[fschmeck]

This is a rant...

Just picked up an Acer Iconia and after spending some time with it, it makes me appreciate some of the things I took for granted on the PlayBook. Granted, I haven't spent a ton of time with it yet, but for first impressions some things make me wonder how android tablets ever became popular. For example :

Set up my email (yahoo ) but of course it really wants a Gmail account so I set one up so I can download apps. Then heard the notification sound so I hit the email icon on the home screen. There's only Gmail there. After a minute I realize that the thing has 2 email clients as standard, and my yahoo is only on one (but not the one on the home screen ). Then I visit yahoo and of course they have their own client that defaults to portrait mode, so that's 3. Yes, I know I don't need to use their client but as a new user I would expect at least any email addresses you ask for on setup to use the same one.

Then there's the browsers. Open a link on my email, and I can choose between "browser "and Chrome. No idea which to use or why I have 2. Later decide to grab Firefox since I use it on my desktop, and it crashes on the first site I visit trying to play a video. Install Skype, works once but won't launch again. Have to reboot before it works properly. Go to the app switcher and realize everything I've tried is still running so I close them out one by one.

Finally try out the camera. Where do my pictures go? I can swipe left and right when the camera is running but otherwise there seems to be no "pictures " place. Finally discover a photo app that shows my pics, albeit in a completely different interface from the rest of the apps.

Finally I go to the apps screens and see a ton of bloat ware that I can't seem to remove. Maybe that's just an Acer thing.

Back to the PlayBook, what I miss is:
A single pictures folder where all my pics end up. Still not sure where my videos are going on the Android.

Every account gets setup in the same email client.

One stock browser that works. Choice is great, but don't give me a bunch out of the box as I have no idea what the differences are at that point.

One consistent home screen UI. On the android, I've got the home screen "favourites", then the screen with all the apps, then the widgets after I've swiped across the rest of the app screens. Again, some of this may be Acer specific but what a terrible way to lay things out at the start.

Now I'm willing to accept that there is a learning curve to everything, but this seriously seems slapped together with no consistency. Two years since I got the PlayBook and there's been no progress on the UI front at all? In any case if they would only update the PlayBook browser I'd have little reason to look for something new.

OK, ranting over...

Posted via CB10

[BioDave1955]

This is a rant...

Just picked up an Acer Iconia and after spending some time with it, it makes me appreciate some of the things I took for granted on the PlayBook. Granted, I haven't spent a ton of time with it yet, but for first impressions some things make me wonder how android tablets ever became popular. For example :

Set up my email (yahoo ) but of course it really wants a Gmail account so I set one up so I can download apps. Then heard the notification sound so I hit the email icon on the home screen. There's only Gmail there. After a minute I realize that the thing has 2 email clients as standard, and my yahoo is only on one (but not the one on the home screen ). Then I visit yahoo and of course they have their own client that defaults to portrait mode, so that's 3. Yes, I know I don't need to use their client but as a new user I would expect at least any email addresses you ask for on setup to use the same one.

Then there's the browsers. Open a link on my email, and I can choose between "browser "and Chrome. No idea which to use or why I have 2. Later decide to grab Firefox since I use it on my desktop, and it crashes on the first site I visit trying to play a video. Install Skype, works once but won't launch again. Have to reboot before it works properly. Go to the app switcher and realize everything I've tried is still running so I close them out one by one.

Finally try out the camera. Where do my pictures go? I can swipe left and right when the camera is running but otherwise there seems to be no "pictures " place. Finally discover a photo app that shows my pics, albeit in a completely different interface from the rest of the apps.

Finally I go to the apps screens and see a ton of bloat ware that I can't seem to remove. Maybe that's just an Acer thing.

Back to the PlayBook, what I miss is:
A single pictures folder where all my pics end up. Still not sure where my videos are going on the Android.

Every account gets setup in the same email client.

One stock browser that works. Choice is great, but don't give me a bunch out of the box as I have no idea what the differences are at that point.

One consistent home screen UI. On the android, I've got the home screen "favourites", then the screen with all the apps, then the widgets after I've swiped across the rest of the app screens. Again, some of this may be Acer specific but what a terrible way to lay things out at the start.

Now I'm willing to accept that there is a learning curve to everything, but this seriously seems slapped together with no consistency. Two years since I got the PlayBook and there's been no progress on the UI front at all? In any case if they would only update the PlayBook browser I'd have little reason to look for something new.

OK, ranting over...

Posted via CB10

I have the same gripes with my nexus 7

Posted via the Android CrackBerry App!

[scrapmetal58]

I agree completely. That is why I can't stand Android. It's a cluttered mess. Even on Nexus devices.

Posted via CB10

[scrapmetal58]

I'd like to add that I always find it interesting when people say BlackBerry 10/Playbook isn't intuitive. My response to that is "and Android is??"

Posted via CB10

[Gooseberry Falls]

This is a rant...

Just picked up an Acer Iconia and after spending some time with it, it makes me appreciate some of the things I took for granted on the PlayBook. Granted, I haven't spent a ton of time with it yet, but for first impressions some things make me wonder how android tablets ever became popular. For example :

Set up my email (yahoo ) but of course it really wants a Gmail account so I set one up so I can download apps. Then heard the notification sound so I hit the email icon on the home screen. There's only Gmail there. After a minute I realize that the thing has 2 email clients as standard, and my yahoo is only on one (but not the one on the home screen ). Then I visit yahoo and of course they have their own client that defaults to portrait mode, so that's 3. Yes, I know I don't need to use their client but as a new user I would expect at least any email addresses you ask for on setup to use the same one.

Then there's the browsers. Open a link on my email, and I can choose between "browser "and Chrome. No idea which to use or why I have 2. Later decide to grab Firefox since I use it on my desktop, and it crashes on the first site I visit trying to play a video. Install Skype, works once but won't launch again. Have to reboot before it works properly. Go to the app switcher and realize everything I've tried is still running so I close them out one by one.

Finally try out the camera. Where do my pictures go? I can swipe left and right when the camera is running but otherwise there seems to be no "pictures " place. Finally discover a photo app that shows my pics, albeit in a completely different interface from the rest of the apps.

Finally I go to the apps screens and see a ton of bloat ware that I can't seem to remove. Maybe that's just an Acer thing.

Back to the PlayBook, what I miss is:
A single pictures folder where all my pics end up. Still not sure where my videos are going on the Android.

Every account gets setup in the same email client.

One stock browser that works. Choice is great, but don't give me a bunch out of the box as I have no idea what the differences are at that point.

One consistent home screen UI. On the android, I've got the home screen "favourites", then the screen with all the apps, then the widgets after I've swiped across the rest of the app screens. Again, some of this may be Acer specific but what a terrible way to lay things out at the start.

Now I'm willing to accept that there is a learning curve to everything, but this seriously seems slapped together with no consistency. Two years since I got the PlayBook and there's been no progress on the UI front at all? In any case if they would only update the PlayBook browser I'd have little reason to look for something new.

OK, ranting over...

Posted via CB10

To preface, I like the PB OS better than android. Android is usable however with practice. You will find yourself swiping to no avail. LOL. The email problem can be solved by deleting your Yahoo app. The native android email app and Yahoo app will compete and notify you of incoming email. Your pictures will be in the "Gallery" icon. The android browser mess is due to limited flash support in android 4.2 and above. You do have to sideload flash. There are a lot of them and you have to try them out to find which is best for you. Chrome has no flash support. Boat, Firefox Beta, and Dolphin do with varying amounts of crashing. Puffin runs flash off servers.

[Cynycl]

My experience is completely opposite. Other than sound quality, my $129.00 Andy Tab blows playbook out of the the water. No more waiting for the damn thing to display my email messages while the message app opens up and sits blank for 5 or more seconds. No more keyboard lag or checker boarding.

Maybe an android tab should be rooted and rom'd to get rid of the crap that is not needed and that's what I did almost right out of the box. I can do everything faster on that tab than I ever could on playbook, not to mention everything I can run on that tab that playbook can't. All media loads faster. Websites load faster. Video streams faster without buffering or stalling. Voice search works and browsing is a breeze. The GPS locks on almost instantly.

My playbooks have been relegated to glorified ipods for music on the patio when the sun comes back. Other than a music player, my android tab works better for all tasks.

[yueytan]

Agreed. I've had a Nexus 7 for a year and still go back to my PlayBook for its simplicity.

Posted via CB10

[fschmeck]

Thanks for some of the tips there. You are right about the swiping though. I love that you can swipe to screens that have absolutely no apps or icons!

And for what it is worth, Skype still locks up but I think this is an Iconia thing.

Posted via CB10

[Old_Mil]

If you buy the right android tablet, root it, and put the cyanogen mod on it, it is somewhat usable. In the end, the main goal of all android devices - and android apps - is to serve as a data collection tool for google.

Posted via CB10

[grover5]

OP, try the origami browser on your PlayBook if you haven't already. It's in app world.

Posted via CB10

[GV2012]

I am still on my $122 (Or whatever it cost me ) playbook. For the amount of time I am on it since I have had the thing (approx 2 years) I feel so guilty for getting it so cheap. The thing probably paid for it self first few months. I do business stuff (utilize the docs -yea they work ok) on it as well as I run a hockey league, I watch more YouTube in my spare time than I want to admit. For a dead tablet it sure has become a big part of my life. Oh granted,.If I was a tech gamer maybe it wouldn't be so great but I never bought for that reason in first place. And considering the amount I use it, if it didn't have the rapid mag charger (the way some others don't )I would have lost my mind.

[daytoncapri]

Yeah. Me too. My LG G Pad falls short of the PB - I posted those gripes on another thread. Thanks for tipping us off about more android shortcomings.

[Mr KLScott]

Seems that BlackBerry did indeed make a great tablet, but if they only shelled out the extra coin for larger RAM&Graphics card, they could've updated it to BB10 or simply kept the tablet OS as tablet specific, but at least they could've improved upon it. Most of the complaints I read about the PB is that there aren't anymore updates coming.

And that baffles me. I mean, BlackBerry is not some underfunded start-up, it's an actual innovator and stable tech company. Did they NOT have a gameplan to improve on the PB? Did they really think that the device would be sufficient as is for the next 3 years? Or were they planning to go ahead and throw in the towel at the time? It's strange isn't it? Or is it just me?

Posted via CB10

[Angus_CB]

Everything you describe is just a learning curve.
I like my Playbook and still use it a lot. I wish Blackberry had finished it.
I also use a Nexus 4 Android phone. I find myself trying to swipe away open apps on the Android.

The difference between Android and PB is choice. I have several choices for email, browser, and other apps that I don't have with the Playbook.
It's funny, one of your complaints is actually something that I see as a positive for Android.
"Open a link on my email, and I can choose between "browser" and Chrome."
I have 2 browsers installed on my Playbook. One I like very much called Origami.
If I open a link on my email I am not given a choice as to which browser to use. The Playbook uses it's own browser no matter how many others are installed.

You can do almost anything with an Android device once it is Rooted. This is very easy to do.
Once you have Root access you can remove the bloatware.
You may think that getting Root access shouldn't be necessary but that brings us back to choice. We don't have that choice with the Playbook.

[BB_Jay]

I have the Acer Iconia as well. It's not a bad device, but it hasn't made me a fan of Android. Where as everything seems to be in the right place on BB, it just seems all over the place on Android.

Via my awesome Zed-10

[anon(55900)]

I own a Nexus 7 and on it you simply set up a new email account and they all go into one email or you can separate them, as well as facebook notices come through.

[anon(55900)]

Everything you describe is just a learning curve.
I like my Playbook and still use it a lot. I wish Blackberry had finished it.
I also use a Nexus 4 Android phone. I find myself trying to swipe away open apps on the Android.

The difference between Android and PB is choice. I have several choices for email, browser, and other apps that I don't have with the Playbook.
It's funny, one of your complaints is actually something that I see as a positive for Android.
"Open a link on my email, and I can choose between "browser" and Chrome."
I have 2 browsers installed on my Playbook. One I like very much called Origami.
If I open a link on my email I am not given a choice as to which browser to use. The Playbook uses it's own browser no matter how many others are installed.

You can do almost anything with an Android device once it is Rooted. This is very easy to do.
Once you have Root access you can remove the bloatware.
You may think that getting Root access shouldn't be necessary but that brings us back to choice. We don't have that choice with the Playbook.

Try Origami on Crackberry and try to use Sign In, I and others cannot access Mobile Nations sign in page any longer using Origami regardless of deleting cach and user agents, etc.