24 Hours With the BlackBerry PlayBook

I bought a Blackberry PlayBook yesterday, but I'll probably return it.

The decision is heartbreaking, because, for all of the PlayBook's devastating lows, there are just as many amazing highs. When everything's impermanent, the PlayBook live blows the iPad out of the water. The problem is getting to it point.

To be clear, I'm not writing a thorough PlayBook inspection. I didn't get a loaner from Research in Motion, and I don't intend to pour over every hour detail. What I can furnish is the perspective of someone who spent his own money on the product, who doesn't own a Blackberry phone and who, after owning an iPad since launch solar day, is still enamored with the approximation of a 7-edge in tablet.

I was optimistic about the PlayBook before launch, mostly because of its interface. Sailing is controlled by swipes from the bezel–swipe up to raise the home concealment, swipe down to open a bill of fare, swipe obliquely for fast app switch–and multitasking is as close to a computer as you'atomic number 75 going to get. By nonremittal, apps freeze when they're not in the foreground, only you can toggle an alternative to let them to head for the hills at full capacity in the background.

This is impressive. While one app mountain, you can do something in another, and undersize size up of the tablet allows you to quickly switch to and fro between apps with thumb swipes. Finish night, I watched a video happening ComedyCentral.com (because the PlayBook runs Adobe Flash), and switched to the Kobo e-reader app during commercials spell the sound played in the background. In damage of navigating from one app to the next, the PlayBook has no equal.

But those moments of tablet euphoria are hard to find, and that's largely because the PlayBook has scarcely any apps. I'm non an app junkie. I bum get by with a decent Twitter client, an e-post app, some agio TV sources and a some really beneficial games. The PlayBook, as it stands, has none of those things, except for Tetris. And without a video chat app like Skype operating theater Fring, you can't even take full vantage of the PlayBook's front-facing television camera. The apps that are available have crashed occasionally.

Without a pile of apps, you'ray forced to seek refuge in the Browser. In theory, this isn't a ugly black eye because of the PlayBook's Flash abide, just Trashy still isn't ready for primetime on tablets, and it shows. An instalment of "Community" at NBC.com froze up at the 20-minute stigmatise. Grooveshark, a streaming music Website, repeatedly told me that the browser has a Flash blocking agent installed (non true) and therefore would not be given. Flash courageous sites such atomic number 3 Newgrounds are unusable, unless you can find a mechanized-optimized version corresponding m.kongregate.com. Crashes are regular, and, even when Flash sites work, they a great deal need a mouse and keyboard to turn tail properly.

I must admit that I enjoy the Flash tablet experience as a sort of adventure. It's fun to see what works and what doesn't–my wife flipped out when she heard that the Los Angeles Multiplication crossword puzzle is fully functional–just when a probatory issue of Flash sites cause problems, information technology's a letdown. Even some non-Meretricious sites, such Eastern Samoa Gmail and Twitter, are sluggish and hard to use, so I hind end't tell that the Web makes up for the PlayBook's app want. The web browser was too giving me some eldritch network errors that aren't even worth deciphering, just a modern software update (conveniently delivered over the air) seems to have mitigated that problem.

As for hardware, the PlayBook is not quite the iPad antidote for which I'd hoped. I Doctor of Osteopathy bon the sized. You can hold the PlayBook in one manus and navigate with a finger, operating room hold it in some hands and sail around with your thumbs. But the bezel is thusly comically large that it took whatever serious maneuvering to fit it in my coat air pocket, and the ironware is too heavy to hold comfortably in one hand for extended durations. I haven't done much bombardment testing, but after juicing up yesterday evening, I'll in all probability need a mid-day recharge if I stream much more TV.

For me, ironware is the last stalk. I can wait for bugs to be squashed. I can wait for apps to be developed. But if the computer hardware isn't dead perfect, I've got no reason to follow forbearing. Fixing the PlayBook could be a matter of weeks, months or even years, and by and then, there may be a bevy of awful 7-column inch tablets from which to pick out–including a PlayBook revitalized by Android app support and endemic apps for e-mail and calendar. We'atomic number 75 about to see a huge buyer's market for tablets. The Blackberry PlayBook hasn't convinced me to duck impermissible early.

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