BlackBerry - PlayBook Tablet with 64GB Memory

The device is extremely solid and the more I use it the more I love it. Performance is screaming. Graphics, sound quality, intuitive simple gesture touch interface, front and rear cameras, 7 inch form factor and as advertised the multi-tasking capabilites are just incredible. The power button on top is hard to push but it doesn't matter since there is a soft power button to go to standby, restart or turn off available through the interface settings. Web browsing with flash support and multi-tab is very nice as are listening to music, watching movies, reading ebooks, playing games and looking a pictures (you can even take screen shots). The ability to move files on and off the tablet over USB or Wifi as a network shared drive is awesome. If you have a Blackberry smartphone, the Bridge connection allows access to Email, calendar, tasks, contacts, memopad, Blackberry Messenger and some files such as pics, vids, PDF and office docs plus web browsing over the phones 3G connection. But you can also tether to non Blackberry smartphones if your carrier supports it. The subtle but easily accessible notification indicator/area is perfect. The keyboard is very responsive but lacks arrows to move cursor around to specific points in text so you have to touch the spot which can be difficult/trial and error within small text fields such as the address bar. Spell check is not fully functional and definitely some key apps are not available including some of Blackberry's own such as Blackberry Travel, Password Keeper, Wallet. Also Kindle, Skype, Hulu and Netflix. But I am confident/hopeful these are coming whether specifically for Blackberry Playbook QNX OS or because of the announced ability to run Droid apps very soon. Also the device OS needs to get support for Bluetooth audio as soon as possible and allow more versatility with supporting a broader variety of file types (like zip and txt) especially when viewing/transferring files between the phone and tablet. Also needs the ability to add custom folders and tabs to main tablet screen and would be very nice to be able to group and sort other things like web bookmarks. Finally if they would add the ability to control the calling features of the bridged phone to make, receive, mute or hold calls right from the tablet the device would easily outstrip every other tablet on the market.

A bit about me first - I am a techno-nerd. I LOVE gadgets. Large, small, you name it. After eyeballing many tablets, including the iPad, Xoom, Samsung and others I chose the 64GB Blackberry Playbook. Why? For one, because it is the right size. I can put it in my purse and carry it about with me. More reasons - it has spectacular graphics - true 1080p HD and it supports flash. It has a camera and an HD camcorder. It has a solid feel in your hands, the touch screen is very responsive and intuitive. After playing with it for a short span of time I now zoom from app to app. One of the (many) things I find amazing is that the tablet does not lag while running many concurrent apps - I'm not talking small apps, but processor intensive ones. The battery life is pretty good too - I've played for over 10 hours before I had to recharge it. The screen is spectacular - I said that already didn't I? One thing I have read on various sites is that there aren't "many apps" available. HELLO - it is new - just released actually. How many apps were there for the iPad when it first came out? New apps appear daily and this summer it will run Android apps. That just exponentially increased the quantity of fodder for app hounds like me. The Android apps will be available through Blackberry App World. Read more about this on Android Central. Angry Birds anyone? It's also a boss gaming tablet for you gamers out there. The OS is smooth and slick.I never had a lockup or had to force a reboot. The browser is amazing - renders all pages I've hit beautifully and flash content is gorgeous. I have a huge iTunes library. One of the reasons I purchased the 64GB version was for the music. RIM made it so easy to import tunes from iTunes. First download Desktop manager and install. Plug in the Playbook. It installs the drivers and voila! It sniffs the installed iTunes and asks you what you would like to sync to the Playbook. I also read a lot of technical magazines I get electronically. I have these saved off to a folder on my PC. Now I copy them to my Playbook and read them where ever I am. I can connect to the internet a few ways - with the wireless ability it has, or tethering to my mobile phone (Andorid) or, if you have a Blackberry running version 5 or above you can use the Bridge to gain access to the internet while about. I have scratched just the surface of this amazing tablet. It has so much more I could talk about. I love my Playbook. I am so glad I waited for its release. WOW 10" Playbook coming soon for those who want greater real estate.

The review that mention the GPS is not available on the WiFi version are not correct. I work for a major Helathcare Company IT department and we have tested the Blackberry Tablet (WiFi and 4G) and it is a great tablet. We let our executives and physician's test the BB Playbook, Apple iPad2, Zoom and Galaxy tablets use them for several days. There was a lot of interest in the iPad2 but after a couple of days 90% of them came back and wanted to try the Playbook. They were hooked. They loved the multi tasking capability, screen clarity, better internet interaction (Playbook supports Flash and iPad2 does not) and that the could connect their phone and read their emails on a larger screen. There comments were that the Playbook allowed them to do their job more effectively. They felt the iPad2 was cool looking but provided little value other than the app's (some useful for work most not). From a technical support side the Playbook is easy to setup, is supperior in every category to the iPad2 and provides great security. The 4G model is extremely fast but unless you are a commuter or live in a 4G area the WiFi version will handle your needs. Concerning the size most of our executives liked that it fit into their coat pockets or purses. I personally thought I would like the larger iPad2 but I actually found the Playbook easier to hold and easier on my eyes. The battery life is good and improved after the inital setup and application installs. We consistently got 10 to 11 hours of batttery life.

I thought I had done my research, but as much as I love my playbook, there are some concerns and I missed or misunderstood somethings. First, I thought I would be able to video chat with it. This feature only works with from Playbook to Playbook. So I can't use Skype or Oovoo with it. Also you can't download movies onto the hard drive. So I had to get Foxreal and convert some of my DVD's so I could transfer them to the Playbook (Be careful with trasnfer process, some of my videos lost video and audio sync while I was watching). If you are into Apps, there aren't many apps. Apps that you find on your blackberry phone, you don't find for your playbook. All in all I like having it. I think it is smart and flashy. Unfortunately, I don't think it will compete in market share with the other tablets, but I like it. It does things that the Ipad doesn't do and I definitely appreciate that. I hope it catches on enough to keep people tied to it. Also the word and excel programs are a little cumbersome so you can't do any serious work on the playbook. You could do it somewhere else and transfer it over.

First a word of warning: If you already own a blackberry phone and you are thinking of connecting the playbook to your cell phone using the blackberry bridge make sure your phone supports this!!! Next make sure you have a wifi connection to bring your new toy to the latest OS right away before trying the blackberry bridge. At this point it may also be a good idea to update your blackberry phone as well! If you are planning on using your PC audio and/or movie files on your playbook make sure they are in a supported format. And even if they are you still want to use the blackberry desktop manager and "convert" them. I had plenty of files that should have worked natively but I had to use blackberry's converter anyways. Be aware that you can't take screen shots while the bridge is active. You can't copy and paste between bridge and non-bridge applications. Getting file sharing to work can be a bit of a hassle because the setup wizard sometimes just askes the 'wrong' questions (for example it asks for a "network password" when it wants you to enter the password you protected your playbook with. Now, once you are past all this the playbook makes a great companion! During my last business trips I didn't had to get my laptop out at all. The playbook offers me both the productivity tools and the entertainment I am looking for while on the road (or in the air for that matter).

One of the issues with people writing reviews before the release of a product is that they spread misinformation. RIM has confirmed publicly that GPS is included on the WiFi PlayBook and it can use all location based services. The PlayBook can also be tethered to ANY cellphone that includes the Bluetooth Tether profile (most Android, BlackBerry, and newer Nokia phones) to use your phones internet connection. Other phones, like the iPhone, can serve as a personal hotspot and you can connect the PlayBook using that method. Depending on your carrier, there may be an added cost for tethering but it is normally much less than a dedicated data only plan. In addition to using your phone for internet access, if you have a BlackBerry, you also get all of your BlackBerry apps on it (BBM, Mail, Calendar, Contacts, and Intranet access through a BES). There is no need to wait on this tablet unless you want to pay for a separate monthly data access fee and/or will never be traveling with your phone.

for the $229 price tag i got this at, i am very pleased with the device. i've used it for: - watching movies - browsing the web - listening to music (very good speakers) - reading PDFs the major issues with this tablet to me are the lack of apps and native calendar (i don't mind the lack of e-mail too much) but with OS 2.0 that is supposed to come out in mid february, some of this should be alleviated. switching/opening/closing apps is very intuitive and everything feels very smooth. although i should probably restart this thing every now and then, i usually keep it on for weeks on end, just putting it in standby mode when i'm not using it. other good things: - very very portable (7" is a perfect size for me) - this has become my new bedside alarm clock - micro hdmi port allows connection to a tv and works wonderfully for watching movies

Last week my wife bought me the Blackberry Playbook 64 for an anniversary/birthday present. I had done quite a bit of research on it before we pulled the trigger and have noticed how the reviews started very critical but have turned to being much more positive as it has been out longer. After several days hard usage I think it is even better than I had imagined. The browser is great and there are a bunch of applications I am using (many are free). The display is awesome and the battery life is adequate for most of a day of hard usage. The Bridge program has been a winner and I have used it more than I imagined I would. I really like the size of it...it is much more portable and less obtrusive than I imagine a larger unit would be. I have only had one minor problem that a call to BB customer service rather quickly fixed (it involved using BBM on the Playbook through the Bridge). As you may have read it has a few areas that need improvement, but I have found it to be very useful the way it is. The Blackberry faithful are very impatient with the company and they have high standards for what they think should happen and when with the Playbook. There is something healthy about this attitude but when it is plain whining is not productive. I could not be happier with this little machine. Mark