Compact Tablets compared

Guys, there's an online CNN story today doing a "showdown" of the iPad Mini, the Nexus 7, and the Kindle Fire HD.
See story here: Tablet showdown: iPad mini vs. Nexus 7 vs Kindle Fire HD - Nov. 7, 2012
I was disappointed to see that the PlayBook was left out and said as much in the comments section of the story.
The author of the article has since responded in the comments section saying: "Okay, sell me on it (the PlayBook). How does it compare on the criteria I set out in the piece?"
I'm no expert. How DOES the PlayBook stack up?
It would be nice to see an informed reponse posted on a high-profile site like CNN.

Just another case of press bias me thinks. Not many would openly criticise Apple openly in fear that Apple shut them out!

Originally Posted by BigwhiteUK

Just another case of press bias me thinks. Not many would openly criticise Apple openly in fear that Apple shut them out!

The article wasn't biased. The author supported the Nexus over the iPad mini.

The bias is against BlackBerry. Not pro-anything.

Most tech blogs won't even consider mentioning BlackBerry at all, even when it is relevant to (unless it is a good bashing, those some of them won't miss a chance to do).

I don't mind a fair comparison finding the PlayBook lacking, provided it was a fair comparison.

Screen
PB has the lowest resolution but does have a small advantage in PPI over the ipad mini. All 4 have very good screens to look at IMO. The KF HD and N7 screens are probably a bit better with the higher resolution and PPI though

size and wieght
PB is the heaviest and the thickest

battery life
PB clocks in probably 6-7 hours

Apps
no answer needed

Interface
this is always subjective. Multitasking is very good but customization is null for the most part on the PB. the gestures on the PB are nice but other tablets also can use gestures. This just comes down to preference IMO and there is never a clear winner.

Price
PB probably is the cheapest since its also over 1.5 years old.


There is a quick run thru from what i can think of.

My PlayBook clocks eight hours easily... Provided I don't game, then it can be anything between two and three hours.

Originally Posted by howarmat

Screen
PB has the lowest resolution but does have a small advantage in PPI over the ipad mini. All 4 have very good screens to look at IMO. The KF HD and N7 screens are probably a bit better with the higher resolution and PPI though

the pb is much better outdoors than the N7

size and wieght
PB is the heaviest and the thickest

but also much better built than either the n7 or KFHD

battery life
PB clocks in probably 6-7 hours

Apps
no answer needed

pretty hopeless, and the majority appear to be android anyways

Interface
this is always subjective. Multitasking is very good but customization is null for the most part on the PB. the gestures on the PB are nice but other tablets also can use gestures. This just comes down to preference IMO and there is never a clear winner.

the grid is essentially the same as ios, with nothing to distinguish. However, despite the cool gestures and flings, there's no getting away from the fact that many parts of the pb ui is clunky, slow and fragmented. For example, the back gesture for android apps is not reproduced natively, and breaks the experience--although, there is also shades of this in the N7 with the menu button moving around on different apps; the email app is appallingly slow to open, and requires multiple taps from the top left notification (tap to open a dialogue asking you to tap again?!); and, the propensity of the keyboard and browser to crash and burn cannot be ignored. nevertheless, the pb's multitasking is on a par with the N7 (differently rendered, and in some ways more impressive--my video is playing while I answer an email--but, in others more limitedand way beyond that of the KFHD or mini ipad, and for that alone it must be seen as ahead of its time (for a caveat to this, see below)

Price
PB probably is the cheapest since its also over 1.5 years old.

yup, it's 1.5 years old. But, even firesale prices keep it around the prices of the N7 and KFHD. of course, the parts have become cheaper, and the pb has some fine parts within it (but for comparison purposes we can't really talk about the cameras etc). The price is less, but the value is also.

There is a quick run thru from what i can think of.

and the same from me, but I have one comment that I think answers this thread more succinctly than anything else. Why do you want a comparison between the 1.5 year old playbook and the current slew of 7" tablets? I have a 2.5 year old HTC Desire that can still in usage compete well with the phones released earlier this year. it is still fast and lean, the ram and processor still run most everything I throw at it. but, I also know that the only reason it does so is because I spent a lot of time and effort working through the many roms and tweaks that the large and talented developer community gave to it. It doesn't compare with the phones today in anything other than user experience, although enough for me to keep returning to it rather than upgrading (for now), because if you tweaked the new breed they'd show my phone up as the weak and old piece of kit that it is.

The same goes for the pb... right now, it's a bargain in the uk in terms of storage vs cash, not in terms of cutting edge desirability or futureproofing. anyways, if you want a pb comparison with the n7 etc, why not clamour for the new one (4g?), which is at least a little more contemporaneously spec'd.

ps, apologies for the formatting within the quote, I hoped it would stand out, but hey-... :confused:

Originally Posted by kboya

and the same from me, but I have one comment that I think answers this thread more succinctly than anything else. Why do you want a comparison between the 1.5 year old playbook and the current slew of 7" tablets? I have a 2.5 year old HTC D

You have a point, but IMHO, not a strong one.

The iPad Mini's hardware is very very close to the PlayBook's. That would be more than a reason to compare.

We're not talking about dead hardware here. The PlayBook is getting updates (not as fast as we'd like, yeah) and it is still being sold. So, if it's an option, it could have been added to the comparison.

well, I suppose the article set out its stall early on: " How do the three highest-profile competitors -- the mini, Google's Asus-built Nexus 7 and Amazon's Kindle Fire HD -- compare?"

That's a much stronger point.

Base on the category and evaluations set by the auther, Playbook wins on price and Interface. In the middle for size/weight and screen . But looses on the apps eco system.
Not bad for an almost 2 year old tablet.