[BelieverX]

After some consideration, I've decided to move to another tablet platform. The Playbook is a great device, but I need a tablet that will work with Microsoft's OneNote. The app(s) available for the Playbook do not function well or at all with OneNote. As a replacement, I purchased an Asus MeMO Pad HD 7. Microsoft is currently having a bit of a problem with the OneNote version for Android, but a patch is scheduled for this week that will supposedly fix the problem. I bought the MeMO Pad through Amazon Europe, and paid 150.- Euros. Specs below.

Asus MeMo Pad HD 7 specs:
- 7" IPS Display (1280x800)
- 1.20GHz Quadcore MediaTek MT8125 Processor
- 1GB RAM
- 16GB with expansion slot for 32GB
- Wireless LAN
- Bluetooth 4.0
- GPS
- 5MP rear camera, 1.2MP front camera
- Android 4.2
- 2 year guarantee

I cleaned up the Playbook & accessories, put them back in their original boxes and placed them on my oldest son's desk. He'll have a nice surprise when he gets home tonight.

[Sith_Apprentice]

Unfortunately the support from BB for the PlayBook will quickly fade, but the tablet works well for what it is now. Is it a current gen device? No, but it certainly works fine for a 2 year old piece of hardware. Hope your son likes it!

[Tim1131]

You know I was looking at this tablet in Toronto ..single core, screen not great I like the screen saver that's about it.
Europe got the good version of this tablet, quad core ... impressive screen
Fire sale of this and the new HP tablet in 3 mths....lol

[zten]

Asus is a terrible product lol you should have got the Microsoft surface it's on for 349.

Posted via CB10

[BelieverX]

...you should have got the Microsoft surface it's on for 349.

When tablets first hit the market, I decided then that I would never pay more than 200.- € for one. Quality tablets will continue to drop in prices, and at 200.- € or less I can afford to upgrade once a year.

[madman0141]

At least your PlayBook is heading to a good home. Like you I have moved to what I would call an additional tablet rather than another tablet. I got the ipad mini and while I like it nothing is as cool as my first. Hope your new tablet serves you well.

[IgotsThis]

Honestly you shouldve gotten a different tablet, same specs as the PB.

Z10? Why yes it is.

[dangerousfen]

Would be good if you could post a follow up after a few weeks of use. Hope you enjoy it.

[bambinoitaliano]

Honestly you shouldve gotten a different tablet, same specs as the PB.

Z10? Why yes it is.

Playbook cam is 5Mp and 3MP. A build in 64g would have been better than a switchable 32g SD card. Not to mention the hdmi port. I'm still waiting for a tablet that encompass what playbook has spec wise and more.

[Thunderbuck]

Seriously considering a Surface RT, given the price they're at now (and they're beautiful hardware).

There's also the talk of a Snapdragon 800 Surface RT coming later this year. That might be worth waiting for...

From the awesome virtual keyboard of my Z10

[FF22]

Seriously considering a Surface RT, given the price they're at now (and they're beautiful hardware).

There's also the talk of a Snapdragon 800 Surface RT coming later this year. That might be worth waiting for...

From the awesome virtual keyboard of my Z10

The problem with the RT could mirror the issues with the PB - limited apps although I would guess that MS has provided Skype and Office tools, at the least. The the price is definitely getting better and I have to guess that the Pro will follow suit.

[jpash549]

Make way for the new models. Acer W3 also. With rumors of big inventories and slow sales prices may drop further.


Sent from my Nexus 7 using CB Forums mobile app

[Unbiased Tech]

I gave my PlayBook to my dad for father's day. I just roll with my Z10 and laptop now

Posted via CB10

[rotorwrench]

OP, here's the proper forum for these posts. Thanks.



http://forums.crackberry.com/general...t-here-260887/

BTW, good luck, but many of us have no need to "move on" at this time. My PBs are still working fine and serving my needs. When the time comes, I'll move on, but after trying several tablets, I still prefer the PB.

[costas1966]

Asus is a terrible product lol you should have got the Microsoft surface it's on for 349.

Posted via CB10

I disagree...the Asus vivo tab with windows 8 is a great tablet for me so far. Unless you've tried it out, you don't know.

[BelieverX]

BTW, good luck, but many of us have no need to "move on" at this time. My PBs are still working fine and serving my needs. When the time comes, I'll move on, but after trying several tablets, I still prefer the PB.

As I already said, I think the Playbook is a good tablet. Where the Playbook falls short is compatibility with desktop applications. I have purchased and/or tried dozens of apps. None of the apps I tried provided a satisfactory alternative for the PC software I use.

Here is a list of the PC software I need a tablet to be compatible with or emulate (function just as good or better).
- Microsoft OneNote...tried the apps available for the PB, but none function properly.
- Office...the office apps for the PB are no better than the ones you would find on a ten year old pocket computer.
- Financial...went through a lot of money managing apps, and only one was useable.
- Bible...there is no native Bible software for the PB that's worth any spit. There are some Android apps ported for the PB, but they load slow and are buggy.

Having said all that, I think the PB OS is leaps and bounds more practical than Android. If it weren't for the app issues mentioned I would never give up the Playbook.

[jpash549]

The 8" Acer W3 has some good features and runs full Windows 8 abeit 32 bit I believe. Since it uses the current Atom processor it is not as powerful as the Windows Surface Pro. The 32 GB version is now being offered at $299 at Staples. The Windows Surface RT with the ARM processor is now being discounted. The new Haswell processor processors just starting to appear are supposed to offer large improvements in battery cycle life and some other performance improvements. Thus the tablet makers will be offering new versions in the fall and prices on current models will continue to drop to get rid of overstock.

[FF22]

Yes, since I purchased and returned the Acer W3, it has dropped in price. As I wrote, I returned it due to defective sd card slot. I did not get a chance to really test it but put a few windows programs on it without issue.

I think its main problem is that "normal" windows apps are not designed for tablets or tablet screens. So when playing with window sizes, fonts don't respond nor do the size of the various windows' controls. I think someone mentioned some of the RT apps are also not necessarily scaled to the screen/concept of a smaller tablet.

[Send Again]

I think no one really knows what they want from a tablet. That's why the market is so fragmented(?). They want a $200 pseudo tablet to everything that their laptop or desktop does. Do you want just a media consumption device to read books and watch movies, or do you want a device that can use MS Office and Quicken and Photoshop? Do you want limited functionality with apps or do you want to be able to do everything you need to do to get your tasks accomplished.

My advice, step away from the pseudo tablets and get a surface pro or any tablet that will run real programs. Not the RT, unless you want to own another dead-end playbook. A real tablet does everything. I have Office 2003 and Quicken 2007 loaded on my Surface Pro. If I need to get something done, I connect a usb mouse and start doing instead of trying to find workarounds. If I want to watch Hulu or Amazon Prime, I connect it to my tv and it just works. Stop fooling yourself and thinking a $200 device is ever going to be more than just a media consumption device.

[johnnyuk]

Seriously considering a Surface RT, given the price they're at now (and they're beautiful hardware).

Surface RT is only starting to look attractive for the same reason that PlayBook started to look attractive, its price is being slashed because it isn't selling.

I've had one to use at work since it launched. I barely touch it when I also have iPads, Android and PlayBook tablets available at work. I prefer to grab any of those 3 before I fire up the Surface and the main reason for that is the frustrating User Interface and User Experience of Windows 8.

If you can live with the walled garden of the Windows app store and the often incomprehensible Windows 8 way of doing things then Surface RT could be your next bargain tablet that won't be supported in another couple of years.

Posted via CB10

[yzf.shaun]

I was having a think about it this weekend as well and had looked at the Asus as well as the HP Slate 7 Currently on sale at Best BUy Canada for $149. Although I did still end up with an Asus taking the form of the Nexus 7.

So far it is fantastic and can run every app I desire without wondering if someone has converpted the APK to bar and whether or not it will be updated. It's a real shame as the PlayBook is such a fantastic piece of hardware. If only BBRY would just open the device up now so those who desired could install Android onto it.

PlayBook will be boxed and onto Kijiji by the weekend although I don't expect to be getting much for it.

I like the idea of the Surface Pro but think that you really might as well just have a laptop and then a smaller media device like the Nexus 7. For my laptop I have the HP Ultrabook Envy touchsmart running Windows 8.

[glassbottomboat]

Well I wasn't going to give up on my 2 playbooks so I wanted to give one of them to my 3 yr old but there are no good native kids apps or any child lock type apps. I need the child lock apps because he knows how to easily navigate the playbooks UI and always ends up closing the app he is playing with and I have to relaunch it for him. So I jumped on the Nook HD+ semi firesale and as soon as it was charged out of the box I rooted it and installed CM10.1 on it. At first I found Android 4.2.2 UI a little cumbersome compared to the Playbook UI but after a couple days of playing with it I have to say it's a pretty nice OS. My only other Android experience was a Rooted Nook Color with CM7 a few years back.

I love it, the screen looks beautiful (9" 1920x1200 IPS display) and does everything my PB does except for the bridge feature but I can just use mobile hotspot to tether to it. Plays all the apps I have on the PB plus more, plays 1080p and 720p movies with ease although the single rear facing speaker does not even hold a flame to the Playbooks dual front facing ones. I don't care if it doesn't have a camera or GPS never really used them on the PB and I didn't need a quad core because I don't play CPU/GPU intensive games but I do love the SD card slot, lots of expandable storage. So all in all I think I have found a nice main replacement tablet for my Playbook for pretty cheap.

[BelieverX]

Would be good if you could post a follow up after a few weeks of use. Hope you enjoy it.

It's been a few days...

Here's a quick comparison and a closing opinion.

- At the moment the Playbook sells locally for 138.- Euros, I purchased the Asus Memo HD 7 from Amazon for 149.- Euros. The Asus Memo HD 7 is sold out locally, and Amazon was the only vendor I could find who still had some in stock.

- The specs I already posted...but a surprising feature was that the Memo HD 7 will automatically go in standby mode when the user closes the cover. Reanimating the device simply requires opening the cover again. The screen is also more reactive to tablet pens than the Playbook. I bought a pen for the PB some time ago, and after fooling with it for an hour, I realized that the PB screen wasn't very pen friendly. I used the same pen on the Memo HD 7, and had such a good experience, I prefer it over using my fingers.

- Software. I am totally amazed at the free software available for the Android OS. For every software title I purchased for the PB, there is a better free version available for Android.

If Blackberry were to follow up on the Playbook, I don't doubt that they would be selling a far superior device. But I do believe that Blackberry has no idea how to set prices properly on the devices they sell. The reason I got the Playbook for Christmas last year was because the price was very competitive...170.- Euros compared to its original 470.- Euro price.

[Thunderbuck]

One thing that's made me reconsider: the Origami Browser is really THAT GOOD. It's such a good browsing experience (WAY better than IE on Win RT) that I'm not in such a rush to leave the platform. I just wish there were a way to make it the default browser.

[Rule9]

As of yesterday the newest Nexus 7 is now the finest 7" tablet you can get.