So I just got a PlayBook

[silverpig]

None of you actually have a BB anymore, but the new Bridge version is a pretty complete Bluetooth HID setup. This is how the remote feature works: So you can actually have KB and mouse control of windows computers (actually, supposedly of most things except iOS).

Typed in Windows on my BB.

Edit - although the above is true and worked the first time instantly, it hasn't worked instantly the second time, which must be why it's an undocumented feature.

I've got a Bold 9900 for work and carried around my old iPhone4 for, well, usability reasons in certain situations. I find I don't pull my iPhone out anymore now that I have my Playbook.

If only the Playbook had Android-level google maps, Netflix, better media/codec support, and a rocking news reader like Flipboard, I wouldn't have any qualms about it at all.

They don't need ALL the iOS apps, just the top ~50 or so will go a long way.

 

[SickBeast]

I've got a Bold 9900 for work and carried around my old iPhone4 for, well, usability reasons in certain situations. I find I don't pull my iPhone out anymore now that I have my Playbook.

If only the Playbook had Android-level google maps, Netflix, better media/codec support, and a rocking news reader like Flipboard, I wouldn't have any qualms about it at all.

They don't need ALL the iOS apps, just the top ~50 or so will go a long way.

You can sideload Pulse News and Google Maps onto the Playbook quite easily now. It also has very good media compatibility which is even better now with the 2.0 update.

Netflix and Skype are really the only two missing apps at this point IMO.

 

[3chordcharlie]

I've got a Bold 9900 for work and carried around my old iPhone4 for, well, usability reasons in certain situations. I find I don't pull my iPhone out anymore now that I have my Playbook.

If only the Playbook had Android-level google maps, Netflix, better media/codec support, and a rocking news reader like Flipboard, I wouldn't have any qualms about it at all.

They don't need ALL the iOS apps, just the top ~50 or so will go a long way.

This is just out of interest, since 9900 does exactly what I would like a phone to do - pinch zoom, and clickable links/icons, with a killer keyboard, and a decent sized screen.

What was the iPhod touch for?

 

[Bateluer]

Netflix and Skype are really the only two missing apps at this point IMO.

Not sure about Skype, but didn't Netflix just state recently that they would not be pursuing any RIM version?

 

[SickBeast]

Not sure about Skype, but didn't Netflix just state recently that they would not be pursuing any RIM version?

I have no idea. It's too bad if true. I'm surprised that the Android version doesn't work. Most Android apps seem to work perfectly under the 2.0 OS.

 

[silverpig]

This is just out of interest, since 9900 does exactly what I would like a phone to do - pinch zoom, and clickable links/icons, with a killer keyboard, and a decent sized screen.

What was the iPhod touch for?

I have an iPhone 4 on a family plan with my wife. Unlimited calling for me to her and vice versa, and we are on a contract. We moved and she hasn't updated her number to the new area code yet, so it'd be expensive for her to call me on my work number. So there's that.

Also, I like the music player on the iphone, just because I'm familiar with it, and my music is all in aac lossless that gets auto converted to 128k aac on transfer.

Then there's the map situation. Google maps on BB isn't very good, and the iPhone version is much better. But for a communication device, the BB is better.

Not sure about Skype, but didn't Netflix just state recently that they would not be pursuing any RIM version?

They did, then the twitter outrage poured in and they recanted the statement and said they are considering new platforms all the time and would look into the PlayBook or something to that effect.

My guess for why netflix doesn't work on the playbook is because of codec support. I sideloaded plex 2.0 (I have paid for it) and while the app works, most of my media won't play because it contains ac3 audio. I don't even know if it'll play the x264 mkvs from a video perspective.

 

[Red Storm]

Does its browser have flash support?

(yeah yeah, it's slowly but surely on its way out, but as of today I still need it)

 

[3chordcharlie]

Does its browser have flash support?

(yeah yeah, it's slowly but surely on its way out, but as of today I still need it)

You mean the playbook browser?

flash is quite good on playbook.

 

[ChronoReverse]

It's supposed to be better than Android's support in terms of performance.

 

[silverpig]

You can sideload Pulse News and Google Maps onto the Playbook quite easily now. It also has very good media compatibility which is even better now with the 2.0 update.

Netflix and Skype are really the only two missing apps at this point IMO.

Just got google maps and pulse. I'm much happier now. Just a few more apps to go, and some media codecs.

 

[RedRooster]

I really don't like BB phones, so I never gave the poor Playbook a shot. Tried it out in a store today though, with 2.0, and man that is really nice. Went to break.com(thats all I could think of for a flash site at that moment) and the site worked perfectly and fast.
Looks like there's tons of options and settings to tinker around with stuff, more than the wife's iPad, and the App World or Store or whatever is laid out nicely. Kinda disappointing with the selection, but if I'm going to buy one I'd look into the Android app compatibility more.

So if I want a cheap device that can browse all over the internet and maybe watch Netflix in the near future, is this the best one you can buy for the money right now? 200 bucks seems so cheap, my buddies 7" Acer or whatever Android tablet just seems so knock-off-ish for the same price.

 

[Deeko]

If you're looking at the $200 range 7" range, I'd say your best bet is either the PlayBook or the Kindle Fire. I own both - the Fire can do more, thanks to its heavy integration with Amazon and better app store, but what the PlayBook does, it does better. Its smoother, faster, cleaner, and just generally pleasant to use. If you can live with the app situation (or don't mind sideloading repackaged Android apps), I'd recommend the PlayBook.

 

[SickBeast]

The playbook is great but I wouldn't count on a Netflix app or Skype for that matter. If either of those apps is a deal breaker for you then you should look at something else.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

If you don't mind spending a little more the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus is pretty easy to find for $300. As far as Android tablets go it's one of the best there is and it has the same Exynos SoC as the Galaxy S2 so it's unbeatable when it comes to media playback.

 

[InfinitySquared]

If you don't mind spending a little more the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus is pretty easy to find for $300. As far as Android tablets go it's one of the best there is and it has the same Exynos SoC as the Galaxy S2 so it's unbeatable when it comes to media playback.

The Ti 4430 has the Cortex A9MP with NEON SIMD, so the Playbook is pretty much one of the best media playback devices out there.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

The Ti 4430 has the Cortex A9MP with NEON SIMD, so the Playbook is pretty much one of the best media playback devices out there.

Actually Exynos is significantly better than OMAP 4 and every other dual core SoC out there when it comes to media playback, Tegra 3 is the only other SoC that has similar abilities.

Exynos also gets you the Mali 400 gpu which is in a completely different league than the old SGX 540 used in OMAP 4.

 

[InfinitySquared]

Actually Exynos is significantly better than OMAP 4 and every other dual core SoC out there when it comes to media playback, Tegra 3 is the only other SoC that has similar abilities.

Exynos also gets you the Mali 400 gpu which is in a completely different league than the old SGX 540 used in OMAP 4.

The GPU has very little to do with media playback, and the Exynos uses the same Core architecture(A9MP w/NEON) as the 4430, but there is no guarantee that Android takes advantage of this in any way, unlike QNX.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

The GPU has very little to do with media playback, and the Exynos uses the same Core architecture(A9MP w/NEON) as the 4430, but there is no guarantee that Android takes advantage of this in any way, unlike QNX.

None of these devices should be using software decoding for video playback in the first place so if that's the route the Playbook is taking it's an even bigger failure than I thought. Any good SoC will have built in hardware decoding for most content, something Exynos does in fact have. OMAP 4 isn't terrible when it comes to media playback but it still won't handle anything you throw at it like Exynos. Besides in the case of the Playbook you will likely be software limited as well since you don't have a lot of excellent media players to chose from like you do on Android.

 

[InfinitySquared]

None of these devices should be using software decoding for video playback in the first place so if that's the route the Playbook is taking it's an even bigger failure than I thought. Any good SoC will have built in hardware decoding for most content, something Exynos does in fact have. OMAP 4 isn't terrible when it comes to media playback but it still won't handle anything you throw at it like Exynos. Besides in the case of the Playbook you will likely be software limited as well since you don't have a lot of excellent media players to chose from like you do on Android.

Where are you getting the idea the the PlayBook uses software from? I suggested that ANDROID does not take advantage of NEON, whereas QNX most certainly DOES. The Playbook can play 1080p movies and play multiple OpenGL games at the same time. Something no Android based device, regardless of SoC, can do.

You're letting your device allegiance blind you. You've obviously never even used a 4430 based device, as shown by your terms, 'even bigger failure that I thought' and 'will likely be software limited as well'. 'Thought' and 'likely' are not facts, they are opinion. To have any hope of a decent discussion in here shouldn't you back up your opinions with actual fact and experience? Or is this just a den of fanatics arguing for their product they identify themselves by? If so I shall leave all hope of intelligent discussion at the door and just call the pot black while the kettle stands idly by...

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Where are you getting the idea the the PlayBook uses software from? I suggested that ANDROID does not take advantage of NEON, whereas QNX most certainly DOES. The Playbook can play 1080p movies and play multiple OpenGL games at the same time. Something no Android based device, regardless of SoC, can do.

You're letting your device allegiance blind you. You've obviously never even used a 4430 based device, as shown by your terms, 'even bigger failure that I thought' and 'will likely be software limited as well'. 'Thought' and 'likely' are not facts, they are opinion. To have any hope of a decent discussion in here shouldn't you back up your opinions with actual fact and experience? Or is this just a den of fanatics arguing for their product they identify themselves by? If so I shall leave all hope of intelligent discussion at the door and just call the pot black while the kettle stands idly by...

If you are using NEON you are using software decoding. Also Android most certainty does take advantage of NEON and has for a very long time now. Relying solely on software decoding would be a failure on RIMs part since it's obviously less efficient than using dedicated hardware

I have in fact used OMAP 4430 devices, specifically the Playbook and Droid Razr. At one point I even wanted to buy a Playbook, I really liked the os but the software support isn't there for me to pick it over an Android tablet.

On the Android market right now there are more than 1,000 media player apps. Most of them likely aren't that useful but there are a number of very good ones that are worth having. There is no denying that the Playbook only has a small fraction of the apps Android does in any category including media players. I said the Playbook would likely be software limited since when you are dealing with a more limited app store there is a very real risk you won't find an app that does what you need, the odds of that happening on Android or iOS are considerably lower for obvious reasons.

 

[SickBeast]

you can sideload most android apps onto the playbook now without any issues. there is no longer a lack of apps on the playbook.

 

[InfinitySquared]

If you are using NEON you are using software decoding. Also Android most certainty does take advantage of NEON and has for a very long time now. Relying solely on software decoding would be a failure on RIMs part since it's obviously less efficient than using dedicated hardware

I have in fact used OMAP 4430 devices, specifically the Playbook and Droid Razr. At one point I even wanted to buy a Playbook, I really liked the os but the software support isn't there for me to pick it over an Android tablet.

On the Android market right now there are more than 1,000 media player apps. Most of them likely aren't that useful but there are a number of very good ones that are worth having. There is no denying that the Playbook only has a small fraction of the apps Android does in any category including media players. I said the Playbook would likely be software limited since when you are dealing with a more limited app store there is a very real risk you won't find an app that does what you need, the odds of that happening on Android or iOS are considerably lower for obvious reasons.

Why just assume that it ONLY uses NEON? Do we really have to play this silly game of point scoring in this forum? What about the IVA3? The IVA3 alone does:

- Full HD 1080p30 multi-standard video encode/decode
- Hardwired codecs deliver high performance at low power levels
- Programmable DSP provides flexibility for future codecs VTC 1080p30
- Provides support for high definition stereoscopic 3D encode/decode @ 720p

What about the ISP unit? In fact the 4430 has four hardware modules for image and media handling when you consider the 2d Hardware module, the SGX544, the IVA3 and the ISP. You're deliberately 'forgetting' features of the 4430 while also claiming to have knowledge of them.

Bringing up app counts is off topic, and has little to do with hardware and media (which we are discussing, not apps or app volumes), but if you insist; AFAIK, Video is video, music is music and the PB plays pretty much all of them. I'm not sure which formats the PB won't play that you need an app for, but if you need an app to play them on Android, I'm sure you'll have one to prop up the OS.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Why just assume that it ONLY uses NEON? Do we really have to play this silly game of point scoring in this forum? What about the IVA3? The IVA3 alone does:

- Full HD 1080p30 multi-standard video encode/decode
- Hardwired codecs deliver high performance at low power levels
- Programmable DSP provides flexibility for future codecs VTC 1080p30
- Provides support for high definition stereoscopic 3D encode/decode @ 720p

What about the ISP unit? In fact the 4430 has four hardware modules for image and media handling when you consider the 2d Hardware module, the SGX544, the IVA3 and the ISP. You're deliberately 'forgetting' features of the 4430 while also claiming to have knowledge of them.

Bringing up app counts is off topic, and has little to do with hardware and media (which we are discussing, not apps or app volumes), but if you insist; AFAIK, Video is video, music is music and the PB plays pretty much all of them. I'm not sure which formats the PB won't play that you need an app for, but if you need an app to play them on Android, I'm sure you'll have one to prop up the OS.

When did I say the Playbook only uses NEON? You were stressing NEON as a key feature for media playback and I simply pointed out the inefficiency of relying on software decoding and how doing so would be a failure on the part of an OEM. Besides just because OMAP has dedicated hardware for media playback does not mean that RIM is utilizing it although I would assume they are.

The simple fact is the Playbook has nothing that would make it a better choice for media playback compared to the Galaxy tab 7.0 Plus. Not only will the Tab play anything you throw at it but it also has Netflix whcih may never get a QNX app.

 

[Pliablemoose]

App counts is actually pretty important, I don't care if you have the best hardware in the world, if you don't have software, it's useless.

Web pages aren't optomized for tablets, and even though the PlayBook is good at browsing the web, it's a PITA to constantly zoom in and out to interact with web pages.

 

[Rottie]

PlayBook OS 2 looks cool I want to buy it but it lacks some apps I need so I will stay with iPad.