[Lead_Express]

My buddy looks at me inquisitively,

"So let me get this straight," he says "you can take that thing and connect it to your phone anywhere you have signal and get internet access and you don't have to pay for another data plan?"

"That's right," I reply.

"Wow, and that cost you how much?"

"$200"

"Wow"

"Uh huh"

I then show him Dead Space followed by Need For Speed.
Another one bites the dust.
If you want Playbook to do well, just take it everywhere you go. It'll sell itself.

[blackjack93117]

This is soo true - which is why RIM blew it so bad not keeping the store demos maintained and staffed. Once you get your hands on one it's hard to let go.

The first time I swiped one at Best Buy - there was no question I was walking out with it. The only remaining question was whether it was going to be in a legal way or not...and it has not left my side since. It is my sidekick.

Such a difference between hearing/reading about it and actually using it.
.
If everyone converts just one person - that doubles the sales right here - and then they convince one person ....and....exponential growth.
.

[LuvULongTime]

in fairness, you can connect any wi-fi tablet to a phone that can act as a wi-fi hotspot. With that said, I do love my playbook and agree at the current price point it will sell itself once people see how solid of a device it truly is.

[mooseHan]

in fairness, you can connect any wi-fi tablet to a phone that can act as a wi-fi hotspot. With that said, I do love my playbook and agree at the current price point it will sell itself once people see how solid of a device it truly is.

but most carrier charge an extra fee to utilize your phone as a wifi hotspot. Unlike Bridge is just blue tooth..

[FF22]

in fairness, you can connect any wi-fi tablet to a phone that can act as a wi-fi hotspot. With that said, I do love my playbook and agree at the current price point it will sell itself once people see how solid of a device it truly is.

While that may be true, in the US, at least, Tethering and HotSpot access generally are not part of the smartphone data package and can add another $20 or $30 per month to the bill. So in that case, it does save you money.

Folks have pointed out that tether/hotspot is probably faster than the bridge through bt but, again, it does save money for US customers.

[cajualaddict]

I didn't know what to expect when i got mine.. A diamond in the rough and am sure it is going to be more polished in os2. Until then just learning how to use my toy has kept me interested. I told my gf's sister about it and she couldn't resist and got one.

My friend on the other hand got a pad(i) for christmas and he loved it... Asked him 2 weeks later and the story changes to its ok but getting bored of it.

My playbook is going to stay with me for sometime and people will know it.

I hope RIM is going to market it better the 2nd time around and have people "know the playbook exists"

[LuvULongTime]

but most carrier charge an extra fee to utilize your phone as a wifi hotspot. Unlike Bridge is just blue tooth..

While that may be true, in the US, at least, Tethering and HotSpot access generally are not part of the smartphone data package and can add another $20 or $30 per month to the bill. So in that case, it does save you money.

Folks have pointed out that tether/hotspot is probably faster than the bridge through bt but, again, it does save money for US customers.

Ahhh, I did not realize that was the case in the US. In that case, the bridge is a nice advantage for RIM to market. Sadly it seems so few people know about these features and only believe what they have read in online tech articles (which basically trashed the device). I believed what I read too, until I got my hands on one of them.

[southlander]

Yes if your friends have BlackBerry phones then the bridging is an awesome feature to show off. Heck even if they don't it'll make them jealous. Lol.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9930 using Tapatalk

[tyshone1]

I celebrated the New Year on the Las Vegas strip and, using my playbook, recorded quite a bit of the experience. With all that was going on, no less than 10 people stepped to me and asked me what kind of device I was using. Most were surprised it was a Blackberry device and said they had never heard of it. Everyone I showed the device to said they would buy one. I could have recruited more people but my wife was ticked that the playbook was getting more attention then she was.

[teknishun]

Yes if your friends have BlackBerry phones then the bridging is an awesome feature to show off. Heck even if they don't it'll make them jealous. Lol.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9930 using Tapatalk

Not if they carry Androids. I don't pay a dime for my "hotspot".

[blackjack93117]

Not if they carry Androids. I don't pay a dime for my "hotspot".

Except for then they'd have to carry androids and couldn't use any of the other bridge features - including the coming ones

and your carrier is unique in not having to pay a dime.

[auditman]

i like bb phones and been using one for the last 6 yrs. ive been using nook with cm7 and was recommending android. that change 2 weeks ago i picked up a 16 gb playbook to try. i said to myself if i dont like i will return it. so far i love it and have recruited 3 frens to get em. so far they are happy with playbook.

[blackjack93117]

^^^ does bridge work well with that antique blackberry in your avatar?

[AsBloodRunsBlack]

My buddy looks at me inquisitively,

"So let me get this straight," he says "you can take that thing and connect it to your phone anywhere you have signal and get internet access and you don't have to pay for another data plan?"

"That's right," I reply.

"Wow, and that cost you how much?"

"$200"

"Wow"

"Uh huh"

I then show him Dead Space followed by Need For Speed.
Another one bites the dust.
If you want Playbook to do well, just take it everywhere you go. It'll sell itself.

I totally agree. Awhile back I told everyone the story of when I was on the Greyhound bus. I had people who owned iPads saying they wish there iPad was the size as my PlayBook so they could of brought it with them. (who can carry a food tray in there jacket pocket? lol) I just pulled it right out of my jacket pocket and started playing around with it. I honestly got so many compliments on it. People where saying they thought the PlayBook sucked because of what they heard. But after seeing mine in action, they clearly loved it. They loved everything about it. How fast u can go from playing a game, swipe over and go on the internet. Frig I felt like someone from a store, everyone was asking questions. Maybe RIM should pay me to walk around and show people the PlayBook. lol jk. I wish.

Anyways good post glad you like your PlayBook

[esqlaw]

Unless you have an unlimited plan, you'll still be paying extra much like an extra data plan.

And yeah, if the pb debuted at 200 it could've been ipad's degree of popularity.

[southlander]

Unless you have an unlimited plan, you'll still be paying extra much like an extra data plan.

Possibly. Though with the compression for someone to just browse the web/read that can go a long way. Downloading media files.. yeah that will eat it quick.

[sjefferson21]

yea people are impressed when i just pull it out and connect to the web.

[dbwoo]

Here is Canada, we pay anywhere from 40 - 60 for phone and data which includes 200 min of phone and 1 Gb of data per month. Then the price goes up from there as a per GB charge.
Believe me 1GB might be ok for smartphones but the rich content view by the tablet, you can go through 1GB in a week or two.

On my blackberry plan, I have unlimited data. But it is only free if I bridge. If I tether, they charge me $8 per MB. I was testing out the tether one time. I brought up my webmail, read one message, loaded up Crackberry home page, loaded up Gizmodo home page. It cost me over $13.

[Pearl9100]

I am glad you guys are having success. I have given up on convincing my friends to use BB products. Glad your activism will cancel out my laziness.

[spike12]

Speaking of activism, remember to vote for playbook. Registration only takes a few seconds.

http://forums.crackberry.com/blackbe...aybook-683262/

[Nasedo73]

I do believe, people afraid of something new. They been told once, the tablet = iPad and they don't want to try anything else.

Anyway... the price of Playbook when announced been high, and people could compare to "bigger" iPad, even to other bigger tablets... and maybe it cause PlayBook's haven't sell well.

[alnamvet68]

Great thread. Thanks OP.

[jedibeeftrix]

in fairness, you can connect any wi-fi tablet to a phone that can act as a wi-fi hotspot. With that said, I do love my playbook and agree at the current price point it will sell itself once people see how solid of a device it truly is.

is this true tho?

many phone tethering apps only provide ad-hoc mode, whereas most tablets only support infrastructure mode.

[willcookson]

I went and bought a Playbook a couple of days ago. I didn't want an ipad but was drawn to the Xoom. But with the price of Blackberry's going down to �169 in the UK (vs a minimum of �350 for a Xoom 3g) I felt it was a no brainer. Am I pleased? I'm delighted with it. It's quick and has a great interface and love the hand movement stuff. I've used the bridge a bit and seems to work well.

obvious things missing - an easy way to get to/from things like cameras (tho can do it via blackberry phone with microSD card and using a paid for file browser), mail and access to Android apps. Still I can live with this (or find workrounds).

There is obviously the fear that it is great at this price. If it was �250 or �300 would I have gone for it? Probably not. The fear is that they have written off the Playbook (from the Blackberry corp books anyway) and that they may drop it as it isn't selling at the higher price in enough quantity. Even greater fear for me is the future of Blackberry itself.

Still it is a great product and I do love its portability (I was expecting 7" to be too small but it really isn't) and I am VERY happy with it.

[rotorwrench]

Not if they carry Androids. I don't pay a dime for my "hotspot".

Yeah, you do, if your with Verizon. Android, iOS, Blackberry, doesn't matter, for tethering or hotspot. Not so with Bridge.