[donnie28]

I’ve been a long time observer (or lurker if you prefer) in these fine forums, and just decided to join in and post my first thread. I am an avid Apple user and still am, but ended up buying the Playbook recently at $200 off.

When the Playbook launched, I got a chance to play with it at BestBuy and was immediately put-off by its user interface. Coming from an iPad, I didn’t immediately welcome the bezel gestures, and I kept looking for a home button. The Blackberry demonstrator at the time tried his best to convince me but I remained pessimistic. I admit, the Playbook was giving me its best model pose that first time I laid my hands on it. It was sleek and solid looking, more portable than the iPad, it had a nice high definition screen and I liked the rubbery feel on its back. Almost pulled my wallet, but as soon as I learned the negative details (ironically from the same store demonstrator), my hand quickly tugged my wallet back in.

The iPad was, for a short time, a necessity to me. But soon enough I felt it wasn’t as portable and the lack of Flash support killed it for me, so I gave it to my girlfriend who is enjoying it now much like I had it the first time. The iPad became more and more heavy and chunky to carry around to the point that I became shy to put it out in public.

Fast forward to today, I now have a shiny Playbook. I admit, I wasn’t all that welcoming to its user interface but boy was I ever wrong about it. To me, this is probably the best tablet interface I’ve ever used. Yes, it can take some getting used to but it only took me a few minutes. Never even want to touch the iPad 2 anymore, and all this because of the $200 off.

Considering myself part of the Blackberry clan now, I wanted to know more on what’s happening with Blackberry and the Playbook. Yes, I’ve done my initial research on the Playbook and I am aware of its limitations. I am aware of the damage the recent blackout has left. Also, I got to know more about people’s expectations on the Playbook, thanks to these forums, but I still don’t know much about Blackberry as much as you do here. So be it as it may, I will attempt to lay down my impressions on the current state of the Playbook. I know some of you may criticize me for being an iPad fanatic but I really don’t have any other means to compare the Playbook with. So here’s my take:

Hardware:
I have no complaints about it. The Playbook is well designed much like an iPad but on a smaller format. I like the Playbook’s speakers better and I like how I am forced to use it lengthwise (it’s easier on the hands while lying down, you know). Being able to transfer files from my Mac via wifi is a welcome feature. And the HDMI output is just icing on the cake.

Software:
Like I said, the UI is superb and I’m enjoying it to the fullest. The internet browser is a pleasure to use but it could be faster and more reliable. I will not say I need more and more apps in App World but instead will ask for more useful apps like Skype, Netflix, etc. I admit, the Apple App Store is littered with garbage apps so more apps don’t necessarily mean good.

Marketing:
The $200 off is what got me sporting this thing. To me, it was worth it at this price. If these sales continue, we will have a few more Playbook users out there but this is just a temporary fix and we’ll probably not see this continiuing.

We all know that Apple can afford to run ads every hour of the day if they want to and sadly, this is where the Playbook is losing ground to the iPad. Where are the ads now? If you want to attract customers and more importantly make current users feel good about their purchase, put out those self-admiring ads like Apple is so good for. The success of the Playbook depends on how many users are out there. I want the Playbook camp to increase not remain as it is with a few loyal users. Apple knew this back in the days when everyone else was a PC user, and they did something about it.

Software Updates:
Knowing how updates have been previously leaked and mentioned to be coming soon, isn’t it about time that the Playbook has gotten it’s first major software update? When the first iPad was released, it was one of it’s kind and competition was nary to be found, so Apple had a considerable length of time to improve their software. It doesn’t matter if it took them that long, it’s just a different story now. As you read this, a lot of other tablets will have made it to the market and in order to get ahead, RIM has to be religious in advertising and updating the Playbook. I don’t blame those who are frustrated in waiting...I'm with you. And for those willing to wait, I salute you, but may I ask you to open up and look at the bigger picture. RIM cannot just show outlooks, they have to deliver…NOW!

The second coming of the Playbook is upon us folks. RIM just has to pull the trigger.

Sorry for the long post and thanks for reading. Long live the Playbook.

[patpatiar]

great post!!
- i'm sending this post to my friends who have recently gotten the ipad2 over the playbook - hopefully this post converts them lol.

[majorusa]

Yes. The difference between you the PB user and your friends, the Ipad users is that they are enjoying now their apps while you wait for the second coming of the PB. Yeah. Long live...the wait.

[shootsscores]

Yes. The difference between you the PB user and your friends, the Ipad users is that they are enjoying now their apps while you wait for the second coming of the PB. Yeah. Long live...the wait.

I watch streaming flash video while I wait with no need for a app crutches. Then I go play some Dead Space (still freaks me out sometimes). Then I use the bridge supported apps which I bezel scroll. Then I deal with emails and bbms. Then I take some high quality pics and vids. All this waiting is keeping me pretty entertained.

[ScoobsDM]

I do work, and more work, and go to location, and surf the web, and DON'T PAY FEES FOR IT. That helps pass my time waiting.

[grncherry1]

I watch streaming flash video while I wait with no need for a app crutches. Then I go play some Dead Space (still freaks me out sometimes). Then I use the bridge supported apps which I bezel scroll. Then I deal with emails and bbms. Then I take some high quality pics and vids. All this waiting is keeping me pretty entertained.

You are just sitting around waiting for an Android crutch..............

[guerllamo7]

Thank you for your post. I would only add that if you have a BlackBerry then you save when you are not in wifi areas. However, I use my Playbook at work and home 85% of the time and they are both wifi areas so it is mainly for long road trips that I use the bridge app. It works well.
I can do everything I need to be happy with the Playbook right now but I agree that to broaden the base we need more and I hope and believe we are about to get it.

[NickA]

Yes. The difference between you the PB user and your friends, the Ipad users is that they are enjoying now their apps while you wait for the second coming of the PB. Yeah. Long live...the wait.

Why dude? Why litter the thread with your ignorant and useless comments. Why did you buy the PB? You returned a Xoom, right? In another post you raved about all the things you can do with your iPad.

So just answer the simple question that everyone want to know about people like you:

1. Why do you post here?
2. Why did you feel the need to post this comment in this thread?
3. Did you just join to make remarks about the PB because you regret your purchase and you feel the need to take it out here on these forums? (The short version: you're bitter).

Please, try to offer useful and intelligent responses.

[junglebungle]

To be honest i dont care so much about the apps, when 2.0 does eventually come then great, but i purchased the awesome pb for the browser its size and media playback mainly, and FLASH!

[Maiev]

You know what...

Goto RedFlagDeals forum and read what real user has to say about playbook. <-- This thread isn't even a playbook thread, it's "Tablet users thread, playbook, ipad, xooms, touchpad etc"

People are starting to realize how good the playbook is over the clumsy iPad2 When OS2 rolls out, it'd roll over iPad2 :P

[willtothewong]

Nice review!

I too just pulled the trigger because of the $200 off deal

[todbanner]

well put mate. I'm with you.

Bottom line for me is this:

PB does about 80% of whatI need it to do.

I would rather be using PB for 80% while rim get the rest worked out than waiting without my PB for them to turn out a device at 95%

[modine]

I'm with the folks who already enjoy all the benefits of the browser... spend my time watching movies or tv shows on Project Free TV - Watch all your favorite tv shows and movies online free or the netflicks website. I get all my email either using bridge or gmail... hunt through forums... take it to meetings (I have mine in a DODOcase which is tres cool)... play my Pyramix game at the hairdresser... read my novel on Kobo... Video chat... Poynt is a great app to use when I'm tethered and out and about... Skype? Try www.imo.im... My super duper Asus megagoliath 17" has lost a lot of its appeal. You made a great leap of faith - hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

[donnie28]

Thanks for the reply guys! I feel very welcome already.

[FMB8900]

your post is diamonds!

[CharlieV]

Great post, OP. I, too, jumped a the 200 dollars off at Office Depot. However, I returned it for a full refund and got something else (Android).

I think the reason that everyone gets so crazy about their tablets is that they cost so much and have difference operating systems. Everyone uses them differently. In fact, I know very few people who use any kind of tablet for much other than play. I've had an iPad 2 (stolen), a Playbook (returned), and now an Android tablet--and each kind of phone, too, and recently--and I have to say that as fan and customer of RIM for more than a decade (even including all of my employees' phones, our of BES server, and several generations of phones and accessories), I couldn't be more disappointed in the Playbook. It has great hardware, a great UI, a great form factor, and is almost useless. RIM should have marketed them as big touch screens for Blackberry phones (which, coincidentally, I think was the genesis for the Playbook). That would have been honest and truthful. Instead, RIM got all excited about the tablet craze and chose instead to focus on its impressive hardware specs. Then, with critics looking at Playbooks in hand, RIM made all sorts of crazy promises about future updates (most of which haven't been kept). The juvenile back and forth on other threads about the difference between a promise and declaration doesn't alter the fact that the Playbook is a perfect adjunct to a Blackberry phone. As a standalone, with the lack of application support, lack of expandable/SD memory,.. ****, even lacking spell check... is inexcusable.

I downloaded the developer preview and have been using the Playbook standalone (no BB phone), and I'm not impressed. This is the first BB device I have had in well over a decade that worked like a pre-release prototype. Shame, RIM. I think it is great that Android apps will work on Playbook (without alot of fiddling), but I do not see how that would get a developer excited about writing for QNX, and I think that was the point of DEVCON--to get developers engaged.

Now I freely admit that an Android tablet is not the end-all be-all. Neither is the iPad 2. In fact, I don't think the tablet is ever going to be a serious device until you can just talk to it conversationally to get things done, but within an hour of unboxing the Android tablet, I had all of the functionality I needed for work and play whereas the Playbook had almost no functionality and no specific timeline for that to happen. Instead of hours, RIM wants you to wait weeks and months.

iPad really isn't that bad. I can't remember whether it was in this thread or another but someone was crowing over using his Playbook bridged while his iPad buddies were out in the cold with no wifi. Guess what? The iPad has had 3G in it since its release, and anyone who uses it for business is going to have that option. And then when he was using that Playbook, what exactly was he doing that was so exciting? Surely not much more than he could have done with his phone. Maybe the iPad people didn't have cell phones.

Anyway, I figure by the time RIM gets the Playbook sorted out they will have some superduty QNX phones and maybe a 10 inch Playbook, and I'll be back. For now, I'm just glad I returned my Playbook within the fourteen days' grace at Office Depot. As an aside, that return period is minus a 15% restocking fee for technology items at Office Depot. They waived it without even being asked, and the manager told me that 8 of 10 Playbooks sold during the 200 dollar off period had been returned. The 60 dollar case I bought for it and no longer had the box... he said don't worry about the box because they would be sending all of the Playbook stuff back soon. Eeek.

Still, there is something special about Blackberries and I wish RIM well, and hope to be back. As for the 2.0 UI... beautiful lipstick on a pig.

[shootsscores]

I mentioned the islab folks being out in the cold. Their 3g devices couldn't bring in a usable signal. My Bold could. OK back to Dead Space. Hang on a second. Can't play DS because I just got a calendar reminder of something I've got to do but have to bbm the wife first.

[PTZ]

Donnie 28, I enjoy my PB. I agree with your comments. I too am a newbie to the Blackberry/RIM and Crackberry. This is a great site, very helpful, very informative, I read alot of the posts- its exciting stuff. I love the QNX and I like the playbook pretty much as it is right now. Enjoy yours!

[donnie28]

Thanks again gang! Too bad you had to return yours Charlie V. I think I'm gonna hang on to mine and wait for 2.0. Besides, my 15 day return windows is up today...yikes, I hope RIM won't disappoint.

[NickA]

Great post, OP. I, too, jumped a the 200 dollars off at Office Depot. However, I returned it for a full refund and got something else (Android).
....
Still, there is something special about Blackberries and I wish RIM well, and hope to be back. As for the 2.0 UI... beautiful lipstick on a pig.

All good points Charlie. I think you went through what myself and many other go through; we either can't find a tablet that works for us, or really don't need one. I have an iPad, 2 Android tabs and the PlayBook. I want to use just ONE, but I can't find one that meets all my needs (whatever they are).

And I agree with you about an Android tab having just about everything I need, but I still can't bring myself to trust Honeycomb as a serious, stable OS.

But anyway, I doubt there will ever be just one tablet to satisfy everyone's needs. But that's ok because at least there are choices.

[donnie28]

AN UPDATE:

Sadly I had to say goodbye to my beloved Playbook a couple of days ago. It started acting crazy on me, developed dust under the screen and was not turning on normally. I was lucky to still have it taken back by the store.

Hearing the news today about the delay of OS 2.0 is my only consolation but I feel really bad for everyone here waiting patiently for the update.

As I have touched on my original post, Blackberry still has a chance to attract more people to the Playbook if they can put out a major update real soon. It looks like they will miss the boat on this one...they will lose customers for sure during the upcoming black Friday and holiday shopping season. This will be a big blow I'm afraid.

But, miracles still do happen folks, hang in there. Maybe just maybe, I will have another Playbook in my hands when that happens. That is if other tablets won't grab my attention instead.

It was a short ride on the Blackberry train for me. It was enjoyable, short and winding.

Until my next post.

[blackjack93117]

I watch streaming flash video while I wait with no need for a app crutches.

I laughed at myself the other day because I thought I would try an app crutch.
Which one? Crackberry app of course.

I mean its a beautiful app (compliments Shao) - very nicely designed, but when I tried to find the utility I couldn't- I just wanted to get to the playbook forum and see if it facilitated it, maybe skimmed out the ads, the javascript etc and boiled it down, made the navigation easier......what was I missing over just going to the website.

So I finally found the "playbook button" and went " aha! Touch!
what did it do? opened the browser and took me right here to the website lol.

[CharlieV]

Having used--loose use of the word--my Android tablet for many months now, I have some observations: I am glad I returned the Playbook, and wish I had returned the Android. After the tablet honeymoon I never really used it. As I sit here, I am not even sure that it is charged up (and I keep three phones charged up, including their many extra batteries, a laptop, etc. all of the time, so I am a charging FOOL).

When BB10 arrives I will take another look at Playbook but, since realizing that I don't use a tablet as much as I dreamed, I can't honestly say I will get another Playbook; not because they are inferior products (as they were upon release--that has been fixed), but because I have offloaded alot of chores from my laptop/tablet to my phone. As phones get bigger and do more things, I am not sure there is room in my briefcase for a tablet in a world of touchscreen laptops that go all day on a charge.

However, one thing I will remember fondly is the form factor and high quality of the Playbook hardware. Nothing else compares.