This thing rocks and this tablet is a perfect example of marketing gone wrong. Its simply awesome and the cons of it are almost slim to none. I personally don't care much about native email, bbm, and all that. This thing suits my needs just fine. I use it mainly for browsing and I have yet to use a laptop that can surf as fast as this, simply astonishing!
Sure the apps are lacking but with time it will surely get better but then again apps are not the reason i bought this.
Now, two things that have me slightly worried is the battery and the infamous bulge/heating....
I'm not bridging, bluetooth off, and with the screen brightness set to the bare minimum I can barely get maybe 4 hours of only surfing the web and maybe 2-3 youtube vids. Battery dropped to 9% and it tells me estimated time until empty is 429 mins, whats going on here? Shall i completely drain it and then fully charge it?
As for the bulge I'm worried about it getting bigger so I try to avoid using it on the couch, even though I would like to do that but I'm afraid it will overheat. Is that okay to do?
I almost forgot to mention that a 7 inch tablet is the way to go! No matter how I lay it, it sits comfortably.
EDIT: Writing this post and sending one email took 5% battery. I would really like to enjoy a brighter screen but this doesn't look like it is going to happen yet.
This thing rocks and this tablet is a perfect example of marketing gone wrong. Its simply awesome and the cons of it are almost slim to none. I personally don't care much about native email, bbm, and all that. This thing suits my needs just fine. I use it mainly for browsing and I have yet to use a laptop that can surf as fast as this, simply astonishing!
Sure the apps are lacking but with time it will surely get better but then again apps are not the reason i bought this.
Now, two things that have me slightly worried is the battery and the infamous bulge/heating....
I'm not bridging, bluetooth off, and with the screen brightness set to the bare minimum I can barely get maybe 4 hours of only surfing the web and maybe 2-3 youtube vids. Battery dropped to 9% and it tells me estimated time until empty is 429 mins, whats going on here? Shall i completely drain it and then fully charge it?
As for the bulge I'm worried about it getting bigger so I try to avoid using it on the couch, even though I would like to do that but I'm afraid it will overheat. Is that okay to do?
I almost forgot to mention that a 7 inch tablet is the way to go! No matter how I lay it, it sits comfortably.
When I get up in the morning, I start with a full battery at around 6:20. At 6:55 the battery is down to 91%. I put it in standby until noon when I get home for lunch and waking it up shows it at 89%.
Glad your enjoying your PlayBook, remember that like with all electronic devices there is a battery breakin period. If your battery life doesn't improve after approx 10 charges then I would suggest looking into the problem
Couldn't agree more, I love my playbook. I got for $199 before Christmas and I think that was a steal for how great it is. Haven't had any battery issues either.
Vector-SS, definitely consider a full drain (till it shuts off) followed by a full recharge (till it shows no lightning bolt, not just until it reads 100% for the first time). This should, within a few recharges after, allow the software to recalibrate the % level indicator, which may appear to give you increased battery life. (It doesn't actually change the battery life, but since you're basing your belief that it's a bit poor on where that % value is, you may suddenly see it as "increased life" by doing this.)
See my post PlayBook: Power Consumption for some background on power consumption... the screen and backlight are responsible for the bulk of it!
Okay so I've completed a full battery drain and I'm currently on the way to a full recharge. I will try to update this thread as time goes by.
I somehow forgot how almost all my devices got better battery time after a few recharges and I hope this will be the case here as well. Let the breakin begin.
Wasn't there a problem with bricking it if fully discharged?
Bricking the tablet with a full discharge is a myth. People just were not willing to wait the requisite 20 minutes after beginning the recharge process. As I said in another posting each month I full drain my battery to the point the tablet automatically shuts down. Never had a problem.
Okay so I've completed a full battery drain and I'm currently on the way to a full recharge. I will try to update this thread as time goes by.
I somehow forgot how almost all my devices got better battery time after a few recharges and I hope this will be the case here as well. Let the breakin begin.
I do the same thing as BB9700CA... when I'm at home, I'll just use it till it it shuts itself down, then put it on the charger till it is fully charged, usually a few hours. I do this once or twice a month. I've had my PB since April and haven't had its battery die on me once (except once or twice a month when I did so deliberately). Long travel days, lots of videos, yeah sometimes gets a bit warm, but no bulge. The battery life is quite acceptable.
On mine, when I get the alarm that the battery level is below 10%, it says something like "remaining time to empty", but without any indication of the time remaining. Is that a bug to live with or is there a fix?
On mine, when I get the alarm that the battery level is below 10%, it says something like "remaining time to empty", but without any indication of the time remaining. Is that a bug to live with or is there a fix?
Known bug, though note you can probably "grab" the text and scroll it up if you want, but don't trust the value you see.
Battery life has already drastically improved. Standby overnight (with airplane mode on) for 9 hours lost only 2%. Went down from a full charge to only 98%, amazing!
Second standby stint today was for about 6 hours and battery life only went down 1% !!
So all in all after about 3 hours of usage today, I'm at 60%. This is certainly much better than before and the battery is surely breaking in nicely! Usage was also heavier today than previous day and screen brightness slightly higher as well.
I'm glad you enjoy your tablet. I also love mine.
And the app world has grows quite a bit since I got mine, so the "no apps" will no longer be a problem soon.
Free Device Info - Download Device Info - Free Apps from BlackBerry App WorldCan you provide a link to that app please?
