[omniusovermind]

Here's my take. It's blunt, and I'm giving it to you dry with no kiss afterwards. There is no whining here, there is no bashing. I'm simply going to list features and give my own subjective opinion on the Playbook as it stands with the overall current tablet choices out there.

Browser
Still better, still faster
UI
The swipe-gesture UI is still more elegant than ICS or iOS.
OS
I'm going to rate the stability and performance of QNX above ICS and a tie with iOS
Hardware / Build quality
Definitely in the top 3, and above certain of the Android manufacturers. Lacks expandable storage or USB, which only a few other devices have, but has a good HDMI out which some don't.
Native Email
I don't believe many of the people complaining about the interface of the new email, or problems setting it up have closely compared to other OS's. I know my Android's native email is even more bare bones than this, and just as complicated to set up certain accounts.
Keyboard
The new autocorrect keyboard doesn't come up in many if not all of the android converted apps like it would on an Android tablet. For example, Tapatalk, which is all about typing becomes more of a pain to use than the browser, opposite to it's actual purpose.
Bridging
I don't own a BB phone so I can't comment here.
Price
If RIM had marketed this better, avoided the launch stigma they are stuck with, I could see this being worth a 250/350/450 price range as it stands right now.
Apps
This will be the part where many of you will begin to foam at the mouth either in agreement or disagreement. All I can do is offer you a summary of my personal use of the huge Android Market* over 11 months on my phone. Here it is -

I have exactly 36 Android Apps out of a choice of approximately 350 000**. Of that 36, 10 of them are phone sized replacements for things I would normally use a browser for. Nearly half of the total are apps that I also have on my PB, or equivalents. Now I know that Netflix and Skype are a big bone of contention to which all I can say is this: I do not buy into any arguments that those 2 apps, however popular, are a determining overall factor (note the italics before you attack me) in how good or bad a tablet is.

Notes:
*based on personal ownership. I don't own an iPad but I believe the argument still holds for that app store.
**of that 350 000 there are actually not that many developed specifically for Android Tablets

Closing thoughts - Given the above functions and features, I'm not really seeing any serious grounds for rating the Playbook any better or worse than even the highest selling of other devices. Where the Playbook is lacking is not in quality, but in RIM's ability to popularize it by adding those features, (like the aforementioned "popular" apps) that mass public opinion clamors for.

I also agree with the general opinion of reviews and readers that it would have helped that most of these features should have been there at launch. Having said that, I take most, but not all of the current bad points in the tech reviews and their reader responses with not a grain, but a healthy serving of salt.

I think I've covered all of the major features present on tablets, if you feel I've forgotten something essential I'll consider adding it.

[EWY]

Ditto.
RIMM missed the boat by not having email and calendar on the initial release of the Playbook. OS 2 corrected some of the issues but it is still lacking in some BASIC functions.

Bookmarks are still not manageable which makes the Bowser less friendly.

It probably not matters to a lot of folks here but it matters to me. PB does not support Chinese/Korean/Japanese Language (input). I would have obtained a couple of more PB to give it to my sis and friends in Hong Kong. There is a huge market in Asia. I have no idea why RIMM is still not making the PB ready for that market.

Otherwise, I am quite happy with my PB especially that Blue tooth headset works now.

[Michel Souris]

NO significant IMAP support on email, so you can't get your subfolders in Yahoo, for instance. A real deal breaker. Shame on RIM.
QNX is certainly no more stable than Android in my opinion, and my Android tablet still is fully functioning compared to my PB, which is not.

[Xavier85]

Here's my take. It's blunt, and I'm giving it to you dry with no kiss afterwards. There is no whining here, there is no bashing. I'm simply going to list features and give my own subjective opinion on the Playbook as it stands with the overall current tablet choices out there.

Browser
Still better, still faster
UI
The swipe-gesture UI is still more elegant than ICS or iOS.
OS
I'm going to rate the stability and performance of QNX above ICS and a tie with iOS
Hardware / Build quality
Definitely in the top 3, and above certain of the Android manufacturers. Lacks expandable storage or USB, which only a few other devices have, but has a good HDMI out which some don't.
Native Email
I don't believe many of the people complaining about the interface of the new email, or problems setting it up have closely compared to other OS's. I know my Android's native email is even more bare bones than this, and just as complicated to set up certain accounts.
Bridging
I don't own a BB phone so I can't comment here.
Price
If RIM had marketed this better, avoided the launch stigma they are stuck with, I could see this being worth a 250/350/450 price range as it stands right now.
Apps
This will be the part where many of you will begin to foam at the mouth either in agreement or disagreement. All I can do is offer you a summary of my personal use of the huge Android Market* over 11 months on my phone. Here it is -

I have exactly 36 Android Apps out of a choice of approximately 350 000**. Of that 36, 10 of them are phone sized replacements for things I would normally use a browser for. Nearly half of the total are apps that I also have on my PB, or equivalents. Now I know that Netflix and Skype are a big bone of contention to which all I can say is this: I do not buy into any arguments that those 2 apps, however popular, are a determining overall factor (note the italics before you attack me) in how good or bad a tablet is.

Notes:
*based on personal ownership. I don't own an iPad but I believe the argument still holds for that app store.
**of that 350 000 there are actually not that many developed specifically for Android Tablets

Closing thoughts - Given the above functions and features, I'm not really seeing any serious grounds for rating the Playbook any better or worse than even the highest selling of other devices. Where the Playbook is lacking is not in quality, but in RIM's ability to popularize it by adding those features, (like the aforementioned "popular" apps) that mass public opinion clamors for.

I also agree with the general opinion of reviews and readers that it would have helped that most of these features should have been there at launch. Having said that, I take most, but not all of the current bad points in the tech reviews and their reader responses with not a grain, but a healthy serving of salt.

I think I've covered all of the major features present on tablets, if you feel I've forgotten something essential I'll consider adding it.

First off let me say you have some good points here, really good, and i agree with almost all of what you've said. BUT... (you knew there was a "but" coming.. ) I have to disagree with you on the app front. I'll explain why, but first i should tell you where i'm coming from.

I myself am a developer. I work for a successful software company primarily as a Java programmer. Having worked on mobile applications, and having also looked into developing my own apps to submit to the different platforms, i think i have a decent understanding of how the submission process works. So here goes..

Say I have a highly successful app, say Netflix. And say i already have versions for ios and android. Now say a third platform (playbook) comes along and says "Hey, we like to give people options, you can either develop in our native os, (which is awesome by the way!) or if you already have an android version, just submit it to our App world and we'll help you port it over to run in our virtual android machine on our tablets." Now say that I, being the owner of such a popular app, decided that hey that's a cool proposition, but we're going to wait to see if that new platform is viable and worth our time.

This is in a nutshell what's happening. My hat goes off to RIM though, they tried, they really did, to attract these developers. They did a huge promotion to encourage new developers, which mostly worked as 6,000 new devs signed up. BUT in the end it's up to the owners of the apps themselves. RIM can beg and plead, (and i think they have been) for them to submit their apps, but if they choose not to, there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING we or RIM can do about it. End of story. So don't complain that RIM didn't do enough to get good apps, they did MORE than any other manufacturer in recent history! They provided TWO ways to program/code it, and offered incentives to get people to do it. What else i ask? What else could they have done? RIM did all they could, if you feel the need to complain, complain to the owners of those apps.

[md540]

here is a crazy thought, how about acquiring an up and coming app development company that will either make apps in. house or license existing (read popular) apps to port to platform. its and investment of time and/or momey either way.

[Xavier85]

here is a crazy thought, how about acquiring an up and coming app development company that will either make apps in. house or license existing (read popular) apps to port to platform. its and investment of time and/or momey either way.

Good idea, and RIM has kinda done that, like when they acquired TAT. But you can't pay someone to port a popular app that doesn't belong to you without the owner's permission, so it still comes down to the owners deciding to get it over.

[Barredbard]

Here's more food for thought: Since such apps as Netflix and Skype are owned by other companies, there is precious little RIM can do about them. But that does not mean that RIM is handicapped. It should look into developing its own apps. This is the business tablet right? Develop killer apps for it that make it the natural choice for business users. When people think business tablet, they should think the Playbook.

Apps that come to mind: 1) Note-taking app that will make taking notes and converting it to Word a breeze; 2) Remote Desktop application; 3) Presentation software; 4) App that turns the Playbook into a speaker for conference calls, etc. All I am saying is that the RIM development team should make the Playbook attractive for business users who might forgo the Droids and iPads for that. Then they wouldn't have to beg for apps; developers will beg to submit apps.

[pinkert11]

I have to agree with Xavier85 RIM went above and beyond to attract devs, however devs are slow to move due to the bad press and slow launch of the pb. I have contacted some devs directly such as the devs for tiny tower and others. The response that I often receive is that they are not re-deploying their apps at the moment but they are watching the growth of the playbook. This is the catch, consumers want apps and wait to buy, developers want consumers so they wait to develop. The wheel is slowly turning where consumers are getting on board and developers attention is waiting this way. I am confident in a couple or so quarters we will continue to see major improvements in apps.

[pinkert11]

This is a great example, Nimblebit has some of the top, intact they won game of the year on ios, and if you search the Q&A only three people inquired about the possibility of seeing their games on the playbook. Android users flooded them with requests and they got 100% satisfaction. We all like to complain here on crackberry but how many of us are actually taking the step of approaching developers? I can think it is pretty unlikely that Nimblebit or other great devs are poking around here.

[papped]

This is a great example, Nimblebit has some of the top, intact they won game of the year on ios, and if you search the Q&A only three people inquired about the possibility of seeing their games on the playbook. Android users flooded them with requests and they got 100% satisfaction. We all like to complain here on crackberry but how many of us are actually taking the step of approaching developers? I can think it is pretty unlikely that Nimblebit or other great devs are poking around here.

If 1,000 people asked for PB support, any dev would assume the demand on android is higher even if nobody from android asked...

There have been plenty of mass petitions that basically led nowhere... Them is the facts...

[pinkert11]

As far as I am aware there was to petitions, both towards large companies that have millions of users. Review the pic I posted the replies from Nimblebit go from 'no' to 'if there is interest shown'. But alas none shown to this small outfit.

[papped]

I've petitioned to various small devs that either didn't bother to respond or gave the usual canned response.

I know a lot of others here have as well.

[omniusovermind]

Thanks for the responses guys, very mature and well articulated. I just wanted to jump in on this discussion the last few posts with a question/comment. I'm not 100% of my source or facts here but I thought it was crackberry kevin who either wrote a blog, or made a post referring to how the big hitter apps would or wouldn't be on the Playbook. If I remember it right, did he not make reference to RIM having the ability to pay off developers like Netflix/Skype to get on board but they didn't because the asking price was too high?

[zorecati]

NO significant IMAP support on email, so you can't get your subfolders in Yahoo, for instance. A real deal breaker. Shame on RIM.
QNX is certainly no more stable than Android in my opinion, and my Android tablet still is fully functioning compared to my PB, which is not.

Either your a liar liar pants on fire or you just got 1 of the few andriod tamlets that doesn't suck. I have 2 lenovo tablets and they are about as stable as Linsy Lohan in a liquer store and the thinkpadnis more expensive. The 7" lenovo cost about as much as th PB on sale with half the horsepower and twice the suck. I don't see what doesn't function on the PB.

[pinkert11]

papped, it is good to know that we, and others are petitioning the smaller devs. I am aware that others do petition developers but I think the majority do not. I also stand by my belief that devs are starting to view the playbook in different light and not as a dead end with no traction. The playbook has good traction now and staying power.