Finally got fed up of the PlayBook and bougnt an Android tablet.
Let me start by saying that I did give the PB a fair shot... I am and always have been objective in my tech purchases and when I saw the price of the PB I couldn't resist picking one up. However, after 2 months of giving it a try, yesterday I bought the new Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7, and now there can be no going back, even with the semi-imminent release of OS 2.0.
Things I liked about the PlayBook:
- Hardware was great... and the speakers best I ever heard on a tablet. Screen was very nice, and the unit felt solid and good in the hands.
- Multitasking and swipe gestures are now second nature to me, and I keep trying to do it on the Android tablet, obviously with little success, heh.
- Browser is very good, renders like a desktop.
- I found the Music Player very good.
Main reasons why I cannot live with the PlayBook:
- Critical lack of quality apps and games when compared to iOS and Android, and imo this will not be fixed, especially with the new advertising revenue restrictions. RIM will imo not get the number and quality of developers on board necessary to change that significantly. Also, the BlackBerry app store is a horrible place to browse (i'm not being intentionally harsh, it just is) compared to the Android Market, and much less user friendly in terms of updating apps etc.
- Apps not able to run in the background via system processes. One awesome thing about Android is that apps can run in the background at all times... Skype, alarms, email etc etc. Not having this functionality on the PlayBook really crippled my experience of having a tablet. My Samsung 7.7 has all this without skipping a beat.
- Lack of customisation vs Android. My Samsung Galaxy 7.7 was rooted within 5 minutes to give it advanced functionality, and is now customised in terms of looks and functionality to look and behave exactly how I want for easy daily use, with all my essential apps and shortcuts highly organised and within easy reach. I personally found this was next to impossible with the PlayBook due to the OS and software restricitons.
- Widgets. Love them or hate them, for me they are a necessity on my homescreen, such as my calendar widget for a quick scan of what I have upcoming, and they don't slow my Galaxy Tab down one bit.
- Skype. As we all know, it's likely never going to make it to the PlayBook. Android has it, and I am now in video calling heaven.
I will not mention any feature of OS 2.0 that are currently not implemented as a negative, as I am fully aware that despite yet more predictably sucky delays, when it finally arrives it will address some of the major functionality issues of the PlayBook like native email and calendar/contacts etc. However, even with all the improvements 2.0 will bring, from my perspective it will not provide the overall complete and more user friendly experience and convenience that Android does. Even the ability to run Android apps, while cool, will in my opinion not be enough.
I will still look on the release of 2.0 with interest, and hold off selling my PlayBook until that is released, so that I can sell it advertised with better functionality... but that was my first and last PlayBook experience I think.
Amusingly enough, I made this same post on Crackberry forums and got flamed to hell and back as a troll, lol...
...one of the main things i dont really like about my playbook is those 2 missing features.