New York Times blogger Ian Austen went to RIM last week to see the $499 PlayBook tablet that is to start shipping next week. He was impressed with it just as we at The Online Reporter were at CES in January. He said:
- It plays the millions of Adobe Flash videos, something Apple’s iPad cannot. And it does it without draining the battery as many Android tablets do.
- RIM said the PlayBook has hardware and software that outperforms more powerful computers playing Flash videos.
- PlayBook has an HDMI out connector that connects to TV sets for playback. Austen said the HD videos looked like they were coming from a Blu-ray player. And we know people love HD.
- RIM acquired the software interface designer TAT (The Astonishing Tribe) to help it develop the look and feel of its user interface. Austen said that as a result the PlayBook “will look familiar to any iPad user but is nevertheless distinctive.“
- PlayBook is aimed at RIM’s historical base of BlackBerry users — corporates, institutions and governments.
To paraphrase what Matthew McConaughey said in the flick “A Time to Kill:“ Close your eyes and imagine doing those things with an Android-based tablet.
The Wall Street Journal’s technology columnist Walt Mossberg was more negative than positive in his review of the newly available RIM PlayBook. In fact, he said wait for future improvements before buying.
He turned thumbs down on:
- The lack of a built-in cellular connection
- The lack of basic built-in apps such as e-mail, contacts, a calendar, a memo pad and the BlackBerry Messenger chat. They only show up when the PlayBook is connected to a BlackBerry, but RIM said they would be added this summer
- The requirement that automatic syncing lasts only as long as the PlayBook is connected to a BlackBerry
- The smaller 7-inch screen
- The lack of a video store
- No video-chatting software
- The app shortage and its inability to run any of the 27,000 BlackBerry apps; it’s too soon to say how the BlackBerry and Android apps will run on the PlayBook
- No functions for sharing pictures
- No one-touch icon for airplane mode
- The inability to add Web bookmarks to the ones that come pre-installed
- Battery usage of about five to six hours
- Browser is slow to load
He turned thumbs up on:
- The QNX OS that he called “handsome and quick“
- The “smooth and fast“ user interface: apps that are open show as images at the top of the screen
- Beautiful screen
- Better cameras than the iPad’s
- Built-in connector outputs “gorgeous“ HD video to a TV
- Browser does the best job with Flash video and Flash sites of any that Mossberg has seen, “far better than on any Android device“
- Its sturdiness and, although 14% thicker than the iPad 2, it’s about one-third lighter
Mossberg said the necessity of connecting to a BlackBerry for apps, and connecting to a cellular network plus the promises of future software enhancements prompts him to say wait until those arrive before purchasing a PlayBook. As is, the PlayBook is “a companion to a BlackBerry phone rather than a fully independent device.“
“I recommend waiting on the PlayBook until more independently usable versions with the promised additions are available,“ Mossberg said.
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