What is the PlayBook good for?

Hi all,

I've just bought the PlayBook and have sideloaded some Android apps, such as Grooveshark, Shazam and YouTube. They seem to run slow and lag often. What is the PlayBook really good for? So far I can say that video playback and pictures are great. The OS is great and runs nicely without any lag. Internet browsing is okay. For apps it sucks. I kind of regret buying it although I only paid �130 for it. I should have bought an Android tab instead since BlackBerry is going downhill and bankrupt.

What do you all think?

playbook hardware shines. playbook software sucks.

Great for gaming on many platforms. Browser is AWESOME. Being able to bridge is a great feature. Native mail has become better.

I'm not a video gamer, so I can't address that strength/shortcoming. I use mine for doc2go -- mostly Word and Excel, email, videos, news reader, ereader (Kobo is a pretty good app, in my limited experience.) We were doing christmas at a little lake cabin without internet access, so I downloaded Christmas movies and HDMI'd the playbook the TV and kept the grandkids entertained. I have the tethering package from AT&T and I bnoth bridge and tether to my Torch. I consider my PlayBook indispensible. (For Christmas I asked for, and received, the mini-keyboard case combo. when I get the dash mount for my truck, it'll be perfect.)

It oozes potential. The hardware is nice, the OS has some nice points that make it worth having, the manufacturer cases are beautiful and the battery life is great. I adore the little guy as a secondary device, but it'd drive me absolutely crazy were it my main. Not only is there a dearth of apps, but the way the OS treats them is archaic. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, BlackBerry 10 should fix the majority of the issues and make it much more viable as a primary tablet, the rest (software related, of course) being addressed over time.

As for how I use it, despite the lacking graphics quality and low resolution, it plays games admirably. Other than that, I mainly use it for checking email, weather, sideloading, posting to CrackBerry, and general toying around.

If you bought it for Android apps you might as well take it back. PlayBook has been a work in progress and while its a great device we wont see its full potential until it get BlackBerry10. Right now i use mine for email,messaging,social networks,games,shooting 1080p hd video,games,taking and editing pics,games,surfing the web,games,video chat,music,movies,games,hdmi out to the big screen often,games,oh and i play games from time to time...I use it for many other things as well and i use it daily. Its a great device imo and I am still struck by the fact that its getting BlackBerry10 and essentially will be a whole new device...wow! Glad i bought a few of them :)

I really like the email app, the gaming capabilities, the price, the size. I think a big plus is the hardware: two years old and still the hardware can compete with newer hardwares

Just about the only thing it does well is displaying time, and well, photo album. The rest is great when working as it only works when it wants to.

You have owned your PB for 9 months, belly ached since your first post, threatened to sell it months ago, yet here you are still, lol. What motivates you , I mean that sincerely. If the PB does not work for your particular needs(apparently) why not sell it and move on?

Originally Posted by dongeel

Just about the only thing it does well is displaying time, and well, photo album. The rest is great when working as it only works when it wants to.

Originally Posted by OutlandMoro

I kind of regret buying it although I only paid �130 for it. I should have bought an Android tab instead since BlackBerry is going downhill and bankrupt.

What do you all think?

I would post what I think about your BS post but you're not worth getting a posting ban over. What I do know is that the closer we get to Jan 30 2013 the more we can expect these type of posts from the competition.

Originally Posted by OutlandMoro

Hi all,

I've just bought the PlayBook and have sideloaded some Android apps, such as Grooveshark, Shazam and YouTube. They seem to run slow and lag often. What is the PlayBook really good for? So far I can say that video playback and pictures are great. The OS is great and runs nicely without any lag. Internet browsing is okay. For apps it sucks. I kind of regret buying it although I only paid �130 for it. I should have bought an Android tab instead since BlackBerry is going downhill and bankrupt.

What do you all think?

With this one line .. I consider this a troll posting.. so I'm not going to entertain this troll's post with an answer to why I think the PB is great tablet. Why come to a BB enthusiast site and state in certain terms that the company IS going downhill and will be bankrupt. If you believe that then do yourself and all of us a favor here, since it's obvious you can't read or unwilling to read other forum postings here and figure out on your own what's so good about the PB, .. sell your playbook, buy yourself an android tablet, be happy and drop your crackberry account Troll!

Something smelling here. Why the heck would you side load YouTube? Using the Web link on Playbook is exactly like using the pc.

How much for your used PLAYBOOK!!!

Originally Posted by GV2012

Something smelling here. Why the heck would you side load YouTube? Using the Web link on Playbook is exactly like using the pc.

Channels, playlists and good UI scaling are most important for me with YouTube. The stock app is abysmal and the website's not optimized for touch, let alone small screens. That's why I sideloaded it, though 9 out of 10 times I just pick up a different device for YouTube.

I've always found the Playbook to be very effective for knocking a few teeth from the skulls of Android a$$ pirates....

I loved my PlayBook for travel. I used it to watch video on the plane, games, internet, etc while on the go.

I use to press my shirt crisp. I swat flies in the summer. I use it as frisbee at the beach. A coaster and chopping board during camping. You just have to be creative with it. The device is as good as the user ability to utilize it.

Native email has become better, though it only took a year. But better is far from good enough. It's still slow to go through and delete, but worst of all is the incomprehensible 30-day limit on emails. What were they thinking?

Originally Posted by OutlandMoro

Hi all,

I've just bought the PlayBook and have sideloaded some Android apps, such as Grooveshark, Shazam and YouTube. They seem to run slow and lag often. What is the PlayBook really good for? So far I can say that video playback and pictures are great. The OS is great and runs nicely without any lag. Internet browsing is okay. For apps it sucks. I kind of regret buying it although I only paid �130 for it. I should have bought an Android tab instead since BlackBerry is going downhill and bankrupt.

What do you all think?

So you bought a PB so you could side load android apps, and you think BlackBerry is going under, so why didn't you buy an android. Whatever

Lots of things like posting on CrackBerry and showing off my PHD or GED. Shopping on amazon. Used it to order my ipad mini.

Be an informed consumer.... If the OP did even a small bit of research... he would have found how limited the Android support actually is... at which point the forum users would not subjected to another diatribe about how aweful the Playbook is..... OP should have done all of us a favour... admit it was a mistake to buy it, take it back and get the almighty Android device that should have been purchased in the first place..... This way I would not have just wasted 5 minutes of my life.....

My Bold is good for closing this thread, and sparing the OP any more ridicule.