BlackBerry Playbook
- Thread starter friendz4evr
- Start date
I don't have an ipad or a Playbook, but reading this in yesterday's news tells me the Playbook is not in my near future:
"The PlayBook also does not have an email, calendar, or contacts program, unless it is synced with a BlackBerry."
So their target clientele is a subset of current bb owners. amazing.
"The PlayBook also does not have an email, calendar, or contacts program, unless it is synced with a BlackBerry."
So their target clientele is a subset of current bb owners. amazing.
Fail.
I bought the playbook assuming I could tether my phone with my current data plan to take full advantage of my unlimited data plan.
Be fore warned. This is not the case with Bell Mobility. When using my phone I do have unlimited data, when I tether my phone I incur tethering charges @.........$8.00 a mega bite (ouch). You might want to check with your provider before you start using this toy sans wi-fi.
The playbook works well as a web browser on wi-fi . But via bluetooth/tethering ,it's painfully slow (and expensive)
As discussed earlier, blackberry bridge offers the option of using your mail and calender apps from you phone, but again at a cost.
When you disable tethering and use wi fi only, you can't access your info from your phone.
Also syncing your playbook to Mac via desktop manager is a challenge that I haven't been able to accomplish yet.
I'm a huge BB fan but for now the ipad is much more user friendly and versatile. For me at least anyways
I bought the playbook assuming I could tether my phone with my current data plan to take full advantage of my unlimited data plan.
Be fore warned. This is not the case with Bell Mobility. When using my phone I do have unlimited data, when I tether my phone I incur tethering charges @.........$8.00 a mega bite (ouch). You might want to check with your provider before you start using this toy sans wi-fi.
The playbook works well as a web browser on wi-fi . But via bluetooth/tethering ,it's painfully slow (and expensive)
As discussed earlier, blackberry bridge offers the option of using your mail and calender apps from you phone, but again at a cost.
When you disable tethering and use wi fi only, you can't access your info from your phone.
Also syncing your playbook to Mac via desktop manager is a challenge that I haven't been able to accomplish yet.
I'm a huge BB fan but for now the ipad is much more user friendly and versatile. For me at least anyways
If you are a Rogers user you get tethering included in plans that have 1GB or more. I bought the Playbook and I find it works well, Bluetooth tethering on my Blackberry works amazing. I tried Bluetooth tethering with my iPhone with the Playbook but that failed as it gave an error of unsupported device so I used personal hotspot wifi instead.
I don't think it's a fail as the mail/calendar apps are being addressed in a future update. I've put down my ipad for now.
I don't think it's a fail as the mail/calendar apps are being addressed in a future update. I've put down my ipad for now.
Fail.
I bought the playbook assuming I could tether my phone with my current data plan to take full advantage of my unlimited data plan.
Be fore warned. This is not the case with Bell Mobility. When using my phone I do have unlimited data, when I tether my phone I incur tethering charges @.........$8.00 a mega bite (ouch). You might want to check with your provider before you start using this toy sans wi-fi.
The playbook works well as a web browser on wi-fi . But via bluetooth/tethering ,it's painfully slow (and expensive)
As discussed earlier, blackberry bridge offers the option of using your mail and calender apps from you phone, but again at a cost.
When you disable tethering and use wi fi only, you can't access your info from your phone.
Also syncing your playbook to Mac via desktop manager is a challenge that I haven't been able to accomplish yet.
I'm a huge BB fan but for now the ipad is much more user friendly and versatile. For me at least anyways
good info guys! how are you liking the 7" form factor? thats the size i'm interested in for a tablet, i think i would be much more likely to carry around a 7" device wherever i go rather than the bigger 9-10" variants.
i actually like the 7 inch form because both in landscape and potrait view i can still type with both hands, whereas on the 10 inch screens the only way i could type with both hands is in portrait view
and i can easily carry this while im commuting and since theres a small screen, theres a small haven of privacy so to speak. i tried the ipad and in my view screen size in terms of functionality is no different from playbook to ipad
and i can easily carry this while im commuting and since theres a small screen, theres a small haven of privacy so to speak. i tried the ipad and in my view screen size in terms of functionality is no different from playbook to ipad
You can tether from a non -bb right now. Google it there's tons of info and how too's on it.in the near future, RIM will release an update where you can tether from a non-BB phone
Wow. What a clusterfuck.Fail.
I bought the playbook assuming I could tether my phone with my current data plan to take full advantage of my unlimited data plan.
Be fore warned. This is not the case with Bell Mobility. When using my phone I do have unlimited data, when I tether my phone I incur tethering charges @.........$8.00 a mega bite (ouch). You might want to check with your provider before you start using this toy sans wi-fi.
The playbook works well as a web browser on wi-fi . But via bluetooth/tethering ,it's painfully slow (and expensive)
As discussed earlier, blackberry bridge offers the option of using your mail and calender apps from you phone, but again at a cost.
When you disable tethering and use wi fi only, you can't access your info from your phone.
Also syncing your playbook to Mac via desktop manager is a challenge that I haven't been able to accomplish yet.
I'm a huge BB fan but for now the ipad is much more user friendly and versatile. For me at least anyways
I assumed that you link with Blackberry Bridge for your information only. The Playbook would also utilize wi-fi at the same time for data.
It does. No problem at all.Wow. What a clusterfuck.
I assumed that you link with Blackberry Bridge for your information only. The Playbook would also utilize wi-fi at the same time for data.
There is no cost for using bridge. It's not the same as tethering.Fail.
As discussed earlier, blackberry bridge offers the option of using your mail and calender apps from you phone, but again at a cost.
Sounds like the launch was a bit of a dud?
http://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/RIM-launches-PlayBook-fans-rsg-3937083967.html?x=0&.v=3
RIM launches PlayBook but fans don't play along
On Wednesday 20 April 2011, 6:00 SGT
By Alastair Sharp and Sinead Carew
TORONTO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Research In Motion 's PlayBook tablet computer launched in thousands of stores on Tuesday and mostly stayed there, a grim reminder of Apple's lasting allure for tech-hungry consumers.
By mid-afternoon, two carriers and two electronic stores in one of downtown Toronto's main shopping malls -- where long lines greeted last month's iPad 2 launch -- had stock available. Each started the day with no more than 5 PlayBooks.
"It's going to be a tough sell to the consumer," BGC Partner analyst Colin Gillis said of the tablet, a sleek but flawed gadget that doesn't yet offer the secure email that is the trademark of RIM's ubiquitous BlackBerry .
RIM, which has priced the PlayBook to match the iPad, has struggled to win consumer fans since Apple's iPhone and a slew of devices running Google's Android entered the smartphone fray.
But reviewers panned the PlayBook for the absence of inbuilt email and organizer functions -- the gadget needs a BlackBerry to access those -- and said it appeared to have been rushed to market before it was ready.
The stakes could not be higher for RIM, whose security-focussed BlackBerry once reigned supreme in financial, corporate and government circles. Its shares closed almost 3 percent lower at $53.22 on the Nasdaq .
RIM must now persuade its corporate base to ignore the poor consumer turnout and scathing reviews and see the merit in a powerful new operating system and complex arrangement that retains RIM's famed BlackBerry security.
"When RIM launches a tablet they have the luxury of knowing there is at least some guaranteed demand from the enterprise," said Morgan Keegan analyst Tavis McCourt. Limited supply and lack of major advertising hinted RIM was easing into the launch, he added.
Adding to a feeling that the launch was not thought through, AT&T, the second largest U.S. carrier, said it was still testing the secure Bridge software that lets BlackBerry users get email and other services on the larger PlayBook screen without incurring additional fees.
"We just got the app for testing. Before we make it available to our customers we want to make sure we deliver the type of experience our customers would expect," AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel said. "We have to test this app."
SLOW BURN LIKELY
The PlayBook launch, more than a year after Apple created the tablet market, was in stark contrast to the frenzy when Apple launched its iPad 2 a month ago and consumers lined up overnight to buy the gadget.
Apple sold almost 15 million iPads in 2010; RIM is expected to move 3 million PlayBooks in a similar window in 2011, according to 18 analysts polled by Reuters.
Analysts say RIM should stay in the hunt with the PlayBook despite the slow start, as it overhauls its creaky platform with the QNX operating system it acquired last year. The Canadian company expects large businesses to buy PlayBooks in "the tens of thousands."
Gartner, a research outfit focussed on technology, estimates one in 10 tablets sold in 2015, or some 30 million, will be powered by QNX, which will likely find its way onto RIM's smartphones in the next 12 months.
That would place it third behind Apple at almost half the market and Android at just under 40 percent, leaving little room for Hewlett-Packard's soon-to-launch WebOS tablet and completely ignoring a possible Windows tablet platform.
Retailers say solid pre-orders suggest there will be pent-up demand for a capable alternative to the iPad.
"Based on those numbers coming in, we expect it to be successful," said Steve Coffin, operations manager at a Future Shop big box store near Toronto's financial district, dismissing the absence of lines of eager shoppers when doors opened and highlighting strong pre-orders.
Cellular-connected versions of the PlayBook are due out later in the year.
"It's not going to be in the same league as the iPad," said Al Hilwa, a Seattle-based analyst at IDC. "The question is will it sell more than the Xoom but less than the Galaxy," he added, referring to Android-based tablets from Motorola Mobility and Samsung.
http://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/RIM-launches-PlayBook-fans-rsg-3937083967.html?x=0&.v=3
RIM launches PlayBook but fans don't play along
On Wednesday 20 April 2011, 6:00 SGT
By Alastair Sharp and Sinead Carew
TORONTO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Research In Motion 's PlayBook tablet computer launched in thousands of stores on Tuesday and mostly stayed there, a grim reminder of Apple's lasting allure for tech-hungry consumers.
By mid-afternoon, two carriers and two electronic stores in one of downtown Toronto's main shopping malls -- where long lines greeted last month's iPad 2 launch -- had stock available. Each started the day with no more than 5 PlayBooks.
"It's going to be a tough sell to the consumer," BGC Partner analyst Colin Gillis said of the tablet, a sleek but flawed gadget that doesn't yet offer the secure email that is the trademark of RIM's ubiquitous BlackBerry .
RIM, which has priced the PlayBook to match the iPad, has struggled to win consumer fans since Apple's iPhone and a slew of devices running Google's Android entered the smartphone fray.
But reviewers panned the PlayBook for the absence of inbuilt email and organizer functions -- the gadget needs a BlackBerry to access those -- and said it appeared to have been rushed to market before it was ready.
The stakes could not be higher for RIM, whose security-focussed BlackBerry once reigned supreme in financial, corporate and government circles. Its shares closed almost 3 percent lower at $53.22 on the Nasdaq .
RIM must now persuade its corporate base to ignore the poor consumer turnout and scathing reviews and see the merit in a powerful new operating system and complex arrangement that retains RIM's famed BlackBerry security.
"When RIM launches a tablet they have the luxury of knowing there is at least some guaranteed demand from the enterprise," said Morgan Keegan analyst Tavis McCourt. Limited supply and lack of major advertising hinted RIM was easing into the launch, he added.
Adding to a feeling that the launch was not thought through, AT&T, the second largest U.S. carrier, said it was still testing the secure Bridge software that lets BlackBerry users get email and other services on the larger PlayBook screen without incurring additional fees.
"We just got the app for testing. Before we make it available to our customers we want to make sure we deliver the type of experience our customers would expect," AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel said. "We have to test this app."
SLOW BURN LIKELY
The PlayBook launch, more than a year after Apple created the tablet market, was in stark contrast to the frenzy when Apple launched its iPad 2 a month ago and consumers lined up overnight to buy the gadget.
Apple sold almost 15 million iPads in 2010; RIM is expected to move 3 million PlayBooks in a similar window in 2011, according to 18 analysts polled by Reuters.
Analysts say RIM should stay in the hunt with the PlayBook despite the slow start, as it overhauls its creaky platform with the QNX operating system it acquired last year. The Canadian company expects large businesses to buy PlayBooks in "the tens of thousands."
Gartner, a research outfit focussed on technology, estimates one in 10 tablets sold in 2015, or some 30 million, will be powered by QNX, which will likely find its way onto RIM's smartphones in the next 12 months.
That would place it third behind Apple at almost half the market and Android at just under 40 percent, leaving little room for Hewlett-Packard's soon-to-launch WebOS tablet and completely ignoring a possible Windows tablet platform.
Retailers say solid pre-orders suggest there will be pent-up demand for a capable alternative to the iPad.
"Based on those numbers coming in, we expect it to be successful," said Steve Coffin, operations manager at a Future Shop big box store near Toronto's financial district, dismissing the absence of lines of eager shoppers when doors opened and highlighting strong pre-orders.
Cellular-connected versions of the PlayBook are due out later in the year.
"It's not going to be in the same league as the iPad," said Al Hilwa, a Seattle-based analyst at IDC. "The question is will it sell more than the Xoom but less than the Galaxy," he added, referring to Android-based tablets from Motorola Mobility and Samsung.
BB DM for Mac is not compatible with PB at the moment. Support coming this summer apparently. It should show as a drive though and you should be able to drag and drop files that way.Also syncing your playbook to Mac via desktop manager is a challenge that I haven't been able to accomplish yet.
Good to know. Thanks Rev.BB DM for Mac is not compatible with PB at the moment. Support coming this summer apparently. It should show as a drive though and you should be able to drag and drop files that way.
Given that my crackberry acronyms are dated, does this mean you can't move media (music, photos, movies....) from a Mac to a Playbook?BB DM for Mac is not compatible with PB at the moment. Support coming this summer apparently. It should show as a drive though and you should be able to drag and drop files that way.
OTB
Not with DTM (desktop manager). It could be possible if OS X mounts it as a drive and the Playbook config will allow you to write directly to the file system.Given that my crackberry acronyms are dated, does this mean you can't move media (music, photos, movies....) from a Mac to a Playbook?
OTB
Playbook config allows this. Worked when attached to windows 7 laptop anyway,Not with DTM (desktop manager). It could be possible if OS X mounts it as a drive and the Playbook config will allow you to write directly to the file system.
