[grahamf]

Most likely I'd use this instead of a laptop, as everything that a laptop has over the PB is better served by a desktop for me.

And if something comes up, I can use a screen share app to connect to my desktop.

And then I just need a Bold or a Curve, as the PB can easily manage anything that doesn't fit on the phone's screen.

[Wildo6882]

Yep, that's exactly the way I look at it. I would use a Bold/Curve and have the PB for everything else. And if the new browser is decent enough, I could live without the PB for a short amount of time. I'm really looking forward to giving RIM a ton of my money again.

[IchigoMochi]

Yep, that's exactly the way I look at it. I would use a Bold/Curve and have the PB for everything else. And if the new browser is decent enough, I could live without the PB for a short amount of time. I'm really looking forward to giving RIM a ton of my money again.

Yup, same here. That's such a great way of putting it too, haha.

[1812dave]

Yep, that's exactly the way I look at it. I would use a Bold/Curve and have the PB for everything else. And if the new browser is decent enough, I could live without the PB for a short amount of time. I'm really looking forward to giving RIM a ton of my money again.

Huh?? I give far more money to Verizon than to any hardware vendor! this year alone, they will get over $2,000 from me.

[Wildo6882]

Huh?? I give far more money to Verizon than to any hardware vendor! this year alone, they will get over $2,000 from me.

I tend to buy phones outright, off contract, frequently (I've changed phones three times this year) because I tend to get bored quickly or want to try different things. Therefore, I spend a lot of money on someone's products. AND I would most likely be purchasing the Wi-Fi version of the PlayBook, not one with 3G (although this could change) because I don't want to be paying VZW anything more for another contract or line. Plus right now I don't have a BB, so if I was to go back to pair one up with the PlayBook in early 2011, I would have to purchase a new BB outright off of contract as well, as I'm in contract until next September. But I guess if you look at it that way, I do spend my money in VZW, but I'm buying someone else's products. Also, I'm on a family plan and my portion of the plan is roughly $65-70 a month, so spread that out over a year and I've probably spent more than that on phones in 2010.

[1812dave]

I tend to buy phones outright, off contract, frequently (I've changed phones three times this year) because I tend to get bored quickly or want to try different things. Therefore, I spend a lot of money on someone's products. AND I would most likely be purchasing the Wi-Fi version of the PlayBook, not one with 3G (although this could change) because I don't want to be paying VZW anything more for another contract or line. Plus right now I don't have a BB, so if I was to go back to pair one up with the PlayBook in early 2011, I would have to purchase a new BB outright off of contract as well, as I'm in contract until next September. But I guess if you look at it that way, I do spend my money in VZW, but I'm buying someone else's products. Also, I'm on a family plan and my portion of the plan is roughly $65-70 a month, so spread that out over a year and I've probably spent more than that on phones in 2010.

Ah, I have done several "BOGO" deals with verizon. My S2's cost $180 for TWO of them (plus the d*mn taxes based on the RETAIL PRICE--what a sweet deal for the government, eh?). My monthly bill is over $160/mo for two phones. It was over $220, but I whittled that down by paying an ETF on my MiFi. (oh, and I get Loyalty plan pricing! If I paid today's prices, add another $20 to those costs)

[lafountain]

Now the ebook reader, that one I can actually see. My wife currently has an older ebook reader and is looking at a new one. A tablet would allow that functionality and be able to do many other things besides just be a reader.

[Wildo6882]

Ah, I have done several "BOGO" deals with verizon. My S2's cost $180 for TWO of them (plus the d*mn taxes based on the RETAIL PRICE--what a sweet deal for the government, eh?). My monthly bill is over $160/mo for two phones. It was over $220, but I whittled that down by paying an ETF on my MiFi. (oh, and I get Loyalty plan pricing! If I paid today's prices, add another $20 to those costs)

Yeah, definitely don't pay that much for my contracts. I did, however, purchase an 8830 off contract to get me into the BB world. Then for my next contract I got the Storm, then I wanted the Storm 2 when it came out, but I still had a year on my contract, so I bought it outright again. When that contract was up, I decided to jump into the Android world.

I do like my Droid X, but if a BB had the exact same browsing experience that this thing had, I'd be back to a BB already. I'm definitely not one to bash BB and say "All Hail the Almighty Droid!!!" like many of the people here. Android and BB are both GREAT platforms, it just depends on what you need the phone for. Like I said above, I miss everything about a BB other than the browser, and I use my phone for so much browsing that I need a working one that's fast, as well. And that's where the PlayBook would come in for me. If it was small enough and the browsing experience was good enough, I would use that for most of my browsing, and just have a Curve or a Bold and hope that that browsing experience was at least decent enough to last me if I was away from the PB. But basically, even though the PB looks to be slightly more designed for the business world, it would be the kind of thing to get me back to BBs.

[_-_]

WHy do I want a tablet? Let me count the ways:

1) I'm a pilot. Cockpits are small. Laptops suck in a cockpit. Paper charts are cumbersome too. Bring on the tablet.

2) I'm also an engineer. As I type this, I'm in a van in the middle of the Louisiana swamp at a 30"x30" table. (that I'm sharing with another engineer). There is nothing my laptop needs to do out here that couldn't be done with a smaller, less cumbersome tablet. (Spreadsheets, pdfs, email, Word).

3) Said profession involves a lot of time sitting around waiting on something to happen...a small device that does music, movies, email, net that doesn't require some massive laptop but still has a screen large enough to actually see is a Godsend.

Why the PlayBook will be right for me:

1) It's not made by Apple-- I'm an Apple bigot. Sorry Apple fanboys, that is just the way it is. I've been completely underwhelmed by all of the Droid based offerings so far (and will admit to liking the phones)

2) It IS made by RIM so it should work with my BB. (My company ONLY does BB for smartphones...something about Enterprise class security something something )

3) It's not the size of a coffee table book. Good in the cockpit and the front seat of my truck. I LIKE the smaller size.

4) Far, far less time on my aircard. I hate fussing with that thing.

At <$500, I'm in line for this.

[xnwrx]

Add it an horizontal slide keyboard (because virtual keyboard will cover half of the screen, not convenient for work use) and I will throw my laptop away. Perfect mobility computer, in between my smartphone and my desktop computer.

[sleepdr]

One of our hospitals is going to an almost entirely electronic medical record. Each anesthesiologist is issued a tablet PC for bedside charting. Though smaller than a notebook, they are still bulky.

I am unofficially aware of some ongoing skunkworks trials with iPads in other departments at sister hospitals using the same system. If, and these are big ifs, they make that work officially AND have it be a web-based UI that allowed cross platform use, I'd be all over it. If not, it's either the tablet or iPad.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[jeff.perry01]

I am a Flight Engineer and we have gone to digital pubs and soon E-TOLD. Carrying around a Toughbook because we have no better option is a pain in the ***. Several people have bought Ipad's and they they are having problems with glare and seeing the screen. Our E-TOLD is excel based and from what I gather will run great on the Playbook. We have tried it out on my storm 2 and the Docs to go can not handle the formulas. I really do think there are good reasons we can incorporate this into the military.

[thymaster]

Tablets are suppose to be the future of portable computing that will eventually replace laptops. That's how Microsoft envisioned it over 10 years ago. They've tried in the past to come out with different variations of a touch screen tablet that uses a stylus but failed because the technology was too expensive to adopt.

You could say Apple made an evolutionary step with their iPhones touch technology expanded into a tablet is a leap into the future of portable computers. With players like RIM, HP (Palm) and Samsung, I think we will see the industry changing faster then most people have predicted.

If you don't believe in tablets right now, one day it will take over laptop sales and you can't change that.

[iBlack11]

Tablets are suppose to be the future of portable computing that will eventually replace laptops. That's how Microsoft envisioned it over 10 years ago. They've tried in the past to come out with different variations of a touch screen tablet that uses a stylus but failed because the technology was too expensive to adopt.

You could say Apple made an evolutionary step with their iPhones touch technology expanded into a tablet is a leap into the future of portable computers. With players like RIM, HP (Palm) and Samsung, I think we will see the industry changing faster then most people have predicted.

If you don't believe in tablets right now, one day it will take over laptop sales and you can't change that.

I agree, in a few years, they will be various tablets to chose from just like the huge amount of choices we have for laptops.

[stevejb]

Tablets are suppose to be the future of portable computing that will eventually replace laptops. That's how Microsoft envisioned it over 10 years ago. They've tried in the past to come out with different variations of a touch screen tablet that uses a stylus but failed because the technology was too expensive to adopt.

You could say Apple made an evolutionary step with their iPhones touch technology expanded into a tablet is a leap into the future of portable computers. With players like RIM, HP (Palm) and Samsung, I think we will see the industry changing faster then most people have predicted.

If you don't believe in tablets right now, one day it will take over laptop sales and you can't change that.

I'm in agreement with this too.

A tablet will find it's place and although i wouldn't look to get rid of my laptop just to buy a tablet, when the time comes to replace (i think it'll be near the end of Q1 next year) then the tablet is more than likely going to be the item of choice.

As more and more people have moved from owning desktop pc's to now owning laptops, so will the same move be made to tablets, and then on to the next fabulous iteration of pc development.

[dkingsf]

I'm in agreement with this too.

A tablet will find it's place and although i wouldn't look to get rid of my laptop just to buy a tablet, when the time comes to replace (i think it'll be near the end of Q1 next year) then the tablet is more than likely going to be the item of choice.

As more and more people have moved from owning desktop pc's to now owning laptops, so will the same move be made to tablets, and then on to the next fabulous iteration of pc development.

I also agree. The Playbook having HDMI, USB and Wireless means that this can be connected to monitors, TVs, keyboards, mouses(mice, meeses? LOL), external storage (cd, dvd, hard drives).

If they come out with the tools, utilities, applications that interface with my work environment, I can dump my laptop and use this for everything. I would need connectivitiy to unix and windows infrastructure. Things like remote desktop, VLAN access, MS Office documents, Outlook/Exchange email etc.

But they need this on the 3G/4G/LTE phone networks. The only "tether" I want for this is the one connected to my wrist to keep me from dropping it, LOL.

[csiguy1]

Filling out orders for my customers. While I can do it on the Torch, a nice 7 inch screen would be way easier.

[bellero]

I am still on the edge about buying a tablet. I have a 9700 and I am deciding between buying a full featured touch screen phone (the monaco if its good), and a tablet computer (probably the Playbook, but I am open to others). I want the Playbook so bad, but I am trying to figure out if it will just be a novelty that wears off, or will it actually come in use. I am a university student who uses email heavily, and is constantly writing papers (use my laptop primarily for this with Microsoft Office Word). But to me, a tablet just seems like an oversized smartphone with out the phone! Writing papers on it wouldn't work, taking notes in class wouldnt work (virtual keyboard can never match a full computer keyboard), and I can do everything else I need on my phone.

In order for a tablet to be useful to me I would need: a good dock/charging dock, a Bluetooth full keyboard, better battery life than a laptop, a word processor comparable to Office and a good e-reader app thats full featured.

I just don't know if its worth it.. What do you guys think? Go for the monaco or Android powered touch screen phone, or a tablet, preferably the playbook?

[Livett]

Tablets are suppose to be the future of portable computing that will eventually replace laptops. That's how Microsoft envisioned it over 10 years ago. They've tried in the past to come out with different variations of a touch screen tablet that uses a stylus but failed because the technology was too expensive to adopt.

You could say Apple made an evolutionary step with their iPhones touch technology expanded into a tablet is a leap into the future of portable computers. With players like RIM, HP (Palm) and Samsung, I think we will see the industry changing faster then most people have predicted.

If you don't believe in tablets right now, one day it will take over laptop sales and you can't change that.

Of course. You don't see Captain Kirk walking about with a 15inch Macbook pro do you?

He walks about with a PlayBook. As does the rest of the crew.