[bb.pl]

Playbook �reviewers�?

All the recent reviews in the tech websites, blog/you tube , news have more than often given a very negative review about the product.
Infact, when I actually went to buy my �tablet� I was looking at the xoom / Ipad2 my only option and had written off playbook. My plan was to sell my ipad1 and get either of those device.

I do place significant value in reviews before I buy a product. It was very hard to resist and go against what the reviewers said and actually buying a playbook with all their complaints.
and it was mostly by chance ( and some very limited amount with the actual devices) I would say that I ended up with a playbook, and not Ipad 2 or xoom.
Even now I sometimes wonder how I luckily got a playbook and not the other mentioned devices.

So when you review a product you should have some knowledge in that domain. I am guessing someone who is reviewing a car knows the difference between an all wheel drive and a front wheel drive.
But going back and looking at those reviews I simply don�t get it anymore. I am left to wonder if the Reviewers were �incompetent�, �bought off by playbook competitors� or just misinformed or something else??? If you are looking at articles of websites like �pcm********�, �intom******� �eng*****� or many similar I just don�t get it. Were they not in the loop of the playbook�s capabilities?

I was more inclined towards accepting that they were misinformed(/maybe incompetent). After all why would a professional reviewer be biased against a product.
With the stuff that they showed in the Blackberry world, TAT etc it simply blows the current competition out of the water. I would have at least expected some sort of updates/corrections or recantation of their initial reviews but there is virtually no such articles. It almost sounds like a conspiracy theory but I am really confused with my own experience and having learned about its potential versus what information is out there? What are your thoughts ?

[sportline]

all above , thats future promises. can do this, will do that, isn't it amazing, huge this , huge that, etc.
the playbook i got in my hand now is of very limited use, and thats a fact. for some people watching videos and streaming and bbm addicts maybe, but for me as a layman, even reading news is too complicated. i should have bought a galaxy tab yesterday...

[brucep1]

Playbook �reviewers�?

Even now I sometimes wonder how I luckily got a playbook and not the other mentioned devices.

But going back and looking at those reviews I simply don�t get it anymore. I am left to wonder if the Reviewers were �incompetent�, �bought off by playbook competitors� or just misinformed or something else??? If you are looking at articles of websites like �pcm********�, �intom******� �eng*****� or many similar I just don�t get it. Were they not in the loop of the playbook�s capabilities?

I was more inclined towards accepting that they were misinformed(/maybe incompetent). After all why would a professional reviewer be biased against a product.
With the stuff that they showed in the Blackberry world, TAT etc it simply blows the current competition out of the water. I would have at least expected some sort of updates/corrections or recantation of their initial reviews but there is virtually no such articles. It almost sounds like a conspiracy theory but I am really confused with my own experience and having learned about its potential versus what information is out there? What are your thoughts ?

You are correct. Apple and Google both paid off every newspaper and website to give the playbook a bad review. You have uncovered the conspiracy.

ReviewGate I like to call it.

The fact that the PlayBook is crippled without a Blackberry has nothing to do with it.

[sportline]

its still only limping like a drunkards even with the latest bb phone (torch).
on wifi its ok, but then why bother buying a wifi only playbook???
if apple makes 7" tablet, do you think playbook will stand a chance?

[yzf.shaun]

How is the Playbook crippled without a BlackBerry?
I would hardly call it crippling to not be able to use BBM, bridge your emails etc.

If you do also own a Blackberry then it is only right that you should expect some additional features that are not available to others.

Nothing about the playbook is complicated. Quick and intuitive. I agree with the OP. A lot of the reviews just don't seem to stack up. Only time will tell and if the apps and updates don't arrive promptly then I will probably be saying something quite different in a couple of months time.

[offthahorseceo]

its all about traffic i think. if they write a less than perfect review, someone will undoubtedly disagree. one of the following will happen:

- a reader will be so inflamed that he/she will comment on the review itself. Someone will reply to the comment and a flame war will begin. This increases vists and repeat visits to the site, which advertiser love

- a reader will be so inflamed that he/she will post the link to the review on his/her favorite forum, along with a message like "can you believe this review omgzers. Others will visit the forum, some will comment, and once again, the advertisers will be happy

[Hup55]

It's funny you can tell most of the people giving reviews are biased towards RIM products, the guys at technobuffalo might as well be apple employees. I watched his head to head between the playbook and iPad 2 and he was so far off it's not funny. I can honestly say this as I have both devices and I am not partial to either of them. I would say right now as it stands they are even.

[sportline]

How is the Playbook crippled without a BlackBerry?
I would hardly call it crippling to not be able to use BBM, bridge your emails etc.

If you do also own a Blackberry then it is only right that you should expect some additional features that are not available to others.

Nothing about the playbook is complicated. Quick and intuitive. I agree with the OP. A lot of the reviews just don't seem to stack up. Only time will tell and if the apps and updates don't arrive promptly then I will probably be saying something quite different in a couple of months time.

no native emails. so its crippled unless you are happy go to browser mail. no social feeds. hard to read news. call it professional grade tablet.
lets see when the update comes,right now people are still content after getting their bbm on pb. but more problem comes when you go bridging, so there will be no piecemeal solution next time. give us a solid, working platform or there will be more confusion and negative reviews for sure.

[brucep1]

How is the Playbook crippled without a BlackBerry?
I would hardly call it crippling to not be able to use BBM, bridge your emails etc.

If you do also own a Blackberry then it is only right that you should expect some additional features that are not available to others.

Nothing about the playbook is complicated. Quick and intuitive. I agree with the OP. A lot of the reviews just don't seem to stack up. Only time will tell and if the apps and updates don't arrive promptly then I will probably be saying something quite different in a couple of months time.

No calender, email app..Just about every review has said that if you don't have a blackberry don't even bother with it (as of right now)

I'm sure the potential will eventually come thru, but the question will be what devices will it be competing against whenever it does get everything promised..Ipad 3? Xoom 2?

[sportline]

well at least hp touchpad. user experience will be better than qnx...webos' being the original gestures.
and then comes 4g/HSPA playbook. this bridge problem of ours will be forgotten. so much for early adopters.

[offthahorseceo]

ok so desired tablet functionality is as close to a pc as possible while being portable right? my playbook is very portable, i can stick it in my work pants pocket

On my PC, if i want to check my email, i open my browser and type in www.gmail.com
On my PC, if i need calendar functions, i go to my google calendar
On my pc, if i want to check facebook or twitter, i either go to facebook.com, or twitter.com

my blackberry is the only device that i let stay logged into email, i always turn off "remember me" on any android devices i use or on my pc. that goes for facebook and other social network functions as well.

[brucep1]

ok so desired tablet functionality is as close to a pc as possible while being portable right? my playbook is very portable, i can stick it in my work pants pocket

On my PC, if i want to check my email, i open my browser and type in www.gmail.com
On my PC, if i need calendar functions, i go to my google calendar
On my pc, if i want to check facebook or twitter, i either go to facebook.com, or twitter.com

my blackberry is the only device that i let stay logged into email, i always turn off "remember me" on any android devices i use or on my pc. that goes for facebook and other social network functions as well.

Ok, I see what works for you. But the OP was wondering why it got bad reviews. It's because of the lack of "what reviewers call Necessary" apps and features.

The majority of the population, including reviewers, find the value in applications. The PlayBook launched with very little, and tried to sell itself on "what it can possibly do in the future". Hence, bad reviews.

[sportline]

pc is different. you have to sit down, have full keyboard and likely a mouse.
on tablet you got nothing but a finger and a slab. so typing is a lot more tedious..thus we need the shortcuts (apps so to say) to simplify things.
apple and android has set a high benchmark, fairly mature platform and provide alternative workaround (thru apps) for user to simplify everything to go on a tablet.
its difficult for rim as a late starter.
what make it worse is launching a half baked chocolate cookie. they should have launch a radio version. no need to worry about legacy device and interface (bridge) etc.

[GSGFlash]

Pretty sure a lot of these reviewers are just professional trolls. It's a much better device than what these reviewers are making it out to be, and for someone like me, who uses tablets mainly to browse the web on the couch and not for native email or a billion apps that I will never purchase, the superior web browsing and portability make the Playbook a better buy compared to the iPad, and that's not even mentioning the better hardware in the Playbook compared to the iPad.

No calender, email app..Just about every review has said that if you don't have a blackberry don't even bother with it (as of right now)

I'm sure the potential will eventually come thru, but the question will be what devices will it be competing against whenever it does get everything promised..Ipad 3? Xoom 2?

Considering that RIM released a Facebook app, video chat app and the Scrapbook app just a few weeks after the Playbook was released, is it so hard to believe that a native email and calendar client is just a few weeks away?

Anyone that believes that a Playbook is crippled without a BB probably doesn't own a Playbook. The web browsing experience alone makes it one of the best, if not the best, tablets on the market.

[sportline]

to each his own. for you as a professional browser, sitting on a couch on wifi, pb is good.that's for sure. and some snacks, chips perhaps

for an mobile person using emails, reading news, work on excel etc on the go, then connectivity is a must.hence the bridge. they probably have no time to browse. facebook and video chat is ancillary, for a professional grade tablet, email and connectivity is primary. and it's not there yet.

[brucep1]

Pretty sure a lot of these reviewers are just professional trolls. It's a much better device than what these reviewers are making it out to be, and for someone like me, who uses tablets mainly to browse the web on the couch and not for native email or a billion apps that I will never purchase, the superior web browsing and portability make the Playbook a better buy compared to the iPad, and that's not even mentioning the better hardware in the Playbook compared to the iPad.



Considering that RIM released a Facebook app, video chat app and the Scrapbook app just a few weeks after the Playbook was released, is it so hard to believe that a native email and calendar client is just a few weeks away?

Anyone that believed that a Playbook is crippled without a BB probably doesn't own a Playbook. The web browsing experience alone makes it one of the best, if not the best, tablets on the market.

Ok, I'm going to ignore the fact that you think the majority of the reviewers in the newspapers and online are "professional trolls" who must hate RIM for some unknown reason (which I would still like explained to me).

How can you possibly say that this tablet a "better buy" than the Ipad? I would love to hear this. You just said you use it to sit on the couch at home and browse the web. Why do you need a tablet LOL?

And for the "billion apps" you'll never buy, you obviously haven't looked through them all (because there are a billion). It's one of those things you don't think you need until you have it, then it makes your life 10 times easier.

and no, i don't have an ipad, just using an iphone 4 and blackberry 9650 right now.

[kylem1992]

my issue with most of the reviewers was they did not know the difference between tethering and blackberry bridge. you through out the reviews that state you have to have a blackberry phone to tether and all of a sudden most of the reviews were favorable.

[bb.pl]

Ok, I see what works for you. But the OP was wondering why it got bad reviews. It's because of the lack of "what reviewers call Necessary" apps and features.

The majority of the population, including reviewers, find the value in applications. The PlayBook launched with very little, and tried to sell itself on "what it can possibly do in the future". Hence, bad reviews.

I actually somewhat agree with you here that because of the lack of "what reviewers call Necessary" apps and features might be a reason.
But what I fail to understand is "What reviewers call Necessary" or "How they conclude whats necessary".

As for example "angry bird" is necessary for me because my 3 year old loves it. But when you are a professional reviewer or a tech website you should have a much better judgement on what is deemed necessary and not base your review on the fact that the play book was/is/will forever be missing "angry birds".

Its almost like saying a blu-ray player sucks because there are less blu-ray disc out there than dvd's.

[MattyG27]

Well OP it seems like you started a thread for all the trolls to come out and play, that's a shame.

[offthahorseceo]

bruce you dont really think there are a billion apps do you?

[Intosh]

You are correct. Apple and Google both paid off every newspaper and website to give the playbook a bad review. You have uncovered the conspiracy.

ReviewGate I like to call it.

The fact that the PlayBook is crippled without a Blackberry has nothing to do with it.

Yeah, because that never happened before.

Or maybe you're just naive in thinking reviewers are all fair and objective.

Everything is sooo fair that some greedy bankers were allowed to walk away with billion of $$$ while causing a financial meltdown and world recession. Yeah, rating agencies were not corrupt as well. That's why they rated junk mortgage-backed derivatives AAA.

Sheesh. Biased reviews are oh so unthinkable?!


Back on topic: last night, I watched a review where the guy said the PB can't go on the Internet without a BB and that you can't upload pictures. LOL

[GSGFlash]

Ok, I'm going to ignore the fact that you think the majority of the reviewers in the newspapers and online are "professional trolls" who must hate RIM for some unknown reason (which I would still like explained to me).

They don't hate RIM, they just hate everything that's not an Apple product.

How can you possibly say that this tablet a "better buy" than the Ipad? I would love to hear this. You just said you use it to sit on the couch at home and browse the web. Why do you need a tablet LOL?

Superior web browsing, better cameras, better screen, stereo sound, smaller form factor(making it more portable). I've used an iPad, web browsing on it is good, but, to me, flash makes much more of a difference than I ever thought it would. Why do I need a tablet? Exactly for that reason, surfing on a couch while watching TV with the same web browsing experience of a laptop without the hassle and size of a cumbersome laptop (not to mention much better battery life than any laptop I've owned).

And for the "billion apps" you'll never buy, you obviously haven't looked through them all (because there are a billion). It's one of those things you don't think you need until you have it, then it makes your life 10 times easier.

I have an Android phone, it has a crapload of apps on it too, thousands of them identical to their iPhone counterparts, and most of those apps are useless. There are some useful ones, like Flixster, Garmin or ESPN, but they are few and far between. The number of apps in a mobile OS's ecosystem is an overrated feature.

and no, i don't have an ipad, just using an iphone 4 and blackberry 9650 right now.

What's more important is that you don't have a Playbook whereas I do.

I don't even have anything against Apple, I own an iPod, I was pretty close to buying an iPhone and iTunes is my main music management software, I think Apple products are high quality, ****, I would buy an iPhone over a Blackberry any day(absolutely hate the current BB OS). However when, you have people, mostly iPad trolls, coming in and making stupid statements like "the Playbook is crippled without bridge" or like that moron the other day who was trying to convince us that buying a $100 Apple TV to stream video is a better option than buying a $5 HDMI cable, it does sour you on Apple products.

[nademon]

I dunno, I would have still bought the wifi PB even if there was a 3/4g version. For me, it would make no sense to get the cellular version and have to get another data plan when tethering works so good (and u don't need to own a blackberry phone for that). I can see some folks needing a 3/4g version, but for most folks with a smart phone and data, tethering is a very real, viable and practical option. As for apps, I seem to be doing fine by just going to the actual website to access content i need and can wait for the apps to show up. I agree that native email and calendar etc. would be great, but if u're tethered, most folks can probably make due until the native functions are released.

Basically I love my PB and it goes everywhere with me. For some the competition is better suited, but I'm very confident that as the PB matures, people will gravitate towards thiz platform for a multitude of reasons. RIM seems to be making a lot of great moves as of late and I'm actually excited to see where this all leads. I think if some of the reviews were more far sighted and looked at a broader spectrum of users, they may have felt differently.

[bb.pl]

You are correct. Apple and Google both paid off every newspaper and website to give the playbook a bad review. You have uncovered the conspiracy.

ReviewGate I like to call it.

The fact that the PlayBook is crippled without a Blackberry has nothing to do with it.

Yes, it almost seems like it. Below is an example from today...really wonderful review.... :-)
Fly Or Die: The BlackBerry Playbook Vs. The Color Nook

[howarmat]

lmao, what a ****