[Intosh]

The engadget icon is an app

LOL. That's the joke.

Back to topic: Stop the press! You're actually limited in the number of apps you can really run simultaneously!? WOW!

Yeah that magical Apple dust seems to be working pretty good, considering i have a 4 tabs open and can switch between any of the 9 apps (three you dont see) instantly and not lose anything, or have a notification about low memory.

You're off topic -- we're not talking about apps switching.

[JRSCCivic98]

LOL. That's the joke.

Lol, ya because BB doesn't have such "apps". Just yesterday BerryReview published a BB app for their site. Is that different because it's for a BB?

[skech]

It seems Tablet OS itself takes up 650MB of RAM? ARE YOU SERIOUS????!!
Leaving with just ~500MB of RAM for apps.

[Intosh]

Lol, ya because BB doesn't have such "apps". Just yesterday BerryReview published a BB app for their site. Is that different because it's for a BB?

Yeah, those "apps" shouldn't be for tablets with enough real estate and power to render "full web", whether it's for BB, Apple, Android, etc.

Did I contradict myself?

[Witmen]

Well, guess what? With you keeping a few tabs open in the browser to do Pandora and whatever other site you need, now you've limited yourself to how many other apps you can run in the background it seems, until you close something out.

So I will have to think for myself and determine which apps / browser tabs I want to leave running / open? Oh my god. If only there was someone who could make those tuff decisions for me.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[anon(1603170)]

Thats really trashy, they better implement a paging system to start flushing idle parts of the memory into the on board flash memory, otherwise this will be an utter failure, because not even windows xp runs out of memory with 1gb and it has waaaaaaaaaaaaay many more processes running and you can do much more with it. Even windows 7 is able to run on 1gb, as well as mac os and linux.

Very sh*tty indeed. Considering also that the OS and apps are in the "32gb".

Poor memory management, hopefully this gets corrected before launch or with an OS update.

[peter9477]

Who said this is the final build of the software? The reviewers are likely running stuff that has debugging code enabled, etc.

There's no freaking way the OS will take 535.6MB of RAM just to launch the Navigator's home page. No way. Stop worrying.

[avt123]

Hopefully this gets ironed out a bit more. I have over 12 widgets running and over 6 apps running in the background at all times on my Droid X and have never seen a low memory warning. The DX also only has 512mb of RAM. Same goes for my iPhone 4. My 9000 was running more apps in the background and didn't see a warning.

Like mentioned, software updates should make things better. Early adopters will just have to wait it out.

[Nesquik]

i agree with peter9477, the software needs polishing and the reviewers most likely got a wiff of the pre-release issues.

[JRSCCivic98]

So I will have to think for myself and determine which apps / browser tabs I want to leave running / open? Oh my god. If only there was someone who could make those tuff decisions for me.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

It's not about you being able to make this decision. It's about you HAVING to make such a decision, which leads to less productivity in the long run. If you're constantly running into this sort of limitation, then you cannot run a lot of stuff or just leave it running for use later. It may not happen to everyone, but it'll happen to people who are very diverse in their work styles. It'll rank right up there with email truncation. (Not everyone sees it, but those that see it on an almost daily basis will be ticked off enough to stop using the platform/device.)

[Foreverup]

Does anyone know if you can view multiple PDF at the same time?

[gregorylkelly]

While I agree that it would be nice to be able to open every app and have it running at the same time, it's realistic that it won't happen like that. 1gb of Memory is 1gb. It's limited which means that the limit will be reached eventually.

Lets just assume that the debugging software and any other pre-release garbage wasn't on these review units (not true, but let's just go with it). If you can only have 5 or 6 apps open at a time, you will learn to deal with that and eventually never really think of it again. I am a firm believer in a device needing to have REAL multitasking, but the truth is that after the initial run throughs with the device for the first time, most users won't be overloading the PlayBook like these reviewers were. This will be a non issue for 90% of PlayBook owners.

Now, all that above is said with the assumption that the OS will in fact take up 650mbs of RAM. The fact is that through updates and with the lack of pre-release software, the OS will take up MUCH less memory than that for the consumer release. Also, it is believed that the browser is suffering from memory leaks which is a very fixable problem.

Let's all take a chill and wait for the 19th before making any judgements. Then, if the problem isn't fixed by then, lets give RIM another couple weeks to finish solving these issues before we start making a big deal about this.

When the iPad 2 was released, i experienced a TON of apps crashing. I know I wasn't the only one with experiencing these issues, but through updates, Apple and app developers fixed these issues and the iPad 2 runs pretty smoothly now.

[anttehninja]

You seem really mad right now, must be future buyers remorse? Or is it that a lowly giant sized iPod Touch is better? You mad lol



Yeah that magical Apple dust seems to be working pretty good, considering i have a 4 tabs open and can switch between any of the 9 apps (three you dont see) instantly and not lose anything, or have a notification about low memory.

I guess Google has the same kinda fairy dust as well.

Uhm...If Im not mistaken, the playbook has true multi-tasking. ie, the ability to lets say run a 1080p movie and play a game while having each still "playing" in the background. Doesnt the ipad pretty much pause the entire app just keeping it open and when you go back into it, it resumes?

[JRSCCivic98]

While I agree that it would be nice to be able to open every app and have it running at the same time, it's realistic that it won't happen like that. 1gb of Memory is 1gb. It's limited which means that the limit will be reached eventually.

Lets just assume that the debugging software and any other pre-release garbage wasn't on these review units (not true, but let's just go with it). If you can only have 5 or 6 apps open at a time, you will learn to deal with that and eventually never really think of it again. I am a firm believer in a device needing to have REAL multitasking, but the truth is that after the initial run throughs with the device for the first time, most users won't be overloading the PlayBook like these reviewers were. This will be a non issue for 90% of PlayBook owners.

Now, all that above is said with the assumption that the OS will in fact take up 650mbs of RAM. The fact is that through updates and with the lack of pre-release software, the OS will take up MUCH less memory than that for the consumer release. Also, it is believed that the browser is suffering from memory leaks which is a very fixable problem.

Let's all take a chill and wait for the 19th before making any judgements. Then, if the problem isn't fixed by then, lets give RIM another couple weeks to finish solving these issues before we start making a big deal about this.

When the iPad 2 was released, i experienced a TON of apps crashing. I know I wasn't the only one with experiencing these issues, but through updates, Apple and app developers fixed these issues and the iPad 2 runs pretty smoothly now.

I agree with this, but few points I'd like to point out as being brought up incorrectly or in such a way as the comparison isn't correct.

1) The OS is not final and no one knows if the OS will grow in size or shrink over time (depending on if and how RIM adds features or optimizes code). Fact is, RIM built the hardware and got stuck with it before they even knew what the OS was going to be requiring in the long run. Fact is, RIM has ALWAYS done this sort of bs. They did it with every one of their Blackberries and they'll continue to do it. Why? Simple, they buy the cheap hardware and always build devices with "what it needs today" as opposed to "what it could benefit from tomorrow". I bought a laptop with 8GB of memory in it not because I needed it right now, but because I didn't want to worry about needing it in 3-5 years. RIM doesn't think like this because they cycle these devices out so quickly, but their fault is that they're letting this lifeline cycle dictate their thinking instead of letting software requirements dictate it. It's one of their most popular faults in product design if you ask me.

2) The app crashes on the iPad2 were due to iOS4.3, not the iPad2. I say this because the same apps crashed on iPhones all over the world once they were updated to iOS4.3. So, the fact remains that iOS4.3 obviously had some changes made to it that required some rehashing in some apps on the market. Once that was done by the developers, all was fine. The same thing happens with BBOS updates, but on an even more often basis with things breaking in 3rd party apps when incremental builds get released by RIM within the same OS versions. So, your comparison on this particular matter can't really be used. Please be aware that I'm not defending Apple here, but I wanted to point out the finite details behind this because it looked like they were overlooked.


Either way, I think we can both agree that RIM would have been better off not to have this memory limitation, even if for argument sake it's just a temporary one during initial release. The big issue is that the media will take this and run with it in the negative direction... something RIM doesn't need out of the gate. Ya?

[sf49ers]

First of all Kevin got it wrong, look at his comments

" the PlayBook shows 535.6MB of Free Memory (RAM) of the 1GB of the total 1GB.This means with no apps running at all, the BlackBerry Tablet OS is eating up over 650MB of memory."

How come it is 650MB? look at the calculation, 1GB=1024MB and hence 1024-535 = 489MB used by the OS

[dutchtender]

I find it silly to show such a popup on a professional-grade tablet.
To me, it would be better if unused apps were silently removed off the RAM and however, the app thumbnail stayed in the task manager, instead of showing random warnings like those.

I hope they remove that message by time final OS is released to the public on 19th.

OS itself takes up 650MB of RAM? WAHHHHH!!! SERIOUSLY?

memory is low? 1gig is low?

[Nashstruck]

What I'm worried about is that when the native email/bbm clients come in, would that mean that those apps will restrict the multi-tasking capabilities further?

Currently my bb has 5 native apps continuously.. Phone, bbm, email/msgs, browser, smartwifi. If I had these 5 running on a pb (arguments sake), would that mean I can only open a further 1/2 apps on the pb?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[habicht]

Even 2GB of RAM are not helping. Maybe the bottleneck of playbook is RAM, but you can be sure CPU, GPU. etc... having limits too.

This reminds me of people buying cheap pcs with great CPU, RAM, GPU. All the components have to fit together for a great product.

I'm sure RIM has designed well. In software developement the optimization comes after functionality.

I would see problems, if RIM would say: "We are ready, everything works perfekt".

But they are saying: "We are still improving..."

[tumer]

look kevins playbook was runnin a .13** build of qnx berry review is repoerting some developers have recieved there units and there preduction units and yes some are stuck on the id page but others have just the browser working and the os is a .16** build thats a big leap from these review units and he's also metioning that there is now a led light on the left corner like the blackberrys have that wasnt there before ? and he is not aloud to say anymore till after the event tonight check out the site beryyreview.com

[avt123]

^^ berryreview.com

[tumer]

they also have a picture saying that there is a pin etched on the back below the bb logo that wasnt there before

[tumer]

was kevins unit running a .13** build ?
does anyone know what the other reviewers builds were

[iN8ter]

Why would you need an app for engadget though? Do they just neglect the site to put the good stuff in the app? I mean if it's the same content why use an app if you have an internet browser?

I'm hoping the PlayBook can do all of that. Like why download the Pandora app if you can just go to the site straight from your browser? Actually someone should try that. I'm curious to see how the PB browser handles Pandroa now.

An App is superior to a website, in many/most cases.

That is why many of us laugh at those people who always said "why do you need an app, use the web browser."

[infamyx]

Uhm...If Im not mistaken, the playbook has true multi-tasking. ie, the ability to lets say run a 1080p movie and play a game while having each still "playing" in the background. Doesnt the ipad pretty much pause the entire app just keeping it open and when you go back into it, it resumes?

Under what circumstances would you EVER do that? No one would, ever.

True Multi-tasking has been a catch phrase without merit unfortunately because it doesnt have any real advantages other than running the app constantly, which in many cases equals mega battery drain if people arent actively aware of the application, how much said app is talking to a server, or how intensive an app is(the current BB platform suffers from this with poorly coded apps, you can stroll through every subforum on CB and find examples of this).

iOS has multiple ways of handling "multi-tasking", most of which are fast app switching, or pausing as you put it. Tasks can still finish while you move away from the app, but once said task is finished the app enters its saved state and stays there until switched back to it, or gets purged by the OS if too many apps are open and the app hasnt been used in some time (android does this as well).

Its completely seamless for the average joe, happens behinds the scenes and the device never gets bogged down. Users still can kill apps if they see fit. All the while the user never gets hit with low memory messages.

While the Playbooks multitasking capabilities are certainly there and unquestionably the most powerful of any mobile platform bar WebOS, but its implementation is not ideal and the onus of memory management falls to the user, which is not how it should be. I can see lots of user frustration in the future when opening a new app or tab calls for having to close something else.

RIM needs to lower its OS footprint or they should have baked another gig of RAM in there.

[iN8ter]

If the Moto Xoom had given these memory errors in the review people would have laughed their arses off at it...

Why all the excuses/justifications?

Everytime there's a negative with a RIM device, it seems like a whole horde of people flock to the thread to state they actually prefer it that way...