playbook is on top of its competition
1. Its Multitasking done right
Multitasking is one of the key features of any smartphone or tablet. Having seamless work flow between tasks improves productivity and your ability to accomplish alot. This is were the Playbook is a real winner. The face of the Playbook is a litirally a clean black slate. no hard buttons, or even touch panels, when running an app, you simply swipe from the bezel (the black part outside the visible section of the screen) to access the next running app, run a new app, or even access your notifications. I’ve tried this while running the camera app, a note app, blackberry bridge, the browser with multiple tabs open a video playing and Need for speed running, and im happy to see that it dosen’t even buckle or slow down. For me, its genius.
2. Works with your blackberry
The playbook its self does not have an email app, messenger, or calendar application, and at first i thought this was a big downed. but after figuring out what Blackberry bridge was, i understood that this is no ordinary tablet, its actually designed that way so that you use it with your Blackberry Smartphone.
Here’s my take on it. Say you are a bussinessman, who has a phone, specially here in the phillipines, people tend to have multiple phones. Why buy another tablet that might need another sim card, that’s another bill to pay or another phone number to memorize. Hence the Playbook, its an extension of your Blackberry, not just another independent device. You can access your email, messages, BBM, Calendar and Files through The blackberry Bridge App which serves as an interface between devices.
3. Slick Interface
I’ve used a number of Dual core devices and i can say with certainty that the Playbook is one tough cookie. its dual core processor and 1 gb of ram can handle almost anything i throw at it and its able to keep pace with my work. Coupled with its gesture based multitasking the overall user expirience is very slick. transitions are smooth and apps run very well.
4. Responsive keyboard
One of the best features i love about it is the keyboard. Very responsive i can type on it quickly and almost feels natural. The only gripe i have is the placement of some of the puncuations and symbols, but other than that typing on it is a breeze.
5. Build
The overall build is also very good. it dosent feel cheap or plasticy, or too metalic that it feels like it can cut you. The rubberized finish actually feels very comftable in hand. I read that it uses gorrilla glass so im confident in jamming this in my bag and dropping my keys in with it too. (but i won’t really do that)
Quick tips:
Swipe from the top bezel down to the screen to open options in some apps.
Hold down the Volume + and – buttons to take a screen shot
Try using playnotes! (its an app that syncs to dropbox)
Look out! its a shark!
Although there is a lack of apps that you get download RIM is working on getting ANDROID apps to run on the playbook. cant wait for how that pans out.
Here’s a rundown of the specs.
- 7-inch LCD, 1024 x 600, WSVGA, capacitive touch screen with full multi-touch and gesture support
- BlackBerry Tablet OS with support for symmetric multiprocessing
- 1 GHz dual-core processor
- 1 GB RAM
- Dual HD cameras (3 MP front facing, 5 MP rear facing), supports 1080p HD video recording
- Video playback: 1080p HD Video, H.264, MPEG, DivX, WMV
- Audio playback: MP3, AAC, WMA
- HDMI video output
- Wi-Fi – 802.11 a/b/g/n
- Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
- Connectors: microHDMI, microUSB, charging contacts
- Open, flexible application platform with support for WebKit/HTML-5, Adobe Flash Player 10.1, Adobe Mobile AIR, Adobe Reader, POSIX, OpenGL, Java
- Ultra thin and portable:
- Measures 5.1″x7.6″x0.4″ (130mm x 193mm x 10mm)
- Weighs less than a pound (approximately 0.9 lb or 400g)
16,32 and a 64gb models are available through local districutors.