[wbray123]

I love my 32 Gb Playbook, but my local government office is saying goodby to Blackberry telephones. It seems that the Blackberry service went down after a hurricane last year-the city was on Sprint- and now they are giving up Blackberry service. It wasn't Blackberry's fault. My service was with Verizon and didn't miss a beat.

But now I want to know if I go with an Iphone (or Droid, another option), will I be able to justify continuing with the Playbook. I am an attorney and primarily use it for email and internet now. Any suggestions on making it work well without a Blackberry cell phone? Will OS2 make a difference? Thanks.

[Bla1ze]

Well, if you go iPhone or Android you can still use tethering as those devices all support wireless tether, as for 2.0.. it will have native email so you can still add email accounts to it. You don't need justification from us, that''s something you need to figure out on your own.. simply put, there is no reason to get rid of your PlayBook just because you don't have a BB.

[Marty_LK]

My advice would be to keep the Playbook. Maybe you might not see it but, that RIM tablet you are in possession of is functionally the best tablet on the market. That may sound bold but from my experience, it is true. I'm a veteran Android and iOS user and new to the Playbook ecosystem and, once I became familiar with the system, was blown away how much better it is functionally than any current Android tablet or iPad. The multitasking/app switching is the absolute best there is of any mobile system. I used to believe WebOS had the best multitasking/app switching system ever invented. Then I experienced the Playbook's MT/AS. It is so immensely convenient to use, unlike the joke MT/AS of iOS. With Ice Cream Sandwich, Google has greatly improved Android's MT/AS. But even it pales in comparison to the Playbook's. The swipe system the Playbook uses is ingenious and so user friendly. After becoming familiar with my Playbook, I was dumbfounded at why this system wasn't on top of all others. Then I realized that it takes getting accustomed to before the user sees the benefits. Most people will likely be much more familiar with the Android and iOS systems and when they play with a Playbook, it will seem disorienting at first. They will be trying to navigate the same way on the Playbook that they have been doing on the other systems. It isn't until actually using the Playbook system for a few days that the benefits begin to be revealed.

The key to RIM succeeding with the Playbook is retail cost. If people can go into purchasing a Playbook at less cost than the other systems and feel comfortable enough with the purchase through a good refund policy, they will be able to take the needed time to familiarize themselves with it and see its benefits. Most people won't bother using that refund policy and will, instead, keep their Playbooks...unless they decide the current memory capacity of the Playbook they have is too small and opt for a larger capacity Playbook.

From what I've seen in the media lately, it seems RIM is taking the necessary steps to make the Playbook a success. Once it does become a success, people will be lining up to have one. If you let yours go, you might also be in that same line to get one later on.

[missing_K-W]

Two reasons to keep the PB according to your needs.

1)best mobile browser

2)best native PIM

[Chrysalis1156]

With OS2 just around the corner, why not wait and try it out and then decide. You have nothing to lose and possibly so much to gain.

[wbray123]

Thanks. I am not a techie and don't want to get rid of it. I was looking for insight on how to use it, and if I could use it properly without a Blackberry cell phone.

[kill_9]

Thanks. I am not a techie and don't want to get rid of it. I was looking for insight on how to use it, and if I could use it properly without a Blackberry cell phone.

Absolutely. You will have native email, so you will not need a BlackBerry smartphone, on the BlackBerry PlayBook as soon as BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet OS 2.0 is released "this month." You can tether the tablet to an Android-based or Apple iPhone smartphone for internet connectivity and if the smartphone supports mobile hotspot capability then the tablet can leverage another means of connecting with the Internet, more aptly the World Wide Web. If your organization will still be running Microsoft Exchange, you could continue using your BlackBerry smartphone by simply integrating with OWA though I think that only handles email not calendar and contacts. However, that said, you could use BlackBerry Desktop Software to synchronize between Microsoft Outlook and your BlackBerry smartphone. In short, you have options.

[zegra]

Personally as a defense attorney, I do not understand how your local government's office moving off blackberry is supposed to affect your practice. Even if you work for the governmental entity. I continue to be amazed at just how useful my playbook is in my practice.

My playbook is a document and video production wonder machine. I have run whole voir dire and closing power point presentations; Hooked it up to the court's video system and played back whole video and audio packages in trial; Pulled up a witness' facebook page for impeachment on the fly; Researched caselaw during a bench conference when a prosecutor tried to pull a fast one claiming a new opinion overruled my position; Drafted several motions just this week alone while sitting outside a court room; I regularly take pictures of documents for scanning and all types of other document work.
I do not know what software or case management system you are using. But I use clio, soonr, gmail, exchange and others.

Martin Zimmerman
New Braunfels, Texas
SBN: 24008333

[mrbkkt1]

I have a playbook. and an HTC sensation.... They work fine together.
Only difference is no bridge, so no bbm on your playbook, but since I don't have bbm or a regular blackberry, it doesn't bother me much.

[jamesbondOO7]

How does one "surrender" a low value item? Just curious. One can resale one's house, car and maybe one's luxury watch. But a phone, a tablet or a computer? Is there a market for those things?

[mrbkkt1]

Personally, I don't understand how an entity can drop one carrier or another because of a natural disaster.
Cel towers are subject to electrical,wind, water, etc. even satellite can be out of service due to atmospheric conditions.

[Sergeant HCR]

You can't tether to a iPhone 3GS (so it would seem). I'm not due for an upgrade for another year...hopefully iPhone 5 is out by then.