[cmoibenlepro]

I am planning to buy a 7" tablet and my 2 final choices are the Playbook and the Acer Iconia A100.
I know this is a blackberry fanboys/girls forum, but I am still interested in your opinions.

Here are the pro/cons I noted.
I plan to use the tablet mainly as an ebook reader with other eventual uses.

Playbook:
Pros:
-$200
-very sleek design
-very nice OS with gestures instead of buttons
-Fast
-very nice screen
-hdmi out
-long battery life
-charges with usb port
-Bridge (personally I don't care as I have an android phone, and don't plan to change in foreseeable future)
-Flash 10.3 Support
-16GB memory.

Cons:
-Very poor App World. Most apps I know of do not exist for Playbook.
-No Netflix (I'm interested), no Skype (I use it to talk to a friend in France, so I would like to use it on the tablet, but not primordial), no Tunein Radio, no Google Maps, No SoundHound, No DropBox, No Google Translate, no ...
-Ebook support (essential): only store supported is Kobo. Possible to sideload Kindle application (but sideloading will be deprecated very soon). No app for books from other stores with Adobe DRM. Need to remove DRMs using cracks.
-Sideloading Android apps could help (if the app is compatible), but this will be removed in future versions. Not very interesting for a new customer.
-The 2 Playbooks in FutureShop were frozen/broken (I could test it at The Source, though)

Acer Iconia A100:
Pro:
-Android Honeycomb 3.2 is fast, and Ice Cream Sandwich update will come mid-April
-hdmi out
-Flash 10.3 support
-Google Play store
-Ebook support: all readers are there and available freely (Kindle, Kobo, BlueFire reader, etc) No need to crack any DRM.
-Could sideload any app easily by copying the apk file on the device.
-Sideloading will never be removed.
-Netflix, Skype, Amazon, etc are all there, already. No need to wait for Santa.
-Could upgrade memory using a micro SD (32GB costs only $25 on ebay)

Cons:
-$250
-Plastic shell, lower quality than the Playbook
-only 8GB memory (but could be upgraded with micro SD)
-battery life is poor
-Could not charge with usb, needs bulky proprietary charger (this is bad)

I will tell you if I decide to buy a Playbook.

[phoanyone]

Or wait till June to see what Google is coming out with?

[kbz1960]

Or wait and see what win8 brings.

[musical1806]

Hi, nice pros & cons list. To be frank though totally useless without any idea what your planned usage will be.

Battery will not be relevant if your not taking it out of the house for long. Number of apps sill not be relevant as long as you get the apps you need. Just two examples of how your planned usage will be the deciding factor.

Tell what your doing with it.

Hope this helps.

[fbloise]

depends but let me tell you the playbook is amazing hardware.

the only bad thing is there is no skype, no kindle, no netflix and RIM will possibly block the ability to sideload apps which will render the playbook to whatever non existant or half baked crap RIM has in the appworld.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9790 using Tapatalk

[Hamp]

Some services are accessible using the web browser, like Google Translate, Dropbox but who wants to do that in an instant gratification society? As my wife says, "We are all microwave b*****s".

[JamesDax3]

Here's another Pro for the Acer A100. It will run Android Apps actually developed for tablets. Con for the Playbook. It's stuck running phone apps developed for Android 2.3.

[Michel Souris]

I've got a PB and an Acer A100. The Acer is really really nice, smooth, fast, runs everything, and even with sideloading is a better tablet functionally than the PB. Without sideloading, the PB couldn't hold a candle to the Acer. The battery on the PB lasts about an hour longer than the one on the Acer. Your choice.

[Marty_LK]

I am planning to buy a 7" tablet and my 2 final choices are the Playbook and the Acer Iconia A100.
I know this is a blackberry fanboys/girls forum, but I am still interested in your opinions.

Here are the pro/cons I noted.
I plan to use the tablet mainly as an ebook reader with other eventual uses.

Playbook:
Pros:
-$200
-very sleek design
-very nice OS with gestures instead of buttons
-Fast
-very nice screen
-hdmi out
-long battery life
-charges with usb port
-Bridge (personally I don't care as I have an android phone, and don't plan to change in foreseeable future)
-Flash 10.3 Support
-16GB memory.

Cons:
-Very poor App World. Most apps I know of do not exist for Playbook.
-No Netflix (I'm interested), no Skype (I use it to talk to a friend in France, so I would like to use it on the tablet, but not primordial), no Tunein Radio, no Google Maps, No SoundHound, No DropBox, No Google Translate, no ...
-Ebook support (essential): only store supported is Kobo. Possible to sideload Kindle application (but sideloading will be deprecated very soon). No app for books from other stores with Adobe DRM. Need to remove DRMs using cracks.
-Sideloading Android apps could help (if the app is compatible), but this will be removed in future versions. Not very interesting for a new customer.
-The 2 Playbooks in FutureShop were frozen/broken (I could test it at The Source, though)

Acer Iconia A100:
Pro:
-Android Honeycomb 3.2 is fast, and Ice Cream Sandwich update will come mid-April
-hdmi out
-Flash 10.3 support
-Google Play store
-Ebook support: all readers are there and available freely (Kindle, Kobo, BlueFire reader, etc) No need to crack any DRM.
-Could sideload any app easily by copying the apk file on the device.
-Sideloading will never be removed.
-Netflix, Skype, Amazon, etc are all there, already. No need to wait for Santa.
-Could upgrade memory using a micro SD (32GB costs only $25 on ebay)

Cons:
-$250
-Plastic shell, lower quality than the Playbook
-only 8GB memory (but could be upgraded with micro SD)
-battery life is poor
-Could not charge with usb, needs bulky proprietary charger (this is bad)

I will tell you if I decide to buy a Playbook.

The only problem I suffered from the A100 was, and it was a deal breaker, horribly poor LCD viewing angle in portrait mode. It was so bad it was making me nauseous. One eye would see a slightly different image from the other eye. The Playbook was the only sub-$300 tablet I could afford with a good LCD and excellent viewing angle.

My suggestion would be to not order an A100 online so you can test it before buying. I ordered my A100 online and now understand why Best Buy doesn't sell them in-store. They wouldn't be able to sell them when people see how bad the viewing angle is.

[kbz1960]

Well OP the other pro's and con's have to do with what you want out of a tablet.

[rupam95]

Get the Acer A100, it has every apps you want and need. Playbook OS is the best but it really sucks without any good apps. A tablet without apps is like a burger without the beef.

[anthogag]

You stated you want to use it as an eReader...Kobo is very good and some posters are getting Kindle through the browser

Also as you stated, the playbook feels, looks, and sounds like quality.

The playbook continues to get upgrades (next one coming very soon)

Get the playbook.

[KennethD]

I have both. And seeing you don't have a bb phone get the Acer

Sent from my AT100 using Tapatalk

[greatwiseone]

.
-No Netflix (I'm interested), no Skype (I use it to talk to a friend in France, so I would like to use it on the tablet, but not primordial), no Tunein Radio, no Google Maps, No SoundHound, No DropBox, No Google Translate, no ...
...
-The 2 Playbooks in FutureShop were frozen/broken (I could test it at The Source, though)

It is my understanding that TuneIn Radio's website works (correct me if I'm wrong on this, but that's what I recall seeing). Dropbox is available through various apps, either Blue Box or Files and Folders, and I have no issues using them (or needing a native DropBox application). Yes, there is no Google translate, but there are various third party translators which just uses Google Translate's api. There is no google maps application, but the browser's support for Google Maps have improved drastically in OS2.0 such that it's usable.

I've played around with the Acer at stores, and the build quality's really quite "meh". Even for Android tabs, there are much better options out there...

[BigAl_BB9900]

I am planning to buy a 7" tablet and my 2 final choices are the Playbook and the Acer Iconia A100.
I know this is a blackberry fanboys/girls forum, but I am still interested in your opinions.

Here are the pro/cons I noted.
I plan to use the tablet mainly as an ebook reader with other eventual uses.

Playbook:
Pros:
-$200
-very sleek design
-very nice OS with gestures instead of buttons
-Fast
-very nice screen
-hdmi out
-long battery life
-charges with usb port
-Bridge (personally I don't care as I have an android phone, and don't plan to change in foreseeable future)
-Flash 10.3 Support
-16GB memory.

Cons:
-Very poor App World. Most apps I know of do not exist for Playbook.
-No Netflix (I'm interested), no Skype (I use it to talk to a friend in France, so I would like to use it on the tablet, but not primordial), no Tunein Radio, no Google Maps, No SoundHound, No DropBox, No Google Translate, no ...
-Ebook support (essential): only store supported is Kobo. Possible to sideload Kindle application (but sideloading will be deprecated very soon). No app for books from other stores with Adobe DRM. Need to remove DRMs using cracks.
-Sideloading Android apps could help (if the app is compatible), but this will be removed in future versions. Not very interesting for a new customer.
-The 2 Playbooks in FutureShop were frozen/broken (I could test it at The Source, though)

Acer Iconia A100:
Pro:
-Android Honeycomb 3.2 is fast, and Ice Cream Sandwich update will come mid-April
-hdmi out
-Flash 10.3 support
-Google Play store
-Ebook support: all readers are there and available freely (Kindle, Kobo, BlueFire reader, etc) No need to crack any DRM.
-Could sideload any app easily by copying the apk file on the device.
-Sideloading will never be removed.
-Netflix, Skype, Amazon, etc are all there, already. No need to wait for Santa.
-Could upgrade memory using a micro SD (32GB costs only $25 on ebay)

Cons:
-$250
-Plastic shell, lower quality than the Playbook
-only 8GB memory (but could be upgraded with micro SD)
-battery life is poor
-Could not charge with usb, needs bulky proprietary charger (this is bad)

I will tell you if I decide to buy a Playbook.

What are the Pros & Cons judged against? What are your requirements?

[CairnsRock]

I have a PlayBook and a Kobo wifi eReader with an eInk screen. I much prefer reading on the eReader vs any backlit tablet. It's much lighter and the eInk screen is much easier on the eyes.
Plus color backlit eReaders like Kindle fire can not be read in sunlight, so no good for the beach.
The Kobo eReader has an sd slot if you want to avoid drm.

Get a PB and a $87 eReader with eInk screen.

[torndownunit]

I just saw the Iconia 7" 8GB is on sale from the 13th to the 15th for $200 at Staples in Canada. Might make your decisions easier... or more confusing lol.

[OttawaGabe]

That would make a nice 7" GPS, since there's no offline maps available yet for the Playbook.

[Aekara780]

I just saw the Iconia 7" 8GB is on sale from the 13th to the 15th for $200 at Staples in Canada. Might make your decisions easier... or more confusing lol.

Made my decision more confusing. lol. I was set on a playbook until I saw the ad for Staples. Now they are the same price and I am more confused than before.

[torndownunit]

I like my Playbook, but at the price I'd have to admit I think I'd try the Iconia. I know people on this forum hate posts about, but the fact is for some people the app void with the Playbook is just too much. I can't run my 2 favourite apps on Playbook (and no, neither are Netflix), and I would love to have a better GPS solution as OttawaGabe mentioned above.

I got a NIB 32 GB Playbook with 2 cases for $175 off Kijiji, and there are tons of deals like that around. But that's a pretty good price to try out the Iconia at. You know if you don't like it, you can easily find a Playbook for the same price or less.

[omniusovermind]

Or wait till June to see what Google is coming out with?

Or wait and see what win8 brings.

Are these going to be the only voices of reason in this thread? OP, or anyone, would have to be crazy to buy the A100 when far, far better offerings are virtually about to be released for $50 more. And then more tablets after that in about 6 months.

Spring 2012 is probably the worst possible time to be considering buying 2011 devices.

[Hamp]

READ: Easy GPS finder

[hpulley]

Some small corrections: With OS2 Playbook has flash 11.1, not 10.2.

Sideloading of Android apps is NOT going away!!! This rumor is going to kill the Playbook sadly. Only sideloading of pirated bought Playbook .bar files is going away.

Kindle, DropBox, Google Maps all work great sideloaded. Sideloading is easy, bhtool on a PC and a USB cable and it takes a minute, no sweat.

The Iconia screen is awful. When I bought my Playbook last year I actually went to Futureshop to buy the Iconia since I already had the Kobo Vox but my kids started using it all the time so I wanted my own 7" tablet and I was considering another Vox ($179 on sale 8GB Gingerbread Android) or the Iconia but the Playbook sale was on and the screen on the Playbook was so much better and it seemed faster than the Acer too and I haven't looked back.

Honestly, everyone wants Netflix on the Playbook but on a 7" tablet it isn't that great. I have it on my Kobo Vox but I have only watched two shows on it. It just looks so much better on the Xbox hooked up to the Plasma widescreen with surround sound... so I almost never use the Kobo for netflix and thus I don't really miss it on the Playbook. Really!

Skype I used to use all the time but no more. There are others, try Comwave.

Windows 8 tablets should be interesting. Galaxy Tab II is just cheap. Nexus sounds cheap too.

[lawguyman]

I have both.

The Iconia build quaility is bad. The screen especially. But, at this point, you can do more with it than you can with a playbook and it rruns ICS (there is a leak).

I like the Playbook better overall though.

[omniusovermind]

Some small corrections: With OS2 Playbook has flash 11.1, not 10.2.

Sideloading of Android apps is NOT going away!!! This rumor is going to kill the Playbook sadly. Only sideloading of pirated bought Playbook .bar files is going away.

Kindle, DropBox, Google Maps all work great sideloaded. Sideloading is easy, bhtool on a PC and a USB cable and it takes a minute, no sweat.

The Iconia screen is awful. When I bought my Playbook last year I actually went to Futureshop to buy the Iconia since I already had the Kobo Vox but my kids started using it all the time so I wanted my own 7" tablet and I was considering another Vox ($179 on sale 8GB Gingerbread Android) or the Iconia but the Playbook sale was on and the screen on the Playbook was so much better and it seemed faster than the Acer too and I haven't looked back.

Honestly, everyone wants Netflix on the Playbook but on a 7" tablet it isn't that great. I have it on my Kobo Vox but I have only watched two shows on it. It just looks so much better on the Xbox hooked up to the Plasma widescreen with surround sound... so I almost never use the Kobo for netflix and thus I don't really miss it on the Playbook. Really!

Skype I used to use all the time but no more. There are others, try Comwave.

Windows 8 tablets should be interesting. Galaxy Tab II is just cheap. Nexus sounds cheap too.

Refreshingly honest, thank you