[RaynotRoy]

Hey All,

I bought my 64GB PlayBook the day it came out, and my 9900 within the first week of that release. I've been "waiting" just as long as about anyone else here. I've been exceptionally happy with just about everything except the delays on OS 2.0. Now that it is finally here, I realize how overly optimistic I was about this device and I know exactly what I need from RIM to continue buying their products.

1. Native Messaging, Contacts and Calendar
First off, I understand I do not represent 100% of the market, but native Messaging, Contacts and Calendar will NEVER be used by me. Ever. A wifi tablet was never meant to replace a smartphone. Bridge was ingenious in my opinion yet is STILL not developed fully. I feel like many users won't need these native applications. Why would you want the same email appearing in two seperate inboxes anyways? Why would you want to keep contact books or calendars on two seperate devices? To me the whole point of my mobile experience is having everything at my fingertips, everywhere, regardless of which device is currently in my hand. Besides, webmail has always worked well on the PlayBook in my opinion.

2. DLNA
If there was one issue to rant about, this is it. I'm not trying to point the finger at anyone for this one as we don't know why it has been delayed. We can point the finger at RIM for keeping us in the dark. I do not subscribe to cable tv. I have 2x2TB in a RAID1 on my NAS where my roommates and I keep everything. A simple DLNA client is MUST for me, and I needed it almost a year ago. I also still expect DLNA to be a very key part of the Bridge functionality.

3. Bridge - Messaging
The messaging application needs to show the SAME message inbox as my phone does, assuming the correct applications are installed. I expect to see Facebook notifications in my bridged Messages application assuming Facebook is also installed on my Playbook. Perhapes they can be greyed out if the application is not found, yet still appear. I ESPECIALLY expect to have text messaging capabilities when bridged.

4. Bridge - BBM
My only complaint is no groups support. Really RIM? Really??? Don't get scenile on me, finish the job.

5. Bridge - The missing bit.
Thank god I bought the 64GB, to me it was logical that if my BlackBerry handset can pair with my PlayBook then they must be able to share storage. This allowed me to completely ignore that there is no expandable storage.

"Of course there is no SD slot on the PlayBook, they can just use the one in my phone! OBVIOUSLY I wouldn't be expected to keep two copies of my music. OBVIOUSLY I wouldn't be expected to subscribe to podcasts on both devices, and double my data usage."

OBVIOUSLY I had my head in the clouds. Was something like this really too difficult? Perhaps this dream has significantly slowed due to DLNA issues. I'm no programmer, I'm just a user, but I bet DLNA is needed to make further progress here. When I'm out and about I want my phone in my pocket with everything. When I'm home or at work (where I also use my PlayBook frequently) it annoys the HE LL out of me when I'm holding my PlayBook and I need to think, "crap, where did I put my phone?". I only ever want to need to use one device at a time, period. I hate putting the PlayBook down to check my phone. It makes me question why I bought it in the first place.

The Bottom Line: If this integration does not appear on the devices I currently own, regardless of wether or not the PlayBook2 or PlayBook3 has them built in, I will not be able to justify giving RIM another dollar. This coming from the guy who outright owns a Storm, Tour, Bold 9700 and Bold 9900, and has never owned any other smartphone. I give RIM no credit for the OS 2.0 update, just a sarcastic thank you for finally pulling through on the first of many many things I already expected of you, and I believe I already paid you for. I wish I waited until now to buy my PlayBook (so much cheaper), which I would have if I wasn't promised a June 2011 release date for many of these features. A year is just too much, and the features aren't all there. Epic fail. My money could have been spent much wiser.

Apple will not get my business, but I'm starting to question if RIM is going to either. It's time for RIM to impress me, without charging me another dollar. Do it and don't talk about it RIM, every promise you make from now on means nothing.

Any thoughts CrackBerry?

[Xavier85]

Feel better?

No one gets exactly what they want, on any platform. I will however give RIM the credit they deserve. They delivered EXACTLY what they said they would. Anyone who follows crackberry, or any blackberry site for that matter, knew before yesterday exactly what was coming with 2.0, and it's all there. I for one am happy. Are there things that i wish it had? Sure, but none of those things were promised and then forgotten. DLNA is new and i'm sure will be there soon, look how fast it appeared in a leak for the 9900 after the announcement that RIM joined?

I'm just saying, you need to look at the big picture here. RIM has the midset of "what features can we include to appease the greatest percentage of our customer base?" but they and any programmer for that matter, does this knowing that they will never be able to appease everyone, people will always complain about some feature they think is important, and it probably is important, but it's not important enough to make the cut.

I'm trying to explain how it really works, i see it firsthand. You see I am a programmer, and i work for a $20 million a year software company, and TRUST me, you can't succeed unless you know what features are important enough to develop and which ones, while neat and would be awesome, are just not demanded enough.

I hope this shed's some light on it. I'm not saying to not voice your opinion, please do, but try to remember how software development really works. Cheers!

[hpjrt]

Did RIM promise you any of the things you mention above?

There were lots of hopes, wants and speculation but RIM was pretty upfront about what would and would not be included in the update.

Sorry you are so disappointed.

[BrizzadMan]

I only ever want to need to use one device at a time, period. I hate putting the PlayBook down to check my phone. It makes me question why I bought it in the first place.

Convergence is a beautiful thing, and I understand where you're coming from - but this expectation may be too high, especially on a tablet (and one from RIM even, who has some ground to make up).

I feel like many users won't need these native applications. Why would you want the same email appearing in two seperate inboxes anyways? Why would you want to keep contact books or calendars on two seperate devices?

Don't like having both Bridge Messaging & Native Messaging? Don't use both. Here is a good thread for you to read. Especially post #4 which reads:

1. In Blackberry Bridge, on your phone, press the menu key, and Select Device Properties.
2. Uncheck services that you no longer want Bridge to display on your tablet.
3. Save and exit

You can use the native messaging client whilst bridged, and now you don't have to put up with duplicate notifications coming from the bridge messaging app.

Why would you want to keep contact books or calendars on two seperate devices? To me the whole point of my mobile experience is having everything at my fingertips, everywhere, regardless of which device is currently in my hand.

You just answered your own question. Plus, the PB is doing something here with Calendaring & Contacts that your 9900 is not doing, and that is tying in the social info from LinkedIn, FB, Twitter.

You say:

A wifi tablet was never meant to replace a smartphone.

but then say:

When I'm home or at work (where I also use my PlayBook frequently) it annoys the out of me when I'm holding my PlayBook and I need to think, "crap, where did I put my phone?". I only ever want to need to use one device at a time, period. I hate putting the PlayBook down to check my phone. It makes me question why I bought it in the first place....

... I ESPECIALLY expect to have text messaging capabilities when bridged

These are contradictory. It sounds like you want the tablet to replace your smartphone to me.

[BrizzadMan]

They delivered EXACTLY what they said they would. Anyone who follows crackberry, or any blackberry site for that matter, knew before yesterday exactly what was coming with 2.0, and it's all there. I for one am happy. Are there things that i wish it had? Sure, but none of those things were promised and then forgotten.

Excellent point! This is why I created the thread:

http://forums.crackberry.com/blackbe...-2-0-a-693566/

To define fantasy from reality. I added a section much later on of 'speculated features' of which there were really only two very late in the game close to the release of 2.0. The other features noted as confirmed - whether through the Dev beta, DEVCON Europe videos, CES videos, statements from RIM employees - all of those were nearly spot on.

It is easy for people to get their hopes up high, especially when not researching the facts. I intended to that with that thread, and I think it did ground people's expectations. Some that have only shown up in recent days, have been running on too many assumptions it seems.

[Xavier85]

Convergence is a beautiful thing, and I understand where you're coming from - but this expectation may be too high, especially on a tablet (and one from RIM even, who has some ground to make up).



Don't like having both Bridge Messaging & Native Messaging? Don't use both. Here is a good thread for you to read. Especially post #4 which reads:

1. In Blackberry Bridge, on your phone, press the menu key, and Select Device Properties.
2. Uncheck services that you no longer want Bridge to display on your tablet.
3. Save and exit

You can use the native messaging client whilst bridged, and now you don't have to put up with duplciate notifications coming from the bridge messaging app.



You just answered your own question. Plus, the PB is doing something here with Calendaring & Contacts that your 9900 is not doing, and that is tying in the social info from LinkedIn, FB, Twitter.

You say:



but then say:



These are contradictory. It sounds like you want the tablet to replace your smartphone to me.

Good work!

[Hyphenation]

RIM needed to add native email, contacts, and calendar if they have any hope of selling the PlayBook to people beyond BlackBerry/Bridge users. A lot of media criticism directed at the PB made prominent mention of the lack of those features.

[JamesDax3]

I"m a noob blackberry owner(never owned a BB phone and just bought my playbook yesterday) but I'd like to go through your 5 points if you don't mind.

1. This I agree with. Not sure why anyone who owns a BB phone would use the native clients on the Playbook. It's clear to me that was put there for folks like me who don't own a BB Phone.

2 & 5. DLNA would be much appreciated. I would love to be able to stream to and from my media server. Also it makes perfect since to me that one should be able to access and stream media from the extra storage on thier BB Phone. A cloud service would be great RIM.

3 & 4. Refer back to 1. If I were a BB Phone owner I would just you bridge for these services and wouldn't care if they were native to the divice.

As I said I'm not a BB Phone user. I use a HTC HD7 WP7.5 device. Even now I still haven't set up email, calender or contacts on my Playbook because my windows phone does those functions great.

[drummer_god]

"Of course there is no SD slot on the PlayBook, they can just use the one in my phone! OBVIOUSLY I wouldn't be expected to keep two copies of my music. OBVIOUSLY I wouldn't be expected to subscribe to podcasts on both devices, and double my data usage."

i like this idea.
hopefully this comes with an update or on BB10 phones.
it would be cool to load all my music onto my phone and be able to access those songs from my playbook over bridge.
these are wants i never knew i had!

[canadoc]

Native clients were crucial.
Outhouse you alienate the non bb user who can't use bridge

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

[BrizzadMan]

RIM needed to add native email, contacts, and calendar if they have any hope of selling the PlayBook to people beyond BlackBerry/Bridge users. A lot of media criticism directed at the PB made prominent mention of the lack of those features.

Yep - and RIM deserved that criticism. It is funny though, as less than a year ago - those were must haves and they were damned for not having them. Now, these PIM apps have been released (albeit very late), and the same critics dismiss them as being insignificant. The OP may think they are also insignificant and not required (with him being a BB owner), though they absolutely were required due to the outcry. Some people obviously want their e-mail on their tablet & not have to own a BB!

I have a BB, and enjoyed the Bridge Messaging apps. Now that native is available, I've disabled the bridge Messaging Apps, and will use the native apps over the bridge instead.

[svelt]

I've also been a staunch supporter of RIM and the PB, and have owned four blackberries in the past, but this update has been nothing short of a let down for my personally, with all the hype surrounding it. Native messaging/calendar/contacts are absolutely useless for existing BB owners who already use bridge effectively. I synced and then deleted all my accounts with my PB after realizing I am much more efficient using Bridge. Unfortunately, RIM did not take into account that they should have updated the Bridge messaging/calendar/contacts apps to match the native ones.

Most of the other updates are incremental and minor, and wasn't worth holding my breath for. Remote control isn't that great, I type about as fast on a PB as on my BB phone. The things that I like the most are the updated browser, spellcheck and docs2go.

I am not saying it is universally an underwhelming update, but if you are someone who has their life organized with their BB and relies on Bridge to have these faculties transferred onto the PB (which should apply to most CB members), I can't see how this update has done much for you to celebrate over.

[drummer_god]

if someone feels the 2.0 wasn't a big deal, then chances are, you were pretty satisfied with your playbook to begin with ( perhaps with the exception of 3rd party apps selection ).

i'm in that boat.

[FF22]

Rim has provided an option. Do not use the option if it does not work.

I'm still figuring out the native mail and whether I do or do not want it operating. I don't want double notifications. At the moment I have gone to MANUAL native mail retrieval. I don't get doubles in that setup.

But as I have written, I use the BIS filters so that my BB phone does NOT get all mail directed at anyone email account. My bbphone only gets the email from friends, family, certain contacts and exceptions. So if I am on vacation and want to check all of the rest of the email, my bbphone does not work as it limits who gets through to me. With the native, I can now turn it on, get ALL email to whichever account, check it all out, delete and turn it off again. I'm hoping that the manual works as I have not fully tested it yet.

Bridge is definitely lacking in some aspects and I would hope rim improves it but they needed to cater to a wider audience. This is their current answer.

I wanted the text/editing/spelling stuff a lot - finally. I wanted a2dp. I wanted more search (not yet in the web browser nor pdfs!). I wanted better bookmark organizing - not yet.

I have purchased $400+ tents and have had to add pockets where I wanted them. Obviously, we all want/need different things.

[BrizzadMan]

1. This I agree with. Not sure why anyone who owns a BB phone would use the native clients on the Playbook. It's clear to me that was put there for folks like me who don't own a BB Phone.

I have BB and contemplated whether I should use the native messaging application or not at first. I have in fact start using the native application instead of the bridge messaging app because:

1.) The UI is extremely better than what the equivilent 'bridge' messaging app looks like & the functionality it offers.

2.) I can still use the native messaging app when my PB & BB are bridged (I can send/receive e-mails on-the-go using my BB's data plan, just as the bridge messaging app did for me previously)

Sure, when someone steals my PlayBook there is e-mail present on the device, but BlackBerry Balance has enforced a password on that e-mail access. You need to "Unlock" the Messaging app with a password prior to using it. Good enough for me.

[Spencerdl]

......in a nutshell shell, if your unhappy with a product buy something that makes you HAPPY..

[BrizzadMan]

Native messaging/calendar/contacts are absolutely useless for existing BB owners who already use bridge effectively.

I have a BB & disagree with this, as my previous post explains. I use the native over bridge now instead, & have disabled the bridge apps (minus Tasks, Memos, & BBM). No duplicate notifications on the PB - and a much better messaging experience.

[Thunderbuck]

I have BB and contemplated whether I should use the native messaging application or not at first. I have in fact start using the native application instead of the bridge messaging app because:

1.) The UI is extremely better than what the equivilent 'bridge' messaging app looks like & the functionality it offers.

2.) I can still use the native messaging app when my PB & BB are bridged (I can send/receive e-mails on-the-go using my BB's data plan, just as the bridge messaging app did for me previously)

Sure, when someone steals my PlayBook there is e-mail present on the device, but BlackBerry Balance has enforced a password on that e-mail access. You need to "Unlock" the Messaging app with a password prior to using it. Good enough for me.

I came to pretty much the same conclusion as you, with the added incentive that having ActiveSync access to my Exchange server eliminated the need to fix my broken BESx instance.

[tweggs]

Anyone seen anything about OTG in OS 2.0?

[Foppa_21]

Native messaging/calendar/contacts are absolutely useless for existing BB owners who already use bridge effectively.

I have a BB & disagree with this, as my previous post explains. I use the native over bridge now instead, & have disabled the bridge apps (minus Tasks, Memos, & BBM). No duplicate notifications on the PB - and a much better messaging experience.

Same here. I've disabled bridge email and use PB native. For my BES and IMAP accounts, things stay in sync between PN-BB-laptop. The only thing that can get out of whack is POP email, but that was always the case anyway.

If the bridge email/calendar/contacts looked and functioned the same as native, would I stick with bridge versions? Maybe as I don't see too many scenarios where I'll have my PB and not my BB. But the current implementation certainly works for me.

[RaynotRoy]

Did RIM promise you any of the things you mention above?

There were lots of hopes, wants and speculation but RIM was pretty upfront about what would and would not be included in the update.

Sorry you are so disappointed.

I remember DLNA being a huge decision maker for me, and it was advertised as "very soon". You're completely right, it wasn't marked for the 2.0 update, but it was advertised before the release date and we are still waiting to see it. Perhaps that is the main source of my issue right there. 2.0 STILL isn't doing features advertised before the release date (edited: refering to last April, release date of the original PlayBook), so 2.0 to me feels like "PlayBook 1.0 BETA" in a way. But like I said, you are completely right. I'm saying that based on emotion and not facts.

These are contradictory. It sounds like you want the tablet to replace your smartphone to me.

Hey I can bridge browser, but can't bridge text message? c'mon. I can't really say more about it then it would have been nice. I wrongly assumed that would have been obvious. It's another feature they have yet to work on with bridge.

Yep - and RIM deserved that criticism....Some people obviously want their e-mail on their tablet & not have to own a BB!

I absolutely agree it should have been a feature in the making, which should have been here much faster, which deserved the criticism. I'm not saying they shouldn't have done it at all, but when my phone died I could check my email with the Browser. The Browser is great, I haven't noticed a single website I cannot use properly. Key word notice.

I am not saying it is universally an underwhelming update, but if you are someone who has their life organized with their BB and relies on Bridge to have these faculties transferred onto the PB (which should apply to most CB members), I can't see how this update has done much for you to celebrate over.

Well said. I'm not saying I don't want the update or it was better before, I'm just a little confused as to why people made a big deal of it.

if someone feels the 2.0 wasn't a big deal, then chances are, you were pretty satisfied with your playbook to begin with ( perhaps with the exception of 3rd party apps selection ).

i'm in that boat.

You aren't wrong, but much of my satisfaction was hype about how much it will be capable of doing "very soon". I'm a little tired of waiting for it to actually do it. I know it isn't anyones fault but my own if I got over-excited, but honestly with it being close to a year now I really don't think I was. I had realistic expectations for what I saw advertised on the day of my purchase. The advertising mislead me, which ultimately is my fault. It's advertising after all.

[purijagmohan]

i like this idea.
hopefully this comes with an update or on BB10 phones.
it would be cool to load all my music onto my phone and be able to access those songs from my playbook over bridge.
these are wants i never knew i had!

This will come.They will do it through NFC.RIM will avoid a cloud based solution as best as it could, because they care for bandwidth efficiency.

[RaynotRoy]

...TRUST me, you can't succeed unless you know what features are important enough to develop and which ones, while neat and would be awesome, are just not demanded enough.

The entire post is a great persepective, but the end got me thinking. And then I read:

these are wants i never knew i had!

Well CrackBerry, I REALLY REALLY want both DLNA, and one copy of my music. We know DLNA is being worked on, but let's get people WANTING it used to solve this storage problem. I've filled my 32GB MicroSD with Music, it's a shame to copy it all again to my PlayBook. Considering the last update was primarily advertised (from my perspective) as native clients, I think they could advertise a seamless bridge experience! C'mon OS 3.0! Am I a minority with this feature request? As a user I think a lot of BlackBerry handset owners could really benefit from this.

[jonty12]

I have a BB & disagree with this, as my previous post explains. I use the native over bridge now instead, & have disabled the bridge apps (minus Tasks, Memos, & BBM). No duplicate notifications on the PB - and a much better messaging experience.

I've done exactly the same thing. No comparison with the interface and functionality - especially calendar and contacts.

[BBMINI]

Subscribing to thread. I tend to agree with the OP on the lack of need/usefulnesss of native email for we PB users who are also BB users, and so far I've still be using just the Bridged functions. But I'm also going to explore the suggestions of using the native email over bridge. Interesting idea. Thanks for the info.