Another experience at the live Playbook event in LA
Theruined beat me to it with his thread. Just giving another perspective for anyone interested. We were actually going to meet there but I didn't want my gf to suffer too long since she wanted to go shopping. But she was a trooper at the training and was bragging about how she knew how to use the Playbook after!
When we entered the Sheraton, a rep greeted us and had us sign in on touchscreens with a very brief survey, then gave us personal lanyard tags. Each tag had its own barcode to be scanned for points after completing various walkthroughs around the show. The points would then be put towards a drawing for a free Playbook. So they stressed we go to each station and complete the tasks in order to increase our chances. Upon entering, we noticed that weren't that many people at the event. I think we it's because we came early before many people got off work. There was tons of free food and drinks as well as lounge chairs to make yourself comfortable. It all looked very nice and organized.
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The walkthroughs were divided in stations where reps were there to help out. Each station had live Playbooks on hand to be handled in order to complete the task. Some examples were gaming, pairing to your BB handset, guide for using gestures, and using presentation mode.
I think the presentation mode was the most impressive. Theruined posted a great video on it I noticed. The speaker for this station had me and my girlfriend use individual Playbooks at their own pods. He then used his own which was attached to a large projector for everyone to see. We were guided through the different ways of multitasking and it really showed the power of the device. He was running an HD Captain America trailer while showing us images and various other things. We did the same on our own Playbooks and I gotta say, the thing is a BEAST.
An interesting scenario was brought up by one rep which I never thought about. Students could literally have the Playbook recording lectures in class while typing on Words to Go. It's not like this was a surprise to many of us but when you actually see it in action, it really is impressive.
Another station showcased the accessories for the Playbook that would be offered at launch as well as in the summer. I noticed the convertible case was one of the ones that is coming. A little pricey but there will be several third party vendors creating them too as we're already seeing. A mini bluetooth keyboard was shown on an image and looked nice. We were told that a bluetooth keyboard and BB pair could be simultaneously done. So that was a sigh of relief.
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We also went to a quick 15-20 min private presentation that pretty much told us everything we've already known. The speaker took a quick Q&A at the end. I suppose it was more useful for those that weren't as familiar with the device.
As far as the Playbook itself.....
It felt very sturdy. It wasn't the same aluminum feel of the ipad but had it's own sense of sturdiness. The back had a matte finish with a grippy rubber feel. The surface of the screen felt like the glass you would expect on your Storm or Torch. The screen was extremely clear and touch sensitivity was great. I also managed to quickly grab a screenshot of App World since we haven't seen much of that.
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The only complaint I had was flash in the browser was sometimes glitchy in but I'm sure they will improve on that. We were also told that there were several devices connected through their wifi network so it put a toll on their network. That definitely made sense because I saw SEVERAL live Playbooks on hand.
I'm really stoked to receive mine on the 19th. I'm more excited now after going to this. My gf even seemed slightly interested and she could care less about electronics. Just using her as an example for your average consumer. I'm curious how these will sell on release. I think RIM should really push their marketing to get this out there because it's really the dark horse in the tablet space. The Playbook really felt polished and I hope people see the work RIM has been putting into it.
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Edit 11/7/11: Added some pictures of some of the things I recieved.
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Speaking of the glass....
This is supposed to be gorilla glass right? I remember seeing a YouTube vid when the Storm came out with someone scratching the glass with nails, keys etc. and it didn't scratch at all. HOWEVER, one drop face down from my desk DID break the glass (insure, insure, insure!), as should be expected.
Has anyone tried anything like that on the Playbook? Any vids showing how tough this gorilla glass really is?