[maclancer]

Microsoft is offering up to $250 towards a new Microsoft tablet. I don't know how much are they going to offer for a 64GB playbook. Anyone in here are going to take the deal? Since BlackBerry pulled the plug on the playbook. I am looking forward to upgrade.

[sklotz2000]

I love my PlayBook. However, depending on the offer, I might consider buying a used PB off eBay to trade-in.

[Boight]

The fine print: Store Offers - Microsoft Store
Valid February 2, 2014 until March 2, 2014, or while supplies last. Available in select Microsoft retail stores in US (including Puerto Rico) and Canada; not valid online. To be eligible for trade in, product must power on and be in fully functional, working condition without broken/missing components, cracked display/housing or liquid damage, cannot be password protected, and include original chargers/accessories. Any appraised value will be determined at trade in and provided as store credit, subject to Microsoft’s discretion and approval. All trade ins are final. Not valid on prior orders or purchases; cannot be transferred or otherwise redeemed for cash or gift cards. Not combinable with other offers. Discount does not include taxes, shipping or other fees. Void where prohibited or restricted by law. Microsoft reserves the right to modify or discontinue offers at any time. Limit 1 per trade in.
Makes me wonder what the "appraised value" is for the Playbooks.

[Cynycl]

The fine print: Store Offers - Microsoft Store
Valid February 2, 2014 until March 2, 2014, or while supplies last. Available in select Microsoft retail stores in US (including Puerto Rico) and Canada; not valid online. To be eligible for trade in, product must power on and be in fully functional, working condition without broken/missing components, cracked display/housing or liquid damage, cannot be password protected, and include original chargers/accessories. Any appraised value will be determined at trade in and provided as store credit, subject to Microsoft’s discretion and approval. All trade ins are final. Not valid on prior orders or purchases; cannot be transferred or otherwise redeemed for cash or gift cards. Not combinable with other offers. Discount does not include taxes, shipping or other fees. Void where prohibited or restricted by law. Microsoft reserves the right to modify or discontinue offers at any time. Limit 1 per trade in.
Makes me wonder what the "appraised value" is for the Playbooks.

[maclancer]

Microsoft is offering up to $250 towards a new Microsoft tablet. I don't know how much are they going to offer for a 64GB playbook. Anyone in here are going to take the deal? Since BlackBerry pulled the plug on the playbook. I am looking forward to upgrade.

Not worth the effort and money... I don't think they will give $250... Maximum probably $125

[SUBLIMINALLYINCORRECT]

it's a trap

[John Hernandez4]

it's a trap

Maybe... I called the Microsoft store and they don't talk about price on the phone... I was investigating to see their offer for the playbook. They may give you more than selling the playbook on ebay.

[blueberrymerry]

Every time I look at my 8" Atom Windows 8 tablet, I laugh at BlackBerry's "mobile computing" dreams and their "revolutionary" QNX OS that apparently runs nuclear reactors, space stations and Bentleys but can't even run properly on the PlayBook.

I now get a full desktop-class OS in a tablet slightly larger than the PlayBook but with full filesystem access, Bluetooth and USB functionality, stuff that could have been implemented in BB10 for PB. My PB is now relegated to an e-book reader and occasional movie player. That's a big step down from the "business-class tablet" hype I bought into.

[pkcable]

I highly doubt they will give you very much for the playbook. My guess would be in the 40 to 75 dollar range. Keep in mind they are probably going through a 3rd party reseller most likely such as gazelle or usell, who probably intent to make a profit on the device, so they won't offer you market value.

[jpash549]

Every time I look at my 8" Atom Windows 8 tablet, I laugh at BlackBerry's "mobile computing" dreams and their "revolutionary" QNX OS that apparently runs nuclear reactors, space stations and Bentleys but can't even run properly on the PlayBook.

I now get a full desktop-class OS in a tablet slightly larger than the PlayBook but with full filesystem access, Bluetooth and USB functionality, stuff that could have been implemented in BB10 for PB. My PB is now relegated to an e-book reader and occasional movie player. That's a big step down from the "business-class tablet" hype I bought into.

The Playbook was designed at least four years ago and you could complain about them not making it a little stronger at least in memory. But the hardware was chosen from what was available at the time. You don't say what generation atom processor is in the tablet which is i n your unnamed tablet but it was not available at the time the playbook was built. Agreed that intel and microsoft are getting much better in the windows mobile game. I also want to get a Windows 8" tablet with at least third generation Atom and will get the best available at a reasonable price soon. QNX runs well on the Playbook but the hardware design is not sufficiently robust to add the features you want.

[blueberrymerry]

Full filesystem access is available on the PlayBook through some third party utilities but they're slow, while full BT and USB host functionality could easily have been enabled in PBOS as the preliminary code was already there. The PB could have been kept useful for a lot longer for me if these features had been available with BB10 for PB.

The PB's hardware is willing but the software is hopeless. In a way, PBOS is the worst of both worlds, with the walled garden security of iOS to keep tinkerers out but with few apps or services to keep users in.

[llamax]

Someone needs to figureout what MSis offering for our PBs. Combine this trade-in with the current promo of $499 for Surface Pro or $450 for Surface Pro refurb is quite enticing...

[jpash549]

Full filesystem access is available on the PlayBook through some third party utilities but they're slow, while full BT and USB host functionality could easily have been enabled in PBOS as the preliminary code was already there. The PB could have been kept useful for a lot longer for me if these features had been available with BB10 for PB.

The PB's hardware is willing but the software is hopeless. In a way, PBOS is the worst of both worlds, with the walled garden security of iOS to keep tinkerers out but with few apps or services to keep users in.

Many have said that OTG could be implemented on the PB and I suppose that if that introduced security problems that could have been handled with software. And no doubt that the Browser could have some improvements as third parties have shown. As far as need for third party file managers to do a decent job another good point but other tabs such as Apple and Android also use third party apps and Windows 7 file manager isn't so hot from my viewpoint. The Bluetooth on the wifi PB is version 2.3 edr as I recall and some additional profiles could no doubt be enabled which would make interaction with the BT 4 on the BB 10 running devices a lot better. But BB10 on the PB including Android 4+ emulation was apparently too much for the hardware. And you could have also pointed out flash problems, Stock Adobe is not so hot , Docs to Go is too limited and the atrocious way pictures are managed. So while I don't feel the software is totally hopeless obviously much could be improved and software developers are not likely to devote time to an eol tablet.

[John Hernandez4]

Someone needs to figureout what MSis offering for our PBs. Combine this trade-in with the current promo of $499 for Surface Pro or $450 for Surface Pro refurb is quite enticing...

I already called and they don't want to say... Can someone volunteer and try to go to their store with your playbook and see how much they willing to offer?

[robsteve]

The title should read "Microsoft Store offering up to $250 for certain tablets" or even better "Microsoft Store offering up to $250 for some iPads."

I see this same offer on the Bell website and not in relation to Microsoft, so it is probably a third party marketing program.

[jayemmbee]

im gonna try this next week, my laptop is kicking the bucket and my playbook is collecting dust while BB10 kicks its ****, so this could replace my laptop for when im in school

[Cynycl]

I already called and they don't want to say... Can someone volunteer and try to go to their store with your playbook and see how much they willing to offer?

They'll take it off your hands if you pay the $50.00 environmental disposal fee

[blueberrymerry]

The latest Win8 tablets and Microsoft's Surface lineup all come with a proper desktop version of Office 2013, not the cut-down DocsToGo nonsense the PlayBook is stuck with.

Yes, I've tried Kingsoft and QuickOffice Android sideloads and no, they're not much better. A "business-class tablet" that can't add or delete rows in spreadsheets? That's the PlayBook

I don't care about QNX because it's just the kernel, whereas the layers on top make up the user experience. PB OS could have been running on top of WinCE for all I care. It's the almost total lack of productivity apps and services that kills the PlayBook and to a certain extent, BB10.

As for the lack of full BT and USB OTG, it's down to the boneheaded focus on security - BB thought enterprise buyers wanted those features restricted to control corporate information security, but it was mainly cheap consumers who ended up buying the PlayBook, and those features matter to consumers. There's also no need to defend incompetent managers and developers and BlackBerry who couldn't get full BT and USB OTG working when the hardware and software was clearly capable of handling those.

[Raestloz]

The latest Win8 tablets and Microsoft's Surface lineup all come with a proper desktop version of Office 2013, not the cut-down DocsToGo nonsense the PlayBook is stuck with.

Yes, I've tried Kingsoft and QuickOffice Android sideloads and no, they're not much better. A "business-class tablet" that can't add or delete rows in spreadsheets? That's the PlayBook

I don't care about QNX because it's just the kernel, whereas the layers on top make up the user experience. PB OS could have been running on top of WinCE for all I care. It's the almost total lack of productivity apps and services that kills the PlayBook and to a certain extent, BB10.

I don't know how bad your day is that you want to troll here. I think I can end your shenanigans by saying that Win 8 is much newer than PlayBook OS and trying to compare them functionality wise is just exposing your lack of intellect, especially when Win 8 was explicitly designed for compatibility with tablet AND desktop and it comes from the same company that owns Microsoft Office Suite.

So please, for your own sake, stop it

Z10 STL100-1/10.2.1.1925

[blueberrymerry]

There's the rub, isn't it? A company that calls its tablet "business-class" falls far short of the mark, while consumer Windows 8 tablets have a lot more productivity features built in.

Maybe I'm just an extremely disgruntled PlayBook user So many promises from BlackBerry, most of them broken, and now I'm left with a bunch of devices that can't do what they were supposed to do. That's real money gone and real time wasted. If BB really want BB10 to succeed and to win back previously loyal customers, they need to figure out what users want from a mobile platform, instead of thinking they're smarter than their market.

As for the ad hominems and my supposed lack of intellect, I'll let that pass And DocsToGo was purchased by BlackBerry so there's no reason for them not to have simple features like adding cells in spreadsheets. That app hasn't been updated ever since the PB came out.

[Heinz Katchup]

I look forward to someone's report on how much they were offered for their PlayBook. Would love to get another Surface Pro 1 if possible.

Posted via CB10

[GV2012]

Every time I look at my 8" Atom Windows 8 tablet, I laugh at BlackBerry's "mobile computing" dreams and their "revolutionary" QNX OS that apparently runs nuclear reactors, space stations and Bentleys but can't even run properly on the PlayBook.

I now get a full desktop-class OS in a tablet slightly larger than the PlayBook but with full filesystem access, Bluetooth and USB functionality, stuff that could have been implemented in BB10 for PB. My PB is now relegated to an e-book reader and occasional movie player. That's a big step down from the "business-class tablet" hype I bought into.

Every time I see a post like this I laugh. I can do everything you mentioned fine, And probably paid half of what you did. If your tablet is anything like the windows tablet my niece just bought good luck charging it after a bit of time with no magnetic charger. That's going to suck.

[blueberrymerry]

I paid $300 for a 64GB Atom Win8 tablet. I paid a lot more than that for a PlayBook. A hint: it's not a Surface

And no magnetic charger? Of course it has no magnetic charger. It charges through standard USB like most sane devices out there.

Can you add rows to Excel spreadsheets in DocsToGo on your PlayBook? I've been trying to do that with mine for years but apparently Waterloo & crew forgot to add that function, even though they bought the company that made DocsToGo. "Business-class tablet" it is not.

[GV2012]

I paid $300 for a 64GB Atom Win8 tablet. I paid a lot more than that for a PlayBook. A hint: it's not a Surface

And no magnetic charger? Of course it has no magnetic charger. It charges through standard USB like most sane devices out there.

Can you add rows to Excel spreadsheets in DocsToGo on your PlayBook? I've been trying to do that with mine for years but apparently Waterloo & crew forgot to add that function, even though they bought the company that made DocsToGo. "Business-class tablet" it is not.

Yeah usb, like I said that's going to suck -unless you don't use yours much. Yes you paid more than 2x what I did. When I really need to add rows I can add rows I just copy everything down to but I a rarely have that need on my tablet because i do most heavy spread sheet stuff on my PC -this has more to do with comfort and hard keyboard than draw backs of the tablet.

[John Hernandez4]

I paid $300 for a 64GB Atom Win8 tablet. I paid a lot more than that for a PlayBook. A hint: it's not a Surface

And no magnetic charger? Of course it has no magnetic charger. It charges through standard USB like most sane devices out there.

Can you add rows to Excel spreadsheets in DocsToGo on your PlayBook? I've been trying to do that with mine for years but apparently Waterloo & crew forgot to add that function, even though they bought the company that made DocsToGo. "Business-class tablet" it is not.

Office 2013 is much better in a Windows 8 RT than DocsToGo