BlackBerry® PlayBook™

[John_Clark]

There's no need to rant in a thread regarding an OS that was pulled by RIM only a few days after release. They obviously realized there were problems and did something about it.

[chipstr1]

Hey, that's great. If you're happy, then there's nothing else to say, right? I just quit using mine because of all the goofy issues (boot time, charging issues, freezing up, etc). I'm glad to hear your's works well.

[John_Clark]

I just don't think 3-5 minutes is too long to boot especially as seldom as it needs to be done. There are no charging issues that I have experienced unless you deplete the battery completely...that one I'll give you...it needs to be fixed. I've never had my PB freeze up either.

[godot2011]

Ditto here.  My Playbook works fine too with .668.

As for battery use, I try to follow the 80 - 20% rule.  Unless I forget, I unplug the charger before the charge reaches 100% and I try not to run it down below 20%. I still manage to squeeze a full day's work out of the battery. Mind you no video streaming. I find the charge time quite acceptable. 

[chipstr1]

But, we shouldn't have to "baby" the PlayBook in order to use it. I read all the time various posts from people with all sorts of tricks to make the device work. I think it should work fine by just turning the darn thing on. I'm not married to this device, so I'm not upset by its deficiencies. But after spending $499, I expected better. Seriously.

[mikejones2509]

So how do we get rid of this update?

My battery has been useless since installing it. I have tried everything to restore it.

Another RIM failure.

[John_Clark]

The "tricks" to make it work have to do with depleting the battery. I will give you that. That shouldn't be such a problem. Beyond that I don't think there are any issues that are any worse than any other device. I have both an iPad and a 64GB Playbook. I much prefer my PlayBook. I had the iPad for almost a year before I got a PlayBook. I didn't think I needed one. Then I decided to get one and found one on eBay for under $200. Now I much prefer the PlayBook. True multi-tasking and Flash in the browser are my top reasons. I don't need a data plan because I can simply bridge to my BlackBerry for data when I am not around wifi.

If the PlayBook had the apps that I need for work I would give my iPad to my kids.

Hopefully, when BB10 comes out and the PB gets upgraded to BB10 the app situation will improve. Hardware-wise, however, my only complaint is the battery depletion issue, though, I haven't experienced it myself.

I leave mine plugged in all the time and turned on unless I'm traveling...even then I never turn it off. I just put it in airplane mode and the battery will last a week or two before I have to plug it in.

[John_Clark]

To downgrade:

Turn off the device

Open BlackBerry Desktop Software

Connect PlayBook via usb

Enter password if required

When DM prompts that it "cannot connect to BlackBerry Playbook" choose "update."

Click "Install"

**Be aware that you can't restore a backup made from .668 to .358 so you'll need your backup from when you updated before. 

If that is a major road block for you then I suggest installing the 2.1.0.840 developer beta.  It has been working flawlessly for me on two different PlayBooks with better battery life than 2.0.1.358. 

[mikejones2509]

So much for that idea...no back up from before the update.

It's a bit ridiculous to have to back up something before what was supposedly just a minor update.

Paper weight now. 3 hr battery imakes it useless.

[John_Clark]

Good grief. If you just want to rant about the device just toss it in the trash and go get an iPad.

I give you some good options and you don't want to use them. The 2.1 OS is the best PB OS to date. If you make a backup of .668 it will restore just fine to the 2.1.0.840.

Whitelist your device at the developer page and then do the update over wifi. Has worked perfect for me every time I've done it. I do recommend making a manual backup first, which you should have done before upgrading to .668, in case something happens during the update.