One of our devoted followers, BlackLion, has posted a very detailed and thought out review of his beloved PlayBook tablet. He spends a good amount of time on everything from the box to hardware and from software and apps to function and versatility. It goes without saying, he did a very great job reviewing it, and I sure did enjoy reading it – especially since I don’t own a PlayBook yet…
Hit the break to read more, and don’t forget to drop by the forums to say “Thanks” and maybe even a comment on what you think about the review.
BlackBerry Forums at BlackBerry Empire: Extensive PlayBook Review
After using the device for over a week and with the updates introducing BBM and Video Chat to the Playbook, I finally present to you my extended review of the Blackberry Playbook.
The Box and the Contents
RIM had the combination of style and ease in its Playbook product box. With the tablet safely secured in its sleeve and all accesories under dedicated boxes, the presentation is smart. However I am a bit disappointed about no headphones coming with the Playbook. I wonder why they are conservative in this. They include headphones in every BlackBerry box.
The sleeve is a bit complicated. Its for carrying only but taking it out every time and remembering to pick it up is a bit stressful. The iPad’s original case is a better case I must admit. Nevertheless it looks and feels nice and protects your Playbook.
USB cable and charger are standard so no comments on those. I expected some more booklets or other things but I guess the digital age forces companies to add visual tutorials inside products instead of printing stuff. Got to save the environment I guess!
Playbook Design
I must admit, despite Crackberry Kevin’s “The Playbook looks like a digital photo frame” comments, I truly love the Playbook design. To be honest, its a bit tough to compete Apple in the design field. However, I think the front and back designs of the Playbook are superb. The back side has a good grip and a beautiful Blackberry logo. The front has glass with a black background and in the center you have the screen. The killer here are the touch sensitive sides. This is truly awesome. Compared to the iPad these sides really change the way you input your commands into the tablet. Gestures and moves make it much more exciting and compensate for the screen size. Pulling and pushing screens, accessing settings and pop up menus through gestures is really a great experience.
As for the weight its a heavy but solid device. You feel the power of it in your hand. Its easy to hold and hard to drop (yet). Also it looks very cool in your hand. The speakers are located in the front so audio comes out very good. Holding this heavy thing in portrait mode isn’t hard as people think because the weight is equally distributed. Furthermore the back grip is good enough to ensure safe holding from all angles. The locations of the cameras are very practical and allow the user to take good pictures in both cameras. The headphone jack is on the far right and allows the user to listen to music or watch movies without the hinderance of a cable in the middle. Last but not least, all critical cable jacks (HDMI,USB and some other thing I haven’t figured out yet) are conveniently located in the bottom which allows the user to hold the device in both hands without being bothered by any jacks. And the top play-stop button and volume buttons are useful as much as the power-restart button.
In terms of hardware, RIM has done a very good job and if you actually compare the number of buttons on a Playbook and an iPad, they Playbook has LESS buttons (iPad has volume up and down buttons,sleep button,home button and a lock switch-5 buttons, Playbook has volume up and down buttons, play-stop button,power-button-4 buttons).
Software and Performance
The Playbook is speedy, efficient and productive. Once you power it up you will notice these factors. The processor power is huge and running a video, music program, Bridge programs and the camera at the same time proves multi-tasking is RIM’s business. I am proud to say that after approx. 7 days of continious usage the Playbook NEVER froze, NEVER crashed and NEVER got screwed up. This is an extraordinary record. And with every software update (which is way easier than Apple’s “Do it over iTunes or else” updates). I never had such a smooth operating system and such a powerful processor on a mobile device. The OS allows you to literally run multiple programs without a glitch and when you are power-using your device this is critical. Facebook, web browser, video-chat and other applications run smoothly without any issues. So you never worry about “will this crash the system”. Its an awesome feeling which the iPad never delivered. Let me talk about some performance aspects:
-Cameras: Taking photos with the Playbook is a bliss. Having a huge screen to use for taking your favorite photos is so much fun. And its very fast. Quite frankly my 9780 Bold sometimes drives me crazy when I want to take a photo but the Playbook is very smooth. And taking photos with both cameras, switching between them easy and fast. Video recording is also simple and fun. The microphone is as good as the Apple microphone on the iOS devices. This tablet can surely be used for business meetings; recording either audio or audio&video. Picture quality is also great, both day and night.
-Speakers: Not much to talk about, the speakers deliver good vibes and are excellent for video and audio output.
-Screen: The Screen is purely brilliant. Whether you are playing a video or browsing the web the screen is very fast and responsive. The touch sensitivity is the game breaker and it passes with flying colors. I never imagined being so comfortable in such a small screen.
Applications
Unfortunately RIM is a little bit behind in this field. As Apple and Android products boast the availability of millions of applications, the Playbook App World is literally deserted. There is nothing in there of significant value. Just facebook and some basic apps that all tablets get. I know that this may be too early to criticise and that there are new apps being added everyday but hey! Playbook app developers had months of developing to do since the Playbook was announced. I don’t have Skype yet and quite frankly not having skype on a video chat enabled tablet is like running in the desert with no water. I list the Apps I liked so far
-Facebook: Efficient, fast and very useful. I never thought RIM would come up with such a good app for one of its products after the awful experience we all have with the Facebook for Blackberry Smartphones. PlaybooK Facebook offers chat, picture uploading and other basic features which are easy to use. I think Facebook and RIM learned a lot from the Facebook experience on the iPad while developing the app for the Playbook. I just love taking a picture and uploading it to Facebook right away. However more must be done to allow the Bridge software to tether internet for accessing Facebook.
-Video Chat: Video-chat is a good application for Playbook users. But not for the rest. As with FaceTime its limited to Wifi and only Playbook users. Sound and image quality are good but there is no portrait mode for video chatting. Adding people is easy but again, whats the point of having video chat when you can’t chat with anyone other than Playbook users. I will stop using video chat once Skype comes out.
-Web Browser: Flash. Java. All the works. Safari is NOT the best surfing experience. Blackberry Playbook Browser is. Period.
BlackBerry Bridge
Everyone stated that without a Blackberry Smartphone, the Playbook is worthless. I won’t take such an aggressive stance but I agree to a certain extent. BBM, E-mails and Non-Wifi browsing over the BIS is only available through BlackBerry Bridge. Its fast, efficient, easily established. BBM works just fine but without BBM groups which is a huge drawback. I am sure RIM will fix this with an update. As for Bridge Browsing, its awful. I don’t know what is wrong with it. I tried shutting down flash for websites but it still won’t load fast enough. Compared to an iPad 3G browsing experience this is not acceptable. I want to be able to use my Playbook everywhere with all of its features. I remember video chatting with friends over 3G on Skype on my iPad while I was outside. Also you can’t save attachements that arrive in your BlackBerry inbox over bridge. However there are some nice features. When someone calls you the Playbook lets you know in case you are too busy to hear your phone. You also receive notifications when a new BBM message or e-mail arrives. Bridge is good but not perfect.
Bluetooth Pairing
This is where the Playbook really makes a difference. Get a Blutetooth Keyboard, a Bluetooth Mouse, Bridge your BlackBerry and hook your Playbook to an HDMI TV. And now you have a computer at home. Its awesome to be able to use a mouse on a tablet. You have a completely different experience. The Radio used to suck before certain updates but now you can connect multiple Bluetooth devices to your Playbook and have a smooth experience.
Bottom Line
The Playbook is an excellent device which can be perfect with minor software updates. With the necessary updates this powerful tablet will crush the Samsung Galaxy, Motorola Xoom and will be head to head with the iPad 2.
Thanks Can aka BlackLion!