Android owner using a playbook questions

Hey All,

I'm an HTC Evo user and I was looking to get the Galaxy Tab 7 Plus thinking it's the fastest 7" tablet. My co-worker has the playbook and I started doing some research and I'm very impressed! It really reminds me of WebOS and I think that's what's really selling me on this tablet. Plus the fact that it's super powerful or responsive.

My main purpose for getting this is for school, I'm taking online classes and I need something to read the class material on the go with flash video. I see that the flash playback is like a desktop and very smooth in performance.

I do have some ebook and note taking questions.

1) Has anybody have any problems with Google Ebooks? I don't know if there's a native app for it (they have one for android), but I can read it through the website on a desktop. But I want to be sure if the playbook can view google's ebooks.

2) I'm taking a designing class, and I want to be able to take pictures of ad designs with the playbook and make some type of graphical notations on the image, does the playbook offer an app for that? Is there a stylis available for this unti too?

2a) Does the text wrap for websites? If not, is there a way to hack it or a 3rd party browser that offers text wrapping when zooming into web pages?

3) Can I sync my google account with the playbook?

4) How do I load files into this thing? i remember having a blackberry phone and It wasn't easy to load stuff into this. I'm going to need to load MOV files (will it play those, or do I need to convert it with handbreak?

5) I read that there's no autofocus...not a total deal breaker, but can there be software added to make it auto focus?

Any other awesome selling points will be useful, bestbuy has this super cheap, and I might go for it. I'm watching PhoneDog's review on it and they're saying that the Playbook is very limited if I don't have a blackberry phone. Is this true?

Thanks!!

1) No answer

2) No answer on the app, but any capacitive screen stylus should work with the PB (don't get the cheap ebay rip-off though).

3) You will be able to sync your GMail account and calendar (possibly contacts) when OS 2.0 is out. Other google services (e.g. G+) are not yet supported AFAIK.

4) I use box.com or dropbox and load stuff using Files and Folders (a paid file manager app; it is possible that the native FM app in OS 2.0 will also have box.com, drop.box, other cloud storage support).

Awesome selling point is the UI. I am sure you'll love it.

4) Yes the playbook does support .mov files. OS 2.0 will add .mkv support as well. Loading files is as easy as drag and drop via usb or wi-fi (though you will probably want to do it via usb for larger files such as movies).

There is a desktop manager program that is available for syncing media files but it's optional and is kind of clunky to use.

Wow! I didn't know MOV files were supported out of the box...what about AVI (just curious) I only care for the MOV files and flash playback.

5) No, autofocus must be supported by the hardware.

Originally Posted by groovdafied

Wow! I didn't know MOV files were supported out of the box...what about AVI (just curious) I only care for the MOV files and flash playback.

Yup codec support is pretty good out of the box. If it added AC3 audio in addition to .mkv support it would be *awesome*.

Here's a post where you can find the supported A/V formats: http://forums.crackberry.com/blackbe...-video-692994/

As for apps, there are a couple of 3rd party browsers by devs that are active here on the forums. Both have added text reflow, which if I am honest I have not been able to get it to work, although others have. It may be because it's enabled in OS 2.0 and I'm on the latest stable (1.0.8)...

Regardless, they are fantastic browsers in their own right and you should definitely read about them here and here. Additionally, there may be more browsers ported over from Android coming with the new OS, as I recall reading that Dolphin HD became available on appworld (to those on the 2.0 beta) around a week ago.

For a photo editing app there are a few available in appworld, although I'm unsure of their features and whether or not they'd be sufficient for your needs. This one might be of interest to you.

The Google Books website works well for buying and reading eBooks on my PlayBook

2a) The native browser doesn't but there is a 3rd party app called Simple Browser + that does.

Much of the Android functionality will be afforded you through the 2.0 Playbook OS upgrade which will allow you to load various android apps that you may presently use, not every single one will work, though there may be alternatives that will provide you with solutions. I presently use a number of android apps on my PB with 2.0 beta and they work flawlessly, many apps actually function better and faster on the PB because of it's efficiency.

1) I can't comment as I've never used google books, but I'd be surprised if there's not an app solution soon if there already isn't one, there are some multifunctional google apps in app world right now that may be or double up as book readers,
You can always fall back on the browser which has a reader function, I've used it and it works very perfectly, one button press and only the text is displayed in reader format on you PB browser.

2) there are apps that I've seen that allow for picture mods and notation I would check out BB App World via the Blackberry.com website to see if one of those apps will work for you. I just noticed last night that my sister uses a stylus with her PB, it' s not for fine detail work though.

2a) I use Simple Browser, I actually helped beta test it for the creator who put a tremendous amount of time getting it to work correctly with OS revisions, it should work out of the box for 2.0 as much of and it was developed with the 2.0 beta, it works very well with multiple tabs and word wrap which is "text reflow enabled" in the menu. I highly recommend it.

3) Hard to say, though many are presently using their google accts and even Android App Market on 2.0 beta with 'rooted' PBs.

4) as long as you enable Filesharing in the main menu, you can just drag and drop files, pics, etc, from your computer as you can from networked PCs, Macs, etc. As Kennyliu mentioned above, Dropbox, Box.net, and other solutions are available to do cloud based transfer, Evernote is a great notetaking app that allows you to attach pics.

5) I've been told that the camera on the PB can support autofocus, but would need software to do so, I'm not certain if this is true, or whether anyone is working on such an app.

5b) is a laptop with WIFI limited without a BB phone?
I don't understand what they're commenting on, but anything you can do on a very good browser, you can do on the PB.
If they mean no native email, contacts, etc., native PIM apps will be available in the 2.0 update in a week or so

All in all the PB is becoming more powerful daily with an influx of new apps that are being created because of new incentives that RIM is offering in the way of free PBs to developers and the added benefit of greater sales when the new BBX/10 phones come out later this year, every app that works on PB now will work on those phones when available.

Thank you all for this great information! I can't wait to play with it today, I just might get this as my tablet. After watching these review videos, it looks like this is proof that you don't need a quad core tablet to function fluidly. I can only imagine that this tablet will function faster with more software updates then hardware updates.

Plus one of the selling points I'm hearing is its build quality. I'm super excited now and can't wait to get my hands on one, I really need one for school.

Has anybody used the Seagate Wifi hard drive with this?

1) I had nearly forgotten about Google eBooks!!!!

http://forums.crackberry.com/attachm...1&d=1328993388

2) Not that I am aware. Some users did report they use a stylus, but my esperience with that was terrible;

3) You will be able to before the end of the month. Email, calendars and contacts;

4) You had problems loading files to a BlackBerry? Hoe card could drag & drop be? Stil, you can manage your files directly via USB (PB will ask to install drivers on the 1st time), USB by Desktop Software if you need to convert files or via WiFi sharing;

5) That's a hardware feature, you can't simulate that.