Blackberry Playbook
- Thread starter codedivine
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Seems fairly competent, then, in addition to the fuller browsing experience.
I've preferred iOS for all the little things it gets right, like the magnifier for exact placement of the cursor, the amount of screen it leaves for visual context and for page control around a text box when the keyboard is up, etc. When I've wanted to experience pages in their greater Flash splendor, Android has been a good diversion. BlackBerry sounds like it has a lot of potential to be solid all around.
I've preferred iOS for all the little things it gets right, like the magnifier for exact placement of the cursor, the amount of screen it leaves for visual context and for page control around a text box when the keyboard is up, etc. When I've wanted to experience pages in their greater Flash splendor, Android has been a good diversion. BlackBerry sounds like it has a lot of potential to be solid all around.
Full facebook site works as it would on a pc browser. Any other sites you want me to try out when I get home from work?
Moving the cursor through text is kind of crap. The magnifying glass in iOS is much better the trying to tap the exact spot. I zoom to make it easier. At least I make almost zero mistakes typing on this thing. Typing is great.
Moving the cursor through text is kind of crap. The magnifying glass in iOS is much better the trying to tap the exact spot. I zoom to make it easier. At least I make almost zero mistakes typing on this thing. Typing is great.
Wow, the Cult of Mac (In this case literally), is really going heavy on the Playbook bashing: http://www.cultofmac.com/ifixit-tears-down-the-blackberry-playbook/91235
There is definitely a void in terms of additional software, that will hopefully be filled if the device isn't DOA. I'd like for there to be a few good instant messaging apps soon, that I can use with Google Talk. Chatting through the gmail web interface isn't ideal.
The Playbook definitely has a few strengths. The way wifi file sharing works is great. I also appreciate that I don't have to convert avi videos before I put them on the device. Hopefully mkv support will come.
RIM kind of messed up this launch.
Hardware - A
OS - A
Preloaded software - C/D (what's there is good, but some things are missing)
3rd party software - F (The native app SDK should have been available before the launch)
The foundation is there for a very good device, but people are going to go where there is an abundance of applications without so many holes. It's unfortunate that the device will be chastised as crap, when really it's a very good device. Having a rock solid browser means I can get the information I need, but some people want an app for sports scores, rather than browsing to ESPN or whatever their preferred site is.
There is definitely a void in terms of additional software, that will hopefully be filled if the device isn't DOA. I'd like for there to be a few good instant messaging apps soon, that I can use with Google Talk. Chatting through the gmail web interface isn't ideal.
The Playbook definitely has a few strengths. The way wifi file sharing works is great. I also appreciate that I don't have to convert avi videos before I put them on the device. Hopefully mkv support will come.
RIM kind of messed up this launch.
Hardware - A
OS - A
Preloaded software - C/D (what's there is good, but some things are missing)
3rd party software - F (The native app SDK should have been available before the launch)
The foundation is there for a very good device, but people are going to go where there is an abundance of applications without so many holes. It's unfortunate that the device will be chastised as crap, when really it's a very good device. Having a rock solid browser means I can get the information I need, but some people want an app for sports scores, rather than browsing to ESPN or whatever their preferred site is.
I hope that the platform isn't abandoned before it has a chance to fill in the software gaps. It seems the mind-share is very bad right now. The commitment to bringing QNX to their phones will hopefully push Playbook development, even if sales are poor. It'll be interesting to see if the corporate and government sales take off.
Sigh, you're all making me jealous. I was in the USA until the 18th, wish I had booked my flight one day later 
Importing it via Ebay looks fairly expensive too right now, hopefully will get more reasonable soon. FWIW, I tried the Playbook at MWC11, and was really impressed - way more than by any Android tablet (and by HP's WebOS tablet, although that was demo-only and I couldn't touch it). Good to see that they've delivered on the browser, hopefully many more apps will be coming sooner rather than later.
Importing it via Ebay looks fairly expensive too right now, hopefully will get more reasonable soon. FWIW, I tried the Playbook at MWC11, and was really impressed - way more than by any Android tablet (and by HP's WebOS tablet, although that was demo-only and I couldn't touch it). Good to see that they've delivered on the browser, hopefully many more apps will be coming sooner rather than later.Yeah, I have to set my iPad down in front of me to be able to type reasonably, though it works really well like that. A 7" tab should fit some other usage scenarios for me quite well, I imagine, considering the larger size of my hands would make it almost like a spacious smartphone form factor.
I really just want to get some time to play around with one, using that multitasking interface and experimenting with the performance -- 3D in one window, video in another, a complex webpage in another, etc.
One question I have after seeing videos of the robust multitasking is whether the audio from a webpage, like a running YouTube video, will play in the background when you're in another window or application. Does it work more like a PC in that regard where the full process including audio still plays or does it stop even the audio process like on other phone OSs?
Thanks!
I really just want to get some time to play around with one, using that multitasking interface and experimenting with the performance -- 3D in one window, video in another, a complex webpage in another, etc.
One question I have after seeing videos of the robust multitasking is whether the audio from a webpage, like a running YouTube video, will play in the background when you're in another window or application. Does it work more like a PC in that regard where the full process including audio still plays or does it stop even the audio process like on other phone OSs?
Thanks!
This is a pretty cool feature. Hopefully they'll eventually allow you to answer calls on your playbook if you have a headset. I don't know if it has a microphone or not. http://crackberry.com/blackberry-pl...calls-when-bridged-your-blackberry-smartphone
You can set if background apps continue to run or pause when you switch to another app. I'll check if the sound continues to play from movies etc in the background.
There should be units on display in stores like Best Buy. They had them on display in Futureshop, which is basically exactly the same store.
edit: So the answer to sound and background apps isn't that simple. You can set some general rules but there are exceptions for the music and video players. The default behaviour is for all apps to stay active in the backgound until another app is loaded in fullscreen. So if you were playing a vid in youtube and brought up thumbnails it would stay active until you selected another fullscreen app. I'm not sure what the real difference between that and the 'paused' setting is where all background apps are paused. Then there is showcase where all background apps continue running.
The exceptions to the rule are the preloaded music and video apps. On the default setting the music player will play in the background while browsing or gaming etc. The other exception is the video player which seems to pause all background apps while playing regardless of the app behaviour setting.
Doesn't look like it.
I cant use it in Canada anyway.
I spent some time on gaming on my playbook last night while watching hockey.
NFS Undercover (included with the playbook) runs very smoothly, the gesture and accelerometer controls work well. The game looks and sounds good for a portable and its fairly engaging and ideal to play in small servings as missions typically take a few minutes. The only complaint I'd have is some load screens load before you can read the mission parameters, but its not like they are hard to figure out.
Tetris is tetris, the touch controls work fine. Magic mode has some accelerometer based stuff and some gesture requirement which work fine once you know how to use them (instructions are for suckers).
In hours of playing I never experienced a hiccup in either game. 2.5 hours of playing used about 30% of my battery (I have brightness at about 50%), so I'd figure near 8 hours for a full charge.
I also tried some angry birds on a flash site, I could play it, but the touch controls were less than ideal and the performance was spotty. It would seem to work fine at times and other times it would be a slideshow. Not sure if its just that game that site or not, really didn't spend a lot of time on it.
NFS Undercover (included with the playbook) runs very smoothly, the gesture and accelerometer controls work well. The game looks and sounds good for a portable and its fairly engaging and ideal to play in small servings as missions typically take a few minutes. The only complaint I'd have is some load screens load before you can read the mission parameters, but its not like they are hard to figure out.
Tetris is tetris, the touch controls work fine. Magic mode has some accelerometer based stuff and some gesture requirement which work fine once you know how to use them (instructions are for suckers).
In hours of playing I never experienced a hiccup in either game. 2.5 hours of playing used about 30% of my battery (I have brightness at about 50%), so I'd figure near 8 hours for a full charge.
I also tried some angry birds on a flash site, I could play it, but the touch controls were less than ideal and the performance was spotty. It would seem to work fine at times and other times it would be a slideshow. Not sure if its just that game that site or not, really didn't spend a lot of time on it.
Yeah, I have my screen brightness lowered as well. Mostly just been browsing, but in a couple of nights of use, with mostly browsing, some youtube, a bit of HD streaming from the National Film Board of Canada and a bit of mp3 playing, I only dropped down to 50%. I think I have my screen set to less than 50%. Maybe 30%, but my apartment is dark so I can get away with it. The screen is REALLY bright, so I think lowering brightness is a very good idea to preserve battery life.
I bought a 32Gb Playbook and been enjoying it immensely. The latest download today even made the Tablet crisper and even more responsive. The app list keeps getting longer and longer.
Still missing some of the big names, Kindle reader and such but they supposedly coming. This is going to be addictive...found myself reading the Playbook while frying eggs this morning
Looks like the sales for day one were not too bad - over 50,000. Good start and from reading forums more are being sold from others seeing people use. With a few more apps (business ones) I can definetly seeing my laptop retire during client visits.
Very good impression so far.
Still missing some of the big names, Kindle reader and such but they supposedly coming. This is going to be addictive...found myself reading the Playbook while frying eggs this morning
Looks like the sales for day one were not too bad - over 50,000. Good start and from reading forums more are being sold from others seeing people use. With a few more apps (business ones) I can definetly seeing my laptop retire during client visits.
Very good impression so far.
