[leo1055]

Was at a trade show today and had my PB...was able to show off all kinds of flash sites and people were absolutely psyched about the device. Seems like the reviews are very different than most people's reactions.

[Jake Storm]

You can't keep a good tablet down

[leo1055]

Being shown a few neat things and having to put up with it and all of it's limitations full-time are two different things.

Dear Troll:

Let me point you in the direction of this:

http://forums.crackberry.com/f2/clea...-trash-609572/

[BlackStormRising]

One of my colleagues got one last week, and my boss wanted to get one but his company-issued phone is on an old OS. Funny thing is, he's on the BES, I'm not and the other guy doesn't own a blackberry. The playbook is his first; he has no interest in emails and calendars, nor games. I'll have to ask him what exactly he uses it for....oh wait a sec....cancel that.

[MartyMcfly]

Dear Troll:

Let me point you in the direction of this:

http://forums.crackberry.com/f2/clea...-trash-609572/

I don't consider his comment troll material...just an opinion...calm down sheesh....

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[leo1055]

I don't consider his comment troll material...just an opinion...calm down sheesh....

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

ah, but if this were his ONLY such post, I'd agree with you, but it's hardly an isolated case

[Wh0mpu5]

I had a discussion today with a iphone user who jailbroke his phone and installed Phrash(sp) that supposedly allowed flash to work on his phone , i proceeded to tell him to bring up TSN.ca and see how the hockey highlights worked ..... To say the least it did not work.

Then he also went on how on paper the ipad2 beat the playbook hands down.... i also proceeded to tell him truth from fiction. He was a little taken aback by what he thought he knew and what was reality.

[T_Touch]

Being shown a few neat things and having to put up with it and all of it's limitations full-time are two different things.

limitations like what?
not being able to view Flash content?
not being able to have true multi-tasking?
not being able to pair with my already owned BB?
not being able to take a decent picture?
not having 1080 HDMI output?
not needing to have a special attachment for that HDMI output?
not having 1 gig of RAM?

What are those limitations that you're you're talking about?

[sylvaing]

You forgot not being able to use it as a USB drive or wifi storage.

[T_Touch]

You forgot not being able to use it as a USB drive or wifi storage.

yeah that too !!!!

[Technerd.McLeod]

I think the limitations he speaks of are the number of apps, lack of bbm and no native email and calendar. You don't need those to enjoy the PB though. I cant waut until i can show this thing off at school.

[T_Touch]

I think the limitations he speaks of are the number of apps, lack of bbm and no native email and calendar. You don't need those to enjoy the PB though. I cant waut until i can show this thing off at school.

The number of apps is not a limitation of the PlayBook. It does everything that I bought it for. No native email and calendar is not a limitation because (1) I'm paired with my BB and (2) I'm to Google calendar of which I have easy access.

There may be things that he thinks that the PlayBook do/have but that does not necessarily equate to "limitations" as he's called them.

[JustinGTP]

most people ive shown think my pb is awesome. most people are surprised at how nice of a size it is and how high quality the screen is.

[TheScionicMan]

Yes, most people I've shown it to are impressed by the power and also the portability. I'm glad Steve Jobs painted himself into a corner with the "7inch is DOA" comments as well as the flash issue. When i tell people I play Scrabble on Facebook, not Words with Friends app, it really hits home.

[zamzarvideo]

limitations like what?
not being able to view Flash content?
not being able to have true multi-tasking?
not being able to pair with my already owned BB?
not being able to take a decent picture?
not having 1080 HDMI output?
not needing to have a special attachment for that HDMI output?
not having 1 gig of RAM?

What are those limitations that you're you're talking about?

I find this more like trolling than the original comment. Listing all the device's features with a not in front doesn't count as a fake limitation. -Oh, and the second to last one is a feature, not a limitation.

He probably was mentioning the app limitations, but also the problems with charging and booting up that some people have faced. You can't deny that the PlayBook is unfinished, and while QNX is an amazing foundation, it's just that- a foundation. I'm sure most of the small problems that make you have to "put up with it" will be fixed within 60 days, which isn't too much to ask if you like the UI and design of the device.

[Bolderholder]

during my daughter's basketball game at half time, a few of the parents noticed i was busy surfing away and watching a golf channel news update on my playbook. tiger apparently has injuries again...

they asked me to pull up NHL.com and proceeded to show them highlights of the games. i then showed them a clip of the HD videos. they all realized that this little bad boy wasn't so little...

they also noticed my wife playing with her iPad and asked which one i liked better. i told them both are great devices. the pb is better suited for my business needs since its basically plug n play into my pc at work. useful for microsoft office content. the ipad is great for games, travel, etc. but relies on iTunes for the majority of content which i cant i install at work.

basically i ended my sales pitch by telling them it depends on your needs and wants. if one device is better suited, then go with that. but for me, the pb is a bit more functional/practical and looking forward to the updates from RIM.

[snuci]

Today I showed two of our senior executives my PlayBook (both Blackberry phone users). One is an avid iPad user and he heard the bad reviews. After showing him what came on the device out of the box, I also explained that it is true that there are not a lot of native apps in AppWorld. He is a BIG app user. I explained that the PlayBook browser nullifies the need for extensive apps because you can do those things on the web. I further explained that there as no Gmail app (as an example since he has a personal account) on the device because apps are created out of a need due to deficiencies in the capabilities of the tablet and PlayBook doesn't have those deficiencies. He agreed. Since he is a Blackberry phone user, he was thrilled with the Blackberry Bridge apps and is security conscience and thought that was a great idea.

The size was also an attractive feature. While be does use his iPad extensively, he indicated that the size is a little big and he even has a car mount. 7 inches seemed like a great size to him.

Unfortunately, the normal consumer (not having this explained to them) looks at the lack of apps and concludes that this tablet doesn't have "feature X" or "app y" and moves on or continues to wait while apps become more abundant. This is the "tablet mentality" brought on by other tablets with lesser browser capabilities. Unfortunately, PlayBook has to deal with this being new to the market and RIM is being forced to create an email app because the consumer believes that they need one. On most other tablets, they do.

Needless to say, they were blown away by the sample video and when I explained Presentation mode, it cemented their interest. Suddenly, those mixed reviews disappeared.

The mentality is that "more apps is better". The truth is that most devices can't natively do true web as users are used to using with their desktop and until they are shown the browser capabilities of the Playbook, it's a harder sell. That's why a simple demonstration converts those who play with it. The foundation is solid. Im my opinion, give a scale with a PC on one end and a mobile phone on the other, the PlayBook comes in closer to the PC while the iPad comes in closer to the phone. Consumers are expecting limited devices closer to the phone so they need app enhancements to make it come closer to the PC.

In terms of pure business users, they typically don't use many apps and do so simply to fill a void in the platform compared to the PlayBook so a ton of apps really isn't required. A PlayBook will be just fine for most users unless they either like to play with a variety of apps or they need something specialized that AppWorld doesn't yet have.

My recommendations when I talk to those interested in a tablet:

For those users without Blackberries, I wouldn't recommend it at this time until native OTA PIM apps become available. Wi-Fi only is fine for most provided they can tether on their non-Blackberry phones because it eliminates the need for a second data plan. For those who can't tether (or don't want to) I suggest they wait for 3G/4G if they need a data plan since OTA PIM apps have to be included by then.

For those with Blackberries and a decent data plan where they can tether (for free in Canada), I simply say. "What are you waiting for?".