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I started a thread about one hour ago with a link to my blog for this article as it's fairly long and I did not want to reformat everything again. But since it disappeared (guess was moderated
), so I copied and pasted the whole piece here.
I have been using my Playbook since April 19, 2011. My overall experience has been pretty good. Portable, mutitasking, powerful. Although I do not agree with those saying the Playbook is unfinished or work-in-process, there is undeniably room for improvement.
The browser crashes quite often; apps would be frozen if left unused for a while when a few apps are open; posting pictures into the blog is fairly easy (you can check out my blog post on how to post pictures into a WordPress blog), but the process is not all that smooth; copy and paste is not as easy as it could be; GPS not working: While a lot of PB users were complaining about their GPS not working in the early days, I was luck enough to have mine work properly from day one. However, my luck did not last very long. Since the June 7th update, the GPS in Poynt has stopped working, although Bing Maps could locate me. And after the June 11th update, the GPS is not working anywhere. Not in Poynt, not in Bing Maps.
I am not going to, however, complain about things that are already there, but just not working the way as they are designed to. Those will definitely be improved with later OS updates.
What I am going to touch upon here today are things that are missing which are necessary to make Playbook a really fantastic standalone WiFi-only tablet as it should be. Without a BB smartphone.
Native Email, BBM, Calendar, etc. or lack of other apps will not be included in my wish list. Not because they are not important. They are. And they are very important to me, a non-BB phone user. But I will skip on those today. They have been major sore spots for Playbook from day 1. And hope RIM is listening and really get those native apps out ASAP (you can also refer to an earlier post speculating on the next OS update).
I will group my wish list in three categories:
Overall
1) A native file manager. When plugged into a computer, you can see the files grouped into folders but the file structure is non-existent in apps. You can not select your folder for a file in Word to go or PDF Reader. The only way to find a file is to scroll down dozens even hundreds of files. As there is already a file management structure native with the PB, why not make it work with all the apps? And a native file manager from which you can rename files, change folders, and delete files? And when you download a file in the browser, you should have a choice as to where to save the file in;
2) Home screen: It would be nice to have the option to get all the apps off the screen, and the status bar too. You can always swipe down or up to bring up the apps and the status bar.
3) App folders on the home screen. Ability to group apps into different folders could be a nice addition. I have about 140 apps installed (included those come preloaded), and it�s already a pain to scroll up and down just to find the one app icon.
4) Universal search: As more apps are installed and files accumulate (32 GB is enough space for a lot of things), it would be really hard to find things, especially when there is not an file manager. Maybe a transparent search box on the background of the home screen could a good choice, or (like the IPhone, IPad) swipe past all the apps pages to the left and you get to the search box.
5) Remove the Turn Off and Restart buttons from the power icon. It�s too easy to hit on one of those when you really want to put the PB to standoff. In the last couple of days after the June 7th update, I already hit the wrong button two times and I do not put my PB to sleep that often! As you do you turn off or restart the PB very often, it�s not a big deal to spend that few extra seconds in locating that power button app.
6) Keyboard. The keyboard really needs some major work. Some arrow keys, or a track pad, will really help to place the cursor wherever you want. As I blog on my PB most of the time, and when I mistype and want to go back to correct it. Very often, I end up deleting some letters just to correct one typo. It�s often impossible to precisely place the cursor, especially when the typo is at the beginning of a line! A split keyboard would look good too.
7) Language support: This is sorely needed. You cannot input Asian languages on the PB and Word to go does not even display any of them. As RIM is launching the PB in Hong Kong in the next 30 days (check out the list of additional markets the PB is launching into in the next 30 days), you better get traditional Chinese supported!
8 ) Presenter mode. This is a really cool feature. I have used this a lot in playing movies on the TV while playing around with the PB at the same time. However, if the video is in a web browser, there is no Presenter Mode! This should really work with all the apps! Not just the Video and the Slideshow to go.
9) Access to Playbook apps (App World, Music Store and Kobo) with one single login, using Blackberry ID.
10) Autocorrect: This could be really important especially when it�s so hard to place the cursor where you want. In Word to go, a mistyped word is highlighted and you can select a suggested replacement fairly easily, why not extend this capabilities to the browser and other apps, i.e. system wide? Still, autocorrect would be a good addition. A system wide dictionary would also help.
Browser
11) Full web experience: We have heard a lot of �full web experience�, �uncompromised web�, but it does not support Silverlight. And it�s pretty painful to use Google sites; for Gmail, I always change to HTML version; Google maps is too slow.
12) Browser bookmarks: We should be able to organize bookmarks into folders and move them up and down or an option for an alphabetical order. And the browser could be programmed to remember the view it was last in. I have to change the Icon view to the List view every time I open the browser.
13) Multitasking in the browser: Should be able to keep audio and video play in an inactive tab. When Balsilie was talking on April 28 about the lowered guidance, I had to keep that tab active during the hour-long conference call and could not go to another browser tab or even let the PB sleep. Otherwise the audio just stops!
14) Browser scrolling: Had heard too many users complaining about accidentally hitting some ads while scrolling up and down (guess Sage Software�s Google ad bill has gone up a lot in the last month or two with all the PB users accidentally hitting on the ad). If the bezel is indeed touch-sensitive, Could we scroll using the bezel? Or the screen could be less sensitive?
15) Top button in browser It could be nice to have a go to top button somewhere in the browser, so you do not have to scroll that much.
Apps
16) Portrait mode for the Pictures app: The only way to view a picture in portrait mode is to view it in the browser, by typing file:/ (it was file:/// before, but changed to file:/ in a recent update).
17) Better PDF reader, to read any protected .pdf files; search capability; bookmarks. To be able to add notes to a PDF file would be bonus! I purchased a book with a PDF version of the entire book, but PB just won�t open it!
18) App World: an option to update all apps with a button and to launch installed apps from App World (now that the installed apps in My World are ordered alphabetically, it is way easier to find the app then going through the hundreds of apps on the home screen).
That will be all for the moment. More could be added to an update later as new updates come in and more time is spent on apps like Documents to go, etc.06-12-11 10:44 PM
