[Olivia Estes]

So I got the blackberry playbook for Christmas and I'm still getting the hang of it. I've figured out that there is no possible way to get netflix on here because I have a mac computer. what are the actual perks of this tablet..? the more I try to figure that out, the more I'm realizing that Apple is taking over the world! either I'm doing something wrong or blackberry really needs to start stepping it up..
if anyone has any tips, please let me know because I really want to love my tablet but its making it difficult to do so.
Thanks!!

[anon721037]

So I got the blackberry playbook for Christmas and I'm still getting the hang of it. I've figured out that there is no possible way to get netflix on here because I have a mac computer. what are the actual perks of this tablet..? the more I try to figure that out, the more I'm realizing that Apple is taking over the world! either I'm doing something wrong or blackberry really needs to start stepping it up..
if anyone has any tips, please let me know because I really want to love my tablet but its making it difficult to do so.
Thanks!!

Can you not sideload Netflix on to it, i think you still can with an apple computer there is a stickie in here and it explains how,

[pacoman03]

You've had your Playbook for over 3 months, and you can't figure out ANYTHING that you can do on it? Besides Netflix (which you can't do, directly, Mac or no Mac) what exactly do you want to do?

[anon721037]

You've had your Playbook for over 3 months, and you can't figure out ANYTHING that you can do on it? Besides Netflix (which you can't do, directly, Mac or no Mac) what exactly do you want to do?

So you can't side load anything on to a PlayBook

Posted on my Z30 on Z30STA100-5/10.2.1.2947

[anon(5597702)]

Everyone uses tablets a little differently, so it depends on what your interests or specific use cases are.

The PB only does a handful of things very well. The main uses for me are:

• Media consumption (great audio, HDMI out, great playback app in Kalemsoft Media Player, flash video streaming online).
• Looking at documents (eBooks through Kobo, Kindle, or BookReader; PDFs through PDF Reader, comics through a sideloaded comic book reader).
• Working Out (Max Capacity, coupled with the Blank Screen app to keep the screen awake during this hellish workout )
• Gaming (especially through an NES emulator)
• Browsing (Arguably it's the least adept at this task, but works pretty well with the Origami browser app, which is basically a reskin of the native browser but with an arguably better layout and easier-to-find options)
• Email

So, it doesn't do anything that an iPad can't do, but I like the look and feel of OS 2.1, the gestures, multitasking, etc. The Android emulator is way out of date, but the sideloaded apps I do have work quite well and fill in a few gaps for me (such as Evernote, D7 Reader for my Feedly RSS feeds, Songza for curated music streaming for free, etc).

I'm not blind to its shortcomings, and it's not receiving additional support, but people are a little hard on it and making sweeping statements like "PB is dead." Well, if it still turns on, that's not the case. I just wanted to throw in my comments to show that it still does SOME things relatively well.

[pacoman03]

Can you not sideload Netflix on to it,

You cant.....

[pacoman03]

So you can't side load anything on to a PlayBook

You can, but Netflix won't work.

[anon(5597702)]

So you can't side load anything on to a PlayBook

Posted on my Z30 on Z30STA100-5/10.2.1.2947

You can sideload Android apps on the PB, but they're not guaranteed to work. Some do, but many don't (such as Netflix).

[anon721037]

You can, but Netflix won't work.

Oh OK thanks.

Posted on my Z30 on Z30STA100-5/10.2.1.2947

[Dunt Dunt Dunt]

So I got the blackberry playbook for Christmas and I'm still getting the hang of it. I've figured out that there is no possible way to get netflix on here because I have a mac computer. what are the actual perks of this tablet..? the more I try to figure that out, the more I'm realizing that Apple is taking over the world! either I'm doing something wrong or blackberry really needs to start stepping it up..
if anyone has any tips, please let me know because I really want to love my tablet but its making it difficult to do so.
Thanks!!

Browse the PlayBook section... there are lots of tips on sideloading and some different streaming services that don't require a full engineering degree to get Netflix to work via other services.

Perks:
Great Sound System
Bridge - if you have a BBOS device
Limited Bridge - if you have a BB10 device
Great Hardware for it's time (it's time is pretty much over)
Can Sideload some older Android applications

But yes Apple and their iPad are THE Tablet to own if you want a device that just works. I used my PlayBook mainly as an ereader, and there is no comparison to iBook and the five different eBook Readers I tried. Never mind how some work at times and then got broken and I'd have to switch for a while.....

Main reason I went with the Z10 was I owned the PlayBook and assumed that the Bridge limitation was temporary until BB10 came to the PlayBook.... When buying technology you should never assume anything. Like assuming that Google Play will one day be official or that installation of APK files on BB10 will always work.... If it's not official (or even if it is) you can't count on it.

[anon(4086706)]

I only recently bought a second hand PlayBook (PB LTE) because when I had my first PB (16GB Wifi), I had purchased A LOT of apps. So this is more of an retention thingy. It also makes a great "decoy" gadget for those unsafe areas in our location (to protect my more expensive Z30 of course).

[Skatophilia]

I use my PlayBook to store files, such as ebooks (not from Kobo) and it works like a charm. I cannot do that on an ipad

[djpailo]

You will want to:

• Sideload Showbox app immediately onto the playbook
• Check out the games on the AppWorld. Some great ones. The free ones include Ice Age, Need for Speed Undercover and Jetpack Joyride. Other ones are Real Football 2013, Sixguns and Song of Swords.
• Sideload Kingsoft Office so that you can have two documents open at same time.
• Download Origami browser, set it to booster mode (an icon on top right) and this will help load pages very quickly.
• Nobex Radio app of App World can be used for radio stations.

Not really any use for video calling unless you know other people with playbooks or bb10 devices. Not sure about maps/ navigation but I've heard its decent for that.

[MisterShark]

I don't suppose the company you work for has a BES10 do they?

My 4G LTE PlayBook is on our BES10 so I get my corp email/calendar on mine.
I'm also part of the exec support team here at work so I've added Remote Desktop for PlayBook to mine which allows me to always leave my work laptop in its dock on my desk. I can remotely control it for whatever I need to do when I'm out of the office.

[GiantSchnauzer]

Use it to stream all movies stored on your Mac anywhere in the world to your playbook with Internet connection using plex.

Z30 Pooooooooower!!!

[DoctorNeutron]

With my music loaded on my PBs i can blow your socks off on any one of my 4 legacy sound systems: 1990 mustang lx 5.0, 1998 Mercedes ML-320 with Bose, 41 year old KLH stereo, or my 22 year old Panasonic beast.

[PlayBook UK]

So I got the blackberry playbook for Christmas and I'm still getting the hang of it. I've figured out that there is no possible way to get netflix on here because I have a mac computer. what are the actual perks of this tablet..? the more I try to figure that out, the more I'm realizing that Apple is taking over the world! either I'm doing something wrong or blackberry really needs to start stepping it up..
if anyone has any tips, please let me know because I really want to love my tablet but its making it difficult to do so.
Thanks!!

You can set it a Netflix workaround. See C001CB4A1 for details.

PlayBook UK BBM Channel C001CB4A1