[JTATL]

If you own a playbook already the nexus or any other 7 inch tablet is several steps down we know that. But how do you tell a consumer that says but it doesnt have netflix or skype or instagram, or kindle that?

I have notice something I am in the financial services industry and most of the big insurance companies and investment funds only make apps for android and ios now. If you have a blackberry you cant use the convenient app based services they now provide.

[Brianflys]

PlayBook is gaining market share as people become frustrated with android and apple. In 2 years, PlayBook2 will dominate the market. Nexus is just a short term distraction.

[PFCSystems]

RIM cannot wait to get BB10 on the playbook--they need it out asap with the first phones--then the phones---they need to be out by August. They don't have time on their side--it is do or die! They should make a deal with HULU--seems NETFLIX won't budge. Enough courting developers...get hardware OUT ALREADY with software that works....fine tune /add later.

[dtango]

Ive wanted a small tablet for a while and this looks pretty much perfect.

[Saiga]

The PlayBook is a great tablet. But no one cares. I love mine, but no one buys the things. To be honest I didn't even buy mine. I have had 3 of them given to me by RIM. So has others. I personally do not know a single person in my state that has purchased a PlayBook.

Even at the reduced price the masses aren't buying them. The PlayBook is a niche product. I honestly do love mine, but I am also able to admit that the PlayBook is a failure in most ways. The only way it didn't fail is it let RIM beta test their future phone OS. As just a product they intended to manufacture and sell for a profit, the PlayBook is a horrible disaster.

I seriously hope RIM decides to pull the plug on the 4G PlayBook. I know they are still working on it, I played with one while I was in Orlando. It was very far along then and was completely useable. From what I've heard they are still working on it. Who here thinks a 4G PlayBook will sell well?

[sleepngbear]

The PlayBook is a great tablet. But no one cares. I love mine, but no one buys the things. To be honest I didn't even buy mine. I have had 3 of them given to me by RIM. So has others. I personally do not know a single person in my state that has purchased a PlayBook.

Even at the reduced price the masses aren't buying them. The PlayBook is a niche product. I honestly do love mine, but I am also able to admit that the PlayBook is a failure in most ways. The only way it didn't fail is it let RIM beta test their future phone OS. As just a product they intended to manufacture and sell for a profit, the PlayBook is a horrible disaster.

I seriously hope RIM decides to pull the plug on the 4G PlayBook. I know they are still working on it, I played with one while I was in Orlando. It was very far along then and was completely useable. From what I've heard they are still working on it. Who here thinks a 4G PlayBook will sell well?

Give it a chance with BB10 and the next hardware upgrade (if the rumors are true) before writing it off.

[Speedygi]

Yes, I would say get BB10 out first and everything else will work itself out. That is their ultimate release this year and everything hinges on it. If BB10 succeeds they would have a pretty good stead to create killer tablets in the future.

Meanwhile, RIM has to take Google's lead and simply try to innovate a little on their own as well. RIM has to find that killer feature that people absolutely need, that one app or feature no one else has, or better still, top.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk

[JTATL]

Nexus 7 vs Playbook side by side specifications

Google Nexus 7 vs RIM BlackBerry PlayBook - Phone specs comparison

[Speedygi]

Anyone has any thoughts about the Nexus Q though?

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk

[JTATL]

I would like to know how they are claiming 9 hrs video on Nexus? My PB will get about 5-6 hours of video and about 7-8 hrs. of overall battery life. How are they claiming 9? has battery and chips improved that fast in 1 year?

[Speedygi]

I believe it's an improvement in battery technology (increasing capacity in a smaller space) combined with superb software optimization.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk

[gxgs]

I would like to know how they are claiming 9 hrs video on Nexus? My PB will get about 5-6 hours of video and about 7-8 hrs. of overall battery life. How are they claiming 9? has battery and chips improved that fast in 1 year?

Yep... if anything, the microprocessors industry is one of the fastest moving ones in terms of efficiency and optimizations, coupling that with software optimizations and good decoders, you can decrease battery usage since processors do not have to work that hard to accomplish the same thing. And more when they make broader optimizations to gpu decoding.

[cbvinh]

I seriously hope RIM decides to pull the plug on the 4G PlayBook. I know they are still working on it, I played with one while I was in Orlando. It was very far along then and was completely useable. From what I've heard they are still working on it. Who here thinks a 4G PlayBook will sell well?

For the enterprise market, I think a 4G Playbook could do fine. Unfortunately, with all the doom and gloom, it would be a tough sell, as companies want assurances that they'll get support.

If RIM were to come out with an updated non-4G Playbook, specs as rumored (faster 1.5 Ghz CPU/GPU, 16 GB or 32 GB base storage, and memory expansion), I think it would do pretty well, with some advertising pointing out it strengths against the Kindle Fire and Nexus 7.

For the advertising:

1. Parent recording his/her child playing and being able to edit the video down for uploading to a social site. "Playbook: Record, Edit, Upload"

2. Commuter watching a movie/TV show and arriving home to plug the Playbook into his/her TV for expanded viewing. "Playbook: Enjoy it on the big screen"

3. Someone pulling out a memory card that is labeled "work" and inserting another card that says "novels". The next shot is of him/her reading on a hammock. "Playbook: Expandable"

[ugahairydawgs]

At this point OP I think the two tablets listed in your thread title are backwards.

[Saiga]

For the record, I thought the PlayBook was going to sell very well. So did many others. I thought it was going to be the second best selling tablet behind only the iPad. That didn't happen. It wont happen if the PlayBook gets a 1.5 GHz processor and memory expansion either.

The PlayBook we have now is a good product. Yet no one buys it. RIM could make the PlayBook the greatest tablet ever imagined and people still wouldn't buy it. They could advertise the crap out of it and people still wouldn't buy it.

Consumers have proven that they don't care which product is best time after time. Look at how well the wii sold. PlayBook being improved wont help it sell. No matter what they add to the PlayBook the iPad will still exist. That is enough to keep the PlayBook from succeeding. Add in the new Kindle and then sprinkle on a Nexus 7 and garnish with the Microsoft surface and you see it just keeps getting worst. It is time for RIM to move on.

Look at it like this, RIM had to beta test the new OS before they could put it on phones. Testing, getting apps made, research and development all costs money. That is what the PlayBook was. RIM was able to get app developers on board, and add things to the OS so that they can release a better product when BB10 comes out. In my opinion, the PlayBook has done its job and now it is time for RIM to take it out back and shoot it. A 4G PlayBook would be just more unsold inventory. RIM can't afford that.

[cbvinh]

For the record, I thought the PlayBook was going to sell very well. So did many others. I thought it was going to be the second best selling tablet behind only the iPad. That didn't happen. It wont happen if the PlayBook gets a 1.5 GHz processor and memory expansion either.

The PlayBook we have now is a good product. Yet no one buys it. RIM could make the PlayBook the greatest tablet ever imagined and people still wouldn't buy it. They could advertise the crap out of it and people still wouldn't buy it.

Consumers have proven that they don't care which product is best time after time. Look at how well the wii sold. PlayBook being improved wont help it sell. No matter what they add to the PlayBook the iPad will still exist. That is enough to keep the PlayBook from succeeding. Add in the new Kindle and then sprinkle on a Nexus 7 and garnish with the Microsoft surface and you see it just keeps getting worst. It is time for RIM to move on.

Look at it like this, RIM had to beta test the new OS before they could put it on phones. Testing, getting apps made, research and development all costs money. That is what the PlayBook was. RIM was able to get app developers on board, and add things to the OS so that they can release a better product when BB10 comes out. In my opinion, the PlayBook has done its job and now it is time for RIM to take it out back and shoot it. A 4G PlayBook would be just more unsold inventory. RIM can't afford that.

You asked what people's opinions were and got some. Here's why things are different now:

1. The original Playbook was priced like the iPad. The current and perhaps new one wouldn't be, especially with the Kindle Fire and Nexus 7. I can see a 16 GB upgraded Playbook selling for $300, if its features are advertised over its competition.

2. No one is buying the Playbook now because the people that know about it have bought it. There has been no further advertising (which was limited in the first place). There's no free press to keep it in the consumer mindset. This can change with advertising.

3. Amazon and Google have legitimized the 7" form factor for tablets.

I don't think a 4G Playbook would make much sense at this point, but an upgraded Playbook would complement the BB10 phones quite well... after the BB10 phones have been released.

[dandbj13]

Give it a chance with BB10 and the next hardware upgrade (if the rumors are true) before writing it off.

It doesn't matter. Double the specs. Triple them. It still doesn't matter, except to add a lot of cost to the product that you, now, have to price a lot higher. The PB didn't fail due to its hardware specs. It wouldn't matter if it transformed into a plane that took you to your own, private island. A 1.5 GHz proc is not going to make anyone say, "Right then. I'll just pick one of these up instead."

As for 4G, it never sold anything. There is no evidence that iPad's sell better because of the 4G moniker. Mostly, people don't want to pay extra for a data plan, especially price shoppers. 4G will actually become a liability if that is the big selling point.

Finally, the OS. Don't take this the wrong way, but no one even knows what an OS is. You say yours is the best OS. Great! So was WebOS! So is WP7! What's your point? Who cares how good BB10 is. No consumer is sitting around waiting for BB10. When it comes out, they still won't know what it is. By the way, they don't know what iOS is, either. No one buys an iOS device; they buy iPads and iPhones. There is nothing in BB10 that is going to change that equation.

If RIM keeps on this PB road, BB10 phones are going to end up on the beach, sipping mint juleps with their Pre 3 cousins, arguing for all eternity about who has the best, unreleased OS. That cannot be allowed to happen.

[sf49ers]

Google IO seemed lame to me..IMO it was worse than Apple Dev event, what do you guys think?

[cbvinh]

Google IO seemed lame to me..IMO it was worse than Apple Dev event, what do you guys think?

Apple didn't show anything interestingly new.

Google showed off Google Glass.

[tireboy66]

I have played with most of the tablets out there and yeah.. i really like my pb32g.. not really interested in the google tab..

[kennyliu]

I would like to know how they are claiming 9 hrs video on Nexus? My PB will get about 5-6 hours of video and about 7-8 hrs. of overall battery life. How are they claiming 9? has battery and chips improved that fast in 1 year?

I don't think it's the battery. It has to be the same Li-Po battery technology.

But, as said above, it's the power efficiency of Tegra 3 (it has the fifth "service" core that takes care of mostly OS tasks and services) and the OS optimization (e.g. the use of hardware acceleration or multicore operation).

Also note that the battery on the Nexus is 20-25% smaller than on the PB. It's just the PBOS which is excessively power (and RAM) hungry.

[kennyliu]

But back to the topic...

Of course, the Nexus 7 is no threat to a 1.5 year-old tablet that most probably stopped being manufactured last fall (if not earlier).

[ClearEyes]

Wow! Two pages in and I am wondering who all these posters are!

I bought my PlayBook the first week it was available. And I have used it EVERY DAY since!

In my opinion, there is no tablet I would rather have. And to top it off, I don't see where the Nexus 7 (which has had a year to surpass) provides anything I don't have with the PlayBook. And no, I do not subscribe to Google services.

[MartyMcfly]

If you own a playbook already the nexus or any other 7 inch tablet is several steps down we know that. But how do you tell a consumer that says but it doesnt have netflix or skype or instagram, or kindle that?

I have notice something I am in the financial services industry and most of the big insurance companies and investment funds only make apps for android and ios now. If you have a blackberry you cant use the convenient app based services they now provide.

How is it several steps down? The pb ecosystem is awful compared to iOS/android tablets...


Sent from my New iPad using Tapatalk

[tdawg00]

How is it several steps down? The pb ecosystem is awful compared to iOS/android tablets...


Sent from my New iPad using Tapatalk

Exactly.... And why are people comparing a 199.99 MSRP tablet to a 499.99 MSRP tablet ???? I would hope that a tablet that is 3 times as much has some sort advantage over something cheaper.