and has a decent weight too it, also looks a lot classier in person.

QNX has a lot of potentional, i already prefer it than iOS and updates should make it better.

Cameras are far better than ipad and equivelent tablets.

Ability to bridge to a Blackberry cutting out the imo daylight robbery of expecting people pay an extra tariff.

Flash support, people will say it's not that important and ipad has done fine which it has but for me it's a must on a tablet.

Comes with a sleeve which is nice and saves the extra investment in protecting your device.

Bad Points:

It can't be denied the app store is woeful at the moment and i hope it will use Android apps because it needs it. Still early days though and im sure developers will jump on board.

Not sure if this is on all but when i lay it flat on a surface the typing and web browsing goes all over the place, hold it at an angle and it's spot on.

Browser as of now isn't as responsive or smooth as the ipad, although updates could surely fix this and no doubt will.

The bridge browser is slow, but a recent update to this has been released so will test to see if it's any quicker.

In all honesty there is not a lot wrong with it and the things that are can be fixed because in my opinion they're all software based, they really need the android apps though because if blackberry world doesn't improve it could turn out to be a flop. Although this is their first attempt and it's still very early days.

Hardware wise it's spot on imo and QNX is a very welcomed addition to the market.

A few pics:

Anyone wants me to check anything or have a question, feel free to ask i'll try to answer.

Sega Mega Dave · 5 May 2011 at 09:25

Also don't ask me why the times are different on each device as i dont know, i've just checked and they're the same lol.

Paul11 · 5 May 2011 at 09:55

is the 7" size of the actual screen or is the bezel included in the size

would have been nicer with a much thinner bezel

Robbo · 5 May 2011 at 11:31

Paul11 said:
so silly to release without a email/contact/diary app on the device

what are RIM thinking ...

They're going after the iPad and in doing so, have lost the plot a bit

Yas786 · 5 May 2011 at 13:20

Paul11 said:
so silly to release without a email/contact/diary app on the device

what are RIM thinking ...

As i posted earlier, theres a reason why they released it without native email and PIM functions...of course it was stupid of them to do that but id rather they get it right than release it and have issues pertaining to the email/PIM functions.

But in case your wondering why then heres the reason why they didnt release the PB with native email/PIM functions:

Why No Native Email, Calendar, Contacts, BBM on the BlackBerry PlayBook? RIM has christened the BlackBerry PlayBook as The First Professional Grade Tablet. To be able to lay claim to that title and to get to market sooner rather than later, RIM has to ensure the BlackBerry PlayBook is secure. The BlackBerry Smartphone and traditional BlackBerry Operating System (as found in phones) are trusted and battle tested by enterprise. For the past decade they have proven their security. The BlackBerry Tablet OS is built upon the QNX operating system, not the traditional BlackBerry Operating System found in phones. While RIM is working hard to secure up QNX and to hook the PlayBook up directly to RIM's servers (and as discussed above also needs to deal with the issue of multiple pins working together for one user), the quickest way for RIM to create a secure environment on their tablet was to piggy back on the security of the phones. Because none of the critical BlackBerry Bridge data is actually stored on the PlayBook or transmitted to servers directly from the PlayBook, the device is as secure as BlackBerry Smartphones since the paired BlackBerry Smartphone is the secure tunnel connection back to RIM from the PlayBook. So in enterprise, the PlayBook represents the best of both worlds - all of the security of BlackBerry Smartphones combined with the benefits of the tablet form factor and new operating system. RIM has already said that native email, PIM, BlackBerry Messenger, etc. support will come to the PlayBook, but in the meantime the BlackBerry Bridge allows them to get into market quickly and securely. For consumers however, especially those who don't have a BlackBerry Smartphone to bridge to, it means you're going to be stuck using webmail via the web browser for the time being, or hopefully some third party developers will build some apps. The good news is that once native email and PIM support is rolled out by RIM, it should be made available to all PlayBooks, even the WiFi-only versions, via a software update. Here's to hoping that happens asap.

In a nutshell its because the QNX OS is brand new and they are still getting to grips with it...releasing it without the security that BB is known for would have been a disaster for RIM.

And a video showing the email/PIM functions that are coming soon:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEBph1F91b4

Sega nice big pics lol

...cant wait to have mine in my hands next week...pretty sure my brother has probably opened it up and played around with it,....need to ask him if there are any build defects ie dead pixels or backlight bleed as a few of them have had those issues.

Sega Mega Dave · 5 May 2011 at 14:20

Paul11 said:
is the 7" size of the actual screen or is the bezel included in the size

would have been nicer with a much thinner bezel

Screen is 7" and with bezel it is 9"

Reason for the thick bezel is because it's touch sensitive (swipe gestures), it's used for bringing up the home menu and settings menu. No doubt it will also have some part to play in future apps.

Dewotter · 5 May 2011 at 14:44

I work in a Waterloo university with all the RIM cheerleaders.

My problem is typing. It's two large to thumb type in portrait and it's not wide enough in landscape to type with two hands.

Spawn said:
In a nutshell its because the QNX OS is brand new and they are still getting to grips with it...releasing it without the security that BB is known for would have been a disaster for RIM.

That doesn't wash with me. For how long RIM have been at corporate communications it literally is pathetic that this doesn't feature in the 1.0 release. Had they have said, there'll be no gaming until later, that'd be fine, or some other superfluous function. But not core communications software.

Yas786 · 5 May 2011 at 14:44

Sega Mega Dave said:
Screen is 7" and with bezel it is 9"

Reason for the thick bezel is because it's touch sensitive, it's used for bringup on the home menu and settings menu. No doubt it will also have some part to play in future apps.

Ive seen a few videos on youtube and some guy showed just how pocketable it is ie stuck it in his jeans...

Ive just had a nice little surprise...my brother who bought me one of these pb's a few days ago has sent it over via fedex and i just received the package today as my mum just rung....just been on the phone to my brother and he said he wanted to give me a nice little surprise

....so cant wait till i get home in a few hrs to give it a whirl...he said hes checked it out ie as far as he can see there are no build defects but seeing as im flying out later tonight to Canada...if there is then i can exchange it whilst there...awesome little bro i have

Sega Mega Dave · 5 May 2011 at 14:51

Spawn said:
Ive seen a few videos on youtube and some guy showed just how pocketable it is ie stuck it in his jeans...

Ive just had a nice little surprise...my brother who bought me one of these pb's a few days ago has sent it over via fedex and i just received the package today as my mum just rung....just been on the phone to my brother and he said he wanted to give me a nice little surprise....so cant wait till i get home in a few hrs to give it a whirl...he said hes checked it out ie as far as he can see there are no build defects but seeing as im flying out later tonight to Canada...if there is then i can exchange it whilst there...awesome little bro i have

Brilliant, means you can have a play on it on the plane!

I think it's a bit big for a jean pocket unless you have big jeans lol. A jacket though it would slide is with no problems. it has a decent solid weight about it so you would notice it is there.

Mine has no dead pixels and in day to day with a black background i can't see any backlight bleed but not really tested it to the max.

If i can't notice it while using as it is at night and day then im happy.