Playbook reviews are out!

[runawayprisoner]

John Gruber at Daringfireball.net pretty much summed it up:

The mass market doesn’t buy, and doesn’t want to buy, products based on what they might become months from now if these companies somehow dramatically improve the software. They buy products for what they are today, out of the box. Motorola and RIM and Samsung are Apple’s industry peers. These are the big leagues, this is The Show. They’re charging customers real money to buy these things. They should be judged by the same standards. Judging these things on a curve is the flip side of my criticism of Walt Mossberg’s iPad 2 review:

Stating the plain truth, that the iPad 2 has no serious competition as a mainstream consumer device, doesn’t make you biased. It makes you accurate.

I kind of agree with that the wait for the software to get better is not going to justify its price today. I have no doubt RIM can push out updates fast enough and that eventually, they'll get there. But... this is the same problem the XOOM faced: WHEN will it get there?

Definitely not next week, or this month. Next month? Likely, but between now and then, other manufacturers have all the time in the world to polish their devices. Asus Transformer, Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9, and so on... and then the question next month would obviously be: does it still matter? I'm looking back at the XOOM with more confidence that the Playbook will only cause more frustration to RIM than it will inspire them to improve, but hey, what do I know?

 

[shortylickens]

You can delete almost all apps, except the core ones which obviously you wouldnt want to anyway.

And you can only look at the apps you want by moving them to the Favorites page and just working from there. I like how most Media and Game apps are smart enough to put themselves under those tabs. I just wish I could create more tabs and split all my shortcuts among them. Much like Android, after I install a couple hundred, things are gonna get complicated.

 

[bow22]

My friend has it and he says that it's great. He is more than satisfy it and I want to buy it now too. I only worry about the price in my country. The taxes are high and it costs too much

 

[alent1234]

John Gruber at Daringfireball.net pretty much summed it up:



I kind of agree with that the wait for the software to get better is not going to justify its price today. I have no doubt RIM can push out updates fast enough and that eventually, they'll get there. But... this is the same problem the XOOM faced: WHEN will it get there?

Definitely not next week, or this month. Next month? Likely, but between now and then, other manufacturers have all the time in the world to polish their devices. Asus Transformer, Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9, and so on... and then the question next month would obviously be: does it still matter? I'm looking back at the XOOM with more confidence that the Playbook will only cause more frustration to RIM than it will inspire them to improve, but hey, what do I know?

as a blackberry user for the last 2 years i'd stay away from the playbook as far as i can. i remember when AppWorld first came out and was excited because i didn't have an iphone at the time. after a few weeks i realized it was complete crappola and haven't used it in over a year

from what i read RIM hasn't improved it. instead they are pushing their phones to the bogo/free phone buyers as an entry level smartphone and gave up the high end to apple/google/moto/htc/samsung

i don't know what kind of updates they are planning but as a iOS and Android user as well i have no faith in them

 

[finbarqs]

boo for no hulu :'(

 

[DivideBYZero]

boo for no hulu :'(

Yeah, you already posted this, but it looks like Hulu are going to block every non-Desktop platform as it appears.

 

[Glitchny]

Yeah, you already posted this, but it looks like Hulu are going to block every non-Desktop platform as it appears.

Yep cause somehow the internet is different if the device isn't a computer, fucking hate this BS from Hulu.

 

[alent1234]

Yep cause somehow the internet is different if the device isn't a computer, fucking hate this BS from Hulu.

it's the media companies who also happen to be their investors

 

[DivideBYZero]

as a blackberry user for the last 2 years i'd stay away from the playbook as far as i can. i remember when AppWorld first came out and was excited because i didn't have an iphone at the time. after a few weeks i realized it was complete crappola and haven't used it in over a year

from what i read RIM hasn't improved it. instead they are pushing their phones to the bogo/free phone buyers as an entry level smartphone and gave up the high end to apple/google/moto/htc/samsung

i don't know what kind of updates they are planning but as a iOS and Android user as well i have no faith in them

There is little to no relationship between the phones and this tablet, and there are 3 million downloads per day from BB App World, so something must be worth downloading.

 

[Glitchny]

it's the media companies who also happen to be their investors

Oh I know, it's still bullshit

 

[alent1234]

There is little to no relationship between the phones and this tablet, and there are 3 million downloads per day from BB App World, so something must be worth downloading.

i just remember that on my Curve most of the apps were just shortcuts to a website. pandora and slacker were good.

then my wife got the iphone 3G and a few months of that and i bought my own 3GS when it came out. the app store kills app world.

either way with the ipad having an installed base of over 50 million by the end of the year iOS will have more devs working on it with better quality apps. why would anyone code apps for a platform with an installed base of less than 100,000?

other than lack of flash which is solved by $3 apps for your pr0n pleasure the specs hold up to every other tablet out there. dual core A9 CPU, powerful GPU, nice screen, etc

 

[Deeko]

i just remember that on my Curve most of the apps were just shortcuts to a website. pandora and slacker were good.

then my wife got the iphone 3G and a few months of that and i bought my own 3GS when it came out. the app store kills app world.

either way with the ipad having an installed base of over 50 million by the end of the year iOS will have more devs working on it with better quality apps. why would anyone code apps for a platform with an installed base of less than 100,000?

other than lack of flash which is solved by $3 apps for your pr0n pleasure the specs hold up to every other tablet out there. dual core A9 CPU, powerful GPU, nice screen, etc

First off - it was at about 50k by the first day, good chances its at 100k now, and its just the first week of wifi-only availability. Developers recognize potential, and the benefits of being first-to-market.

Think about it this way. Lets say you're a dev, and you think the PlayBook is going to take off. Maybe not iPad big, but decent (in the millions). Right now, App World is fairly sparse. Now is the best time to get an app in. Not only will you start off near the top of the "most downloaded" lists, you have extra time to get feedback and make improvements, that way, once the installed base grows, you're in an advantageous position compared to the latecomers.

 

[shortylickens]

First off - it was at about 50k by the first day, good chances its at 100k now, and its just the first week of wifi-only availability. Developers recognize potential, and the benefits of being first-to-market.

Think about it this way. Lets say you're a dev, and you think the PlayBook is going to take off. Maybe not iPad big, but decent (in the millions). Right now, App World is fairly sparse. Now is the best time to get an app in. Not only will you start off near the top of the "most downloaded" lists, you have extra time to get feedback and make improvements, that way, once the installed base grows, you're in an advantageous position compared to the latecomers.

From one perspective that makes sense.
From another perspective: Only RIM is going to have a Playbook OS, which means you wont be making apps for the masses (cuz they dont promote their products like Apple does). There are already several other established mobile OS communities and right now nothing seems particularly competitive about this one. Whats your incentive to bother jumping in at all when theres not much hope this new platform will go anywhere?
Same problem with WebOS.
At least Microsoft is pushing WinMo7 so theres a chance it could succeed by brute force alone, especially now that the world largest handset maker is jumping on board.
But in a market with several big players what is really competitive about the Playbook?
Just because I love it and you love it doenst mean it can win.

EDIT:
Oh, and The Dark Knight 1080p plays smooth, as opposed to the two 720p versions I had on my XOOM which only played in one program and hiccuped when they did.

 

[Imp]

Might pick one up sooner than later. I dig the GPS chip. This is in contrast to the iPad, which only has it in the 3G version (quick googling says it's same for iPad 2).

 

[shortylickens]

GPS chip dont work.

Just got another update. 215 megs this time.
Kinda scary they have all these updates right after release. Dont get me wrong, I am grateful they are doing them, but it makes me wonder why they need so many.

Gonna have to agree with the rest of the internet, I feel like a beta tester. Granted, this is the finest beta product I've ever seen. But feeling really angry I spent my own money on it.

 

[Alone]

GPS chip dont work.

Just got another update. 215 megs this time.
Kinda scary they have all these updates right after release. Dont get me wrong, I am grateful they are doing them, but it makes me wonder why they need so many.

Gonna have to agree with the rest of the internet, I feel like a beta tester. Granted, this is the finest beta product I've ever seen. But feeling really angry I spent my own money on it.

Then return it. The Playbooks shortcomings were well known before release.

And as far as the chip not working, I don't believe that's true. What I've gathered so far is that developers weren't given access to the GPS hardware so they basically didn't get to write in GPS functionality.

 

[shortylickens]

Then return it. The Playbooks shortcomings were well known before release.

Which is a bullshit statement.

They said the XOOM wouldnt have Flash and was buggy. It did have Flash and was not buggy. I know cuz I got one.

You never KNOW what a device is going to be like on release cuz the release version is not the same as the pre-release. You actually have to get it and see for yourself.

(Or mooch information off me. )

 

[Alone]

Then return it. It's really simple.

If it doesn't measure up to your expectations then bring it back. If you're so inclined, you can always buy it again later when it has the features you want and the price would probably be lower.

 

[shortylickens]

Then return it. It's really simple.

If it doesn't measure up to your expectations then bring it back. If you're so inclined, you can always buy it again later when it has the features you want and the price would probably be lower.

I ALREADY SAID I WAS GONNA RETURN IT YOU SEXY BITCH!
:awe:

 

[Alone]

I ALREADY SAID I WAS GONNA RETURN IT YOU SEXY BITCH!
:awe:

Sorry, must have missed it. Which post?

 

[speg]

They said the XOOM wouldnt have Flash and was buggy. It did have Flash and was not buggy. I know cuz I got one.

If you have a XOOM why did you get a playbook?

 

[Deeko]

Early adopters of a new platform generally are like beta testers...as someone that had a V1 Android and WP7 device, its a feeling I am intimately aware of.

As for the dev comment, you really don't know if it will take off or not, its a gamble...but you know that eventually QNX will be ported to phones, and while they aren't the force they once were, you know RIM will sell those, so your efforts would pay off then, even if they didn't right away.

And yes...I'm typing this post from a PlayBook.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Early adopters of a new platform generally are like beta testers...as someone that had a V1 Android and WP7 device, its a feeling I am intimately aware of.

As for the dev comment, you really don't know if it will take off or not, its a gamble...but you know that eventually QNX will be ported to phones, and while they aren't the force they once were, you know RIM will sell those, so your efforts would pay off then, even if they didn't right away.

And yes...I'm typing this post from a PlayBook.

Sweet! Please post up your experience with it.

 

[Deeko]

A few more thoughts after having it for a few days...

Hardware
-Pretty well put together. The bezel is big, but functional, and you tend to forget how oversized it looks after you use it. Build quality is good, materials used are good.
-The screen is gorgeous. Very bright, usable even in sunlight. No issues with viewing angles. Its a bit more reflective than I'd like, but not too egregious.
-This will always be a matter of personal preference, but I really like the 7" form factor. Its big enough to actually view desktop web pages with nice screen real estate, but small enough that it easily fits in my coat pockets (which a 10" device would not).
-External speakers are pretty good quality, although at times I'd like them a little louder.

OS
-Silky smooth, even smoother than my WP7 device
-Stable, I've had some apps crash on me, but the OS has never crashed or had any hiccups.
-Frequent updates, I've already gotten two updates since I got mine, so far RIM is making good on their promise to improve things.
-Kinda a memory hog, with WIFI connected and no apps running, I'm looking at about 450/1000MB free memory.
-Multitasking works very well, be it the WebOS style card view, or just swiping left or right to fast-switch apps.

Browser
-The browser is very good. Renders the desktop version of most pages very well.
-I haven't run into the out of memory or angry red notification reviewers talked about. A couple of times the browser did close itself when I was running a lot of things, but these seemed rare.
-Tabs are handled nicely
-Flash video works well. Hulu is shut down right now (although RIM is said to be negotiating Hulu Plus access, fingers crossed on that one), but other sources work well. I watched a South Park episode while cooking dinner the other night, no complaints.

Battery
-Battery life is pretty good. A lot better than a smartphone, but that's expected. I imagine you'd need to charge it every few days with normal usage.

Keyboard
-I still wish the thing had auto correct.
-Landscape typing isn't a bad size, whether you want to type with your thumbs or try to type with multiple fingers, both work.
-In portrait mode, the keyboard is actually quite pleasant to type on cell phone-style (thumbs)

Camera
-Still photos are pretty good. It works well in well lit situations. In low-light situations, unlike your average cell phone camera that takes very blurry low light pictures, it takes fairly sharp pictures that are a little grainy - looks like a very high ISO setting. Still, better than average for not having a flash.
-Videos are very good. It takes very smooth 720p/1080p video. Could use some more stabilization, though, considering a tablet is kinda akward to hold as a camera.
-I'll post some example pictures/video later.

Apps
-There are a lot of smaller, independant apps right now. Probably because of the free PlayBook offer. Some are better than others.
-There's actually a decent selection of fun (free) games in AppWorld. Quality wise, games have fared better than regular apps so far.
-Finding apps is somewhat difficult. There is a search, which works well enough, but if you're just browsing, there are a LOT of categories, so its harder to get an overview of what's there. There is an overall top free/paid/new list, but its only the top 25. I like just scrolling down from the top, which isn't really an option.
-The included Documents To Go suite is excellent. I'm sure the form factor helps here, but it seems much more usable than it was on Android.
-The included podcast app is pretty nice, but you don't have the option of custom podcasts..just the ones they have listed. I can get ESPN's PTI podcast, but not Around The Horn or BS Report, kinda irritating.
-I haven't used the pictures or music apps too much yet, but they seem workable enough.
-While the browser does work well for email, I'm definitely looking forward to the native apps for this.

All in all, like the reviews have said...what's here, for the most part, is solid and well done. Its lacking some things, especially on the app front, so we'll have to wait and see what happens there. I'm enjoying it so far, but my position is a little bit different, seeing as mine was free...I wouldn't spend $500 on it, but to be fair, I wouldn't spend $500 on ANY of the tablets currently on the market.

 

[shortylickens]

If you have a XOOM why did you get a playbook?

I turned in the XOOM back to Staples.
The XOOM was just a large smartphone, with no phone. For 600 bucks I coulda had a decked out netbook or decent laptop, and had a much wider variety of apps and considerably more hard drive. Not to mention integrated keyboard.

I think I already mentioned this in my Xoom thread but the main problem I have with tablets these days is they arent yet good laptop replacements nor are they a good deal for the money. For right now I'd just as soon carry around my netbook. If I need data all the time I'll get a USB 3G module. Or maybe even 4g.
The Droid is good cuz its pocket-able, I will settle for not having a wide variety of functions. But I cant deal with those limitations on a larger device which I'd need to carry around in a backpack anyway.

But for reference I loved the Playbook MUCH more than the Xoom. If it had email, calender and contacts right on the device, I would have kept it.