[rauldela]

thats some great info on the playbook, btw whats the latest software for the playbooks right now? im getting a playbook tomorrow is used and i was wondering if i need it to updated tho thats why, i had a pb before i sold it and regret it now im getting it back ! thank you guys in advance.

[itmccb]

If you hadnt already bought the Playbook, I would suggest getting a Nexus 7 instead. The best thing PB has is the swiping feature and very nice multitasking. Home buttons suck. There is also Flash preloaded, but installing it with the Nexus is pretty simple. Find the .apk file, and load with Firefox.

Everyone already mentioned the lack of popular apps like Skype and Netflix, and the small pool of apps means you'll probably not find the lesser known apps you want. This is an annoying feature for me, even with the ability to sideload.

PB doesnt support OTG and the Nexus does. The simple ability to use a otg adapter lets you use connect your mouse, use a flash drive for effectively unlimited memory, use game controllers, and connect to keyboards without having ot spend 120 bucks on the official one.

The PB was super nice when I was first new to tablets, but the lack of so many features is more noticeable every day.

I guess it's also worth mentioning that Android has much better keyboard and mouse support than the PlayBook. You can actually use the keyboard all throughout the OS rather than just with typing. You can use the arrow keys, page up/down, home, and end to scroll in apps and the browser, ctrl+t and ctrl+w to open and close tabs, alt+tab to switch apps, and so on.

thats some great info on the playbook, btw whats the latest software for the playbooks right now? im getting a playbook tomorrow is used and i was wondering if i need it to updated tho thats why, i had a pb before i sold it and regret it now im getting it back ! thank you guys in advance.

You're forced to update to the latest build in the initial setup.

[BBerryPowerUser]

Thanks.
I was considering the Nexus 7 very seriously. I'm very familiar with Android and prefer it over iOS. However, it sounds like the BB Playbook really would work for me. At this point, I need a business tool more than a fun device. Although having 1 device that is both a great business tool and an entertainment device is always nice.

Perhaps with the BB 10 upgrade, the apps, core architecture, and general usability will improve?

[kill_9]

thats some great info on the playbook, btw whats the latest software for the playbooks right now? im getting a playbook tomorrow is used and i was wondering if i need it to updated tho thats why, i had a pb before i sold it and regret it now im getting it back ! thank you guys in advance.

If you are buying a used BlackBerry PlayBook the first thing you should do is perform a security wipe of the tablet and then reinstalling the BlackBerry Tablet OS 2.1.0.1314.

[jpash549]

I also have a Nexus 7as well as the playbook. Certainly the Google Android store has more apps than Blackberry world often offering several which do essentially the same thing. For me the 7� screen is too small to do real work so putting a mouse in the OTG port of the N7 is not much use until the capability to mirror to a larger monitor is provided . With the Playbook you can use a bluetooth mouse and keyboard with the HDMI connection to a TV or monitor. You can then operate the PB using mouse movements observed on the TV screen. You can use other than official RIM keyboards which are much cheaper than $120. Certainly the implemented OTG capability on the stock N7 using the Media Importer app is nice for using flash drives for documents, movies and music. The N7 speaker system is not as good as the Playbook so music is probably not so great without earphones. Incidentally the PB is said to have the hardware capability for OTG but it has not been implemented at this point. I suppose the OTG plug on the N7 can be used for connecting a mouse, a keyboard and a flash drive all at the same time but I don't know about that. It is also the charging polnt but if the imminent dock which uses the pogo pins is gotten that will take care of charging. For the PB with the Rapid Travel charger you have access to the NDMI and micro USB port while charging.

[mkelley65]

OK...I have some candid advice for CAN and CAN NOT. I have had an iPad and my house has 2 Android tablets (Nexus 7, Samsung Tab 8.9). It definitely can manage email (both IMAP and POP as well as corporate accounts), browser beats out mobile Chrome and Safari (IMO), display is good enough, it has descent game selection, great document handling with Doc to Go, great productivity apps (Evernote, GroovyNotes and more), 7" display (portability) and much more. Cannot video chat besides with other PlayBooks, no Netflix, no Hulu, no Amazon Instant videos, 7" display (small for media), no 3G/LTE model available in the US, app selection is not great and app updates are slower than other platforms. IMO....Android/iPad are more toys/entertainment and the PlayBook is more of a tool. I recently went on a business trip without my laptop and survived great. The HDMI worked great for presentations and watching movies on the hotel TV. The available Box.net app was great keeping me in touch with my documents (accessible through a bridge connection) and the Doc To Go apps let me edit and save my work documents flawlessly.

I watch Amazon Prime Instant Videos all the time on my PlayBook. watching Thor as I type this.

[disneynorth]

Thanks.
I was considering the Nexus 7 very seriously. I'm very familiar with Android and prefer it over iOS. However, it sounds like the BB Playbook really would work for me. At this point, I need a business tool more than a fun device. Although having 1 device that is both a great business tool and an entertainment device is always nice.

Perhaps with the BB 10 upgrade, the apps, core architecture, and general usability will improve?

Don't forget that if you have a BB for work, you can bridge it to the playbook without having to "lock down" the tablet. I have a personal and work BB and bridge both to view and send emails.

[Angus_CB]

When comparing the Playbook to other tablets the conversation always seems to come down to app availability.
While I agree that there are more apps available for the other platforms I find that after using the Playbook for over a year there really isn't much I miss.
I have downloaded several apps and games and find that I never use them anyway.

I use the Playbook browser and Simple Browser for the Internet.
KalemSoft Media Player for viewing videos, both from local storage and from a NAS.
Splashtop to connect to my home computers.
Have used the Bridge feature to browse the Internet when I couldn't get a WiFi connection and was happy to have it
Seldom use the Mail program as I prefer using my BB phone but it is there if I need it.
If Netflix was available I would probably use it but if I want I can watch it using Splashtop. I've done that once.
I also use it for PDF and Word documents at work. We have several manuals in PDF format. I have been using PDF Reader for SporadicSoftware.

My wife uses hers for Internet browsing only.

Both of our Playbooks are 16GB models which is lots for us even with using mine for videos.

I also have an iPod Touch with several apps that I never actually use. I really only use it for music, podcasts and audiobooks. The main reason I bought it was for audiobooks.
It works great for my needs but I still wouldn't pay the price for a new one. I bought a used 32GB model for $100.

If we start comparing these devices by today's prices the Playbook really stands out as bargain. These are Canadian prices.

32GB Blackberry Playbook $149.99 (The Source)
32GB Nexus 7 $269.99 (Futureshop)
32GB iPod Touch $299.00
32GB iPad Mini $429.00
32GB iPad 3 $599.00

I guess all I am saying is don't get too caught up in the perceived advantages of having more apps available. Decide what you are really going to use a tablet for and buy accordingly.

[Wongsky]

Here's the thing - whenever I read the various pros and cons about various devices or tablets, there's the normal fare - talk about the attributes of the devices, moving on to talk about apps and ecosystems, to sometimes talk about the vendor, their supposed future, and the evolution of the devices OS.

That's where I see advocacy taking a turn for fanaticism.

To me, app availability can be relevant - up to the point where the apps or types of apps I want to run, have some availability. Beyond that, I'm not some adolescent who needs the next cool meme, tune, ring-tone, or pseudo-game on my device. I'll descend to telling you I don't give a rat's ***.

And the future of the device / OS / vendor? Why is it, exactly, I or anybody else should care? If what I choose, is reasonable in price, has features and abilities that suit, has some degree of warranty support and OS support - what do I care about the future of the company, their direction or their stock price? I'm not buying into a company, I'm not about to be some acolyte, to then remain loyal and faithful.

So long as the device I'm considering, has sufficient longevity to live out a reasonable lifetime for the device, what do I really care about who's stock price is doing what, and what's really going on with the OS and it's potential. But then people will raise all sorts of oddities in order to bolster their preferences.

Where the PlayBook is concerned, I'd been following them for some months before I bought one - and when I did, I did so at a good price, with an informed decision. And I'm happy with the money I spent and what I've got for it. It's not perfect - but then I knew that when buying it. But I'll just say in the 3 - 4 months I've had my PlayBook, it's had 2 official software releases. Given when it first came on the market, and given when some software support for some devices starts and ends, that's not bad going.

If it gets BB10, and it's truly suitable for the spec of the PlayBook as is - I'll be happy some more - but I'm not betting the plantation on it, and it won't make my life complete. I feel I've done OK out of the deal I got in buying my PlayBook and I'm getting my money's worth with the amount of use I put it to.

That said, releasing a decent version of the Kindle app for the PlayBook, and maybe I'll whoop with joy.

[Angus_CB]

It sometimes seems like people put more thought into buying a $150 tablet than they do in buying a $40,000.00 vehicle.
To me, this tablet is just an appliance. When it dies I'll replace it with whatever suites my needs at the time.

[untakenusername]

Egsflippinsactly

[ibpluto]

Don't forget that if you have a BB for work, you can bridge it to the playbook without having to "lock down" the tablet. I have a personal and work BB and bridge both to view and send emails.

Worth adding to this that if you have a BB already and you bridge it, you turn your wifi tablet into a 3g device and you can surf where ever......all for under $150.

[badshoehabit]

I've just bought it for the same reasons as you, BBerryPowerUser - travelling (though It's handy to play mahjong in bed). Phone screen is too small and out of UK the internet charges are appalling.

[Wongsky]

Worth adding to this that if you have a BB already and you bridge it, you turn your wifi tablet into a 3g device and you can surf where ever......all for under $150.

You don't need a BB phone for this - since the PlayBook will tether over WiFi or bluetooth, I suspect many will find they can somehow tether to their 3g handset (I know I can to my Nokia N8).

[rogprov]

It all boils down to individual use. I never watch films. I don't need Skype as all my phone calls are free with my phone supplier's package. I'm not in the least interested in games. I do want good multi-tasking, web browsing and a mail reader. I need to store and display thousands of photos. I do want the device to connect to client's TVs with minimum fuss (HDMI). For reading books I much prefer the E Ink display on my Kindle to any colour screen. Horses for courses.

The PB 64gb seems made for me and it only cost �128

[brianatbb]

Strongly disagree. Flash is nice and performance is satisfactory, but the browser itself but the browser itself leaves much to be desired with a poor layout and several missing features. Good for light browsing but can lead to frustration beyond that.
Decent document handling. It covers the basics and nothing else.
It has the apps but other platforms have better versions of the same apps and much more.
Again, strongly disagree. The iPad/Nexus tablets may be good for media consumption, but they also have much better tools. iWork and Drive are much more robust than anything that you'll find in AppWorld. The few occasions that I decided to leave everything at home and try to do work on my PlayBook, I ended up just using my Android phone. Not to suggest that the PlayBook's apps are bad, but that the iPad's/Nexus's are that much better.

Now to throw in some positives:
-I have the attention span of a rodent so it's nice to be able to have videos going in the background (showcase mode).
-If you want to be a creeper you can also record audio/video in the background (showcase mode).
-Flash support

In the event the OP hasn't committed yet, I strongly agree with everything above. I don't know why Tdexter wrote what he did, and have to assume he believes it all, but that is not at all my experience with the PB vs android and ipad, which I consider to be generally more user friendly and more versatile.

I recently took my PB and android phone on a five-week trip to India. Apart from the advantage of the PB's larger screen for web browsing and writing on, my little HTC phone was my workhorse. A word about typing on the two. I found typing with a swiftkey keyboard on the phone was better than using predictive text on the PB, so if you are going to be writing while traveling, that may be a consideration.

The android was much better for navigating (no comparison, really). And travel apps on the PB such as tripadvisor, where the PB should have excelled due to its larger screen, simply didn't work well at all while travelling. I don't know why since it works alright at here at home, but in frustration I resorted to my phone's small screen. I didn't take a camera so used the cameras on both devices. The phone, being smaller, was way easier to use; more important, though, it was tons easier to share photos with box.net or to email them than trying to do so with the PB. And of course I could edit them on the phone prior to sending them into the cloud. While BB's more efficient use of data might be important here, data plans were dirt cheap in Asia. I don't know about Europe yet (will find out later this year). Finally, the PB won't give you skype. Maybe with BB10, whenever that comes to PB.

Edit to add: I find PB's 30-day email limit really frustrating, especially for accessing travel-related emails older than 30 days, as many of mine were. Yes, you can use Ghost Commander to access older emails, or the browser if you use gmail or equivalent, but who needs those hassles. My workaround was to copy them all to Print to Go, a great little app. Of course, they were also available on my android phone.

My suggestion is go to a store and give the three (PB, android, mini-ipad) all a good, long try and see which best handles the tasks you want a tablet to do, especially the apps you would use when traveling.

[BBerryPowerUser]

More great information. Thanks guys and gals.

Well, I have used iPad, and Android (via Nook Tablet and Kindle HD) and at this point I want a business tablet to use with my BlackBerry. Besides, with OS 10 coming, that is an added bonus IMO. I do have an Android Phone that I use for my non-business line, and I have a retired iPhone 4s that I had to get just to try it. I appreciate Android more than iPhone as I've stated before. I do like the Android OS and can only imagine that the Nexus would have a great advantage over limited Android clones like the Nook or Kindle.

This thread has been incredibly valuable. I'm amazed at the help. Thanks! Great group of helpful OPS.

[houshinto#IM]

I find that even with the bluetooth keyboard word processing isn't as comfortable/breezy as even on a laptop. However, for web surfing, e-mailing, and simple text entry it's more then capable. I'm hoping that with BB10 RIM would have put a little bit of work into DocsToGo to make it more robust feature-wise.

As a media consumption device it's still very good considering it'll be a 2yr old tablet in a little over 4 months.

[dongeel]

I tried to travel with PB in lieu of my laptop, but found out it is impossible. There was so much I couldn't do, such as simple traffic check on Google map, or finding restaurants without it freezing up before getting to next screen, etc. News apps work part time. Email requires resetting everytime (most of everytime) I changed wi-fi hot spots. Cannot wait to see what BB 10 can do if it ever becomes available.

[lotuslanderz]

A couple of things I can add--
The PlayBook's built-in email app also does ActiveSync, which works very well. We have Exchange ActiveSync at work.
If you have a BB phone, you can use it as a keyboard for the PlayBook, and you can use it as a remote-control (eg when doing presentations, or just as a remote to a PlayBook connected to your big-screen TV (HDMI) or an additional monitor/projector). You can get a micro-HDMI to VGA adapter from HP, Samsung or Microsoft if your projector/TV are not HDMI.
If you have a BB phone, you can use the Open on PlayBook function to view webpages etc on your PlayBook.
BlackBerry Balance is great as I can keep my work documents (and browser) separate from my personal stuff.

I'll echo the great utility of Print to Go, which prints (converts to PDF) documents to the Print to Go app, so your documents can be organized nicely. There is both an Enterprise and Home section for Print to Go.

If you are looking for a couple of useful apps that enhance the PlayBook, I would recommend Files and Folders and Neutron Music Player -- both paid apps that I use all the time. Also pick up Simple Browser (free or paid). It will allow you to change the useragent on the browser so you can pretend to be an iPad, Firefox browser, chrome, etc etc.

[lotuslanderz]

I tried to travel with PB in lieu of my laptop, but found out it is impossible. There was so much I couldn't do, such as simple traffic check on Google map, or finding restaurants without it freezing up before getting to next screen, etc. News apps work part time. Email requires resetting everytime (most of everytime) I changed wi-fi hot spots. Cannot wait to see what BB 10 can do if it ever becomes available.

Try this url for google maps on the PlayBook: Google Maps
You can select traffic on the top right corner.

Not sure why your email needs to be re-set when you change wifi hotspots. Have you tried re-booting a couple of times?
Also, it may be worth contacting RIM support or trying a security wipe.

[rickkel]

We can banter around the nuances and differences between the tablets all week, but the #1 reason to get a PlayBook is the Bridge feature. I work in an office that doesn't allow wireless internet. I can use my Playbook at work (and everywhere else too) without a hitch because there is nothing to do with Bridging other than making sure you BB phone's Bluetooth is turned on - mine is always bridged and neither my PB or BB display any discernable diffrence in battery life. Even better: When I upgrade my BB to BB10 in 30 days I get a "free" 4G tablet. Enough said.

[w0lfgang]

I am an educator and my Playbook at school is fabulous. I use the browser to access the web-based grade book and attendance. I use it with an app for periodic table, calculator, etc. You know...school based stuff. You want to watch movies on Netflix? Forget it. BUT....Amazon Prime works fabulously. So do a few others like HBO/Cinemax, etc. You want to be able to choose from 500 games? Forget it. BUT....there are plenty of games to choose from for the professional. Look, I tell all my droid/iOS friends.....if you're looking to play games/watch movies on your phone/tablet, you have way too much f*cking free time....a movie or two, or a game or two...fine....yeah I get that.....but hours and hours? apps and apps and apps? I've been in the Droid Store and having to choose from THREE HUNDRED free periodic table apps....that's just bonkers. Same with games or anything else.
Regardless of the aforementioned rant....BB10 is going to change everything. When you get this hardware AND BB10, you will be like, "Awwwwww yeah!"

[w0lfgang]

I agree.....I have a cabin up in the mountains of southern New Mexico (Cloudcroft) and the bridge is like free internet up there!

[bitek]

Hi fellow CrackBerry-addicts. I have been with BBerry for a very long time, with only 1 year straying to iPhone and Android. I'm back with Berry again and very happy to be back to Black. I have a Kindle Fire, and a Nook HD. Both are nice if your goal is to have a reader with extra features, but I really am considering buying a Playbook. I was thinking Nexus, but then thought I'd see what actual Playbook "users" said about the CURRENT STATUS of the Playbook and if it were wise to acquire one now.
My goals are simple. I would like to have a convenient tablet that I can use instead of my laptop when traveling. I'm thinking that since I'm staying with BlackBerry, I might as well look into Playbook.

I've not followed Playbook, and honestly do not know the basics, let alone the pluses or minuses of the Playbook. I do know (at least I think I know) that I can use "Bridge" to link the Playbook to my 9780. Unfortunately, I'm on Simple Mobile and I don't think I can get "Bridge" on my Appworld. And also unfortunately, I don't know what I don't know at this point. I'm even wondering if BB 10 will Bridge with Playbook. I have not researched this yet.

Since a little bit of knowledge in a specific area can be dangerous.....
.......any and all advice is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

playbook is good laptop replacement on the go because playbook has actually excellent official wireless Bluetooth keyboard. Those who have it seems to be extra happy with it.