rumors of a 7 inch windows surface tablet

over on Mobile Nations WP Central they posted a blog about Microsoft unveiling a 7 inch surface tablet later this year. I for one love my PB because of the 7 inch form factor. its so convenient to carry around and use to take videos and pics without looking akward like some of the folks doing the same with a bigger tablet. I have the BB mini keyboard combo and this really works well for me. I sure hope BB gets BB10 loaded on our PlayBooks and pushes some marketing dollars behind our beloved PlayBooks before Microsoft gets the 7 inch surface tablet out and it's marketing dollars behind it.

What do my fellow Crackberrians think about a 7 inch surface? Will the PlayBook survive in the tablet wars? I sure hope so

http://www.windowscentral.com/next-w...-7-inch-tablet






BlackBerry user by Choice

It doesn't really matter if it comes out because Microsoft is in the same boat as BlackBerry (no apps). Everyone looking at tablets and smart phones want the apps no matter how crappy they are. People look at the number of apps not what the device can do.

Hmmm...new tablet or a 2 year old tablet on life support?

The PlayBook is no longer relevant in the eyes of consumers.

Even BlackBerry 10 upgrade on the device won't entice anyone.

I suspect BlackBerry to release a tablet built for BlackBerry 10 later this year. BlackBerry Live in May will be exciting!

I don't think that the PlayBook is on life support. Its a great device with some drawbacks. I think BlackBerry is going to come out with a new tablet year and maybe they can fix those drawbacks. I just wish that Blackberry would do more native app for there devices, instead of using Android apps. If I wanted Android apps I would have purchased an Android tablet and smart phone.

It's 2 years old. This is the time most companies start "forgetting" about older products.

Around 80% apps are native. Just because an app doesn't look like Cascades, doesn't mean it's not native.

Well when you down load an app and it says Google play I don't believe it's native. The PlayBook maybe two years old but it still performs better than a lot of tables out there.

My problem with having Android apps is I don't want a Frankenstein for a device tablet or phone. Its going to cause more of a mess than it is. Well you can do this with this but you can't do this with that (FUBR).

Originally Posted by dphjeff

Well when you down load an app and it says Google play I don't believe it's native. The PlayBook maybe two years old but it still performs better than a lot of tables out there.

If you want a tablet that does Flash, you will have to get BBRY or Windows Pro (RT flash is somewhat limited). I think the next major revision of android (5.0) will drop support for sure. BBRY says they will support it for the foreseable future.

Heins says he will not do another tablet unless it creates "value". I sure hope they think BB10 is that value.

Maybe there just going to release the old PlayBook with BB10.

Originally Posted by thelink74

Will the PlayBook survive in the tablet wars? I sure hope so

Playbook never been a part of the tablet war

i bought my PlayBook on Launch date 4-19-11 and i dont regret it. ive seen it get better and better with each update and look forward to loading BB10 on it. i am not an apps user (i probably use a total of 5 regularly) and im not a gamer (my kids have like 5 games on my PB they play regularly) i use it more for creating my Bible Class lessons and use it in church when i give the lesson. at work i use it for management meeting taking notes. i am a Yankees fan and love to watch them play on MLB.TV on the browser connected via HDMI to my flat screen TV. in my car i dock it to the dash and play music. during family events i Love taking the HD quality videos and they get stored on my external HD. the PlayBook is the most underated Tablet and i believe BlackBerry can fix that with a great marketing campaign and BB10. Thor talks alot about Mobile Computing and it doesnt get any better than having a tablet in that space.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 while i patiently wait for my upgrade to get the Z10

I do fear for BlackBerry when they proclaim themselves to be in the mobile computing business but don't have a tablet strategy that can be taken anywhere near seriously.

Microsoft's Surface and Surface RT are terrible, not because of the hardware which is very good but because Windows 8 is such a compromised and confused beast, but at least Microsoft have a strategy!

I seriously hope Thorsten was just being secretive when talking down expectations for future tablets. I would love to see 2013 spec 7 and 10 inch PlayBook successors running a tablet tweaked BB10.

Blackberry's problem after the original PlayBook that Thorsten was eluding to is that it only sold in any numbers once discounted to the point of being a huge loss maker. BlackBerry now know they can't make a profit on a BB10 capable tablet sold at Android tablet price points, the economies of scale Samsung, Amazon and Google can take advantage of are so far out of BlackBerry's reach. Pricing a future BlackBerry tablet higher than Android when it's app ecosystem is far inferior would be financial suicide. Don't even think about iPad price points. I'm struggling to see a profitable way back in to the tablet market other than making very small production runs, selling direct to the BlackBerry faithful who will pay over the odds and making full use of the BB 10 ecosystem rather than the device needing its own, assuming the BB10 ecosystem ever reaches its potential - that's another topic!

Posted via CB10

Originally Posted by dphjeff

It doesn't really matter if it comes out because Microsoft is in the same boat as BlackBerry (no apps). Everyone looking at tablets and smart phones want the apps no matter how crappy they are. People look at the number of apps not what the device can do.

If people are buying MS Surface because of apps, then they clearly don't understand the direction that this tablet has taken. It's actually a direction that I thought BB was going two years ago when I purchased a 64gig for just over $800.00 with warranty. Surface is a true laptop replacement,.

The Playbook had a USB port which was something not many others had. I actually thought that I might one day be able to use that USB port like the one on my laptop. You know...connect a 3G stick to it and use the thing while I was out and about. While it was also short on Skype and other Windows based apps, I was not concerned...BB would get it done.

Two years later I still have my PB and no USB support. Silly me. I still needed a smaller, fully functioning laptop for travel, so what to do. My main priority was size, weight and function. I wanted speed, USB support, an SSD and to be able to have a fully functioning windows computer on the road.

After looking at every single Ultrabook on the market. Many have touch screens with Windows 8. The rep at FS suggested a Surface Tab...I had actually not even considered it. After looking at the functionality, I could not believe what MS had come up with. No it was not rocket science...just a tablet that works like a PC. Simple...that's why Windows 8 is such a bear on a PC...it's for touch screens!

I ended up buying an i5 surface pro with a 128 gig SSD. This is a full functioning laptop without the keyboard. (Yes I also bought one of those as well, but I have not been using it). I don't care about apps...I needed a PC. This computer does everything my laptop did...only faster, smaller and lighter. (oh and explorer never checker boards, it never loosed it's connection to the net), I have full USB functionality and the battery is as good as any laptop I've ever had. Certainly as good as PB.

I still use my PB for (slowly) browsing the web, and I store movies on it for travel...but that's it. I have apps on my PB...but most of them don't work the way they are advertised. Especially the GPS one's!

Anyway...after a month with my Surface I have no regrets and I am very happy with it. I could not say that about my experience with the PB.

Oh yeah...I almost forgot...it's got Skype!

Heheh, Skype :)

BB10 is slowly looking like a dead end now. Any smartphone maker which goes it alone in today's market with its own hardware, software and ecosystem is taking a huge gamble. Samsung, Google and Apple already have the lion's share, leaving Nokia, Microsoft and RIM to fight for scraps. And two years of development for BB10 and PBOS and still no USB OTG, even though the drivers have been there since the beginning? Come on RIM, those two years have seen Android jump from Gingerbread and Honeycomb to Jelly Bean!

I'm more keen on Atom-based Win8 tablets like the Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet 2 and HP Envy X2. You get the full Windows 8 experience, not the neutered Metro and app store-only WinRT nonsense, plus much longer battery life compared to the Surface Pro. The CPU is slower and the GPU is rubbish but that's good enough for most office work. A 7" proper Win8 tablet would be the Playbook replacement I've been looking for.

I hear you. What I was saying is every time I talk to someone about a BlackBerry or Microsoft products, they bring up the lack of apps. They always bring up how many apps Android or Apple have. Most of the app out there are garbage anyway. I am a big BlackBerry user but have been looking at the windows product here lately, because BlackBerry is becoming a Frankenstein product. Like I said before if I wanted to use Android apps I would have purchased a Android tablet. It just don't make since to me for BlackBerry to come out with a new OS and then pile on all of those Android app just so they can say that they have 70,000 apps.

I can't imagine how frustrating the UI of the Windows 8 Desktop will be to use on a 7" tablet. It's bad enough on the larger Surface screen because it's just not designed properly for touch and betrays the many compromises and fudges that make Windows 8 grate instead of great.

Posted via CB10

I'd settle for Windows 8 on my Playbook....BlackBerry could further define its market by licencing other OS, Playbook with triple boot BB10,W8 or Android all.backed by BIS/unmatched mobile security....but oh no we'll drop BIS??

Originally Posted by johnnyuk

I can't imagine how frustrating the UI of the Windows 8 Desktop will be to use on a 7" tablet. It's bad enough on the larger Surface screen because it's just not designed properly for touch and betrays the many compromises and fudges that make Windows 8 grate instead of great.

Posted via CB10

Sounds like you have regrets about owning a Windows 8 Surface tab. You do own one don't you?

'Work' owns one, the painless way to buy an expensive gadget that turns out to be very disappointing.

Posted via CB10

Big difference between SurfaceRT with ARM processor and Surface Pro with Intel i5 processor. The RT version does not run the laptop version of Windows programs. Maybe in the fall the new Atom line would be used which would be more suited to the 7-8" tablets although probably slower than the i5.

Originally Posted by blueberrymerry

I'm more keen on Atom-based Win8 tablets like the Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet 2 and HP Envy X2. You get the full Windows 8 experience, not the neutered Metro and app store-only WinRT nonsense, plus much longer battery life compared to the Surface Pro. The CPU is slower and the GPU is rubbish but that's good enough for most office work. A 7" proper Win8 tablet would be the Playbook replacement I've been looking for.

I second this. I was a hardcore playbook fan (though no, I don't have the posts to back it up -- but I used it and praised it as such), brought it with me daily because it was perfect size for the commute, I could read with one hand on the streetcar while others struggled to wield their giant ipads, it sent my texts and emails directly so I didn't have to also pull out my phone and I was always connected via bridge. But I struggled hard to make it a truly productive tool, because I could not integrate it into my workflow without numerous workarounds. e.g. any onenote users out there? No easy way to even view. Track changes in documents? No way. Properly syncing multiple and ics calendars? Sad and frustrating. Then I got an atom based win8 tablet, the thinkpad tablet 2, and sadly my playbook just collects dust now. While it is bigger and less comfortable for reading on the bus, and I have to start a hotspot to browse instead of being always connected, these are small prices to pay for the true functionality, i.e. to replace a laptop (and a notebook, as in the kind you use a pen with) and get work done (e.g. a full office suite) in as light of a package. No they don't have the apps (microsoft or blackberry), but this really is a lower priority for this consumer base. Blackberry has always been about productivity as much as play, and while I sung its praises for over a year, they truly are missing what windows 8 tablets now offer. No other OS/hardware combo does everything a laptop does at 600g, with few compromises and additional features like long battery life, regular USB, wacom for pen input, freedom to install any standard windows program and browse fully featured (hello skype, netflix, all the usual gripes). I do like playbook for the 7 inch form factor, and think this is a terrible idea for a win8 tablet - win8 still works because you can bluetooth any mouse to it and they frequently include a stylus to help with the less touch-friendly parts of legacy windows desktop. But sadly, the playbook doesn't have it all, and I'm quite impressed with what microsoft and its partners have been able to offer to truly move the tablet market forward.

I absolutely love my playbook, and I think that the 7 inch form factor is super convenient when you�re on the go� That said, I would like for the next Playbook to be a good two for one option� If I could have BB10 and Surface Pro options all in the same device, I would be set. It would fix a lot of the complaints that current BB owners have about not having Outlook, Skype, Netflix on their device� Plus it would be a slick *** productivity tool� I know some will say just buy one of each if and when those updated products come out� But this could really boost BB/QNX tablet sales, as well as increase licensing revenue for MS� Im sure there are some smart people out there that can make this work,Kevin/Blaze/Thor, let�s just make it happen�

I have a few other collaboration ideas concerning a BB watch, but will save that for later... lol

Waiting on my new Q10 Sprint...