playbook worth a punt for teenage daughter ?

CSA

CSA

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Hi , ive been looking at tablets for my daughter, because she has a BB curve ive been thinking about a playbook,i know it had some bad press on release but didnt they improve it a lot withe some updates ?

I guess she'd mainly use it fo browsing,bbm,films,music,youtube

is it able to use some android apps now ? all of them or just a select few ?

Edit: is it able to play files direct from a USB stick or USB hdd ?
 
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Prices of them are dropping, i read on crackberry that the 64gb version is down to £130 if im not mistaken.

Worth a punt, ive had mine since release day and with the updates it has become a better tablet. I usually use mine for web browsing downstairs and listening to music or watching videos.

I have the 32gb version but might look at getting the 64gb version.

EDIT: yep the purple store has them for £130:eek:....off to order one for myself and give my 32gb to the missus.
 
Are android apps usable on that now Yas ?

I think some of them are, tbh i dont know as i have an S3 so have my android apps on that. Havent really had a chance to look at any android apps on the playbook yet, keep meaning to but just never have the time.

Maybe pop over to crackberry and have a look there or ask in one of the forums there, plenty of people there would be able to help you out.
 
EDIT: yep the purple store has them for £130:eek:....off to order one for myself and give my 32gb to the missus.

That's got to be close to cost price - good deal for many people. N7 is worth the £30 more if you don't need the storage.
 
I think the Nexus 7 is a better bet to be honest. No matter how much money you save, you're buying in to a dead technology with the playbook.
 
I went for the nexus 7 because my local shop had them both this morning, I'M typing from it now. IMHO android is is better.

Edit: I'm really very pleased with the nexus 7, build quality is excellent it doesn't feel cheap like the scroll excellent that I sold. Its also very fast.
 
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Nope. Just bought one. Has a bit of screen movement but very minimal. Once you start using it, the sheer excellence of the device makes you forget any minor build issues.

If it had a dodgy speaker, dead pixels, light bleed or things like that then yes I would deffo get it exchanged.

EDIT: What have you got to lose? Buy it from a decent place, and if it has issues then REFUND it. Your shooting yourself in the foot for not even trying one out.
 
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I don't need one. I wanted one just 'cos they are quite cool.

However, having one just because they are quite cool, but then having to keep exchanging it isn't really what I planned.

Its a shame really, as without out the issues its had, it would have completely kicked the tablet market up the butt. With all the widely publicised issues the impact its had surely must have been reduced. I can't be the only potential buyer scared off by the issues.
 
My brother used to have the PlayBook. It felt like a very solid device in hand and the build quality was fantastic. The lack of apps really did let it down though, but for browsing it was a very smooth experience.

I've had 2 Nexus 7's some time ago, both of which seemed to have appalling build quality. No idea if the QA problems have been fixed with the Nexus 7 though, although I assume not.
 
I have a Nexus 7 and playbooks. The Nexus 7 is smoother, faster to respond and has far more apps available. The playbook is far more solidly built.
My kids (4 & 5) have a playbook each and they pretty much use theirs for educational / drawing apps, angry birds, playing music (chipmunks....arrgghhhhh...why did I put that on there!) and watching films - all things the playbook handles very well. It is very good for video playback and has mini hdmi out for connecting to the TV.

As your daughter is a lot older than my kids is there a chance she might be limited by what's available on the app store. Mine do keep asking about Shark Dash and Where's my water, lol!

No playback from a usb stick, but easy to transfer data via PC as long as blackberry device manager is installed.

There are a few android apps that have been converted, but they're honestly few and far between in the grand scheme of things, and apps properly coded for the playbook run better.

I have read there are more apps in the wings after the new OS update that's rumoured to be due within a few weeks. I would say that £130 is a great price for the 64Gb tablet, depending on its usage. If I had to choose for myself I'd keep the Nexus 7. If I chose for my wife or kids I'd keep the 64GB playbook as they use the browser and video playback more, and don't need (but might like) the other apps available under android.
 
I kept looking at the Playbook as a travel video device. At this price I may well take it. I was umming and ahhing over a N7 but the main problem was the storage capacity. I get that Android is much better, and that the N7 is much more powerful, but tbh I don't really need a hugely powerful tablet - it just needs to be able to play videos and browse the web and it seems like the Playbook does that very well.
 
With me I like android devices as I love flashing roms and stuff, the N7 is very easy to root etc...

I don't seem to notice any of those reported problems yet...

The N7 I have now was intended for my 2 daughters, but they started quarelling earlier so might buy another 2 units, one for myself to play with... or maybe buy another one now, and wait a few months to see if google updates the unit with sd slot, hdmi out etc...
 
If movies etc are your concern, in my opinion the sound output on the play book is a lot better quality over the N7.
 


Some good info there thanks stu.artd, are the more popular games like draw something/song pop available on the PB ? ,i dont think my 12yr old would be to interested in most of the apps available but you can bet she'd want to play all the popular games her friends are playing.
 
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