[CrackedBarry]

It's still a shoddy Fixed Focus camera though. And sorry, I meant text, not barcodes.

[anon3969612]

That's easy. For that price you get a somewhat better camera, a better, 50% bigger screen, and a razor thin, gorgeous aluminum body, compared to the cheap plastic on the cheaper choice.

Best of all though, for that price you get iOS and over 250.000 dedicated iPad apps...First of all, Android just isn't there yet, in terms of a smooth and well thought out user experience, and most of the apps are really just stretched phone apps. iPad apps are not just much more plentiful, theyre also much better.

Oh Rilly? Setting up and installing apps on my brother's new iPad2 freebie unit given to the company because we bought a bunch of stuff from a vendor was an exercise in frustration, mostly because the apps we install from the suppliers we use are garbage landscape ports of iphone apps. Oh, there is the X2 tab which telescopes the already grainy app to downright blocky... From remote desktop apps to manufacturer's specific apps to the horrible Satellite Spot app. It's like 'we have an iphone app in the App Store, good enough!'

[CrackedBarry]

Oh Rilly? Setting up and installing apps on my brother's new iPad2 freebie unit given to the company because we bought a bunch of stuff from a vendor was an exercise in frustration, mostly because the apps we install from the suppliers we use are garbage landscape ports of iphone apps. Oh, there is the X2 tab which telescopes the already grainy app to downright blocky... From remote desktop apps to manufacturer's specific apps to the horrible Satellite Spot app. It's like 'we have an iphone app in the App Store, good enough!'

Sure, iPhone apps on the iPad aren't ideal.
(You can download a tweak that upscales them to iPad resolution though. No more blockyness)
But it's still better than the Android alternative which is non existent, since most supplier/vendor developed software doesn't have an Android equivalent.

But I fail to see what your post has to do with anything we're discussing here... I was pointing out that an iPad mini is a better deal than a competing 7 inch tablet, since iPads have over 225.000 dedicated apps, compared to Android tablets which mainly have stretched cellphone apps available.
And you're complaining how the vendor-specific software you need for your specific use case only has iPhone apps? I really fail to see how that's relevant for consumers out there, except for the ones that also rely on the software that you need. Which isn't that many.

[Bold_until_Hybrid_Comes]

unless the bezels are significantly more narrow, if the screen size increased by 35% than the device size increased by 35%. People keep saying a small increase in screen size gives you so much more screen. I'm not doing the math but the dimensions of the ipad mini are indeed larger than the playbook. actually im going to do the math


dimensions according to mobile nations posted all over
ipad : 9.5 x 7.31 inches = 69.45 square inches surface
playbook: 7.6 x 5.1 = 38.76 square inches surface

69.45 / 38.76 = 1.79

so the front surface area of the ipad is 79% larger

screen size 35% larger according to some yet the device is 79% larger surface facing you. hmmmmmm

is this math not correct?? (honest question not being sarcastic)

[Chaddface]

So I guess we're STILL waiting for somebody to explain what's exceptional about BB Bridge

Everyone has different views but for me it's free data. I have a grandfathered unlimited plan for my phone. That's why I bought it and that's why I will drive it until the wheels fall off.

[Bold_until_Hybrid_Comes]

How is ios the oldest? It's on version 6 and after Xmas 6.1. Yes video chat works. But only with other PlayBook. Which is not many people. God you are a delusional human being.

QNX is 2011 on playbook, 2013 on phones

android: 2009? I dont know

iOS: 2007


Version doesnt matter. When the first version came out does

[Bold_until_Hybrid_Comes]

So I guess we're STILL waiting for somebody to explain what's exceptional about BB Bridge...
(And before somebody posts that you can control a PowerPoint presentation on the tablet from your phone, I'd like to point out that yup, you can do that on other tablets/phones as well. Same goes for using your BB as a keypad for a tablet game...)

Some with iphones like to say: "well I don't need bridge. I can use wifi hotspot on my ipad and i do not incur any additional data charges!"

Well listen here, I have been to about 6 other countries this year. You either are going to pay out the for data roaming charges with that mobile hotspot or you can get an exotic SIM. The thing is, with many/most exotic SIM cards in these places they do not allow mobile hotspot. This is where bridge is KEY for me.

[costas1966]

So I guess we're STILL waiting for somebody to explain what's exceptional about BB Bridge...
(And before somebody posts that you can control a PowerPoint presentation on the tablet from your phone, I'd like to point out that yup, you can do that on other tablets/phones as well. Same goes for using your BB as a keypad for a tablet game...)

Really? My 9900 can control an Android tablet....can an iPhone do that? Nope. If you don't see the value of that type of feature, then you're simply picking and choosing the features you value...Apple has apps....we have beat that to death...but it lacks FEATURES....as Android lacks FEATURES that BB has....Bridging between phones and tablets, Security, BBM, Fast email, Cheap Hotspot Access, etc...

Thanks for playing, though.

[Darlaten]

Really? My 9900 can control an Android tablet....can an iPhone do that?

I can't resist

My Ipad can control my Samsung Smart TV. Can the Playbook do that? Nope.

My Ipad will be able to control my Xbox360 including transferring content to and from the Xbox and be used to augment certain video games using the upcoming SmartGlass App. Is this app coming to the Playbook? Nope.

Will the Playbook be considered by those individuals who view the above as important considerations in their purchasing of a tablet? Nope. And therein lies the problem with the Playbook; it is utterly irrelevant if the Playbook has "features" which other tablets do not if, in the same breath, the Playbook lacks the very applications which every other tablet has. To simplify, it's become clear that features, for the average consumer, are not important in their decision making process. What is important is whether or not the applications that the public has come to expect to be available on a tablet is actually available on the tablet. The Playbook failed, or put in a slightly more positive manner, the Playbook was relegated to a very small niche market of users, not because it lacked features but because it lacked applications. Not to continue to beat a dead horse, but when a consumer asks if the Playbook has a Skype app and the only answer they receive is "No, it doesn't, but hey, the Playbook has high security", the reply from the consumer is "Security, who cares, I want Skype, show me what other tablets you have." That is why the Playbook failed.

[cgk]

Really? My 9900 can control an Android tablet....can an iPhone do that?

Isn't this the crux of the issue? That a lot of blackberry users are really impressed about features that nobody cares about?

[CrackedBarry]

unless the bezels are significantly more narrow, if the screen size increased by 35% than the device size increased by 35%. People keep saying a small increase in screen size gives you so much more screen. I'm not doing the math but the dimensions of the ipad mini are indeed larger than the playbook. actually im going to do the math


dimensions according to mobile nations posted all over
ipad : 9.5 x 7.31 inches = 69.45 square inches surface
playbook: 7.6 x 5.1 = 38.76 square inches surface

69.45 / 38.76 = 1.79

so the front surface area of the ipad is 79% larger

screen size 35% larger according to some yet the device is 79% larger surface facing you. hmmmmmm

is this math not correct?? (honest question not being sarcastic)

Dont know about your math, but your dimensions are way off

The iPad mini is 7.8 x 5.3 inches. So a tiiiny bit bigger along with really thin bezels account for the 35% bigger screen while retaining pretty much the same size.

[recompile]

How is ios the oldest? It's on version 6

... Really? ...

[skhwoody]

I have just purchased the Playbook, 64gb model for �110, and fore that price it is a steal.

I have an Ipad, i had an iphone for 2 yrs and now i use a android phone and have the PB now, so i have used items across all platforms, and i love the PB, for me that ability to drag and drop video files, unlike apple where i am tied into itunes and then have to convert every file to play in a format that they allow to play on their devices is a massive plus, i manly use it for ebooks/video and comics and love it.

The only downside of the PB for me is the lack of apps, if the android market was opened up on the PB, i think they would be onto a winner right out of the box. I have purchased two more on the back of this for the kids to have at xmas, with video thrown onto it and music i think this is the edal alternative to the overpriced ipad and mini and a genuine alternative to the android if they sort out the apps.

dont know what bridge is and have no want to go down the blackberry mobile route, but for my two penneth, i love the PB

[NFLPLAYBOOK]

Just about everything you can do with Bridge you can do with an iPhone and iPad. iMessages come through to both devices, emails, you can easily do a mobile hotspot and share your phone's data with the tablet. Other than using your phone to control the cursor on the tablet or write an email on the tablet (still waiting for someone to explain how this is actually useful) is there anything else that's exceptional about BB Bridge?

Ok the Bridge does SMS texting. It will also display photos from your phone directly without transferring. It also does all the email BBM Contacts and other such things. The most important thing that it does is allow all this to happen from your phone without having the information directly on the PlayBook. This means when someone else wants to use it or borrow it they can without having access to your personal information. This is why I have never set up the native apps on the PlayBook. You can borrow my tablet to play games or whatever, but you can't borrow my phone. If you have kids then you know what a feature like that is worth.

[cckgz4]

They didn't crush anything. The web is loaded with people saying, in effect, "are you kidding??" 1024X768 for $329? Compared to a Nexus7 at $199. The specs are decent (not great) but its $100+ over priced. They're up to $650 for a 64GB LTE model. In a vacuum, fine, but the competition in this area is intense now and 50% more is a lot.

The web is saying that, but not the average consumer. They are saying "Oh man, something that'll fit better in my hands!!!"

[Toodeurep]

Isn't this the crux of the issue? That a lot of blackberry users are really impressed about features that nobody cares about?

Grabs another spoon full...

By "nobody" I guess you don't really mean nobody because obviously somebody does that is why we use it. Here in the USA, many many people pay upwards of $200 per year for Hotspot or tethering fees, bridge user don't have to. Obviously many people do care about that because they pay extra for it.

Now throw in texting, BBM, calander, notes, tasks, email, Open On, remote control and using a physical keyboard when you need to type out those long messages. You have something that people should want. Hearing you guys tallk about the uselessness of Bridge is like hearing the others talk about how it doesn't matter that the ecosystem lacks the popular apps. Just plain silly.

I don't care if others describe an items success by sales volume or net profit, I do not. I judge it by what it can do for me and let history tell the rest.

[wafa510]

Ugh, I feel compelled to ask why every other post is about either bashing Apple or the Playbook? I do not understand. This is a BB forum folks. If you need to justify why the Playbook works for you then you should have never bought a Playbook, don't you agree? I bought mine a couple of months ago and I had the choice of what to buy. I do not even have a BB phone to bridge it with. I have an Android phone. I am bored with the phone but do I bash Android? Nope. My phone is essentially to text and make calls. I have used Apple products(not my own) but for me, they really do not justify the price but if I ever change my mind, I will buy an Apple product. I went with Android for my phone so I would be able to customize my phone. I like to tinker. I customized it. It was fun. Now I just use it for communication. I do not have the time to use it for anything else. I rarely even go into the market anymore to get apps. I bought the Playbook to use as a computer for either me or anyone in my family that did not want to use the laptop. It serves us very well. I have all my favorite websites bookmarked, I read my blogs that I follow, I use Facebook, I listen to music, read books, play some really awesome games on it. I sideloaded a bunch of apps to complete the tablet and honestly me and family have a lot of fun on it. It is a useful tool to us.

I joined these boards to learn more about what it can do, get helpful advice and hints and was thinking that everyone would think positivitely about the Playbook because these are Blackberry forums and this forum is dedicated solely to the Playbook. But every other post seems to be a lot of bashing. Instead of trying to justify why the Playbook is great or sucks, either use it and be happy or sell it and get over it and buy something that suits your needs. I am sorry to vent, but sometimes all the negativity bothers me.

[RubberChicken76]

Nonsense...
The Playbook is already dead, dead, dead.

Well, if it were truly dead, it would be discontinued.

It's a year and a half old, and fairly outdated in terms of hardware.

Except that they did release an updated one recently ... PlayBook LTE.

Last quarter RIM could only sell a little over one hundred thousand of them, despite retailers throwing them at people for 99$ and 199$.

The sales generally happened after the quarter ended. I'd actually expect a slight bump up in this quarter's report.

[RubberChicken76]

What is important is whether or not the applications that the public has come to expect to be available on a tablet is actually available on the tablet. The Playbook failed, or put in a slightly more positive manner, the Playbook was relegated to a very small niche market of users, not because it lacked features but because it lacked applications.

I can't argue that. I quite like my PlayBook, but you're right in that this is completely its achilles heel. My mom (who is the least tech savvy person ever) exemplified the problem perfectly. She got a PlayBook, uses it every day and picked it up seamlessly. But her first question was "does it have Skype and Netflix?". She doesn't read tech blogs or anything. But she uses those apps and couldn't get them. My aunt has a PlayBook and asked for Instagram. Same thing - no problem picking it up, and uses it every day. But missing the app she wanted. My other aunt ended up getting an iPad. She too has used (and likes) the PlayBook, but couldn't get a couple of key games her friends were playing. And this is an area where I think RIM has made improvements on PlayBook over the phones!

This is my fear of what BB10 will face as well, unless RIM can get the big guys on board.

[mnhockeycoach99]

I laugh at those people that are calling the PlayBook _______ (junk, obsolete, irrelevant, etc). Are you just angry that you paid full price for it or what? I carry my PlayBook with me everywhere and use is daily for streaming music, web browsing, viewing and editing documents, playing games with my kids, video chatting, etc. The hardware is solid and the OS is getting better with each update. I have a many native and sideloaded apps on my PB and am looking forward to BB10. For those of you that don't like your PlayBook, sell it, get something that suits your needs, and stop complaining about it... seriously. SMH

[mnhockeycoach99]

Just about everything you can do with Bridge you can do with an iPhone and iPad. iMessages come through to both devices, emails, you can easily do a mobile hotspot and share your phone's data with the tablet. Other than using your phone to control the cursor on the tablet or write an email on the tablet (still waiting for someone to explain how this is actually useful) is there anything else that's exceptional about BB Bridge?

What people like you don't realize is that unless you have a shared data plan, you pay extra for hot spot (at least on AT&T). With my 9900 bridged to my PB (without the AT&T bridge version of course), I can use the single data plan on both devices.. If I want, I can also pay EXTRA to turn my 9900 into a hotspot and connect my PB via wifi... Bottom line is that a BB/PB combo gives you additional options that a iPhone/iPad does not..

[mnhockeycoach99]

Seriously?

WHAT KIND OF USELESS, HALFASSED, RIDICULOUS FEATURE IS THAT?!?

Why not just type it on the phone, period? Or use a little Bluetooth keyboard with the tablet? Or type it on the tablets keyboard? If you seriously loathe onscreen keyboards to the extent that you'd prefer typing on a tiny phone keyboard, instead of typing on a 7 inch screen, then why did you get a tablet in the first place? A person that feels that way would just get an ultraportable laptop instead, no?

So I guess we're STILL waiting for somebody to explain what's exceptional about BB Bridge...
(And before somebody posts that you can control a PowerPoint presentation on the tablet from your phone, I'd like to point out that yup, you can do that on other tablets/phones as well. Same goes for using your BB as a keypad for a tablet game...)

With all due respect, from the sounds of your posts, maybe CrackBerry isn't the best site for you.. maybe iMore or Android Central is a better fit.

[kill_9]

It will forever be the epitaph of the PlayBook that it was here first and if RIM had only given folks what they wanted - there was a market ready willing and ready to spend on a 7" tablet. "Give the people what they want and they'll show up"

The lack of business / professional applications was the most significant hindrance to the adoption of the BlackBerry PlayBook - name choice aside for the moment - and sealed its fate in that marketplace. When Research In Motion decided to switch mid-stream to embrace the consumer marketplace they completely miscalculated the impact a sparse application selection has in the minds of consumers. Businesses should have been snapping up these tablets but incomplete software (OS and UX)for the tablet coupled with incomplete, at the time, BlackBerry Bridge meant the management-class and technical professionals such as business analysts, systems analysts, data analysts, and legal practitioners (lawyers, legal researchers, paralegals, legal assistants) could not adopt this tablet. Now over 2 years post-release the BlackBerry PlayBook remains incomplete; most users whom should have been the target demographic have passed on this tablet. It has come to the point with massive price reductions that the primary driver of these new sales is to buy a toy for children.

[davisgq]

Ugh, I feel compelled to ask why every other post is about either bashing Apple or the Playbook? I do not understand. This is a BB forum folks. If you need to justify why the Playbook works for you then you should have never bought a Playbook, don't you agree? I bought mine a couple of months ago and I had the choice of what to buy. I do not even have a BB phone to bridge it with. I have an Android phone. I am bored with the phone but do I bash Android? Nope. My phone is essentially to text and make calls. I have used Apple products(not my own) but for me, they really do not justify the price but if I ever change my mind, I will buy an Apple product. I went with Android for my phone so I would be able to customize my phone. I like to tinker. I customized it. It was fun. Now I just use it for communication. I do not have the time to use it for anything else. I rarely even go into the market anymore to get apps. I bought the Playbook to use as a computer for either me or anyone in my family that did not want to use the laptop. It serves us very well. I have all my favorite websites bookmarked, I read my blogs that I follow, I use Facebook, I listen to music, read books, play some really awesome games on it. I sideloaded a bunch of apps to complete the tablet and honestly me and family have a lot of fun on it. It is a useful tool to us.

I joined these boards to learn more about what it can do, get helpful advice and hints and was thinking that everyone would think positivitely about the Playbook because these are Blackberry forums and this forum is dedicated solely to the Playbook. But every other post seems to be a lot of bashing. Instead of trying to justify why the Playbook is great or sucks, either use it and be happy or sell it and get over it and buy something that suits your needs. I am sorry to vent, but sometimes all the negativity bothers me.

Well said wafa510. I couldn't agree more. You know, there are so many choices for people out there. And unless someone put a gun to your head or forced you to buy a Playbook against your will, I don't see why you are all arguing about this. Yes, the iPad Mini will sell well. Yes the Playbook was released half-baked, yes there was a markdown on the price of the Playbook because it couldn't sell at the higher price point. There are Android tablets, etc, etc.

Isn't it awesome to have so many choices available? C'mon people. There are more problems and issues than which tablet is better or why the Playbook is dead or failed, etc. Solve world hunger, find a way to cure cancer, spam the heck out of the NHL and Commissioner Bettman to get the NHL season back on track, things like that.

The Playbook is not perfect. It's missing some apps and lacks in certain areas. We get it. Hopefully we all did some research before we decided to purchase it. I knew the risks involved, and there are still certain things that irritate or annoy me about the Playbook, but they are petty and I don't lose sleep over it. I like the Bridge feature- it works for me. I CAN tell you of several instances myself where Wi-Fi or hotspots were not available and I needed to access my Blackberry's 3G data connection to bridge with my Playbook and it proved to be a saving grace, though I still primarily use my Bold for internet browsing and email anyways. And using the Bold's keyboard saves me from carrying an extra BT keyboard. Yes, I can buy an affordable BT keyboard, that is not the point. I like to keep things simple in the journal case for my Playbook without the extra bulk of a keyboard. Again, that's just my preference. For the things I like to get done, I can do it for the most part. Again, not the end of the world if I can't. No Hulu or Netflix? Meh. I can probably be more productive with my time by doing something else.

Everyone is entitled to their opinions. There is no right or wrong answer. That's why this is a forum. Be happy and live life.

[RubberChicken76]

It doesn't matter if it bridges or not RIM did not see development through and failed to take action.

I love how people exaggerate. Yes, they put PlayBook out and then nothing happened. No new apps beyond what came out at the time (including the tens of thousands that have been added in). No new features in OS updates.

Yes, PlayBook is still $499, with 2,000 apps int he app store and is still on OS 1.0.