PlayBook OS 2.1? Where are you?

Well, after reading everyone's comments I decide to take a plunge into the 2.1 beta update. I was one of those who gleefully upgraded the .688 or as I called it .666. The battery drainage was the most visible one and could not back up on my desktop manager. Otherwise I did not notice any other improvement or issues. Disclaimer: Totally not a tech savvy guy here. After the 2.1 upgrade. Immediately notice how crisp and sharp the screen is. I have to reboot a couple of times because browsing, downloading and opening emails takes forever. After that, the browser was faster than before. No missing apps or games (I do not have any side loaded apps or games). More important, woke up this morning, no battery drainage, the level stays the same. When backing up this morning, I got the same error message and was told to call representative? I retry again, so far it seems it's backing up right now at 10% and going. As far as I'm concern, this is my official 2.1 upgrade. Battery seems to gone back to before the 666 upgrade. I would not have remember if it's better than before . So I'll let the experts do that. But I'm happy for the beta upgrade. Thank you crackberry members for all your expertise and comments. I wish other tech platform is as helpful as this one here.

If the beta is as good as it gets RIM is in trouble cause there are still issues with it.

From a friend:

RIM hit a major roadblock with 2.1. Something that was not acceptable to release to the public and have since gone back to recoding and fixing it.

From myself:
yet another overly delayed software patch offering few features that were promised that will be delayed yet once again. I have no faith in RIM for delivery of patches. 1-2.x took 2x as long as intended and 2.1 which isn't even a major revision is going to take probably double as long as well.

I actually have more faith in BB10 getting to my playbook than 2.1

Originally Posted by bambinoitaliano

Well, after reading everyone's comments I decide to take a plunge into the 2.1 beta update. I was one of those who gleefully upgraded the .688 or as I called it .666. The battery drainage was the most visible one and could not back up on my desktop manager. Otherwise I did not notice any other improvement or issues. Disclaimer: Totally not a tech savvy guy here. After the 2.1 upgrade. Immediately notice how crisp and sharp the screen is. I have to reboot a couple of times because browsing, downloading and opening emails takes forever. After that, the browser was faster than before. No missing apps or games (I do not have any side loaded apps or games). More important, woke up this morning, no battery drainage, the level stays the same. When backing up this morning, I got the same error message and was told to call representative? I retry again, so far it seems it's backing up right now at 10% and going. As far as I'm concern, this is my official 2.1 upgrade. Battery seems to gone back to before the 666 upgrade. I would not have remember if it's better than before . So I'll let the experts do that. But I'm happy for the beta upgrade. Thank you crackberry members for all your expertise and comments. I wish other tech platform is as helpful as this one here.

I like that - The Biblical Beast! :eek:

Originally Posted by trsbbs

I want what I paid for over a year ago. I think I and those like me have waited long enough.

What is it that you are still missing?

The official os 2.1 will come out. I tweeted @michaelclewely asking him if it will actually be released eventually and he replied with yes it will. Dnt know when though, but as some people in this thread have suggested it may not come out, i guess we got it from the horses mouth, so its just a waiting game now.

I had lots of problems with the beta before doing a security wipe. Since then, no issues.

Originally Posted by amjass12

The official os 2.1 will come out. I tweeted @michaelclewely asking him if it will actually be released eventually and he replied with yes it will. Dnt know when though, but as some people in this thread have suggested it may not come out, i guess we got it from the horses mouth, so its just a waiting game now.

Do you have proof of this?

Originally Posted by Chaddface

What is it that you are still missing?

SMS texting via bridge.
Configurable browser book marks.
An actual working file manager.
Full function native email client. Note the word full.
Cascades.
Encryption option. Like on the phones.
Better network options. Static IP setting etc..

Read the forum post from the early adopters and you see even more items.

The big one for me is texting. BBM is useless in the US for the most part.

Tim


Sent from my BlackBerry 9850

Originally Posted by sardagan

Do you have proof of this?

Yes follow me on twitter.. @amjass12 and check my tweet to him along with his reply

Originally Posted by trsbbs

SMS texting via bridge.
Configurable browser book marks.
An actual working file manager.
Full function native email client. Note the word full.
Cascades.
Encryption option. Like on the phones.
Better network options. Static IP setting etc..

Read the forum post from the early adopters and you see even more items.

The big one for me is texting. BBM is useless in the US for the most part.

Tim


Sent from my BlackBerry 9850

Oh. I didn't know all those things were promised a year ago.

The one thing that WAS promised a year ago thats not on your list trsbbs, nor is it in 2.1.

DLNA / UPNP support.

yet again. it's omission is troublesome

Love to know what "road block " they hit.

Originally Posted by Kandoo-BB

Love to know what "road block " they hit.

Mike (X CEO) noticed that a bunch of QNX resources were being used to produce the
PB and its OS. This upset him and pulled some if not most of the resources off the PB and moved them to the QNX phone development. This happened last summer.

This not only shows that Mike didn't have a clue as to what was going on in his company but it shows the state disarray that RIM was and seems to be still in under Thor. (Also note Mike is still there)

The result of this move was the delay of the items they said the PB would have "soon".
Instead of increasing the resourcess of both the phones and the PB he cut the PBs.
Thus both the phones and the PB were hurt badly.

Native email, according to Mike B. on a TV interview, the native email would be available within 60 days after the launch. We now know he didn't know what he was talking about or RIM was unable to deliver.
Cascades were supposed to be on the PB by that fall as well.. per Mike.

I do not want to go through the whole time line.

Just compare the PB to what other successful tablets have and you will see the large holes it had and still has over a year after it was released.

To drop support for it would not only off a ton of PB owners but would do even more damage to RIMs reputation of not being able to deliver a products that works and has the functions the buyers want.

Folks say it takes a long time to produce a "new" OS. It's not all that new! The QNX OS has been around on a wid ranging number of products for a long time now. Years.

2.1 is needed and the promise needs to be kept. Period.:mad:

Tim

I am curious too. I remember the poster etc that showed a whole whack of upgrades included with 2.1 mainly, the APIs for the camera and mic and sms/mms over bridge capability. I understand that BB10 is coming to PB but that is a long way away and I am a little wary of further pump-fakes. 2.1 was said to be coming, so lets have it! I am still holding hope that it will release when the 4G hits in the US...

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900

Originally Posted by bitek

i know BB10 wilL be great. just get 2.1 beta. it works really well. it does not feel like beta at all.

But if you move to beta release remember BlackBerry PlayBook Support is under no obligation to assist you in the event of any issues. I am not saying you will be told to bugger off but officially any beta software is unsupported through the usual support channel.

Originally Posted by amjass12

The official os 2.1 will come out. I tweeted @michaelclewely asking him if it will actually be released eventually and he replied with yes it will. Dnt know when though, but as some people in this thread have suggested it may not come out, i guess we got it from the horses mouth, so its just a waiting game now.

I apologise for being the old cynic that I am, but RIM's response to that question was always going to be "yes, official 2.1 will come out".

If 2.1 was actually coming, the answer would be "yes".

If 2.1 wasn't coming, the answer would also be "yes" so as not to depress anyone with a PB that was waiting for it. And by the time the lie was revealed, the imminent release of BB10 would be announced... and we could all play this waiting game all over again! Part of me does appreciate the humour of this situation. LOL

I'd be more interested in a tweet (is twitter the entirety of RIM's PR operation these days?) stating an unequivocal release date for 2.1 and not using any of the following: "soon", "around the corner", "Summer", "later", or "after". ;)

Originally Posted by sardagan

I wonder what would happen if RIM Suddenly stated that BB10 would not be coming to playbook...

The market would pummel their stock price and consumers would abandon BlackBerry in droves during the consumers' next upgrade cycle. On the enterprise side many users are already moving to Apple iPhone and Google Android devices. BlackBerry 10 is not coming to the BlackBerry PlayBook until AFTER the BlackBerry 10 smartphones are released and in the best case scenario the announcement says 3-6 months post-release of smartphones before the tablet receives any software update to BlackBerry 10. The level of denial on this forum is incredulous.

Originally Posted by BB9700CA

The market would pummel their stock price and consumers would abandon BlackBerry in droves during the consumers' next upgrade cycle.

Too late.
$6.61/share right now.

Originally Posted by BB9700CA

The market would pummel their stock price and consumers would abandon BlackBerry in droves during the consumers' next upgrade cycle. On the enterprise side many users are already moving to Apple iPhone and Google Android devices. BlackBerry 10 is not coming to the BlackBerry PlayBook until AFTER the BlackBerry 10 smartphones are released and in the best case scenario the announcement says 3-6 months post-release of smartphones before the tablet receives any software update to BlackBerry 10. The level of denial on this forum is incredulous.

How about a link with this maybe 6 months after the phones.

Originally Posted by Kandoo-BB

Love to know what "road block " they hit.

Maybe the co-op student working on the patch finished his/her final work term before graduating and has left the building much like Elvis? Honestly, the fabrications arising around BlackBerry Tablet OS 2.1 and the future BlackBerry 10 might lead some people to think the first casualty of product development is truth. When Clewely says "Yes, it is coming," are we to equate this statement with the more profoundly honest statement "Everyone dies eventually?" :rolleyes:

Originally Posted by kbz1960

How about a link with this maybe 6 months after the phones.

If I am still around and remember I'd be happy to post a link. :confused:

Originally Posted by trsbbs

Mike (X CEO) noticed that a bunch of QNX resources were being used to produce the
PB and its OS. This upset him and pulled some if not most of the resources off the PB and moved them to the QNX phone development. This happened last summer.

This not only shows that Mike didn't have a clue as to what was going on in his company but it shows the state disarray that RIM was and seems to be still in under Thor. (Also note Mike is still there)

The result of this move was the delay of the items they said the PB would have "soon".
Instead of increasing the resourcess of both the phones and the PB he cut the PBs.
Thus both the phones and the PB were hurt badly.

Native email, according to Mike B. on a TV interview, the native email would be available within 60 days after the launch. We now know he didn't know what he was talking about or RIM was unable to deliver.
Cascades were supposed to be on the PB by that fall as well.. per Mike.

I do not want to go through the whole time line.

Just compare the PB to what other successful tablets have and you will see the large holes it had and still has over a year after it was released.

To drop support for it would not only off a ton of PB owners but would do even more damage to RIMs reputation of not being able to deliver a products that works and has the functions the buyers want.

Folks say it takes a long time to produce a "new" OS. It's not all that new! The QNX OS has been around on a wid ranging number of products for a long time now. Years.

2.1 is needed and the promise needs to be kept. Period.:mad:

Tim

Even though QNX isn't new, do you think it works right out of the box on tablets and phones? I equate QNX to a car engine....it is what runs the car, but there are also other things needed to make it work. As an example, the cars interior components = the GUI that RIM has built (aka PB OS1.0, 2.0, 2.1, BB10, etc.). This isn't something you can just build overnight and throw it on a device. Look at Apple, iOS is still getting features/functionality that my BB handsets have had for years...and how long has the iPhone been out? Exactly... :confused:

Originally Posted by mnhockeycoach99

Even though QNX isn't new, do you think it works right out of the box on tablets and phones? I equate QNX to a car engine....it is what runs the car, but there are also other things needed to make it work. As an example, the cars interior components = the GUI that RIM has built (aka PB OS1.0, 2.0, 2.1, BB10, etc.). This isn't something you can just build overnight and throw it on a device. Look at Apple, iOS is still getting features/functionality that my BB handsets have had for years...and how long has the iPhone been out? Exactly... :confused:

Nope. It is clear it didn't work right out of the box, isn't it :)

And it hasn't been "overnight" either. Its been over 365 overnights so far.

I am not asking for the parting of the Red Sea here. Just simple items that
should be on the PB.

They sold an unfinished product for top dollar. Indicated items that would be soon coming and then did not deliver.

I could care less how long it takes to build the OS. I want what they said it would be and for the price I paid I dang well better get and soon.

I think giving them over a year since its release to add the items I listed is more the reasonable and from the lack of sales I would say I am correct.

The company I work for does custom programming for financial institutions. We seem to be able to get a complete bank system out and in the banks hands on time and with the features needs. Yep, some bugs pop up that need to be fixed but that is done in short order.
I would say it just as hard to produce software that works from the Teller to the
processor on time and with the promised features.

If you think it is hard to make an OS, try to make a system for a bank that meets all the security needs and the needs of the Federal Reserve, Visa etc.

Tim

Originally Posted by trsbbs

The company I work for does custom programming for financial institutions. We seem to be able to get a complete bank system out and in the banks hands on time and with the features needs. Yep, some bugs pop up that need to be fixed but that is done in short order.
Tim

Agreed. I'm in the exact same field. We get our product installed, tested, and running in major credit unions and financial institutions around the world in average project time of 60 days.

We're talking major Fiancial institutions who can manage to upgrade and replace their back end systems in less time than RIM's managed to write patches for their existing OS (PB OS), and that includes custom code for client specific needs for us!

I understand what RIM is trying to do. They're not doing it with only 1 person though. there's an entire team (or should be). They're also at this point not building PB OS from the ground up. bug fixes and added featuresets that aren't brand new to the world here.