[bungaboy]

BBM groups don't work via Bridge and it can be a little frustrating at times.
I have 33 personal BBM contacts which work great via Bridge but I have another 55 in a couple of BBM groups which don't appear on the PB when I am Bridged.

Can't you use "invite to" to add more people to the BBM session? I know it's not the same as groups but might suffice for now.

[jagrlover]

Here's another reason. I bought my kids PlayBooks last year for Christmas and they don't have phones. I wish they had their own PIN's for BBM so I could chat with them when the need arises.

[Xopher]

BBM groups don't work via Bridge and it can be a little frustrating at times.
I have 33 personal BBM contacts which work great via Bridge but I have another 55 in a couple of BBM groups which don't appear on the PB when I am Bridged.

I'm in the same boat. There are a couple of BBM Groups that are quite active on a daily basis. I would love to have access to those on my PB, but end up grabbing my BB just to keep up.

[hreiner1]

Not everyone who has a PlayBook will have a BlackBerry. By having BBM as a stand-alone option, it gives people without a BB the ability to use BBM. It might end up being a gateway drug into getting a BB10 phone and bridging the two.

Regarding Native email, database

I have a 22,000+ contacts on my outlook database, which I sync to a designated Gmail address and database, which is my email address when I email from of FILES and FOLDERS
Therefore the Native apps on Playbook are great and handy
just in case my phone is not working I just need WIFI and I am back in Biz

So BBM would be great as well as IM+ is slow and locks up the PB most of the time

[hanexs]

another reason -- why would you want to kill your phones battery just cause your bbming from your playbook. Maybe im using the playbook cause the phones dead, or charging. Maybe I dont want to be bothered to turn it on. I think bridging was a horrible idea.

[juacas]

why is "native" bbm on the playbook important to you if you have a blackberry phone and bridge? I don't use the native pim applications that are there now. Bridge kicks !

What am i missing? Not meant as a "gig". I just really want to know if there's something i'm not seeing....

+100000000000000000000000000000000000

[bldshd]

Why is "native" BBM on the Playbook important to you if you have a Blackberry phone and bridge? I don't use the native PIM applications that are there now. Bridge kicks !

What am I missing? Not meant as a "gig". I just really want to know if there's something I'm not seeing....

Im thinking a native BBM client on the PlayBook would hopefully bring BBM Groups & eventually BBM Video Chat..... Just my opinion no facts

[bldshd]

Also for people that dont have BlackBerry phones but do have PlayBook's which there are actually alot of

[bldshd]

another reason -- why would you want to kill your phones battery just cause your bbming from your playbook. Maybe im using the playbook cause the phones dead, or charging. Maybe I dont want to be bothered to turn it on. I think bridging was a horrible idea.

Bridging a horrible idea? Your kidding right? I hope.. Bridge is 1 of if not the best feature of a BlackBerry PlayBook

[JR A]

another reason -- why would you want to kill your phones battery just cause your bbming from your playbook. Maybe im using the playbook cause the phones dead, or charging. Maybe I dont want to be bothered to turn it on. I think bridging was a horrible idea.

Everything minus the "horrible idea" part about Bridge.

Bridge is what makes BlackBerry the best phone+tablet experience on the market IMHO...

[jsilvey2351]

IMHO I believe that with the blowout prices last Christmas that a lot of non BB users purchased a playbook. One of the great features of a handheld BB is the BBM. If you can get the younger generation connected with BBM and with the launch of the new BB 10 you might see some move over when their contracts are up. Right now it's not "cool" to have a BB for the, say under 35 crowd (all the way down to first time cell purchasers), so this might be a way to bait some in. Heck, even almost all of my friends, ages 35-50, have left BB.

[Bla1ze]

I'm still baffled as to why this is news, this was confirmed long ago. Maybe people just forgot because it was sooo long ago, lol.

[metz9444]

Ed just download 2.1.8 it works as reliably and better than 2.0

Why would you not?

It does work better but I am (was) looking forward to the Bridge SMS as well as the camera and mic being able to be accessed by programs....(imo for example).

[Sith_Apprentice]

Will this Dev Alpha update be loadable on PlayBooks?

All previous ones have been

[Sith_Apprentice]

I'm still baffled as to why this is news, this was confirmed long ago. Maybe people just forgot because it was sooo long ago, lol.

Well in the past RIM has been known to over promise and under deliver lol. However they have been getting significantly better about not doing that.

[texazzpete]

Why is "native" BBM on the Playbook important to you if you have a Blackberry phone and bridge? I don't use the native PIM applications that are there now. Bridge kicks !

What am I missing? Not meant as a "gig". I just really want to know if there's something I'm not seeing....

I wonder how much Playbook sales were harmed by people misinformed that you NEED a blackberry phone to get out the most value from it. These days when the Blackberry marketshare is falling and many of the OS7 devices have suboptimal battery lives, native apps are the way to go.

[Uncle Remus]

another reason -- why would you want to kill your phones battery just cause your bbming from your playbook. Maybe im using the playbook cause the phones dead, or charging. Maybe I dont want to be bothered to turn it on. I think bridging was a horrible idea.

Excuse me? You're kidding, right? Bridge is without a doubt one of, if not the best innovation to come to smart phones/tablets ever!

Of course I would like to see improvements. Who doesn't want SMS, Bluetooth speaker phone, BBM groups (now that I understand), etc., but we all know that tablet sales alone will not keep RIM alive. If you get or have a Playbook and don't have or don't plan on getting a BB phone well.....it is what it is. You will NOT be able to take advantage of all of the great features that go along with that combination. I don't think that catering to non-BlackBerry owners is or ever will be a "saving grace" for RIM or us. The pad shouldn't entice people to buy a BB10 phone, the phone should make them want, nay NEED the pad.

Ok. I'll end my rant by stating my position firmly. If you don't have a BlackBerry phone, I'm not interested in your whining. Get another pad and move on! There, I said it. Now we all know where I stand....he he he....

[pmccartney]

Can't you use "invite to" to add more people to the BBM session? I know it's not the same as groups but might suffice for now.

Unfortunately not. Contacts you chat with in a BBM group are not necessarily in your own BBM contact list, thus you can't individually select and invite them to a normal BBM chat.

[Revampd]

another reason -- why would you want to kill your phones battery just cause your bbming from your playbook. Maybe im using the playbook cause the phones dead, or charging. Maybe I dont want to be bothered to turn it on. I think bridging was a horrible idea.

Count me as one who uses the bridge pretty much exclusively. My 9930's operating system is more polished than my Playbook's. For instance, typing "they're" in the bridge email client (phone's OS), will automatically add the apostrophe. The native email will not.

Believe me, there are times when I would rather use native but until the final comes out (bugs fixed ?) I'll use the bridge.

By the way, typing this, I had to capitalize all the "I's". This is done automatically in the email windows. What's up with that?

[masqueofhastur]

Bridge is useful for some people on certain restrictive plans (and with ancient BBs that don't support making hotspots), I wouldn't say it's the most innovative thing ever though. In fact i think it hampered PlayBook adoption as people said it's only good if you have a BlackBerry (very convenient way of politely dismissing a device without looking at it).

[bldshd]

So wrong.. I have a 9930 & can use my phone as a hot spot if I wanted to but why would I do that when I can use bridge for free?

[bldshd]

Yea I guess bridge isn't great for people with androids or iphones but the tablet is still awesome

[axllebeer]

How will BBM work on PlayBook and Dev Alpha without a BIS plan for the devices?

Well, every PlayBook does have a PIN and it's how we connect to the video chat so I'm sure it's just a matter of flipping a switch. Unless I'm mistaken somehow.

[BB_Bmore]

Probably mistaken idk I'm thinking the bbid is gonna start running everything.

[howarmat]

Probably mistaken idk I'm thinking the bbid is gonna start running everything.

it is eventually once bb10 rolls out i think is the plan