View Full Version : The Blackberry Tablet - PlayBook
nilchak
09-27-2010, 05:21 PM
The Blackberry Tablet news for a slow day
http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/27/rim-introduces-playbook-the-blackberry-tablet/
NvyUs
09-27-2010, 05:30 PM
seen this earlier it looks very impressive but not out until 2011, if it was released before new year i would of got one b/c i really like the specs and the look of the UI
i think they have made the Nokia mistake of announcing something 5 months before shipping there will be many competitors out in the New Year all fighting in the tablet space.
the 1 GHz dual core and 1Gb ram are nice, on a minus PlayBook what a crap name.
Odd_gunnic
09-27-2010, 05:58 PM
seen this earlier it looks very impressive but not out until 2011, if it was released before new year i would of got one b/c i really like the specs and the look of the UI
i think they have made the Nokia mistake of announcing something 5 months before shipping there will be many competitors out in the New Year all fighting in the tablet space.
the 1 GHz dual core and 1Gb ram are nice, on a minus PlayBook what a crap name.
For a brand new platform like this, they had to interest developers.
luckylefty
09-27-2010, 06:16 PM
That UI looks great along with multitasking and has 2 cameras. Not sure which OS will be better QNX or Meego, both UI looks better than Android and Apple's OS. One thing sure though Meego is gonna have a tough fight ahead since RIM do have one of the best email system and plenty of business professional perfer BBM.
Capt'n Corrupt
09-27-2010, 06:26 PM
The specs and the UI looks GREAT! I'm really surprised with this device.
It's puzzling that RIM is seemingly trying to infiltrate a young demographic as the material and even the device looks as though it is trying to rival the iPad. I would have thought they would have positioned their device for more for the business. Perhaps they are....
bxbomber
09-27-2010, 06:54 PM
specs look awesome, dual core arm cortex a9.
7 inch screen 1024x600
Wow, this thing is awesome.
No excuses for any other tablets to still be using single core arm cortex a8 from now on.
Nokia better make a kick *** tablet with meego or else they'll lose my money.
btw, is it me or does it the look of the os from the screenshots make it look like webOS?
The specs and the UI looks GREAT! I'm really surprised with this device.
It's puzzling that RIM is seemingly trying to infiltrate a young demographic as the material and even the device looks as though it is trying to rival the iPad. I would have thought they would have positioned their device for more for the business. Perhaps they are....
Perhaps they are trying to grab some young execs that went with iphone because the blackberry "is for tools"?
hell if some star is seen fondling this at a table somewhere, the sales numbers will go crazy.
scribbles
09-27-2010, 08:31 PM
That UI looks great along with multitasking and has 2 cameras. Not sure which OS will be better QNX or Meego, both UI looks better than Android and Apple's OS. One thing sure though Meego is gonna have a tough fight ahead since RIM do have one of the best email system and plenty of business professional perfer BBM.
It will do well I believe. 7" might be the sweet spot for those who don't want to carry a 10" cookie sheet around. I understand that QNX is used on NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers and is a very stable OS. Good for RIM, the iPad just got PWNED!!
The specs and the UI looks GREAT! I'm really surprised with this device.
It's puzzling that RIM is seemingly trying to infiltrate a young demographic as the material and even the device looks as though it is trying to rival the iPad. I would have thought they would have positioned their device for more for the business. Perhaps they are....
My sister and my friends are pestering me to go buy a BB so they can BBM me. I think they already got the market cornered as seller of the ultimate communication machine. I which Nokia would come up with a system like BBm, they could embed it in their new phone model and release it a standalone service for their older phones. Thanks to the sheer size of their market share I believe it would be pretty popular though I don't see them investing in the infrastructure to support such an offering anytime soon.
maluka
09-27-2010, 08:54 PM
The UI does look great from the pics I've seen. Very MeeGoish. It's the first Blackberry device I may consider buying.
Kingsley
09-27-2010, 09:13 PM
the sync with the phone and enterprise features are gonna be the killer apps here, so long as it has a good word/excel/pdf/ppt viewer.. it'll fly off shelves like no body's business.. kinda makes the oddly underspeced bb torch seem a little more relevent, since most of the hard working would be done on the tablet. this is more of a game changer than apples attempts
Sopwith
09-27-2010, 11:03 PM
The PlayBook is looking great... the Galaxy Tab has got some serious competition! Many similarities spec-wise; similar form factor. Exciting times! :cool:
BigBadGuber!
09-27-2010, 11:17 PM
Blackberry Better do something or they will become extinct like Nokia. Their phones suck overall.
gerbick
09-28-2010, 12:21 AM
So THAT'S what Blackberry will do with their prior QNX purchase. With the QNX microkernel, that's enough geekery to have my attention.
the sync with the phone and enterprise features are gonna be the killer apps here, so long as it has a good word/excel/pdf/ppt viewer.. it'll fly off shelves like no body's business.. kinda makes the oddly underspeced bb torch seem a little more relevent, since most of the hard working would be done on the tablet. this is more of a game changer than apples attempts
A bit like what Palm tried to do with the Foleo, but better. And being based on QNX, I think RIM might finally be on a winner. Hopefully they have enough sense to eventually roll out their QNX-based OS to their phones as well.
A bit like what Palm tried to do with the Foleo, but better. And being based on QNX, I think RIM might finally be on a winner. Hopefully they have enough sense to eventually roll out their QNX-based OS to their phones as well.
Yep, i was having reruns of the foleo news at the back of my mind when reading the news. Still, palm had the issue of being a palmos+windows mobile shop, and the foleo would add linux into the mix. And i think at least microsoft was somewhat reluctant in making palm able to hook winmob up to foleo for mail management.
Yet another tablet with capacitive screen..
So..... is it a reasonable assumption that this 'tablet revolution' (the pocketable ones and also the bigger slates) has been powered by the capacitive screen?
They took off after the multitouch OSK and smoother UI/UX made possible by capacitive displays.
Obviously it's not the sole reason, but it's a significant factor.
Capt'n Corrupt
09-28-2010, 06:05 AM
The PlayBook is looking great... the Galaxy Tab has got some serious competition! Many similarities spec-wise; similar form factor. Exciting times! :cool:
Actually it seems as though the Black Pad blows the Tab out of the water when looking at the specs alone! The form factor is thinner, the cameras have a higher resolution, the processor/gpu should be far faster (tegra?) and it has double the RAM! Of course there are other points of comparison as well, but the hardware looks really solid!
I'd be interested in seeing some reviews when it gets released!
Rob1n
09-28-2010, 06:17 AM
It looks pretty impressive, but the name sucks. "PlayBook"? What is this, kindergarten?
I want to get excited but just cant. Based entirely on my experience with the blackberry "experience" on their devices. The apple cant fall far from the tree right? I fear it will be unintuitive, and just no fun. Remember the RIM's first touch screen device?
Hardware is very good though. 7 inch is also a very good size. I still cant defend my reasoning for buying a tablet. I usually buy laptops sized at 12" so the tablet wont really save me a lot of space but it can come in handy. Probably most whilst travelling or just on the move where you want to enjoy media without fidgeting with a 3.7 inch screen on a phone.
digital909
09-28-2010, 06:51 AM
The specs and the UI looks GREAT! I'm really surprised with this device.
It's puzzling that RIM is seemingly trying to infiltrate a young demographic as the material and even the device looks as though it is trying to rival the iPad. I would have thought they would have positioned their device for more for the business. Perhaps they are....
Just based on what I see on public transport here in London, there are a huge number of young people (as in teenagers) who have Blackberries, in fact I reckon I see as many if not more than iphone. I don't think it is a business user-only device at all and I'm sure RIM know this.
Will be interesting to see how it does in the tablet wars.
Me. I'll stick to a MID and a half decent sized laptop screen. Enough for an old man like me who made his debut on a vic 20!!
catretriever
09-28-2010, 07:21 AM
It looks pretty impressive, but the name sucks. "PlayBook"? What is this, kindergarten?
I think our US cousins use the term PlayBook to refer to strategies in team sports rather than a childs colouring book :)
@afaq: have you played with the Torch (9800)?
I think the UI is quite nice and responsive.
I don't know how different the Playbook will be (qnx and all), but there's a clear sense of improvement and progression comparing past bb models with the Torch. (albeit all its drawbacks)
Rebski
09-28-2010, 09:44 AM
I guess that this is the reason why RIM bought DataViz Documents To Go?
I couldn't see the point before.
Just based on what I see on public transport here in London, there are a huge number of young people (as in teenagers) who have Blackberries, in fact I reckon I see as many if not more than iphone. I don't think it is a business user-only device at all and I'm sure RIM know this.
Will be interesting to see how it does in the tablet wars.
Me. I'll stick to a MID and a half decent sized laptop screen. Enough for an old man like me who made his debut on a vic 20!!
Yep, especially as RIM seems to be planning to turn BBM into something like steam. That is, they are supposedly making APIs available that can allow games to exchange data over the BBM system.
seems like BBM is the phone equivalent of msn/live messenger or AIM was some years ago (and now it seems facebook "chat" have taken over for).
tissot
09-28-2010, 04:24 PM
It looks nice... for now.
I have just seen this too many times with SE and Nokia phones already where the release date is ~ 4 months later and at first the super device doesn't look that super anymore.
There will be Android tablets running A9 core and using 2.5/3.0 at that time and i would think same goes for MeeGo(we where supposed to see MeeGo tablets running on Moorestown according to Intel in Q1).
The tablet craze is at it's strongest probably in 2h next year.
Kangal
09-29-2010, 04:28 AM
Umm I used a BB ... and after using various WiMo, Symbian and iOS devices I didn't like it. It just fits the corporate stereotype too much, and my fun and fat thumbs have nowhere to play on their cramped dull devices.
With this device, it seems like Blackberry is the "new guy" who's trying WAY too hard to fit in.
PlayBook?!?! BB was never playful and this device aint even a book! BB should do what it does best: remain dull (and my guts telling me it to die a slow death).
But my heart is saying a similar (or better speced) slate to be released by another company (Nokia, Samsung, Google, HTC, Dell etc) but run MeeGo.
It only has been a few days with my Galaxy S, and I've already noticed many UI elements that are awkeward and inconsistent ... but its still hands-down tidier than the HTC Desire. I hope MeeGo can see all these blemishes in Android and all the weaknesses in iOS4 and do what both platforms can't do ... mix serious function with serious simplicity/UX!
bergie
09-29-2010, 06:01 AM
Yep, especially as RIM seems to be planning to turn BBM into something like steam. That is, they are supposedly making APIs available that can allow games to exchange data over the BBM system.
I hope something like this will happen, even if to wake Maemo/MeeGo developers up to the potential Telepathy Tubes (http://telepathy.freedesktop.org/wiki/Tubes) already provides for the platform we have.
For lots of collaboration situations direct P2P over XMPP (or whatever) would make more sense security, privacy and reliability -wise than connecting to a web service.
ootpek
09-29-2010, 12:24 PM
In my consulting role I have already been asked if I would recommend this device to a start-up I am working with. Of course without a price or examples of real use I can't say anything yet...but since I have had experience with QNX and even played with it myself a little I am very interested to at least check it out.
Capt'n Corrupt
09-29-2010, 02:10 PM
Out of curiosity: why the sudden love for QNX? Is it because it rhymes with UNIX? As I understand it, it is closed source, like iOS, and is basically the same as iOS and linux: a unix like os. Is it the micro-kernel appeal? Am I reading the general response incorrectly?
... so confused!
But this is not about QNX hate (nor iOS for that matter). I remember it's inception and reading about some of the cool features that it implemented. I think it's grand. I just expected it would be more hated around these parts.
gmuslera
09-29-2010, 03:22 PM
Not getting it.
A dedicated device, too big for being phone, camera or being carried in a pocket, but maybe too small to be a comfortable book or web reading device. The N900 have the all-in-one appeal, you can forgive the size given the amount of things in there (in particular, the phone, that you should carry anyway). But if you need to carry a dedicated device, bigger could be better.
Having a somewhat "new" OS for that device (or at least, new for that kind of device) also have a big impact on apps availability. Android and iPhone have plenty of apps, so their tablet version have too. Meego should have too, not sure how easy or hard will be to migrate linux, maemo, or moblin apps for it, but should be easier than start from practically zero for qnx,
Also, didnt saw mentioned battery life, what could end being a critical point there, still thinking that the iPad have too little battery life for some of the perfect uses for it (book/web reading).
For me the future is still N900-like devices (physical keyboard, maybe a bit bigger screen, better battery life), or some kind of netvertibles.
Out of curiosity: why the sudden love for QNX? Is it because it rhymes with UNIX? As I understand it, it is closed source, like iOS, and is basically the same as iOS and linux: a unix like os. Is it the micro-kernel appeal? Am I reading the general response incorrectly?
... so confused!
QNX is not basically the same as iOS. It is fully POSIX compliant for one thing.
Capt'n Corrupt
09-29-2010, 06:45 PM
QNX is not basically the same as iOS. It is fully POSIX compliant for one thing.
I think you missed the point of my post. But yes, you are right.
quipper8
09-29-2010, 06:52 PM
the last time I messed with qnx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3Com_Audrey
Actually I think I still have two of these in the attic somewhere :)
Diavoli
09-30-2010, 10:30 PM
Sorry guys just a little confused, is QNX open source like Meego? It looks really promising, might get on their phones now?
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/RIM-PlayBook-QNX-Headed-to-BlackBerry-Smartphones-Report-393671/
nope, QNX is proprietary. Tho there was a freeware version available for a while way back when that was bootable from a floppy as a kind of demo of its capabilities, iirc.
scribbles
10-01-2010, 12:09 AM
As a former Blackberry user, I'm one of their harshest critics but something good is simmering in Waterloo...
http://www.osnews.com/story/23841/RIM_Unveils_PlayBook_Tablet_Runs_QNX_Unicorns_Smil e
Kangal
10-01-2010, 12:46 AM
Hey didn't someone (CEO?) from BlackBerry a little while back, say that touch was not the future??
I'm confused and this confusion is really preventing me from liking this high-featured gadget.
scribbles
10-01-2010, 12:58 AM
Hey didn't someone (CEO?) from BlackBerry a little while back, say that touch was not the future??
I'm confused and this confusion is really preventing me from liking this high-featured gadget.
Yes, I remember... It was Mike Lazaridis (the fat-headed one). Such an @ss of a statement to make.
I think our US cousins use the term PlayBook to refer to strategies in team sports rather than a childs colouring book :)
I was about to suggest the same thing until I read your response :) PlayBooks are common in American Football, obviously containing all the plays and audible codes for each play.
As a former Blackberry user, I'm one of their harshest critics but something good is simmering in Waterloo...
http://www.osnews.com/story/23841/RIM_Unveils_PlayBook_Tablet_Runs_QNX_Unicorns_Smil e
Thom is a old qnx fanboy (i think he claimed to have used the freeware floppy release as a primary desktop at some point).
ootpek
10-01-2010, 08:55 AM
Sure there are differences between what QNX is and what Maemo/Meego are...but for me...as a power user, those differences are meaningless for the most part. Both should provide a near full O/S experience that gives me what I want to use in a portable form factor. I use my N810 daily still and love it. BUT...I have been waiting to see a likely replacement for it. The Playbook is the first I have seen that comes close in theory. I will at least look at it. After all...not like I can look at a Nokia Meego device yet.
ceroberts75
04-23-2011, 12:03 PM
reviving this.....the device so far is great....
Rebski
04-23-2011, 12:31 PM
reviving this.....the device so far is great....
Hello, since this is an old thread I wonder how you would feel about contributing to the more recent one?
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=65732&page=3
This suggestion is just by way of keeping the information tidy.
Whatever you wish, but either way, I look forward to your input.:)
ceroberts75
04-24-2011, 09:53 PM
i would not use those cases from china. i tried two of them....both were missing all the ground attachments and the antanas that are not able to be taken out of your original case. so you will be able to getwifi but no celljlar.
smackpotato
05-01-2011, 12:35 AM
the playbook also supports qt but we cant develop with it yet.only with flash. i really like the interface on my playbook although its not as slick as the n810
ceroberts75
05-01-2011, 01:10 AM
i still cannot stand the capacitive screen accuracy.
even typing is difficult.
though right now i am on a bt kb...so it is not so bad.
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