[radar-man]

Just thought I would share this. I just came back from a Security Summit in DC (BlackBerrys still rule in Washington). I had a table top booth with a TV and rolling PowerPoint presentation. Rather than tie up my Notebook for the entire 3 days, I thought I owuld put my Playbook to action.

The setup was rather straightforward and easy - although I have to convert my PPT to an AVI just because Documents To Go doesn't handle fancy animations or slide transitions. I only decided to try this on Tuesday - and my setup was Tuesday night. It went off withou a hitch. No tech problems or hickups. Once the TV was running, I had the Playbook and HDMI cable hooked up in a few seconds - must faster than if I had to try doing the same with a Notebook.

So, what do you think? The commercial is right, "We need tools, not toys."

It is true that a modern TV could do this without the Playbook - but this isn't a modern TV. Plus the playbook gives a bit more control on the video I think - and I could have used the PPT as well - something TVs can't do.

[cdelcampo216]

Nicely done!!! Did anyone ask you if it was an iPad or Kindle Fire?

[bbaleno]

whos the old guy in the picture

[radar-man]

I had the Playbook hidden on back of the TV - so nobody could see it anyway to comment on what it was.

The old guy is a fellow running the booth next to me. He was demonstrating a stealthy, hack resistant router for military use. Cool stuff.

[reschp]

It works great connected to a projector also. I can have a video paused while running through a PP presentation and quickly flip back and forth from the presentation to video (to pictures during Q&A). PB = tools not toys, iPad = toys for tools.

[FF22]

Did the presentation run continuously or did you have to restart it over and over?

[anon(757282)]

Events like this would be good opportunities to showcase the PlayBook at work. Don't miss an opportunity, particularly in a business environment, so we can highlight this is NOT an ipad. "Powered by BlackBerry PlayBook" little sign can say a lot.

[alnamvet68]

"Powered by the world's first and only pro-grade tablet pc...BlackBerry, you know you want one."

[FSeverino]

I was asked to put together a slideshow of some pictures for my cousins sweet sixteen which is tonight. I decided that instead of using my netbook to run the slideshow (because I would have to wait 10 minutes for it to load, carry the charger, and HOPE that no popups showed up) that I would just play the .avi from my playbook

It seemed to work great when I tested it at home... hopefully there is no problem using the projector at the hall.

[fanchettes]

Yeah, it would be cool if RIM could come out with placards or decals or something to get the word out. I would gladly put. "powered by Blackberry" sign out for trade shows or whatnot. Heck, I'd love to have a BB sticker on my car a la the little silver apple you see everywhere.

[Mallet21]

Thanks for sharing......I was at a trade show Expo a couple weeks ago and had my PB mounted to a little stand to use as a mini monitor to supplement our projection screen. We were also using an ipad. The ipad literally lost the wifi connection on our mobile hotspot every half hour or so while the PB kept connected all 3 days.

If I had a dollar for every time someone asked if the PB was a Fire I think it would have paid for my plane ticket home.

[look_alive]

"Powered by the world's first and only pro-grade tablet pc...BlackBerry, you know you want one."

Well, you might want to add the following disclaimer:

"Professional-grade, unless you need to:

• Read more than one PDF document at a time.
• Read more than one Word document at a time.
• Annotate a PDF document.
• Bookmark a PDF document.
• Search a PDF document.
• Open a password-protected PDF.
• Present a Powerpoint presentation in real-time using transitions and effects.
• Create new Powerpoint slides.
• Edit existing Powerpoint slides.
• Videochat with customers or clients who don't also own Playbooks.
• Sync with Exchange server 2003.
• Sync Notes and To-Dos with ANY version of Exchange.
• Use a Bluetooth keyboard or mouse while still using the internet.
• Print a document from your playbook.
• Edit your internet bookmarks.
• Multitask in the browser. (ie: Listen to internet radio in one tab while browsing in another.)
• Need to "find" something on a webpage - no "find on page" feature. (Ctrl-F)
• Bypass lack of apps by using the browser, because the browser is blocked by Netflix, Hulu, Skype, and many others.
• Add words to your auto-correct dictionary.
• Make basic edits to a spreadsheet, like inserting a new row or copy/paste from one cell to another.
• Use a spreadsheet formula more complex than SUM or AVG.
• Enter dates correctly in a spreadsheet.
• Spell check a Word document.
• Add bullets to a Word document.
• Insert an image into a Word doc.
• Put a header or footer in a Word doc.
• Search a Word doc.
• Save a Word document as a PDF.
• Read or edit a TXT file (.txt)
• Instant message with a customer or colleague using Google Talk, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, iChat, ICQ, or BBM.

I could go on and on, but I won't. These are not obscure things, they are basic "business" tasks. I like my Playbook, but for ANYONE to call the Playbook a "Professional-Grade" tablet, a "TOOL NOT A TOY", or a "True business class device" is completely, totally laughable.

iPad and Android can do every single thing on that list, but BB fans want to call them "toys", when the reality is that it's the exact opposite. And the sadder fact is that 99% of the items on that list cannot be corrected by third party apps on the Playbook, because there aren't any alternatives almost a year after launch.

[Michelle Haag]

This is a nice thread about a tradeshow booth and putting the PlayBook to good use. Let's not muck it up with more posts about what the PlayBook is lacking. We have plenty of threads dedicated to that already.

[radar-man]

Well, you might want to add the following disclaimer:

"Professional-grade, unless you need
I could go on and on, but I won't. These are not obscure things, they are basic "business" tasks. I like my Playbook, but for ANYONE to call the Playbook a "Professional-Grade" tablet, a "TOOL NOT A TOY", or a "True business class device" is completely, totally laughable.

iPad and Android can do every single thing on that list, but BB fans want to call them "toys", when the reality is that it's the exact opposite. And the sadder fact is that 99% of the items on that list cannot be corrected by third party apps on the Playbook, because there aren't any alternatives almost a year after launch.

I guess some people like to be tools, just like their phones. Since I have both iPad and playbook, I can say good things about both. Was just trying to illustrate a good application, man, so others might enjoy.

To the other poster who asked about restarting the video - no, that wasn't a problem. I just hit the continuous loop button and it played all day.

[jacknewp]

I thought I saw a troll skateboarding onto this particular thread........

[TheScionicMan]

I could go on and on, but I won't...

For some reason, I have a feeling you will...

Time to pump up the Ignore List.