I do not understand that reviewers can call this product "impressive" when it behaves much like a Windows computer, ie:
- it crashes regularly
- the software is buggy
- the battery life is half that of the iPad DESPITE having less than half the screen to power
And have they no shame stealing ideas: "apps can be rearranged and removed by holding down one finger on an app icon until all icons begin to pulse".
Hope Apple sues RIM to hell and gone.
It's just because everybody is desperately trying to write about and actually champion other products besides Apple. They need to provide something "fresh" in the tech world. In this case the PlayBook is fresh... Like raw meat.
I wonder what RIMs financial future will be if this is a failure or at least less of a success than they hope for. The development costs and marketing of this at a time when their main stay phone market has collapsed plus gong up against iPad 2 must have investors nervous to say the least.
It's just because everybody is desperately trying to write about and actually champion other products besides Apple. They need to provide something "fresh" in the tech world. In this case the PlayBook is fresh... Like raw meat.
I do not understand that reviewers can call this product "impressive" when it behaves much like a Windows computer, ie:
- it crashes regularly
- the software is buggy
- the battery life is half that of the iPad DESPITE having less than half the screen to power
And have they no shame stealing ideas: "apps can be rearranged and removed by holding down one finger on an app icon until all icons begin to pulse".
Hope Apple sues RIM to hell and gone.
Agreed. Can you imagine the reviews on Apple had the iPad 2 any one of these issues? The desire to try to find fault with Apple products and inflate the most tiny thing out of all proportions - which inevitably knocks $10 of AAPL, never ends. Then, as you say, they seem to bend over backwards not to be too harsh on this iPad wannabe.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, Mattel should enter the tablet market for youngsters with about this level of features. I'm sure a new Toy category wold be fine for the PlayBook too. Heck the name fits well for that too.
... as someone above also mentioned and I've stated in the past here: R.I.P. RIM end of 2011, or latest Q1 2012.
After reading both the Engadget and Anandtech reviews, regardless of whether they, as well as the main-stream reviewers really really want the Playbook to succeed... I see it as a serious "tweener" device... more-so than the iPod Touch or iPad ever was. Which leaves RIM in the exact situation and category of "tweener"... as in: 'tween a rock and a hard place! Nothing more needs to be said as far as I'm concerned, other than: DOA!
I also took a look at the Engadget video here previewing what's up-and-coming with WinMo7... and I must say, it looks pretty darn slick! A real contender to iOS.
As we have seen in the past, it always takes a while for MS to really step up and make up their mind, get through the internal bureaucracy, etc... but when they do, they "can"... and have in the past... made some stellar products and software.
What they're showing off with WinMo7 could be one of those "stellar products", and when it finally comes to light, I see MS once again pulling into the market-share lead just as Gartner reported earlier in the week, which I agreed with. It will be Apple and MS battling for the "Super-Smartphones", and Android at the bottom, with and for, the "free-for-alls".
I'm actually pulling for MS this time around, because they are seriously backing and pushing HTML5 standards (even better than Apple). I'm so hoping for Flash to die soon for various reasons, and I want Adobe and most of all Google, to feel the serious pain of pushing that crap on us as a viable future technology, and actually having the chutzpah to back-talk at Apple/SJ after calling them out for what they are: trash programmers.
No. I have not, nor will I change my general attitude towards MS: it's a pain to deal with their products, and they're simply the best copy-machine operators in the world.
However, they still must be dealt with whether I like it or not as an Apple fan... and going forward, I would much rather deal with their quarks, than that so-called "open platform", or that Canadian "Snoozebox" maker.
Mark my words: when MS gets this working in tablet form, with compatible Office and Live services... it's game over for Android & RIM (for hooking themselves to the Flash-train).... and I dare say WebOS too... as in "too" late = "too" bad.
Apple will be just fine... and most of all... still the most profitable computer and personal gadget maker in the world. No one can stop that train
They should have waited and got it right. This thing is DOA from the reviews I've read.
Did anyone else see the article on Bloomberg West last night about the RIM CEO "meltdown" during a TV interview? Their words not mine. This guy is toast.
... as someone above also mentioned and I've stated in the past here: R.I.P. RIM end of 2011, or latest Q1 2012.
After reading both the Engadget and Anandtech reviews, regardless of whether they, as well as the main-stream reviewers really really want the Playbook to succeed... I see it as a serious "tweener" device... more-so than the iPod Touch or iPad ever was. Which leaves RIM in the exact situation and category of "tweener"... as in: 'tween a rock and a hard place! Nothing more needs to be said as far as I'm concerned, other than: DOA!
I also took a look at the Engadget video here previewing what's up-and-coming with WinMo7... and I must say, it looks pretty darn slick! A real contender to iOS.
As we have seen in the past, it always takes a while for MS to really step up and make up their mind, get through the internal bureaucracy, etc... but when they do, they "can"... and have in the past... made some stellar products and software.
What they're showing off with WinMo7 could be one of those "stellar products", and when it finally comes to light, I see MS once again pulling into the market-share lead just as Gartner reported earlier in the week, which I agreed with. It will be Apple and MS battling for the "Super-Smartphones", and Android at the bottom, with and for, the "free-for-alls".
I'm actually pulling for MS this time around, because they are seriously backing and pushing HTML5 standards (even better than Apple). I'm so hoping for Flash to die soon for various reasons, and I want Adobe and most of all Google, to feel the serious pain of pushing that crap on us as a viable future technology, and actually having the chutzpah to back-talk at Apple/SJ after calling them out for what they are: trash programmers.
No. I have not, nor will I change my general attitude towards MS: it's a pain to deal with their products, and they're simply the best copy-machine operators in the world.
However, they still must be dealt with whether I like it or not as an Apple fan... and going forward, I would much rather deal with their quarks, than that so-called "open platform", or that Canadian "Snoozebox" maker.
Mark my words: when MS gets this working in tablet form, with compatible Office and Live services... it's game over for Android & RIM (for hooking themselves to the Flash-train).... and I dare say WebOS too... as in "too" late = "too" bad.
Apple will be just fine... and most of all... still the most profitable computer and personal gadget maker in the world. No one can stop that train
I agree with, MS has the services to couple with software. There is biggest problem is scattering the SW to many H/W vendors and having them fight with compromised H/W. If they want to fight Apple they need to fix a vendor otherwise Apple is just so much spread over that no one can deal without being fully integrated.
They should take a cue from Xbox division.
And, as for RIM they don't what they are doing. They are imagining user experience by running flash content inside a webkit based web browser. The OS MS showed is million years ahead of RIM showed/showing. I have to agree with the MS funeral act that it was definitely RIM who will RIP.
I guess I'm missing what is so poor about 5 hours of video playback. How often is someone going to sit in front of their tablet and watch Titanic and Avatar back to back that "only" 5 hours of video playback is going to matter? I would hardly consider that "normal" use.
You've obviously never gone on vacation with kids.
You've obviously never gone on vacation with kids.
Inter-continential flights and other area(s) that don?t allow for easy access to power outlets. Playing several movies or many TV shows back to back to pass the time. The situations are endless.
I don?t think people a device they have to worry about. I wish the iPad was longer, but 10+ hours of actual usage regardless of what you are doing is certainly adequate.
And how will a corp user get access to mail and calendar on a plane with WiFi with this thing? If theire BB has WiFi they can buy it on that device and then Bridge it. If their BB doesn?t have WiFi can they buy it on their PlayBook and then still Bridge their BB to it for a pointless circuitous yet secure method of accessing BES?
The reviews say that the numerous missing pieces are supposed to be ready by summer. Why doesnt RIM release the PlayBook in the summer instead? You can ruin a brand with the release of an unfinished product.
When RIM originally announced the PlayBook, I said there was no way it would be ready before June. It looks like I was right, but they decided to release it before then anyway.
I predicted that the PB wouldn't ship in any meaningful quantity before June.
I may still be right -- but am surprised that they got this far by mid-late April.
Anyone know what those 3,000 PB apps are -- and where they came from?
RIM, the premier mobile email device company, is going to ship PlayBook without an email client? I can't think of a worse way to introduce your first tablet to the world. This whole pairing-your-blackberry-to-the-tablet-to-send-email concept sounds like the ill-fated Palm Foleo.
Yeah, way to shoot yourself in the foot. I can just see the scene at RIM headquarters ...
"Let's introduce a tablet, but tie it to our rapidly shrinking smartphone share. That way, no one who isn't already a customer of ours can even use one." Brilliant!
They say they are going to add it later, but considering how long it's taken them to cobble together what they already have, it will be a long while *after* it's eventually released before this thing even enters the mainstream market.
All the consumers that manage to find one in a store between the day it finally goes on sale, and the day they finally add email to it, will be told by the customer service person, "That one only works if you've already got a Blackberry." Guaranteed. So we are talking late 2011 or early 2012 and "Playbook 2" (if they ever get that far) before they have any market penetration beyond their own corporate links.
Another thing to watch out for is that the Playbook basically copies the WebOS UI wholesale so all the good things about it are going to look pretty stupid in the summer and fall when HP comes out with newer, slicker hardware running essentially a better looking version (because it's the original) of the RIM OS.
WebOS is still the dark horse in this race and the one to beat IMO.
these reviews so totally remind of the initial reviews of the Storm and Torch ... all of which noted some major issues but nonetheless declared them a rival for the iPhone - remember? in fact, they were both fatally flawed, and they flopped.
no one outside the BB cult is going to buy one of these.
And have they no shame stealing ideas: "apps can be rearranged and removed by holding down one finger on an app icon until all icons begin to pulse".
Hope Apple sues RIM to hell and gone.
How else are you going to move icons? That's basically the same way it works on any computer except the finger is substituted with a mouse cursor. Or is it the fact that the icons pulse that is the issue?
I am worried that all these half-baked tablets will give tablets as such a bad name, and even make people weary of the iPad. It's a bit conspirital, but perhaps some of these companies would not be too unhappy about a few people returning to the PC.
I think it will have the opposite affect which is why I think Apple made so many comments about the competition, albeit negative comments, during their iPad 2 presentation. They want the public to know about these other tablets because they make the iPad look much better in comparison.
I think what we?re seeing is the start of another iPod, not another iPhone. Meaning we?re seeing Apple not only take the majority of profits but also take a control percentage of the unit marketshare. That said, i do expect to see a drop in the overall marketshare from 2010 simply because this rebranded market is so new and there is little precedence to keep many consumers from considering non-iPad tablets, but by the 3rd or 4th year it should be on the rise yet again if the iPod corollary happens again.
Yeah, way to shoot yourself in the foot. I can just see the scene at RIM headquarters ...
"Let's introduce a tablet, but tie it to our rapidly shrinking smartphone share. That way, no one who isn't already a customer of ours can even use one." Brilliant!
That is their ecosystem.
I think they know the only people who are likely to buy a PlayBook are the die hard BB phone users. All of the casual former BB users have already switched to iPhone and are now under the influence of the RDF.
The iPad screen feels a bit small to me sometimes. I can't imagine what the playbook will really be 'useful' for.
Agreed, if I want smaller & more portable best option is an iPod Touch or iPhone, this 7inch size seems sort of in limbo to me.
I hope they checked their patents cause from the sound of it they may have trampled on a lot of interface patents, course stealing patents wouldn't be anything new for BBerry.
The iPad screen feels a bit small to me sometimes. I can't imagine what the playbook will really be 'useful' for.
Agreed. And yet I think the added portability of this form factor is a real consideration for some people. Apple is struggling merely to make enough iPads to meet demand right now, but once they are past that, they are going to want to produce something that DOES fit in a jacket pocket. The market, I believe, will demonstrate that it wants it, and consumers who want that form factor should not be forced to make a non-Apple choice on size alone.
I know what Steve said about Apple not making iPad devices this size. But he also once said Apple had no interest in making tablets. (Anyway, the device need not be a 'small iPad'. It can be a 'big iPod Touch'.) Circumstances change, you adjust.
Comments
I do not understand that reviewers can call this product "impressive" when it behaves much like a Windows computer, ie:
- it crashes regularly
- the software is buggy
- the battery life is half that of the iPad DESPITE having less than half the screen to power
And have they no shame stealing ideas: "apps can be rearranged and removed by holding down one finger on an app icon until all icons begin to pulse".
Hope Apple sues RIM to hell and gone.
It's just because everybody is desperately trying to write about and actually champion other products besides Apple. They need to provide something "fresh" in the tech world. In this case the PlayBook is fresh... Like raw meat.
It's just because everybody is desperately trying to write about and actually champion other products besides Apple. They need to provide something "fresh" in the tech world. In this case the PlayBook is fresh... Like raw meat.
More like raw offal.
I do not understand that reviewers can call this product "impressive" when it behaves much like a Windows computer, ie:
- it crashes regularly
- the software is buggy
- the battery life is half that of the iPad DESPITE having less than half the screen to power
And have they no shame stealing ideas: "apps can be rearranged and removed by holding down one finger on an app icon until all icons begin to pulse".
Hope Apple sues RIM to hell and gone.
Agreed. Can you imagine the reviews on Apple had the iPad 2 any one of these issues? The desire to try to find fault with Apple products and inflate the most tiny thing out of all proportions - which inevitably knocks $10 of AAPL, never ends. Then, as you say, they seem to bend over backwards not to be too harsh on this iPad wannabe.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, Mattel should enter the tablet market for youngsters with about this level of features. I'm sure a new Toy category wold be fine for the PlayBook too. Heck the name fits well for that too.
After reading both the Engadget and Anandtech reviews, regardless of whether they, as well as the main-stream reviewers really really want the Playbook to succeed... I see it as a serious "tweener" device... more-so than the iPod Touch or iPad ever was. Which leaves RIM in the exact situation and category of "tweener"... as in: 'tween a rock and a hard place! Nothing more needs to be said as far as I'm concerned, other than: DOA!
I also took a look at the Engadget video here previewing what's up-and-coming with WinMo7... and I must say, it looks pretty darn slick! A real contender to iOS.
As we have seen in the past, it always takes a while for MS to really step up and make up their mind, get through the internal bureaucracy, etc... but when they do, they "can"... and have in the past... made some stellar products and software.
What they're showing off with WinMo7 could be one of those "stellar products", and when it finally comes to light, I see MS once again pulling into the market-share lead just as Gartner reported earlier in the week, which I agreed with. It will be Apple and MS battling for the "Super-Smartphones", and Android at the bottom, with and for, the "free-for-alls".
I'm actually pulling for MS this time around, because they are seriously backing and pushing HTML5 standards (even better than Apple). I'm so hoping for Flash to die soon for various reasons, and I want Adobe and most of all Google, to feel the serious pain of pushing that crap on us as a viable future technology, and actually having the chutzpah to back-talk at Apple/SJ after calling them out for what they are: trash programmers.
No. I have not, nor will I change my general attitude towards MS: it's a pain to deal with their products, and they're simply the best copy-machine operators in the world.
However, they still must be dealt with whether I like it or not as an Apple fan... and going forward, I would much rather deal with their quarks, than that so-called "open platform", or that Canadian "Snoozebox" maker.
Mark my words: when MS gets this working in tablet form, with compatible Office and Live services... it's game over for Android & RIM (for hooking themselves to the Flash-train).... and I dare say WebOS too... as in "too" late = "too" bad.
Apple will be just fine... and most of all... still the most profitable computer and personal gadget maker in the world. No one can stop that train
Did anyone else see the article on Bloomberg West last night about the RIM CEO "meltdown" during a TV interview? Their words not mine. This guy is toast.
... as someone above also mentioned and I've stated in the past here: R.I.P. RIM end of 2011, or latest Q1 2012.
After reading both the Engadget and Anandtech reviews, regardless of whether they, as well as the main-stream reviewers really really want the Playbook to succeed... I see it as a serious "tweener" device... more-so than the iPod Touch or iPad ever was. Which leaves RIM in the exact situation and category of "tweener"... as in: 'tween a rock and a hard place! Nothing more needs to be said as far as I'm concerned, other than: DOA!
I also took a look at the Engadget video here previewing what's up-and-coming with WinMo7... and I must say, it looks pretty darn slick! A real contender to iOS.
As we have seen in the past, it always takes a while for MS to really step up and make up their mind, get through the internal bureaucracy, etc... but when they do, they "can"... and have in the past... made some stellar products and software.
What they're showing off with WinMo7 could be one of those "stellar products", and when it finally comes to light, I see MS once again pulling into the market-share lead just as Gartner reported earlier in the week, which I agreed with. It will be Apple and MS battling for the "Super-Smartphones", and Android at the bottom, with and for, the "free-for-alls".
I'm actually pulling for MS this time around, because they are seriously backing and pushing HTML5 standards (even better than Apple). I'm so hoping for Flash to die soon for various reasons, and I want Adobe and most of all Google, to feel the serious pain of pushing that crap on us as a viable future technology, and actually having the chutzpah to back-talk at Apple/SJ after calling them out for what they are: trash programmers.
No. I have not, nor will I change my general attitude towards MS: it's a pain to deal with their products, and they're simply the best copy-machine operators in the world.
However, they still must be dealt with whether I like it or not as an Apple fan... and going forward, I would much rather deal with their quarks, than that so-called "open platform", or that Canadian "Snoozebox" maker.
Mark my words: when MS gets this working in tablet form, with compatible Office and Live services... it's game over for Android & RIM (for hooking themselves to the Flash-train).... and I dare say WebOS too... as in "too" late = "too" bad.
Apple will be just fine... and most of all... still the most profitable computer and personal gadget maker in the world. No one can stop that train
I agree with, MS has the services to couple with software. There is biggest problem is scattering the SW to many H/W vendors and having them fight with compromised H/W. If they want to fight Apple they need to fix a vendor otherwise Apple is just so much spread over that no one can deal without being fully integrated.
They should take a cue from Xbox division.
And, as for RIM they don't what they are doing. They are imagining user experience by running flash content inside a webkit based web browser. The OS MS showed is million years ahead of RIM showed/showing. I have to agree with the MS funeral act that it was definitely RIM who will RIP.
I guess I'm missing what is so poor about 5 hours of video playback. How often is someone going to sit in front of their tablet and watch Titanic and Avatar back to back that "only" 5 hours of video playback is going to matter? I would hardly consider that "normal" use.
You've obviously never gone on vacation with kids.
You've obviously never gone on vacation with kids.
Inter-continential flights and other area(s) that don?t allow for easy access to power outlets. Playing several movies or many TV shows back to back to pass the time. The situations are endless.
I don?t think people a device they have to worry about. I wish the iPad was longer, but 10+ hours of actual usage regardless of what you are doing is certainly adequate.
And how will a corp user get access to mail and calendar on a plane with WiFi with this thing? If theire BB has WiFi they can buy it on that device and then Bridge it. If their BB doesn?t have WiFi can they buy it on their PlayBook and then still Bridge their BB to it for a pointless circuitous yet secure method of accessing BES?
I do not understand that reviewers can call this product "impressive" when it behaves much like a Windows computer, ie:
- it crashes regularly
- the software is buggy
- the battery life is half that of the iPad DESPITE having less than half the screen to power
And have they no shame stealing ideas: "apps can be rearranged and removed by holding down one finger on an app icon until all icons begin to pulse".
Hope Apple sues RIM to hell and gone.
Microsoft has conditioned people to expect less.
When RIM originally announced the PlayBook, I said there was no way it would be ready before June. It looks like I was right, but they decided to release it before then anyway.
I predicted that the PB wouldn't ship in any meaningful quantity before June.
I may still be right -- but am surprised that they got this far by mid-late April.
Anyone know what those 3,000 PB apps are -- and where they came from?
RIM, the premier mobile email device company, is going to ship PlayBook without an email client? I can't think of a worse way to introduce your first tablet to the world. This whole pairing-your-blackberry-to-the-tablet-to-send-email concept sounds like the ill-fated Palm Foleo.
Yeah, way to shoot yourself in the foot. I can just see the scene at RIM headquarters ...
"Let's introduce a tablet, but tie it to our rapidly shrinking smartphone share. That way, no one who isn't already a customer of ours can even use one." Brilliant!
They say they are going to add it later, but considering how long it's taken them to cobble together what they already have, it will be a long while *after* it's eventually released before this thing even enters the mainstream market.
All the consumers that manage to find one in a store between the day it finally goes on sale, and the day they finally add email to it, will be told by the customer service person, "That one only works if you've already got a Blackberry." Guaranteed. So we are talking late 2011 or early 2012 and "Playbook 2" (if they ever get that far) before they have any market penetration beyond their own corporate links.
Another thing to watch out for is that the Playbook basically copies the WebOS UI wholesale so all the good things about it are going to look pretty stupid in the summer and fall when HP comes out with newer, slicker hardware running essentially a better looking version (because it's the original) of the RIM OS.
WebOS is still the dark horse in this race and the one to beat IMO.
RIM is still circling the drain AFAICS.
no one outside the BB cult is going to buy one of these.
And have they no shame stealing ideas: "apps can be rearranged and removed by holding down one finger on an app icon until all icons begin to pulse".
Hope Apple sues RIM to hell and gone.
How else are you going to move icons? That's basically the same way it works on any computer except the finger is substituted with a mouse cursor. Or is it the fact that the icons pulse that is the issue?
I am worried that all these half-baked tablets will give tablets as such a bad name, and even make people weary of the iPad. It's a bit conspirital, but perhaps some of these companies would not be too unhappy about a few people returning to the PC.
I think it will have the opposite affect which is why I think Apple made so many comments about the competition, albeit negative comments, during their iPad 2 presentation. They want the public to know about these other tablets because they make the iPad look much better in comparison.
I think what we?re seeing is the start of another iPod, not another iPhone. Meaning we?re seeing Apple not only take the majority of profits but also take a control percentage of the unit marketshare. That said, i do expect to see a drop in the overall marketshare from 2010 simply because this rebranded market is so new and there is little precedence to keep many consumers from considering non-iPad tablets, but by the 3rd or 4th year it should be on the rise yet again if the iPod corollary happens again.
Yeah, way to shoot yourself in the foot. I can just see the scene at RIM headquarters ...
"Let's introduce a tablet, but tie it to our rapidly shrinking smartphone share. That way, no one who isn't already a customer of ours can even use one." Brilliant!
That is their ecosystem.
I think they know the only people who are likely to buy a PlayBook are the die hard BB phone users. All of the casual former BB users have already switched to iPhone and are now under the influence of the RDF.
The iPad screen feels a bit small to me sometimes. I can't imagine what the playbook will really be 'useful' for.
Agreed, if I want smaller & more portable best option is an iPod Touch or iPhone, this 7inch size seems sort of in limbo to me.
I hope they checked their patents cause from the sound of it they may have trampled on a lot of interface patents, course stealing patents wouldn't be anything new for BBerry.
The iPad screen feels a bit small to me sometimes. I can't imagine what the playbook will really be 'useful' for.
Agreed. And yet I think the added portability of this form factor is a real consideration for some people. Apple is struggling merely to make enough iPads to meet demand right now, but once they are past that, they are going to want to produce something that DOES fit in a jacket pocket. The market, I believe, will demonstrate that it wants it, and consumers who want that form factor should not be forced to make a non-Apple choice on size alone.
I know what Steve said about Apple not making iPad devices this size. But he also once said Apple had no interest in making tablets. (Anyway, the device need not be a 'small iPad'. It can be a 'big iPod Touch'.) Circumstances change, you adjust.