[T_Touch]

I was laying down last night enjoying my web browsing from my sofa away from the den where I would normally be on my lap top. In doing so, I began to take notice of something that I had grossly taken for granted. It is a super splendid convenience to be able to have a laptop-like browsing experience but on a media that is even more portable than a laptop. Much (and perhaps even most) of that experience is due to having Flash support. At a restaurant, for example, it is much better to simply swipe the PB on and begin looking at movie reviews, quick references, or whatever - without the need to open a carrying bag, booting up the laptop, and positioning it so that it doesn't take up too much space on the table. But when you add the fact that the websites are viewed as intended, the convenience blows away the iPad. To deny that is just being disingenuous. To say that it is no big deal is just being pretentious.

Flash content still dominates the web world. For Apple not to include that support is a much bigger deal than RIM not offering native email support on the PB. Yet, very few critics dare to bring this up if any at all. The iPad is a crippled device in terms of browsing.

Think about it! One of the biggest criticisms against the PlayBook is that it's an unfinished product because of things that will be offered in the future. Well, Apple says that the iPad is great because the of future of HTML 5, an entire technology that is not finished, yet those same critics are fine with that.

Steve Jobs made the deliberate decision to exclude Flash enabling as if he were the web emperor. Well, the emperor has on no clothes and his loyalists are simply drinking the Apple juice.

Despite the shortcomings of the PlayBook (and all new devices have some), the web experience is a HUGE miss for the iPad and a HUGE hit for RIM.

[blackcaneaddict]

i have two smartphones that dont do flash and one non portable 10 year old laptop. So yea its kinda epic to me.

[gunnerx]

There are many times when I am out with friends and we decide to go to a restaurant. However, part of the decision process on where to go depends on the food they serve. And for some reason, almost all restaurants use FLASH for all their site or for the menu. Now, the PB takes care of that.

[AJerman]

You guys do know that Flash works fine on the iPad with iSwifter, right? Don't get me wrong, I hate Flash, but I do think Apple is stupid to not allow it, but iSwifter does nearly everything, albeit a little slower maybe. I watch live sports with it, play Facebook games, etc. Everyone talks about the iPad like Flash is impossible, but it really isn't.

On the other hand, from the couple of hands on experiences I've had with the Playbook (still waiting for mine), the browser and Flash were very laggy and slow. Could have been the store's Wifi, but it felt like the browser wasn't very responsive when Flash was loaded either. Hopefully some software updates can help this out.

[T_Touch]

You guys do know that Flash works fine on the iPad with iSwifter, right? Don't get me wrong, I hate Flash, but I do think Apple is stupid to not allow it, but iSwifter does nearly everything, albeit a little slower maybe. I watch live sports with it, play Facebook games, etc. Everyone talks about the iPad like Flash is impossible, but it really isn't.

On the other hand, from the couple of hands on experiences I've had with the Playbook (still waiting for mine), the browser and Flash were very laggy and slow. Could have been the store's Wifi, but it felt like the browser wasn't very responsive when Flash was loaded either. Hopefully some software updates can help this out.

indeed a third party app is available for the iPad but if we're going to compare devices out of the box, then it's a HUGE miss for iPad. Otherwise, you can't fault RIM for having no native email client when you can clearly access email through a webmail service.

[sylvaing]

... Think about it! One of the biggest criticisms against the PlayBook is that it's an unfinished product because of things that will be offered in the future. Well, Apple says that the iPad is great because the of future of HTML 5, an entire technology that is not finished, yet those same critics are fine with that.

And if you run html5test.com on the Playbook, it gets a score of 258 with 9 'bonus points'. Apple iPhone, iPod and iPad with iOS 4.3 gets a score 206 with 7 'bonus points'. Heck, Safari 5.0.3 get only 228 with 7 'bonus points'. So, if Stevie says HTML5 is the future, may be he should increase his devices compliance to the HTML5 standard. Even my 'poor' Torch beats both Apple's product with a score of 240...

[T_Touch]

And if you run html5test.com on the Playbook, it gets a score of 258 with 9 'bonus points'. Apple iPhone, iPod and iPad with iOS 4.3 gets a score 206 with 7 'bonus points'. Heck, Safari 5.0.3 get only 228 with 7 'bonus points'. So, if Stevie says HTML5 is the future, may be he should increase his devices compliance to the HTML5 standard. Even my 'poor' Torch beats both Apple's product with a score of 240...

Wow - didn't know that!

[narci]

Stevie's raking in the money both ways. Not paying adobe licensing fees for flash and making sure you need to buy apps from him.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Zwickliffe]

A GREAT example of this is THREE BIRDS TAVERN - a local restaurant that I could only ever view on a laptop. At first you may not think it will load, but be patient and it will begin to load the extremely flash-intensive page. I was extremely impressed when I saw that this page loaded so well. The only buggy thing is where to put your finger to scroll. Otherwise it's great.

[sylvaing]

Stevie's raking in the money both ways. Not paying adobe licensing fees for flash and making sure you need to buy apps from him.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

One of Stevie's excuse was Flash taking too much power. This doesn't hold true for Flash 10.2. My Playbook's battery drop just 11% while watching a TV show (44 minutes) through Orb (streaming videos through a web based Flash player). My brightness and volume was all the way up with auto dimming disabled. Bluetooth and Wifi was also on.

[Hup55]

A GREAT example of this is THREE BIRDS TAVERN - a local restaurant that I could only ever view on a laptop. At first you may not think it will load, but be patient and it will begin to load the extremely flash-intensive page. I was extremely impressed when I saw that this page loaded so well. The only buggy thing is where to put your finger to scroll. Otherwise it's great.

That is a great site to show the playbooks ability to play flash. The restaurant looks really nice to. Wish i wasn't 2000km away.

[Zwickliffe]

That is a great site to show the playbooks ability to play flash. The restaurant looks really nice to. Wish i wasn't 2000km away.

Haha yeah it's a pretty cool place. I've shown a few people with iPads and asked them to load it