[torndownunit]

Ok, I have had my Playbook, and been active on this forum for about a week so I thought I'd post an update. I have been a Mac user for about 15 years (mainly for work), so this is one one of my few products that ventures outside the Mac ecosystem. I haven't owned an iPad, but played with plenty of clients and I do have an iPhone running iOS. Since I use my iPhone so much, I do tend to compare it and the Playbook.

Obviously some of my observations are obviously personally tastes. This isn't an attempt to rip apart the device, or say one device is better than another. Just giving my perspective to date.

The Good:

HDMI out - Big fan
Stereo Speakers - in a device this size, a treat
Bezel - LOVING Bezel motions. Far superior to use of 'home' button constantly on iOS.
OS - the OS is very nice to use. Very intuitive
Browser - enjoying the browser

The Bad:

- Device takes 3 minutes or more to boot up. And since I seem to get a fair amount of freezes, it's a problem.

- Have had freezes that mimic RAM or CPU overload when barely using the device

- Been having audio 'garbling' issues (posted a thread, some others have some problem). Solutions requires a reboot or hard reset which takes too long (see point 1)

- Battery life - the battery life people list on this forum seems accurate (6 hours), but I was expecting more from what I had heard previous to joining this forum.

Apps - I don't have a problem finding apps to mimic what I use on my iPhone either through native apps, Android apps, or sideloading. But, the problem is many of them just aren't as 'good'. They aren't as refined or smooth to use in a lot of cases as the iOS versions I am used to.

With some apps, there an interesting "like/dislike" thing going on for me. EG I sideloaded Pulse which is one of my favourite apps. It runs really choppy compared to on iOS. But, you can open videos in articles when they have them, which you can't do in most cases in the iOS version. Not as 'good' of an app version, but more functional.

- The core/stock Podcast app is horrible looking, as is the stock YouTube app.

- App prices seem very high in some cases.

[FSeverino]

Thanks for your view. Im not really sure about the freezes, maybe try a security wipe (backup first) bc something may be wrong. I have only gotten about 3 or 4 freezes since I bought mine in December and I do agree it takes long to turn on, but if you fix the freezing problem you never need to turn it off!

The battery life is proportionate to the size difference I believe... I think that due to the small form factor the battery was made smaller and thus a little weaker (i could be totally wrong on this). Also, try bringing your brightness settings down a bit, I know that on my iphone this made a HUGE difference so i tried the same with the PB and it worked pretty well. You can also make sure BT and WiFi are turned off if you are not using them.

I know you may be used to having apps, as I am from my iphone, but if you take the time to play with the browser you will realize that many of the 'apps' that you need for iphone/ipad are only to cover up the browser inefficiencies... the PB doesnt need those.

As for the stock podcast app, i do agree it needs a lot of aesthetic work (and could use some more material) But again, and with the youtube app, i just use the browser for that stuff because it is great and YOU CAN USE FLASH!

The app prices are CRAZY high and that is my only gripe so far with the PB... why do i need to pay so much for apps that are 1/3 the price on other platforms???

I think some major LIKES are the HDMI and Speakers though, that was a good find. I was blown away when i played a song on the PB for the first time and was expecting the same sound as my iphone... NOPE, much better (im not comparing them, im just saying that i wasnt expecting 'great' sound from a tablet)

[chaddeus]

I feel you... Area that I totally agree is the OS more intuitive than the iOS with their home button and the OS being able to run Flash is a ++ for me.

I do agree with the Apps issue with poor quality apps or apps that cost money.

On the other hand, I don thave much issue with the playbook freezing. I do need to reboot my Playbook everyday due to Bluetooth connection issue.

Oh last thing.. I am also a new Playbook users.. Less than 1 week!! So far, I can't say I love it but I can't hate it also

- Charles

[tumblingdice03]

The freezing is not normal, perhaps more experienced folks on here can help you out with that. I agree with the wipe and reload OS or if it continues call RIM tech support fornhelp or replacement.
I hated the YouTube app also but see no need for it as I just go to the website and that works great.
I'm kind of wondering if you may have a bad app side loaded perhaps that may be causing the freezing issue?
Good luck to you and I hope you get that working correctly.

[rotorwrench]

I agree, the freezing is not a common issue that I've heard about. Something sounds wrong there. The re-boot does take a couple of minutes, but most owners never turn the PB off, so it's not an issue to them. I never turn mine off, always in standby and will go for 2 or 3 three days that way, even with wifi and BT on.

As to battery life, that sounds low too. I haven't heard of anyone at work having to put the PB on charge during the day. My work PB starts at 7:30 and by 18:00 it still has around 50%, and that's a hard day's use: wifi and bridge on, browsing, a lot of document work and reading, status reports, work orders etc.... as well as emails. No video or games on that one though.

I would contact support on the freezing as recommended above. I hope it gets resolved for you. Good luck and I hope it works out for you.

[LeKeiser]

I agree, the freezing is not a common issue that I've heard about. Something sounds wrong there. The re-boot does take a couple of minutes, buit most ownwers never turn the PB off, so it's not an issue to them. I never turn mine off, always in standby and will go for 2 or 3 three days that way, even with wifi and BT on.

As to battery life, that sounds low too. I haven't heard of anyone at work having to put the PB on charge during the day. My work PB starts at 7:30 and by 18:00 it still has around 50%, and that's a hard day's use: wifi and bridge on, browsing, a lot of document work and reading, status reports, work orders etc.... as well as emails. No video or games on that one though.

I would contact support on the freezing as recommended above. I hope it gets resolved for you. Good luck and I hope it works out for you.

Hello,

Do you mean that you have about 10 hours of continuous work on your PB with WiFi and BT on all the time, and you're left with half the battery when you stop working??
I'm sorry, but I don't think it's possible.
Do you use Battery Guru? Would be interesting to see your graph

[ffosse]

Glad you're here and that you like the PB despite some issues.

I like Apple products too - and I keep trying to swipe up on my iPod Touch to close an app

[zorecati]

If you are having this many issues with a new product, I'd call RIM asap. None of mine freeze, not even my beater 16 gig i use to test side loaded apps. The 3 minute boot think is due to security and honestly, I don't think rim intended these things to be shut down and booted up often. My Curve also takes forever and a day to boot.

[jivegirl14]

If you are having this many issues with a new product, I'd call RIM asap....and honestly, I don't think rim intended these things to be shut down and booted up often. My Curve also takes forever and a day to boot.

Agree. With the standby option there is no need to shut the Playbook down for normal use and I don't understand why so many shut theirs down. I think shutting down is like rebooting the PB from scratch and unless it is necessary, why do it? I hardly ever shut mine down. I always use standby and with a swipe it comes to life immediately. My battery (with lots of use) lasts all day rarely getting below 50% by end of day.

[kay-cie]

Try Airplane mode. It can standby in Airplane mode for hours without dropping even 1% of battery life. Whenever I don't use PB for a long period, like over night, I just put it in Airplane mode, and it is ready to go in a couple of swipes.

[LeKeiser]

Agree. With the standby option there is no need to shut the Playbook down for normal use and I don't understand why so many shut theirs down. I think shutting down is like rebooting the PB from scratch and unless it is necessary, why do it? I hardly ever shut mine down. I always use standby and with a swipe it comes to life immediately. My battery (with lots of use) lasts all day rarely getting below 50% by end of day.

again, it would be great to know exactly what you mean by "lots of use".

I sometimes have to restart the PB because something, a program I guess, didn't shut down properly, and instead of having a drain of about 0.06W, I have a drain of 0.1W... A restart is the cure.
A nice Task Manager would be lovely...

[torndownunit]

This is what I believe I have narrowed the freezes down to.

- I should have restarted after sideloading apps. Some that were freezing worked after a hard reset. The 2 days I had freezes after the machine was basically inactive, were also days I hide sideloaded quite a few apps. I am not sure if a hard reset is REQUIRED after sideloading, but it sure seems to help.

- There are a couple of apps that while there are posts about them 'working' on this forum, they may not be working 100%. Words With Friends is one that seemed to cause a few issues.

[cletis]

Try Airplane mode. It can standby in Airplane mode for hours without dropping even 1% of battery life. Whenever I don't use PB for a long period, like over night, I just put it in Airplane mode, and it is ready to go in a couple of swipes.

That's a really good idea, provided of course that you don't need a connected PB during that time.

[rotorwrench]

Hello,

Do you mean that you have about 10 hours of continuous work on your PB with WiFi and BT on all the time, and you're left with half the battery when you stop working??
I'm sorry, but I don't think it's possible.
Do you use Battery Guru? Would be interesting to see your graph

No, not continuous, I don't work all day on the PB. I'm sorry if that's what was taken. I have it on all day and the work on it is intermittent throughout the day. On some days I have had a solid 5 hrs on it all told, with an average of 30 to 40% left. About two weeks ago I had my longest continuous day on it. I was in Canada and had no access to any other computer for the reports I needed to send in. The PB was unplugged about 7:00 and I had one three hour session and two two hour sessions. When through at 19:30 I was showing 24%. I was bridged most of the time as I was emailing reports as I completed them.

I don't have BG, so my battery status is based on the native indicator. I won't be allowed to load BG on my work PB but I will my personal PB. I want to compare my wife's battery use with mine, as she uses her most of the day for teaching, but more video and graphics use than I.

Sorry for not being clear. I didn't realize he was speaking continuous.

[LeKeiser]

You scared me a bit, I thought that finally I did have a problem with my battery. But I think I have about the same use of my PB than you, so...

[BehPouz]

Try Airplane mode. It can standby in Airplane mode for hours without dropping even 1% of battery life. Whenever I don't use PB for a long period, like over night, I just put it in Airplane mode, and it is ready to go in a couple of swipes.

Really? Mine drops 1.5% every hour on standby mode and airplane mode on. Does anyone else have the same problem?

[BehPouz]

... I had one three hour session and two two hour sessions. When through at 19:30 I was showing 24%. I was bridged most of the time as I was emailing reports as I completed them...

So that means you were on your PB for 7 hours and it only drained 76%. This translates to about 10.8% per hour. In other words, you can use your PB for 9.25 hours continuously to write reports and email them with bridge on and Wi-Fi on before it shuts itself down. Hmm pretty impressive. I don't think I can get even close to that figure. Does anyone else find this a little uncommon for their own devices?

[Deathcommand]

Can I say that the Audio Garbling is the most annoying thing that every happens to me?
The problem is that sometimes, it happens RIGHT after a reboot.
For example, I reboot because Android App Player Crashed, then I have to RE Reboot because audio is garbled.(6 minutes lost)

[jthep]

I agree with some of the OP's points, including the Youtube app is garbage. But... I use the real Youtube site, so thats my quick fix, bookmark the real Youtube site and you will always have it and use that instead that crappy app...

[spsuninja]

Hey, I've found a way to easily take notes in my classes with my playbook. Here's a video of my method.

Paperless Note Taking with Playbook (prototype 3)


I've been using this method for two semesters now as a Mechanical Engineering student. It's worked wonderfully so far, and it's really nice to have all my notes in my playbook everywhere I go. Let me know what you think / what you would change / if you think I'm nuts......yada yada. Any and all feedback is welcome.

Thanks,
spsuninja

[PBfanatic]

The freezing is not normal, perhaps more experienced folks on here can help you out with that. I agree with the wipe and reload OS or if it continues call RIM tech support fornhelp or replacement.
I hated the YouTube app also but see no need for it as I just go to the website and that works great.
I'm kind of wondering if you may have a bad app side loaded perhaps that may be causing the freezing issue?
Good luck to you and I hope you get that working correctly.

freezing is not normal for those who knew playbook well like me, but some of my friends
playbook also freezes, my observation is that, there are problems on how they use it. They try to do 2 to 3 task at the same time, like swiping from side then swipe to buttom while playing games, browser is open.

Try this:

while playing HD games like deadspace then swipe up from buttom then swipe from sides instantly while the window is about to minimize, make sure wifi is on and browser is loading page, lets see what happens.

freezing happens when there is abuse.

[13echo4]

Good review. Others would do well to take notes.
Oh you aint kidfing, all blackberry devices take forever to boot.wwwhat I do is reboot when I go to bed or take a shower or spend some alone time w/ the wife. Pretty whenever I sure I'm not going to be using it for a few.
As far as memory being saturated try a hardreset. Power/volume +- at the same time. Hold the buttons until the playbook shuts off.
I agree some of the apps written for blackberrys lack the zeal of the counterparts for the other platforms. That being said its not the platform's fault. That's lazy coder's fault. But it is what it is.
I've had my playbook fo 2.5 weeks and just love it.

[BehPouz]

I agree with some of the OP's points, including the Youtube app is garbage. But... I use the real Youtube site, so thats my quick fix, bookmark the real Youtube site and you will always have it and use that instead that crappy app...

Do you know for services that can be accessed through a native app as well as the browser like youtube, which one is lighter on the PB?

[13echo4]

So that means you were on your PB for 7 hours and it only drained 76%. This translates to about 10.8% per hour. In other words, you can use your PB for 9.25 hours continuously to write reports and email them with bridge on and Wi-Fi on before it shuts itself down. Hmm pretty impressive. I don't think I can get even close to that figure. Does anyone else find this a little uncommon for their own devices?

Not uncommon at all for me.I've spent 8hrs in the hospital playing modern combat and reading/posting on CB. The whole time bridged.

[jivegirl14]

again, it would be great to know exactly what you mean by "lots of use".

I sometimes have to restart the PB because something, a program I guess, didn't shut down properly, and instead of having a drain of about 0.06W, I have a drain of 0.1W... A restart is the cure.
A nice Task Manager would be lovely...

I suppose that is relative. but I include email, using the browser, being on Twitter and FB , reading my ebooks, games to a lesser or greater extent and quite a bit of note-taking and being bridged. I've not yet had a program refuse to shut down properly and I tend not to have ton of windows open at the same time.

I am not saying I've never restarted mine before (I have - and restarting to clear a program glitch or similar is different... I'd say it's the exception for my particular circumstances) my point was that many people seem to use the shut down option as the default state when they are not using the Playbook when they should probably be using Stand By, and that I always use Stand By and haven't experienced any battery drain.

Also if continual reboots are necessary it indicates there's likely to be a larger issue withe the individual's device