[dmcclure2]

I am at this point more a naysayer than a fanboy, but the truth is that there are many things I do love about the Playbook. Would I trade it for a product with Android, an operating system that I find confusing and commercial? Nope. Or an Apple? Nope, though the iPad does many things I wish the Playbook would do.

The Kindle Fire? Hmmm. With that web browser that follows you all across the Internet? No way.

I could easily give you a list of the five things I hate about the PlayBook. But that is for another day, when we know if RIM will survive the next year and get back on the development track.

I have to start with the three soft reasons I love it. Like the fact that my lady, who uses it for AOL email, Facebook and games (and to read my articles and books) just LOVES it. After all, if the lady is happy, life is much better for me. That's why I bought her a Playbook. She has never seen an iPad or Galaxy, and wonders what all the hoopla is about. I won't even discuss it with her. It would be like telling her there is no Santa Claus. Point One.

The form factor is easily Point Two. Dear god, to have such a beautiful screen in a 7" format! Size matters, and this is one case where smaller is better!

Point Three, I can use my high-speed recharger on my phone, PB and Bluetooth headset...charging all three in less than an hour when I am on the road. Does anyone else do that? I don't care...mine does, and that is what counts!

But I'm talking about a real list of five terrific things I can do with the PlayBook that enhance my life...if you can't do five, you need to think about it some more!

1) I can read just about any ebook I choose. I use an online book converter (see Online converter - convert video, images, audio and documents for free but you can choose your own), download the book, convert it to ePub or PDF if necessary, then read it using the US$.99 Book Reader For ePub and Kindle. BTW, there are tons of free, great books online...

2) I can watch movies and shows. In case you missed it, the airlines are cutting back on entertainment (unless you are entertained by advertising!) on virtually all domestic flights. Using free conversion programs (and there are a lot of them on the Internet!), I can convert the .VOB files from DVDs and recorded movies into a format readable by the PB. I store them on the 32 GB mini-SD disk in my Storm II, plus another two on the PB itself. I delete them once I watch, opening space to copy new ones from the phone to the PB. Plenty of room! Oh, and the sound is terrific, even through my cheesy earphones! Oh, and with a low-cost cord I can view those movies on the TV in my hotel room as well (depending on how cheap the TV is...LOL!).

3) I can navigate via GPS. I use the $4.99 Magellan Compass app. It is perfect? Heck, no. And it will not replace my $499 Garmin unit. On the other hand...it delivers about half the functionality of the Garmin for 1/100th of the price. LOL! You can navigate, and you don't have the nagging, whiny voice telling you where to turn...

4) The browser. I am in touch wherever I have a signal, Wi-Fi or 3G. I keep up with my sites, my blogs, the newsfeeds, the insane rants on this site. Okay, I am old enough to need reading glasses for some of them. But then, I need reading glasses to read most restaurant menus these days, too.

5) I can edit documents easily. Yeah, need some search capabilities. But anyone who has screamed in frustration about the limited views and truncated emails on your phone...well, you need a Playbook. I can do documents, spreadsheets, powerpoints et al with ease. And the two-thumb typing on my PB (soon to be replaced by a bluetooth keyboard) keeps me productive on the road.

That's my five. What, SPECIFICALLY, is your list?

[lexsteryo]

1. Small form factor. Its so cool when I have my PB in my back pocket and when I pull it out whoever is around seems to be amazed at it being a tablet computer.

2. Full Web Experience. I have yet to find a site I can't use on my PB. My pc usage is down at least 70% since I got my PB.

3. Bridge. I do have a MIFI, but its nice to simply turn on the bridge and surf the web.

4. Display. Flat out amazing!

5. App World. Believe it or not but I love the UI and just overall ease of use of the App World. I've used the app store on androids and ipads but def. like Blackberry's more.

I love my 9810 and PB and wouldn't trade for anything else.

[Foberry]

1: Form factor - portable, and light-weight

2: High quality 16:9 screen allows for great video playback especially useful during a flight

3: Adobe Flash - allows for a full web experience,

4: ePub book reader and comics reader

5: Bridge app, allows me to make the most use of my 6gb data plan.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Foppa_21]

I jus tposted thi sin another thred, but it's worth repeating.

1. Bridge to 9930 -- Internet access anywhere, apps needing wifi just work, and it makes native email a non-issue for me

2. Form factor -- I prefer this size tablet for most everything I do; especially great when traveling and watching movies on a plane

3. Video recording -- amazing quality, love the "view finder", and great for recording my kids doing flips on the trampoline or playing ice hockey

4. Native HDMI port -- easy to mirror movies to the TV above my treadmill, or to show my kids the video we just recorded

5. UI -- a true tablet OS that's all about the swipe!

[klc99]

1. UI: Simply enjoyable. I've been able to figure out how to do everything - swiping, opening, closing, clicking. Truth is, the Android tablets I tried confused and annoyed me.

2. It works so well for what I need. I know other people have had problems, but even before I bought, I tried out the functions I really really needed access to (many web-based, for work). Again and again, the playbook just does it, without complicated fussing I've had from other devices including laptops & handhelds.

3. Comfort. I guess I could say "size," but I get all happy when I can curl up in a chair or lay in bed and chat, read, play, browse and the playbook is goldilocks perfect, neither too big for comfort nor too small to see or to use - and this week I discovered that it fits in the pocket of my winter coat!

4. Bridge + WiFi. I didn't expect to care about either one all that much, but the combo is ideal. I can always get online when I want to (well, ok, I found one remote location with no signal to anything, but it's admittedly pretty remote). I feel very spoiled.

5. Apps. Isn't that ironic? Everyone keeps telling me that the "other" tablets have more apps, and I'm sure they do. But I am really enjoying some what's available to us, and looking forward to more. The games are doing a great job of distracting my hubby while I read in bed....

[xxplosive82]

Plenty to hate, but that's not what you asked

1. The size. I love being able to carry the PB around effortlessly and it just looks like a regular book.

2. The browser renders most sites with ease.

3. The speaker... 'nuff said.

4. HDMI mirroring w00t w00t.

5. Bezel gestures FTW.

[southlander]

1. Bridge
2. Size and feel in the hand
3. Absolutely beautiful screen
4. Great camera for video
5. Love the multi-tasking interface of the tablet OS

[lgx22]

1. Multitask interface
2. Size
3. Battery Life
4. Weight
5. Branding

[shootsscores]

In no particular order:

1. Flash
2. Bridging
3. Browser
4. Form
5. OS

[chrism_scotland]

1. Small size, much more portable than a 10" tablet and its easily replaced an e-reader for me too. Also the UI with the swiping is very intuitive, I thought it would be a bit gimicky but it really makes this device so easy to navigate, I want my 9900 to do it!

2. Screen is incredible, seems to be much sharper and brigher than most competing tablets, HD movies looks amazing and to think I "didn't seen the point" in HD on such a small screen. Its also turned into a brilliant photo viewer for me, the screen size and res feels much better suited to showing photo's than the Xoom I tried before.

3. Full on web browsing - the internet browser is really really good, feels exactly like a desktop browser and not like a mobile phone browser - would like access to the User Agent settings but there is a program that lets us do that.

4. Media Player, the sound out of this thing is as good as I've come to expect from my Blackberry phones - also the speakers sound really good - something I wasn't expecting from a tablet. Also the HDMI out is really good as well.

5. Blackberry Bridge - this was what swung it for me, being able to access my BBM and emails from my phone and sharing the internet connection - saves me having any problems by having my email syncing to multiple devices and sharing the connection is very handy when I'm out and about.!