Blackberry Playbook

Well, my concern isn't so much native e-mail client support...it's accessing the internet when there's no wifi available.

I don't want to buy another device with a carrier contract in order to get cellular access to the internet on the playbook when WiFi is not available. I have a cellular contract with my phone (which happens to currently be a blackberry) that includes unlimited data and tethering.

if I'm out and about with no WiFi service, I will currently be able to pair the playbook to my blackberry to get internet access on the Playbook.

Without a blackberry? Would I need a phone that creates a wifi hotspot...or could I essentially use any phone with bluetooth and thethering support and tether it to the playbook?
 
They certainly haven't mentioned supporting tethering with other devices. I imagine it would be doable, but you're probably going to have to wait for some 3rd party to make it happen.
 
On a related note...do WiFi only Android or iPad devices allow this? (Are there android or iPad apps that allow internet access through a bluetooth paired cellular device?)
 
I think WiFi hotspot is going to become such a standard feature that this is a rather minor problem. Operators might try to charge more for it, then again they've tried to do the same for tethering, sometimes with limited success.
 
AT&T sent notices out to people they suspect of tethering without signing onto a tethering plan.

They said they will automatically enroll them.

This is presumably figuring out people who've jailbroken iPhones and has certain signature data usage patterns.
 
Joe DeFuria said:
To what phone? (iPhone only?) What app is used or is it a native feature of the OS?
Click to expand...

I don't think iPad-to-phone bt tethering is possible on a non-jailbroken iPad. I just gave it shot using my nokia e72 and the ipad2 would only connect as an audio device.

Entropy, is your iPad jailbroken?

On the flip side my e72 makes a nice wifi hotspot that is faster than bt.
 
For the record, I do pay verizon for an unlimited data plan including tethering, so I'm not worried about anyone cracking down on me. ;)

I'm pretty much thinking that one of the requirements of my next phone (probably about a year off) will be that it supports creating a WiFi hot-spot...then problem solved no matter which tablet I go with.

I don't want to get involved with jail breaking iPads or rooting Android devices.

So for the next year, the fact that the playbook tethers to my blackberry actually works as a plus for me. That, and I think the 7" form factor is what I want. (A little more portability). I haven't really sat down for any length of time with either size to really draw a conclusion though.
 
BBerries can't create hot spots? With Symbian it's an add-on app called joikuspot. Maybe there's an add-on app for BBerry?
 
Joe DeFuria said:
This has almost solidified my decision to purchase a playbook. My main concern was the availability of apps....but if the "app player" does a decent job of running Adroid apps, that lessens my concern. (Will still need to rely on devs repackaging their apps of course.)
Click to expand...
Ouch, I missed that last part and thought you would be able to run it right out of the box. I wonder how many developers are going to go through the trouble of repackaging their apps. Do anyone know if some code changes are required?
 
silent_guy said:
Ouch, I missed that last part and thought you would be able to run it right out of the box. I wonder how many developers are going to go through the trouble of repackaging their apps. Do anyone know if some code changes are required?
Click to expand...

repackaging the app should be dead simple, and shouldn't require any source code changes.
 
Mize said:
I don't think iPad-to-phone bt tethering is possible on a non-jailbroken iPad. I just gave it shot using my nokia e72 and the ipad2 would only connect as an audio device.

Entropy, is your iPad jailbroken?

On the flip side my e72 makes a nice wifi hotspot that is faster than bt.
Click to expand...
My iPhone is not jailbroken. I just go into settings, select internet sharing, it suggests a Wi-Fi password (settable), and allows me to connect via WiFi, Bluetooth or USB. It is literally as easy as flicking a switch. The iPad automatically picks up on the shared network, I log in from the iPad, and it works systemwide.
Flick a switch (phone), log in (Pad), done.

Since I've had no reason to explore this until Joe asked, I can't tell if the sharing is a recent OS addition, or if it has always been there, and the draconic US carriers have forced Apple to turn it off over there. My wife has done this for some time to her laptop though.
 
So if you turn off wifi you have Internet access iPad->bt->phone->Internet?
Interesting. I found lots of threads about how an app called MiFi solved the problem that you could not bt tether...hmm... In any event, seems one must have an iPhone. My laptop can bt tether off my e72, but not my ipad2.
 
Mize said:
BBerries can't create hot spots?
Click to expand...

Not currently. (There is no app I'm aware of). However, I believe this feature is supposed to be integrated into to the next point release (6.1) of the BBerry OS. That being said, only a couple (very recent) BB models support 6.x along with whatever 2011 models they put out.
 
Scott_Arm said:
repackaging the app should be dead simple, and shouldn't require any source code changes.
Click to expand...
Ok.

I was just hoping that it would run everything straight out of the box. Any hurdle (effort, financial, administrative) added in the process will reduce app availability.
 
silent_guy said:
Ok.

I was just hoping that it would run everything straight out of the box. Any hurdle (effort, financial, administrative) added in the process will reduce app availability.
Click to expand...

I highly doubt that repackaging apps will have any effect on app availability. What's more likely to be a barrier is the terms and price of the account to submit apps onto the store. There's no way RIM would allowed paid apps on their device that weren't going through their own App store.
 
Scott_Arm said:
I highly doubt that repackaging apps will have any effect on app availability.
Click to expand...
I was thinking in terms of difficulty to get anything at all going on the Playbook for developers. (See widely circulated posting about this.) RIM is claiming they will fix this in the future (they have already dropped notary requirements), but they need to fix a lot.

Also: a developer will probably need a physical device? Another hurdle.

What's more likely to be a barrier is the terms and price of the account to submit apps onto the store. There's no way RIM would allowed paid apps on their device that weren't going through their own App store.
Click to expand...
Yes, good point.
 
AlphaWolf said:
So apparently you won't need a blackberry smartphone to tether the playbook.

http://crackberry.com/internet-tethering-blackberry-playbook-tablet-bluetooth
Click to expand...

Great news. Pretty much ideal, really. I think buying data plans for tablets is a pretty retarded idea. I'd much rather have a phone with a data plan and tether for when I'm out of wifi. Why pay for two data plans?

Hopefully there will be a number of good options for native email, calendar etc for those that want it. It is a bit of the miss, but I don't think its as big a deal as people are making it out to be. The majority of people use webmail, and with multitasking and a full capable web browser, that should be an issue. Plus, I'm sure Google Apps will be one of the first things to hit the Playbook.

Since I'm a Blackberry user, I'm looking forward to seeing the interface for the Blackberry Bridge.
 
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