.
RIM's been touting a couple of features that were a first for any
tablet at the time - namely two cameras, one front and one back, HD
output and a mini-HDMI port, along with finally releasing the new QNX
OS (which RIM badly needed). Well, unfortunately for RIM, they once again took their time getting this to consumers, and the end result is once again a whole bunch of those new features aren't really new anymore. IPad 2
introduced the two camera system for Apple, and I believe the new Galaxy 2 tablet
coming
out in a few months will have it as well. A bunch of tablets are also
now HD-capable, and a bunch also have HDMI ports. Anywho - I picked Blackberry Playbook Android Tablet
up today from Best Buy, and to sum it up in a sentence: classy, but expensive. 
PROS: 1) The OS. By George, RIM finally has a decent OS!! If anyone has ever had or messed around with a Blackberry phone, one of the biggest gripes you'll have is that the OS is just... well, crappy. OS 5 and 6 were big improvements - but they still each leave alot out (like the browser - god, does Blackberry's browser suck at times), especially when you check out an IPhone or Android phone.
The QNX is RIM's newest OS, and I hope they move their phones over to it ASAP. Clean, snappy, and doesn't actually use all that much memory - if you delve into the settings of the device. I will add, though - that as soon as I turned on my Blackberry Playbook
, it had to update the OS. Nice RIM - already pushing out updates.... Doesn't bode well, but we'll see. 2) Screen. I'll give RIM credit, they did awesome here. The screen on the Blackberry Playbook
is nothing short of stellar. I played the movie Megamind (great
movie) in HD on it, and it looked fantastic. Even better, hooked it up
via HDMI to a projector, and it looked fantastic on the wall too. 7"
may be a little small to people - IPad's is almost 10", and so is
Galaxy 2 (supposedly - we'll see) - but I like the 7" screen
personally. I don't really need a bigger screen - that's what I have a
laptop for. 3) Weight. This also might be a touchy subject - but again, I personally like a device that feels solid in my hands. The Blackberry Playbook definitely fits this bill. Although it only technically weighs 1 pound, it feels much heavier. The construction seems excellent - putting pressure on various points, the device barely bends.
4) Blackberry Bridge. Hell yeah RIM - I do NOT want to pay extra for another 3G data plan. Instead, what RIM does is by tethering your Blackberry phone to the Blackberry Playbook, you can use the data plan on your phone to get the internet on your Playbook - and it works right out the box!! You don't even need a cable - it also works via BlueTooth!! Only problem - just works with Blackberry phones
. If RIM updated this to work with all phones, that would make it literally perfect.
CONS:
1) Price. Jeez, 499 for the base model - 16 GB. 64 GB rings in at 699. (These prices come from Best Buy). It's a nice device, don't get me wrong, but 500 bucks for the base model?? There's a bunch of cheaper options out there. Especially with the size of the device - it's a little hard to justify. I hope RIM fixes this problem soon, for their sake.
2) Apps. Always seems to come back to this as well for RIM. The apps for Blackberry Playbook
- at the time of this - equal less than 100. Yeah, that's right.
With the new OS, that means that all apps have to be rewritten to be
able to work with the Blackberry Playbook - and be able to handle the bigger screen.I believe the IPad
has over 25,000 apps specifically made for it, and the Samsung Galaxy Tab and Motorola XOOM
both use Android - and have its market to work with. Clearly RIM has
an uphill battle here. Hopefully RIM supporting Flash on the Playbook
will help the apps roll in, but I wouldn't hold my breath... 3) No e-mail support. As of right now - the Blackberry Playbook does not work with BES servers. That means no enterprise e-mail support, or ability to control the device via IT policies. You must be joking RIM. Seamless e-mail support is the main reason people get Blackberries, and you can't make the Blackberry Playbook
to support this?? Fail....
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