BlackBerry® PlayBook™

[Doug2456464]

Hello, i got a playbook last night as a gift, I work in the tech field so i have a can to read the many reviews and specs and comparasins of all the tablets available. in the short time i have used the playbook the os is ok nice and quick and all but there are no applications for the product, not even any messaging apps including BB messenger?  I am
told by RIMs marketing that I get the "Web without Limits" but it seems there are alot of limits 2 major limits for me are Netflix is not supported by the browser, the biggest one... the browser is not supported by google docs ( cannot edit docs ) and also the version of gmail the browser allows for is not the full version.... so no calender, chat or any of the other features availible.  Suffice to say I am having a hard time using the device since there is nothing to do
with it....it seems my smart phone does more than the playbook. I thought playbook was the best choice becauseI try to support canadian made products I fear I was mistaken.  I will be returning to the store this evening to possibly return the device for another tablet, please convnce to as to why I should keep the playbook.

p.s. sorry for any mistakes in the text above, I am typing this on the playbook and it seems they did not include and text prediction, spelling correction options or proper text selection options.

[JSanders Resident Expert]

Actually, it is that Netflix has yet to support the Playbook browser rather than the other way around. It was just launched yesterday. Currently Netflix only supports the browser on PCs and Macs... I would bet they will be around.

Email apps, as you would have read, it is coming for a native PIM on the Playbook, right now it launched with BlackBerry Bridge to use "mirror" the email, contacts, etc., ON the "bridged" Blackberry device. Meanwhile, for such as Gmail, you can use the browser to view any webmail server.

Good luck! I just don't think that less than 24 hours is enough to assess the device, but to each his own.

[Doug2456464]

I would like to asses it more, but it seems just to be an expensive web browser especially with no app support. The device costs alot and to trust that apps " are coming " is hard to do with a return window of 14 days, when they should be there @ launch.

[JSanders Resident Expert]

I have no idea what you mean by "especially with no app support".

Very likely you haven't used it enough to understand what you're saying.

[Doug2456464]

By " No App Support " I mean to say I have yet to find any impressive applications in the App World so far.

[knottyrope]

I browsed through many apps last night and happy with the ones I have tried.

Did you look at all the categories?

[Doug2456464]

I have looked through them when I can, the app world seems to always be down I have tried to download a couple but the download just sits until app world crashes.  rom what I have seen tho there are no killer apps just silly games, unit convertors or new feeders, even the instant messeging category only has 4 apps listed

[JSanders Resident Expert]

meh, give it time.,it just launched yesterday, and following some of the app developers as I have, there's a lots more to come.

As for AppWorld being down, I never have that issue. I am not doubting that you do.

[Doug2456464]

Well it seems there is not alot of convincing, and alot of posts with pretty major issues that should have been fixed before release. It's clear the Playbook is still in beta, perhaps i'll purchase it once it's ready for now i'll just return it and keep my money.

[michaelwhyte]

I just got mine yesterday and it was the first time I have ever bought a new tech device right on launch day....I normally wait...sometimes several years for companies to work out the bugs....My first iphone was an iphone4 and I thought wow what an amazing phone but I am sure there must have been quite a few iphone pioneers that suffered a bit through the early years as they worked out all the bugs...

After getting the Playbook on day one I have a new appreciation of early adopters and realize they must have been passionate users to persevere  through the early days...

With that in mind, I am a bit understanding that there are a few bugs to be worked out...I have a couple of items on my wish list such as a way to import epubs onto the device that were not purchased from the Kobo store, and a native email and calendar client...I will give Blackberry a year or so to work out the issues...A year from now I will re-evaluate and if RIM has put in some hard work and updated the Playbook then fantastic....if not I can always sell it and try something new...at the very least i got a year of use out of the device...

In a nutshell...Perhaps just wait a little bit and see what updates are sent out or what new apps for the Playbook are created...