[anthogag]

The setup and update process was a breeze for me. I think the whole process took 25-30 minutes.

On a recent flight I was a happy camper, I used the pb to play a few games, read, and listen to music. The size is perfect

[AggreX]

If all that the Playbook has is a powerful browser, this convenience is greatly reduced, especially because my Sony Vaio laptop also has a powerful browser, has an 8 hour battery life.

My laptops have rarely provided the "long" 6-8 hr battery life as advertised compared to the battery life claims of either the PB/ipad thus a BIG advantage for me.

[conix67]

Kindle for Android works great and definitely something worthwhile for upgrading to OS 2.0 Beta. Kindle Cloud reader just doesn't cut it for me.

However, don't expect *rock solid* performance out of OS 2.0 beta. I've not spent a single day without forced reboot of my PB, and I'm assuming this is mainly because of OS 2.0 *beta* and hoping for that day to come soon (2.0 release).

[nada_surf]

Kindle for Android works great and definitely something worthwhile for upgrading to OS 2.0 Beta. Kindle Cloud reader just doesn't cut it for me.

However, don't expect *rock solid* performance out of OS 2.0 beta. I've not spent a single day without forced reboot of my PB, and I'm assuming this is mainly because of OS 2.0 *beta* and hoping for that day to come soon (2.0 release).

i guess they havent updated flash on the beta yet since performance there is horrible and buggy. way more browser crashes than usual.

i also dont like the fact that some android apps are definitely noticably laggier. for example twitter for android ON my android device works smoothly. but twitter for android ON the playbook lags when scrolling up and down. really hope the android player gets polished up better than this.

[omniusovermind]

I honestly don't know why there are so many posts about netflix. I had a free trial on it on my PS3 and ugh... what a B-grade selection of old crummy movies. I was done all the bearable movies within a week and then let the free trial expire. There's a much better movie program on my PC, and it rhymes with 'you warrant'

[zorecati]

I have 2 Playbooks and 1 Lenovo ThinkPad tablet. I have purchased the Lenovo A1 tablet as well since the price was right.

Set up of the playbook this weekend only took 15 minutes at most even with the 370+mb download. I did this Christmas morning and it went with out a hitch.

I got another chance to play with an Ipad 2 this weekend and I will say it is a nice unit. They did alot of homework on the shape. I still prefure the playbook over all of them from a usage point of view. Quality apps is all that's missing. I just need netflix and a proper RDC client and it's on par or better than anything else i have or used.

[Tank1978]

I got a new Playbook for Christmas and my wife got a Kindle Fire. After 24 hours with it, my conclusion is that I am conflicted about it. I will list my major loves and hates about it, but I think that the bottom line at this point is that it simply needs more apps. Now, I'm not talking about having an app store that has bazillions of apps available. I mean just basic ones that people want and need.

There are several major things I would like to be able to do with a tablet and unfortunately my playbook can only do some of them.

1. Browse the web- works pretty well in general. No major complaint at all about the browser.

2. Watch YouTube videos- works fine for that so far, too.

3. Watch streaming video- FAIL. No Netflix or Hulu.

4. Read e-books- FAIL. No Kindle App.

5. Listen to music- don't know yet. Haven't tried to get my iTunes music onto the PB yet.

6. Words With Friends- FAIL. All my friends with Apple and Android can play, but not me.

7. Tethering- excellent feature. Nice to know I can get online anywhere I have phone service and my BB phone. Wish it worked with all phones, though.

8. Setup: FAIL, FAIL, FAIL. My wife booted up her Kindle Fire, registered it with her Amazon account and was up and running in minutes. Playbook? Um... no. I fired it up, went through the setup process and then it started to download an OS update. 2 HOURS LATER the download was finished and the PB tried to reboot. It hung on the bootup screen and none of the fixes here at CB worked.

9. BB Tech Support: A++++. I called BB tech support at around 11 P.M. on Xmas Eve. They not only were open, but I was transferred to a tech with almost no waiting. He spoke unaccented English and solved my problem almost immediately. The update began downloading again, this time using BB Desktop and my laptop, but again it proceeded at a snail's pace. I stressed several times to the tech guy that it was likely going to take a long, long time, but he kept offering to stay on the line with me as long as it took! I did get a ticket no. from him, though, and talked him into hanging up. At last, at about 5
A.M. the update finished and I was able to start using the PB.

While tech support was astoundingly good, this incident was completely unacceptable and BB needs to work on it ASAP.

Was the wireless signal bad, my setup was a breeze..

[jtwarrin5]

Last night I decided to use one of those Amazon gift certs I got and get the Amazon Prime account setup ($67 US per year). With Prime setup, I decided to try out the Amazon Prime Instant Videos on my PlayBook. WOW! They have a tonne of stuff and with a Prime account they are mostly no charge. I picked a Cadfeal episode I had not seen and instantly I was in medieval Shrewsbury. The video and sound was good. I'm sure the audio would have been great with my Bluetooth headphones.

So whoever said you can't get TV and movies streaming to your PB, you need to get out of your Netflix Hulu box.

Amazon can also stream directly to my Sony Bravia. My sweetheart saw that and said she was going to consider canceling Netflix.

Thanks to your posts, you introduced me to the Kindle cloud reader! I don't understand why some people keep saying that they don't have access to the kindle system. I have been an Amazon prime member for 6 years and just recently tried the streaming videos and they're great! Thanks again!

[rs422a]

It took me 27 days to setup my PB.

Of course I built my own wireless network from scrap FM radios and tube preamps. But hey 500 baud aint bad.

[RunSilent23]

Last night I decided to use one of those Amazon gift certs I got and get the Amazon Prime account setup ($67 US per year). With Prime setup, I decided to try out the Amazon Prime Instant Videos on my PlayBook. WOW! They have a tonne of stuff and with a Prime account they are mostly no charge. I picked a Cadfeal episode I had not seen and instantly I was in medieval Shrewsbury. The video and sound was good. I'm sure the audio would have been great with my Bluetooth headphones.

So whoever said you can't get TV and movies streaming to your PB, you need to get out of your Netflix Hulu box.

Amazon can also stream directly to my Sony Bravia. My sweetheart saw that and said she was going to consider canceling Netflix.

Amen to this post. I have 4 teens. I bought 3 Playbooks and 1 Kindle Fire for them and my wife also got Fire. The Fire comes with a 30-day subscription and it is a great library for the Fire and the Playbook. Amazon's Prime On Demand TV selection is rock solid and the movie section is okay. The kids have also found quite a bit of free music on Amazon as well.

[pkcable]

For streaming, the network sites with flash work well, fox, abc, nbc, etc, also Amazon Video works really well on the Playbook. I use my Amazon Prime membership on it.

[jafobabe]

I love Amazon Prime! Just got done watching "The Girl with the Dragon Tatto" All in subtitles, but it was so interesting and I was glued to the PB. Super streaming and the quality was fantastic.

[JR A]

I wish Netflix and Skype showed love for PB, but oh well, my Amazon streaming video works wonderfully on my PB. Now if only Amazon had the streaming selection that Netflix offers then we'd be golden, but that's another thread...

[SassyLee]

I've been using playon via there website that way I still have access to netflix and hulu. When away from home and work I just used my rooted Thunderbolt to catch a quick movie.

[rotorwrench]

I wish Netflix and Skype showed love for PB, but oh well, my Amazon streaming video works wonderfully on my PB. Now if only Amazon had the streaming selection that Netflix offers then we'd be golden, but that's another thread...

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I remember a post last week where someone quoted Skype commenting that they were now looking into bringing the PB into the fold. I'm sure I read it the last few days. Do a search jranciano.

[Unsure2]

Last night I decided to use one of those Amazon gift certs I got and get the Amazon Prime account setup ($67 US per year). With Prime setup, I decided to try out the Amazon Prime Instant Videos on my PlayBook. WOW! They have a tonne of stuff and with a Prime account they are mostly no charge. I picked a Cadfeal episode I had not seen and instantly I was in medieval Shrewsbury. The video and sound was good. I'm sure the audio would have been great with my Bluetooth headphones.

So whoever said you can't get TV and movies streaming to your PB, you need to get out of your Netflix Hulu box.

Amazon can also stream directly to my Sony Bravia. My sweetheart saw that and said she was going to consider canceling Netflix.

Yes, Amazon Instant streams very nicely to the Playbook. I don't think the selection is as good as with Netflix, and also, Amazon Prime does not give you Amazon's full selection free; but, there is plenty of stuff available. Amazon also streams nicely to its own Fire tablet, of course; but one thing the Playbook will do that the Fire can't is stream and play movies on your large stream TV

[market58]

I think you are now finding out what several of us who purchased the Playbook have come to realize. I like my Playbook more for its potential than for what it can do right now. While the ability to browse websites that are miniaturized replicas of the same websites on PCs and Macs is great, it doesn't present any viable or convenient alternatives to Hulu, Kindle, Netflix or HBOGO, to name a few essential ones.

All our hopes are vested in OS 2.0 which is supposed to allow access to applications on the Droid universe, but it has been delayed time and again by RIM. Its latest release is now slated for February. This is the main reason why I was only willing to pay $200; I'd hate to shell out $499 only to find that OS 2.0 doesn't bring all that has been promised, or that it will be further delayed while other tablets featuring access to these applications are released almost every month.

The success of Kindle Fire and other tablets has proved what some of us already knew: the success of a tablet is directly dependent on content. With a mobile phone, you can dismiss the fact that there aren't too many apps available by claiming that its primary function is for making calls. With a computer, one doesn't need as many apps because it is almost always connected to an internet source, and because the browser is powerful enough to access all content.

For a tablet, it has always been about apps. No one really needs a tablet if they already have a computer and a phone. A tablet, then, is all about convenience to fill the gap between the two. Apps foster that convenience, and for now, Playbook is seriously deficient on that front. I fervently hope that our patience will pay off. If not, I will declare a bad investment, forego the $200, and get myself an iPad. Holding my nose all the way.

I agree....having had the Playbook for almost 7 months, I am tired of hearing about potential. I have limited use of my PB not because its not a good device, but i am bored with what it can do. I have an iPad as well and when I get bored with that, I search for an app and then I play with it again. Its hard to do that with the PB with limited numbers of apps. Truthfully the ones available are not very exciting. I do like the few new games that have been ported, but I want the whole plethora of apps to choose for all categories. Hopefully......seems like we have been saying this for a while, they will fix this real soon.

[Mercury]

I agree....having had the Playbook for almost 7 months, I am tired of hearing about potential. I have limited use of my PB not because its not a good device, but i am bored with what it can do. I have an iPad as well and when I get bored with that, I search for an app and then I play with it again. Its hard to do that with the PB with limited numbers of apps. Truthfully the ones available are not very exciting. I do like the few new games that have been ported, but I want the whole plethora of apps to choose for all categories. Hopefully......seems like we have been saying this for a while, they will fix this real soon.

ok so it sounds like you have a tablet because you want a tablet??? Be it a Playbook or *cringes* an iPad, Some of us actually bought the playbook for what it really is! I bought the playbook because of what it CAN do right now. Instead of lugging around a 5-6lb laptop, a mouse and all the other stuff, the Playbook is carted around in my Otterbox weighing less then 2lbs. Connects to monitors/tv's with HDMI and I can do power point presentations and word documents.

It is my media center as I take public transit, i put movies and music on it. I have some games.

IT sounds like you buy tablets because you want to be a hipster and have the latest "greatest" thing and be trendy. If you don't like the App selection, stick to your iPad. Tablets are truly meant to be an assistant to your life. Sure items are missing like email/calendar and a few other things, but if you have a blackberry phone, you have everything.

I'm not going to sit here and insult you, but you are the typical user Apple likes. "Let's see how much money we can make off this guy, and give him tons of apps that are between $0.99-9.99 after spending an initial $600-800 on our iPad"

We live in an A-D-D (for those that Don't know, A-D-D stands for Attention Deficit Disorder) society and its funny that Apple and even Android to a lesser degree have conditioned people to think that we NEED apps. But people need to go back to the root of iPads and Playbooks and other tablets, they are an assistant to our every day lives, not a tool to distract us every waking moment and need to have apps to keep us entertained for long periods of time.

I am the first to admit, my PB is probably about 60/40 entertainment/work, but you know what, I'm not bored with my PB because my NEEDS/WANTS are more simplistic than most peoples because I don't need apps to keep me entertained.

[anon3396357]

I'm not going to sit here and insult you, but you are the typical user Apple likes. "Let's see how much money we can make off this guy, and give him tons of apps that are between $0.99-9.99 after spending an initial $600-800 on our iPad"

I think you are pretty misguided or misinformed about "apps".

Apple's main revenue source is not from their cut of app sales from developers. It had not been, is not, and will not be in future. Since the inception of the App Store 3 years ago, Apple hasn't even broken $1b in profit from app sales alone. Also, many people assume that Apple takes the whole 30% cut - logic and common sense tells us that this is not true. Parts of it goes to credit card companies as well, after covering costs of maintaining servers/storage space and etc.

Anyways, apps are essential. It's either semantics or you don't understand what apps are. "Messages" on your BB is an app, even a Super App which RIM calls it. Music player, video player, memo pad etc. and the list goes on.

Okay, so you mean 3rd-party apps. They are still a need, and they are a reason why I bought a smartphone in the first place. If my phone is just a communication tool, I wouldn't buy a smartphone - I would just get a feature phone which can make calls and send texts. But no, one can use a smartphone to read and edit Word/Excel documents (Docs2Go), check the traffic (BB Traffic), find my way when driving in an area for the first time (Navigation apps)... you get my drift.

If apps are just a want, by all means send out project proposals and meeting minutes via SMS.

[Mercury]

Okay, so you mean 3rd-party apps. They are still a need, and they are a reason why I bought a smartphone in the first place. If my phone is just a communication tool, I wouldn't buy a smartphone - I would just get a feature phone which can make calls and send texts. But no, one can use a smartphone to read and edit Word/Excel documents (Docs2Go), check the traffic (BB Traffic), find my way when driving in an area for the first time (Navigation apps)... you get my drift.

If apps are just a want, by all means send out project proposals and meeting minutes via SMS.

i'm not misguided, I am talking about the apps that people download for the of it. "Oh look, a new game or app must download" How many apps are actually productivity apps in the Apple App store, Android Market and Blackberry app world? I bet it is only about 35-40%. And beyond the stock apps such as docs2go, or bbm or whatever, how many apps are actually used? Honestly I barely use the docs2go on my 9900, Everything is done either on my work computer or playbook. But yes its on my phone in case i need it.

But my initial point of my post is, a tablet is your assistant to get things done, everyone claiming they NEED netflix/skype/kindle or whatever else, it is not a NEED, it is a want, and the original post i was responding to was the guy was bored of the playbook because it doesn't have apps that will satisfy him and he will pick up his ipad and download apps. This to me sounds like someone that cannot be satisfied and has tablets for the sake of "being cool"

[xandermac]

It comes down to choice. You can choose to use a device with a healthy ecosystem of applications to meet your needs or one that doesn't. The market has determined that a healthy ecosystem is the preferred choice.

A smartphone or tablet is a multipurpose device for most people, having applications available to extend that purpose is a good thing. Naturally no one is forced to use them but some people will get bored very quickly if the device doesn't meet their needs. Nothing to do with "being cool", everything to do with "value". A tablet or phone with no extensibility has no value to me be it productivity or entertainment. But that's just me.

i'm not misguided, I am talking about the apps that people download for the of it. "Oh look, a new game or app must download" How many apps are actually productivity apps in the Apple App store, Android Market and Blackberry app world? I bet it is only about 35-40%. And beyond the stock apps such as docs2go, or bbm or whatever, how many apps are actually used? Honestly I barely use the docs2go on my 9900, Everything is done either on my work computer or playbook. But yes its on my phone in case i need it.

But my initial point of my post is, a tablet is your assistant to get things done, everyone claiming they NEED netflix/skype/kindle or whatever else, it is not a NEED, it is a want, and the original post i was responding to was the guy was bored of the playbook because it doesn't have apps that will satisfy him and he will pick up his ipad and download apps. This to me sounds like someone that cannot be satisfied and has tablets for the sake of "being cool"

Sent from my iPhone4s using Tapatalk

[habsfan170]

Ditto - check out the Book Reader app. It's 99 cents, and runs .mobi and .epub files great. It's also proof for adding books, making the process very easy. In terms of features, the only thing it is lacking is a brightness control, which would make it perfect. Check it out. But yes, I am hoping for Kindle soon as well on OS2.

Another thing I hope RIM adds is an EQ control to the music player! How was that missed?

[crackberryjill]

For apps such as Netflix, cancel Netflix and get Amazon Prime, and let Netflix know why you cancelled. Bottom line is what these outfits check out most. Have Skype? Drop it in favour of ReelPortal, a video chat app that works on all platforms. Why is everyone so hooked on Skype? Because its what we know and we hate change. Get your families to download ReelPortal as well and create a new must have app for everyone with a playbook.

Heck, I can't let let Skype run on my computer all the time as it uses me as a server and over a day, my whole internet starts to come to a crawl. So I only turn on Skype when I am sitting at the computer, which is a shame as if someone called me on Skype, even if I'm not at the computer, I can here it just as if the phone was ringing. But hey, I can't donate all my bandwidth to Skype. I have yet to have a real good video connection with Skype. And I paid the extra so I could have the videoconferencing service, that with ReelPortal is free.

I also can't see how anyone can use a few hundred apps on their tablets. When I was at Staples looking at the playbooks, a lady was telling me the wonders of her iPad. Now I agree its a great device, (and as a magazine junkie, would probably like to have one because of its size), but she was going on about downloading 3 or 4 new apps a day. Who needs 3 or 4 new apps a day? Just because you can, doesn't mean you will use them.

I have Netflix, but don't care if I have it on my playbook. I use veetle.com a lot on the playbook, and yes, I am a usenet downloader (whicih I am sure a lot of the people on this board are), so move all my shows over to the playbook and curl up in my chair and watch.

I have lots of drm free books, so also sit by the file with book reader, adjusting the pages to suit my preferences.

And I've only had my playbook for 10 days. There are a few games I play (I am also addicted to Spider Solitaire) and love the Pixelated game. I have also become addicted to Need for Speed. Didn't like it on my son's X-box, but using the playbook as my steering wheel is really cool.

Personally I don't care if I have email on my Playbook. I can use it by going to webmail if I really have to. I know this is important to many people, so probably the most important one that RIM should get out there.

What is really funny is comparing it to getting your first computer. Surfing the internet everywhere you could, just because you could. Now I bet I have about 10 or so sites I visit and hardly wander from there, unless I am searching to resolve some problem somewhere.

But then hey, I don't have a flat screen TV yet, still my excellent 32" JVC from 15 years ago. I have WD HD Live that I use to stream all my viewing from my computer or attached hard drives plus Netflix, Youtube and a whole bunch more.

[kbz1960]

Guess some has been deleted in here lol. No worries. I just came back in to say that xandermac has been helpful here in the forums also so do not lable him/her as a troll.

[jamesbondOO7]

How is the Kindle cloud reader anyway? Is it that much of a pain to use compared to an official app or...?

Horrible. I have given up and for reading, I use my other tablet.