[ssbtech]

It's easy enough to synch up my phone with Outlook. I keep my calendar, contacts, etc.. synced and it's fairly simple to do, although there are the occasional conflicts/deletions/additions I have to approve/deny each time I do it. And then there's the BlackBerry Desktop software that doesn't always launch properly because it didn't close properly the last time I used it.

Do we ever really go anywhere without our BlackBerry in our pocket? No, especially if we're carrying around a PlayBook too. I mean, where would you be that you were more likely to have your PlayBook on you than your phone?

Personally I wouldn't want the task of keeping three devices synchronized. It opens up the possibility for more conflicts and just takes more time to babysit the synching process to approve/deny all those additions/deletions.

The PlayBook is clearly targeted to people who already have BlackBerry phones. To me it makes sense to have it function as an extension of the phone rather than to have it replace some of the phone's functions.

[KRS62]

Normally, I am okay with it, but it would be nice to be able to type up email on a plane.

[esqlaw]

I'm very happy with bridged email. I just want the PB to get better overall, including those native apps will do that.

[larrybda]

I would agree if it was easier to move attachments between the PB and the phone. It is easy enough to attach an outgoing file made on the PB to an email but I can't save an incoming file to the PB, at least I haven't figured out how to do it.

[papped]

Options is good. There are quite a few PB users that do not have BB phones. The bridge is just a subset of PB functionality.

[Kerms]

It's easy enough to synch up my phone with Outlook. I keep my calendar, contacts, etc.. synced and it's fairly simple to do, although there are the occasional conflicts/deletions/additions I have to approve/deny each time I do it. And then there's the BlackBerry Desktop software that doesn't always launch properly because it didn't close properly the last time I used it.

Do we ever really go anywhere without our BlackBerry in our pocket? No, especially if we're carrying around a PlayBook too. I mean, where would you be that you were more likely to have your PlayBook on you than your phone?

Personally I wouldn't want the task of keeping three devices synchronized. It opens up the possibility for more conflicts and just takes more time to babysit the synching process to approve/deny all those additions/deletions.

The PlayBook is clearly targeted to people who already have BlackBerry phones. To me it makes sense to have it function as an extension of the phone rather than to have it replace some of the phone's functions.

IMO it was a mistake to be left off when you tout your device as being for the business professional. Corp users for the most part are either on Exchange and using Activesync or Exchange using a BES. There are a few exceptions.

Why limit yourself to only BB users when you're trying to enter a market and then try to compare your device to other devices.

They should have at a minimum had a native PIM that was EAS,POP3,IMAP compatible and also included the bridge for those he needed the security of a BES until RIM was able to put it on the device as a native client.

This way you're not limited yourself to BB user, iPhone & Android users could take full advantage of the device and may like it enough to switch their phones to a BB phone.

As for keeping them sync'd. If your use a push service they stay insync without you having to manually do it.

RIM got hammered for it and it doesn't matter how good something may be, once it get's a bad rep over something it's very hard to turn that around.

[ssbtech]

Pretty much any ISP has a webmail service. You don't need a native email app on the PB to send/receive email.

And if you have a Gmail/Hotmail/whatever else, you still have webmail.

So many people (not me) seem to praise cloud based services, but when it comes to email everyone seems to whine about not having native email.

[ssbtech]

They should have at a minimum had a native PIM that was EAS,POP3,IMAP compatible and also included the bridge for those he needed the security of a BES until RIM was able to put it on the device as a native client.

This way you're not limited yourself to BB user, iPhone & Android users could take full advantage of the device and may like it enough to switch their phones to a BB phone.

As for keeping them sync'd. If your use a push service they stay insync without you having to manually do it.

You make a valid point, but any company running Exchange can set up Outlook Web Access if they want those features on a PlayBook.

And please tell me how I can sync my Outlook with my Torch without plugging my phone into the computer.

[papped]

You could technically do a bluetooth sync

[esqlaw]

IMO it was a mistake to be left off when you tout your device as being for the business professional. Corp users for the most part are either on Exchange and using Activesync or Exchange using a BES. There are a few exceptions.

Why limit yourself to only BB users when you're trying to enter a market and then try to compare your device to other devices.

They should have at a minimum had a native PIM that was EAS,POP3,IMAP compatible and also included the bridge for those he needed the security of a BES until RIM was able to put it on the device as a native client.

This way you're not limited yourself to BB user, iPhone & Android users could take full advantage of the device and may like it enough to switch their phones to a BB phone.

As for keeping them sync'd. If your use a push service they stay insync without you having to manually do it.

RIM got hammered for it and it doesn't matter how good something may be, once it get's a bad rep over something it's very hard to turn that around.

This tablet is not limited to BB phone users.

Before I had bridge, email functionality on gmail and my other accounts worked perfect. I also had a calendar app, forget the name of it, that worked to a reasonable degree. Email, however, works perfect even without native app.

The only difference now, with Bridge, is that I have pop ups on the pull-down menu on the main screen and the red led corner. And BBM.

[stevelord]

lol...now we're "happy" about shortcomings and missing features? This is getting silly.

[esqlaw]

lol...now we're "happy" about shortcomings and missing features? This is getting silly.

I think we're saying that we're happy with what we have. At least I am happy with bridge. Once those native apps are out it will hardly make a difference to me.

[Kerms]

You make a valid point, but any company running Exchange can set up Outlook Web Access if they want those features on a PlayBook.

And please tell me how I can sync my Outlook with my Torch without plugging my phone into the computer.

OWA doesn't push to the phone also a app designed to take advantage of the screen size is more productive than pinch to zoom. To each his own

As for the sync I said if you use a service that pushes then the email,contact and calendar are sync'd by the server. If you use a POP3 service then things are a little differnet

[Kerms]

This tablet is not limited to BB phone users.

Before I had bridge, email functionality on gmail and my other accounts worked perfect. I also had a calendar app, forget the name of it, that worked to a reasonable degree. Email, however, works perfect even without native app.

The only difference now, with Bridge, is that I have pop ups on the pull-down menu on the main screen and the red led corner. And BBM.

No it's not limited to BB but it doesn't have the full functionality without a BB and Bridge. I'm talking about for the business user in a Exchange/BES environment who want's to use it for work.

If it had those built in an android or iphone could create a hotspot and tie to the BB and still be able to surf or get PIM pushed to the device

[ssbtech]

As for the sync I said if you use a service that pushes then the email,contact and calendar are sync'd by the server. If you use a POP3 service then things are a little differnet

I know what you said, but I was talking about syncing my Torch to Outlook, not a push service.

[Kerms]

If all your things are maintained locally then you'll have to sync it with that computer.

I don't have a BB but years ago you used to could run some software on your PC and it would send you your email from your desktop to your phone but the computer had to stay on

[marcjacob]

lol...now we're "happy" about shortcomings and missing features? This is getting silly.

I'm not at all..

I'm a non BB user who is very new to the Playbook so I thought I'd chime in and give my thoughts.

I am disapointed that the Playbook was released unfinished (and it does seem that way) but the Playbook's good bits are simply amazing imo.

I've just sold my Galaxy Tab and the difference in build quality, screen quality, processing power and software is simply amazing. Do I want native email, spell check etc etc? Of course...but I trust that they will come in the future.

Just wanted to make the point that with just a couple of updates all the short comings could be ironed out and then the Playbook will destroy the competition. And I'm no RIM fanboy...

[Bigum1969]

I've said it quite a few times on this forum, but many people (myself included) don't have a BB phone and still need native email. Those suggesting a web solution don't realize that not all companies have a very good web portal for email. I can get my work email via a web portal, but the functionality is really lacking.

I loved the PB, but I underestimated how much I would miss native email. I knew it didn't have it when I bought it, so shame on me.

Now I use an iPad2, Galaxy Tab 10.1 and occasionally an HTC Flyer... and all three have native email. I can't even remember a time I've ever used a tablet when I didn't check my email. I'm always doing it, and not having it on the PB was untenable for me.

Remember, a smaller percentage of people use BB phones each and every day... at least here in the United States.

[marcjacob]

I underestimated how much I would miss native email. I knew it didn't have it when I bought it.

I was promised by rim teck support that native email will be very soon. He wouldn't say when but said they'd had an update and I shouldn't have to wait long. I take that to mean end of July as he implied that they update every month.

[esqlaw]

They definitely said summer. So I'll hold them to that at the very least. If its not out by the end of summer even I'll be disappointed.

[uci2ci]

ive said this before.... bridge PIM is a band aid. you should have push email on a tablet regardless if ur phone.

bridge is still crippled....mail browsing is slow, bridge files and bbm are a joke (wish i could just disable bbm on bridge), cant copy from email, notifications suck, no auto-suggest on spelling mistakes, and its all limited to ur wireless carrier and bt 2.1 bandwidth...there always a lag that makes such a fast device seem slow

dont let rim think for a second that bridge is an acceptable answer. they got lots of work to do

[killa4luv]

lol...now we're "happy" about shortcomings and missing features? This is getting silly.

i agree. i hear apple fanboys say things like, i dont mind that the ipod doesnt have an fm radio, i dont listen to the radio anyway.

lol. thats not the point. it should have a radio and the PB should have native PIM apps. period. perhaps some users dont use them and are happy without them, but thats no excuse for them not bei g there when most users want them.

i love my PB and have been using BBs since 2004 before they became a real contender in the consumer market but come on, lets not start making excuses for their shortcomings.

[papped]

and its all limited to ur wireless carrier and bt 2.1 bandwidth...there always a lag that makes such a fast device seem slow

There's no real way around this. The bridge will always go through carrier bandwidth, that will never change, there is no workaround other than using wifi, which has obviously nothing to do with bridge. BT is the only other wireless communication method other than a wifi connection which would equate to wifi hotspot, which requires a tether plan as that is tethering not bridging.

[blackjack93117]

It's easy enough to synch up my phone with Outlook. I keep my calendar, contacts, etc.. synced and it's fairly simple to do, although there are the occasional conflicts/deletions/additions I have to approve/deny each time I do it. And then there's the BlackBerry Desktop software that doesn't always launch properly because it didn't close properly the last time I used it.

Do we ever really go anywhere without our BlackBerry in our pocket? No, especially if we're carrying around a PlayBook too. I mean, where would you be that you were more likely to have your PlayBook on you than your phone?

Personally I wouldn't want the task of keeping three devices synchronized. It opens up the possibility for more conflicts and just takes more time to babysit the synching process to approve/deny all those additions/deletions.

The PlayBook is clearly targeted to people who already have BlackBerry phones. To me it makes sense to have it function as an extension of the phone rather than to have it replace some of the phone's functions.

I completely agree - all native stuff would do is bring more Droid drones and iDroids in complaining and comparing stuff.

It should be a requirement to have a BB phone to even use the thing in my world - that assures a tight integration with the phone and a lot less of having to accommodate other phone platforms. It may even draw people AWAY from other phone platforms so they can use the unique features of the Playbook and phone integration. RIM needs to lead again, not accommodate and play follow the leader..

BUT I'm sure there are zillions who will disagree - it's been discussed to death so I'm sitting this one out.

You're welcome.
.

[uci2ci]

There's no real way around this. The bridge will always go through carrier bandwidth, that will never change, there is no workaround other than using wifi, which has obviously nothing to do with bridge. BT is the only other wireless communication method other than a wifi connection which would equate to wifi hotspot, which requires a tether plan as that is tethering not bridging.

there is a real way around it...a better bridge, native apps or or wifi bridge

the playbook does not constantly have to be connected to ur phone. it seems to me that the pb doesnt cache ur emails. it retrieves them again and again every time open it. whether its ur first time opening the bridge email, or ur one hundredth time...the lag is the same. this is dumb. bb should just send a signal to the pb, send the new emails to the device, and thats it.

u read ur emails on the pb, let it get marked as read on its own storage/cache, download images etc. using the pb wifi connection, u close the pb emails app and let bt sync in the background with ur phone, marking things as read on ur phone.

same thing with the rest of PIM stuff

if rim was really serious about bridge, they would have done it over wifi. hp is doing with pc mice, im sure rim can do it with the pb