[Jon_BB]

Someone didn't stay at a Holiday Inn last night. Yo OP, What apps are you looking at and calling them overpriced ?

^^ If I'd have stayed at a Holiday inn I'd have been grumpier!

Seriously, I gave an example in my previous post - Angry Birds; �5.00 on AppWorld, �.69 in the Apple AppStore. That one sticks out like a sore thumb...

As to opening my pocket book, sure, I'm happy to, if you can suggest apps that are worth paying for that will satisfy my not-too-demanding requirements (stated in my last post). So far all I have seen is low quality stuff in the free app category, and none of it gives me any confidence that paying is going to make any difference. With Android player being so crashy, I sure don't want to pay out on an Android port! And you can't tell what's Android and what's native PlayBook on the AppWorld store, unless I miss something (I know you can tell when you run it, but that is too late; you already shelled out at that point).

[bohbohboh]

i personally feel very sore because i bought mine on launch at full price and expected a lot more from it.

but if i had bought it at current prices, i would be satisfied as i would have gotten a good deal.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk

[Jon_BB]

i personally feel very sore because i bought mine on launch at full price and expected a lot more from it.

but if i had bought it at current prices, i would be satisfied as i would have gotten a good deal.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk

I feel your pain!

But maybe - just maybe - RIM will pull their collective thumbs out and sort it out, now they are selling so many playbooks at the new prices.

No one should get me wrong. I like my PB, especially given what it cost. I just wish it was realising its potential.

[homer1475]

Angry BirdsHD which is for the ipad is also 4.99. Your comparing iphone apps to tablet apps. Most ipad apps that have an equivalent on the PB have the same price.

The PB's video player plays nearly everything I throw at it(mp4, mkv, avi) what it does lack is audio codec support. If a dev doesnt do an app for a video player for ther PB, that is somehow RIM's fault for not having it?

Last I checked RIM was built on security and being secure, Whether YOU want to hack up your device or not is a moot point. you should have realized this before buying a device from a company that is built upon and centered around security. Just because it can no longer be done doesn't diminish the capabilities of the tablet. Last I checked 90% of the people that own a PB don't even give 2 cr*ps about rooting anyways.

It honestly sound like to me you would be better off with an android device, since it clearly can do what you want.

You say your not a troll or making troll posts, yet every post after has become more and more troll like. Just keep whining about this and that when people have shown you ways to fix it or simply do not have the same problems.

[SuperAxino]

In the UK right now,

Angry Birds HD iOS is �1.99, App World is �5.00
Monopoly HD iOS is �1.49, App World is �7.00
Reckless Racing HD iOS is �0.69, App World is �5.00

So for these three games, total iOS price is �4.17, App World total is �17.00, quite a big difference.

The price difference is down to increased competition and sales on iOS, and to RIM's decision to screw UK customers charge more in the UK.

Quality apps are an integral part of the tablet experience - I just can't see App World gaining traction and competing with iOS, Android, and Windows 8. I hope I'm wrong.

I like my PB; I'm glad I bought it, but when it comes to replacement time, I'll probably be looking elsewhere.

[PunPryde]

I find the apps actually pretty good. Price is sometimes high but it's justified in most cases. There are lots of good free apps also, just look a bit harder! It's better than the iPad's 1000s of useless apps, not to mention those stupid simulation games where you have to pay extra to even get anything done.

[shemaree09]

I find the apps actually pretty good. Price is sometimes high but it's justified in most cases. There are lots of good free apps also, just look a bit harder! It's better than the iPad's 1000s of useless apps, not to mention those stupid simulation games where you have to pay extra to even get anything done.

It's not about the number of apps.

It's about having access to apps people actually want.

App World could have 1 million apps, but if it's full of mediocre apps does it matter?

I want popular apps, social apps that are cross-platform, and access to free apps that millions of companies provide.

That's the difference

[PunPryde]

It's not about the number of apps.

It's about having access to apps people actually want.

App World could have 1 million apps, but if it's full of mediocre apps does it matter?

I want popular apps, social apps that are cross-platform, and access to free apps that millions of companies provide.

That's the difference

The App Store has 100,000s of mediocre pointless apps.

The App World is missing core (popular) apps such as Netflix, Skype etc. but this is not RIM's fault, this is the company's refusing to develop for the Blackberry platform. Trust me, RIM is trying to lure in these big boys, it's not that easy.

Without support from consumers and PB owners, this will never happen. The alternative of developing for the PB must be financially viable for the companies.

and if you were looking for those apps why did you buy a Playbook? Maybe you shouldn't have been cheap and bought the iPad since it fulfills your needs much better?

[smartie88]

Price is sometimes high but it's justified in most cases.

Just curious why you think so? perform better than other platforms?

[smartie88]

The App Store has 100,000s of mediocre pointless apps.

The App World is missing core (popular) apps such as Netflix, Skype etc. but this is not RIM's fault, this is the company's refusing to develop for the Blackberry platform.

but why company refusse to develop for blackberry? isn't that RIM's fault?

[billy88n]

Its very common for competitors to compensate posters to deliver negative posts on enthusiats forums to try to chip away at rim. There are plenty of things wrong with rim but the Playbook isn't one of them. A post complaining of not having a open boot loader on a black berry product smells very fishy.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9810 using Tapatalk

[Jon_BB]

You say your not a troll or making troll posts, yet every post after has become more and more troll like. Just keep whining about this and that when people have shown you ways to fix it or simply do not have the same problems.

Nope, I am not a troll. And I am not whining, I am asking for advice, which - so far - no one has really given. I am not the only forum member looking for a better video player, there are several threads asking the same question.

I agree it's not RIM's fault that such an app doesn't exist yet, but it is their fault that they let so much low quality stuff onto AppWorld.

Let me lay it on the line, one more time. I do like this device, it is a good form factor, good price, has good hardware. But I would like to see it realise its potential, and I'd like to ask the forum members how I can better leverage its capabilities. In order to do that, I have to explain the problem... and in so doing you see a troll.

This forum doesn't feel like a particularly friendly place to be right now.. for God's sake, I'm not a bloody BlackBerry heretic, I just want to use the capabilities of damned thing. Perhaps it's my wording that makes you take umbrage. It's due to frustration; I'm only human. So now, I will attempt another tack; I'm going to start some threads asking specific questions and see if there really is good advice to be had here.

Regards

JonB

[Jon_BB]

Its very common for competitors to compensate posters to deliver negative posts on enthusiats forums to try to chip away at rim. There are plenty of things wrong with rim but the Playbook isn't one of them. A post complaining of not having a open boot loader on a black berry product smells very fishy.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9810 using Tapatalk

That's right, I had kippers for breakfast.

Seriously, I don't have any axes to grind as far as RIM is concerned. And I'm not in the pay of the competition. I would be really happy if OS2.0 delivered on the promise of the hardware, but (and I am not the only person to say this) it does not, and neither do many of the apps I have yet seen.

Here's something funny. The best free app I have seen so far is a bedside alarm clock called Today's Alarm Clock. It's really lovely. Let's see more like that!

Cheers

JonB

[omniusovermind]

My pb is perfect, the app store is perfect, I never have any malfunctions. Since I bought this pb, my blood pressure improved, several chronic conditions disappeared within hours of purchase, and I generally have this halo of serene well being around me all the time. I also believe I may be on he cusp of an invention or discovery that will profoundly change our lives forever. Anyone who hasn't had these experiences is obviously either lying, trolling, or not using their device properly.

Thank you for reading my moderate and rational unbiased contribution to this thread.

[billy88n]

One of the complaints was not having a open boot loader on a product renowned for its security how does that make any sense

Sent from my BlackBerry 9810 using Tapatalk

[bitek]

Hi there!

First off, I want to say that this post is not a troll of any sort.

However, I do want to articulate my disappointment at he state of apps on the Playbook. I bought a 64GB wifi model last week for a reasonable price and I like the hardware and the PB OS2.0, despite the many annoying bugs it has.

But what is killing any enthusiasm for the device I have is the state of the AppWorld store. I checked out some of the free apps in order to get a feel for the general quality of the offerings there. Pretty well all of them have some issue or another (crashes, broken or missing functionality, or otherwise just plain crap) and this does not give me confidence to start paying for apps.

The pay apps are stupidly priced as well. On the Apple IOS app store they are much more reasonably priced, and better quality too (on the whole). I cannot understand why RIM would not exercise some quality control on AppWorld - it is a no-brainer that the device is only part of the experience; if the app ecosystem is shoddy it will taint both RIM and the PlayBook. I mean, who will buy them, even at the keen price they are on offer for today, if the Apps are rubbish and expensive, and the built in apps have so many deficiencies? They seem to have gone for quantity over quality, and this will not do them any good in the long run (as we can see, with their wel documented ever decreasing market share).

Then there are the Android ported apps, which don't have a consistent look and feel, and often don't work properly because (I suspect) the Android app player hidden behind the scenes is not a perfect emulation.

I have looked and looked for two apps in particular: A file explorer with built in FTP and network file connectivity, and a video player capable of dealing with MPEG-2 transport streams (.ts files) that the Humax Freeview PVR generates (in the UK, the digital TV transmissions are all TS). It is a pity the inbuilt player doesn't support this format.

I did find a lovely app called Open Explorer which seems to offer the file functionality but it is so full of bugs I have not yet been able to copy a single file - either that, or the PlayBook's permissions are all setup wrong (maybe I need to be root - come on DingleBerry 4.0!). To be fair to the developer, he does say it's a beta, but even so it ought to be able to handle the basics.

That said, there is no video player that does what I want (I have sideloaded MVideoPlaer but have yet to get a .ts file onto the PB to try it out).

Speaking of sideloading Android apps, that, too is fraught with frustration. It's easy enough to do using the instructions here, (providing you can find a working download link!) but again, the variable quality of the apps is a big problem, and many of them will just crash or not work properly. I suspect it is the Android Player in OS 2.0 that is the underlying cause in most cases - they can't all be crap.

Two other points about the PB that bug me. One is that all web traffic has to go through RIM's servers (correct me if I'm wrong, please!). Why do they do this? I ought to be able to access a web site without the extra delay involved with going through a commercial proxy, and what are they doing with the records of the sites I visit? The privacy aspect concerns me greatly.

The other point pertains to the locked down boot loader. I had hoped that I could hack an Android implementation onto it, if I found OS 2.0 to be not up to scratch. But RIM have buggered that too, by trying to ape Apple and locking it down.

Meanwhile, I read lots of stuff on this forum from PB users who seem to be having a great time (these are the guys that jump down the throats of anyone that complains) and I wonder if I am missing something. Any of you enthusiasts that care to advise me are welcome to do so on this thread. I'm up for a grown up conversation on the subject, but not inviting a flame war.

Regards

JonB

there are issues with playbook android player and pb does not have same selection of apps like ios but i still would not buy ipad. playbook openness, no limit on side loading apps integration with bp phones aka bridge multitasking and flash make up for all 500,000 apps on ios.

Sent from Blackberry 9810 with Crackberry forum app

[Fenrir26]

As much as I love my PB and Blackberry as a whole I have been waiting since launch (Back when I had a Pearl 8130) for AppWorld to wow me and so far it hasn't. There are quality apps there for sure but pricing compared to other app stores is horrible and with a preference for try before buy I am left out in the cold most of the time when it comes to app purchases (Love WP7 marketplace for the trials on most apps) And I don't base my purchases on reviews alone.

RIM needs to get competitive in the app and software market as well as the hardware to really pull people in. As far as the PB is concerned its hands down the best 7" tablet out there IMO and QNX although 30 years old is far better than any other smartphone or tablet OS for true multitasking and versatility. It runs everything from car dash gauges to nuclear power plants lol Tons of potential but RIM doesn't know how to tap it.

AppWorld is nice to look at but over priced apps and very few feature apps are an issue. I am keeping my fingers crossed that RIM can work out the kinks in the Android player. Currently its in poor shape and once devs start pouring their work and updates into ICS we are going to see less available too us from that end of the market unless RIM can manage to keep up which we all know is not their strong suit. The more quality Devs we get porting their apps may give them the bug to try developing some native things for us.

[PB_Warrior]

Hi there!

First off, I want to say that this post is not a troll of any sort.

...

I have looked and looked for two apps in particular: A file explorer with built in FTP and network file connectivity, and a video player capable of dealing with MPEG-2 transport streams (.ts files) that the Humax Freeview PVR generates (in the UK, the digital TV transmissions are all TS). It is a pity the inbuilt player doesn't support this format.

That said, there is no video player that does what I want (I have sideloaded MVideoPlaer but have yet to get a .ts file onto the PB to try it out).

...

Regards

JonB

Seek and ye shall find. You can download Ghost Commander from AppWorld or ES File Explorer from Koz's site and sideload it. Both are powerful file explorers with the functionality that you're looking for.

[Michel Souris]

To the OP:
I understand and agree with much of what you say. I have an android tablet as well as the PB, and extensive experience with the iPad.
App World is a joke with unbelievable numbers of useless non working apps just taking up space. The quality and volume of apps available in the Android Market and iPad's market is a completely different world.
Don't give up on sideloading though. It's true that many of the ported Android apps don't work well, but many many of them do work flawlessly and finally give the PB some real functionality. So. of course, the geniuses at RIM are now talking of eliminating sideloading, which will kill the PB for me and a lot of others.
It's hard to believe that in 2012, the PB still doesn't have an integrated email program that can do what any Apple or Android email client can do out of the box. No IMAP? Sheesh!!!

[udbhav]

To the OP:
I understand and agree with much of what you say. I have an android tablet as well as the PB, and extensive experience with the iPad.
App World is a joke with unbelievable numbers of useless non working apps just taking up space. The quality and volume of apps available in the Android Market and iPad's market is a completely different world.
Don't give up on sideloading though. It's true that many of the ported Android apps don't work well, but many many of them do work flawlessly and finally give the PB some real functionality. So. of course, the geniuses at RIM are now talking of eliminating sideloading, which will kill the PB for me and a lot of others.
It's hard to believe that in 2012, the PB still doesn't have an integrated email program that can do what any Apple or Android email client can do out of the box. No IMAP? Sheesh!!!

Ever heard of PB 2.0?

[Canuck671]

The people who reply to posts like this one are not PlayBook fans, they are PlayBook apologists. It's so sad. The PB is fine when it works and it's cheap. You would feel pretty sick if you'd paid the original price. I paid �169 (UK ,16GB). Well worth it. But, one has to admit, there are so many problems: browser crashes, probs with Flash, apps, dropping wireless etc etc etc.

I have had my pb since launch. I was noticing how there seems to be a rash of "it dont work when", or "why doesn't it do this", or "there's not enough of that". I know of the shortcomings of the PB, I also know of the shortcomings of All the major tablets.. They all have issues.

It's what works for you. Please, research. Personally, i love the samsung tab 10, but for the little things it does better than the pb, the price has never justified the switch. Not to mention the extra data usage. The ipad just wont seem to sync with me, not its fault, it is my problem.

Whenever i crash an app, or seem to have problems, I can easily see what I did. I am usually trying to do too many (read more than 10) things. No wonder the pb has a brain fart. I have come to expect to be able to do anything I want whenever I want. Another problem for me to come to terms with.

Cheers

Try to stay happy, if not........dont

[Jon_BB]

Seek and ye shall find. You can download Ghost Commander from AppWorld or ES File Explorer from Koz's site and sideload it. Both are powerful file explorers with the functionality that you're looking for.

Thanks for that positive advice. Ghost Commander didn't work terribly well, and I suspect it is an Android Player issue since OS2.0. It also does not have such a nice looking interface as Open Explorer.

[Jon_BB]

I have had my pb since launch. I was noticing how there seems to be a rash of "it dont work when", or "why doesn't it do this", or "there's not enough of that". I know of the shortcomings of the PB, I also know of the shortcomings of All the major tablets.. They all have issues.

It's what works for you. Please, research. Personally, i love the samsung tab 10, but for the little things it does better than the pb, the price has never justified the switch. Not to mention the extra data usage. The ipad just wont seem to sync with me, not its fault, it is my problem.

Whenever i crash an app, or seem to have problems, I can easily see what I did. I am usually trying to do too many (read more than 10) things. No wonder the pb has a brain fart. I have come to expect to be able to do anything I want whenever I want. Another problem for me to come to terms with.

Cheers

Try to stay happy, if not........dont

Hi Canuck

You're right, they all have problems, seemingly. Even the feted iPad (which I owned for a while, before I found out that it, too imposed all kinds of hoops for me to jump through before I could get my videos onto it, then it, too, refused to play them... Back it went!). But I don't agree that any modern OS should have a problem running more than 10 things at once. That's just wrong. I mean, not what you're saying is wrong, but yes, I believe you and I think it should not be the case. Sounds like an artificial limit to me - I read in some other thread that the OS will actually kill older apps if you launch too many - is that right?

[Jon_BB]

there are issues with playbook android player and pb does not have same selection of apps like ios but i still would not buy ipad. playbook openness, no limit on side loading apps integration with bp phones aka bridge multitasking and flash make up for all 500,000 apps on ios.

Sent from Blackberry 9810 with Crackberry forum app

Hi bitek

Yep; I wouldn't go iPad either. I tried it and didn't like it. I am glad the PB allows sideloading, but I read also that it is rumoured to be turned off in a future update to the OS. What will you do if / when that happens?

Is the PlayBook open? I think not, and getting root access in OS2.0 is a non starter (you do know that the DingleBerry guys have abandoned version 4.0 don't you?). One by one, RIM will close the doors, and you will be left with AppWorld and nothing else. That's OK, as long as they sort AppWorld out, but they seem to be very slow!

My Flash experience was odd. When I tried to go to the BBC iPlayer home page, it said "you need to upgrade your Flash Player" and wouldn't play anything. I'm surprised, seeing as how the PB is supposed to be Flash compatible.

[Snafufubar]

Hi bitek

Yep; I wouldn't go iPad either. I tried it and didn't like it. I am glad the PB allows sideloading, but I read also that it is rumoured to be turned off in a future update to the OS. What will you do if / when that happens?

Is the PlayBook open? I think not, and getting root access in OS2.0 is a non starter (you do know that the DingleBerry guys have abandoned version 4.0 don't you?). One by one, RIM will close the doors, and you will be left with AppWorld and nothing else. That's OK, as long as they sort AppWorld out, but they seem to be very slow!

My Flash experience was odd. When I tried to go to the BBC iPlayer home page, it said "you need to upgrade your Flash Player" and wouldn't play anything. I'm surprised, seeing as how the PB is supposed to be Flash compatible.

Maybe the site is running a higher version of flash - if that's the case then OUCH, rim won't update the playbook version.