How do these compare with other Android tablets?

Are there any drawbacks such as restricted market or bits missing from the OS?

How do these compare with other Android tablets?

Are there any drawbacks such as restricted market or bits missing from the OS?

erm...it's not an android tablet, it's a blackberry. I had a play with on the other week as a mate has one and to be honest it's not a bad device, it has a very good camera. But there are things it can't (yet) do, like email, unless you count using webmail. They promose it will have an email app sometime this year and the new OS will also allow you to run android apps, but it's not here yet.

So it doesn't compare to other android tablets at all. I like the size, I think a 7 or 8 inch tab is actually very good for travel, in fact my mate said that a few of his colleagues have them and also have ipads, but when they travel they claim to take the playbook as it is just a handier size. Personally I think I'd stick with android or iOS before a playbook though.

thanks.

Seems it emulates Android apps. Tempted by the low prices around, but would prefer something like the iconia or flyer.

i'd maybe hang fire if you are thinking of getting one, there are rumours of a firesale on them and blackberry ditching them.

i'd maybe hang fire if you are thinking of getting one, there are rumours of a firesale on them and blackberry ditching them.

Happening now

If anyone knows of any good deals going, link them here, I'm still gutted I missed out on the £99 HP TouchPad (I refuse to pay full price for a tablet because tbh I don't think I'd use it, but £99 was almost a throwaway price :()

I owned one when they 1st came out - and took it back within a few days - battery life was poor - 1 day on Standby! - connection to a BlackBerry phone was.. erm... great, nower and then when it could be bothered to work!

It has (had on release) no Diary function or standalone email app without being connected to a BB phone.

All in all it was a poor device - i wanted it to replace my iPad, but replace the BB with an iPhone instead!

Al.

Just buy an iPad, it has killed every other tablet pretender so far.

Just buy an iPad, it has killed every other tablet pretender so far.

over priced, over hyped

over priced, over hyped

And still better than anything else. That's how bad the rest of the tablet market is.

over priced, over hyped

Exactly. Plus I don't like being told how I can and can't use a product I pay for.

It's like buying a washing machine and told you can only wash clothes bought at a certain store, and only if a certain colour.

Oh and no SD slot. :no:

Exactly. Plus I don't like being told how I can and can't use a product I pay for.

It's like buying a washing machine and told you can only wash clothes bought at a certain store, and only if a certain colour.

or buying a Skoda and ebing told you can only drive it on roads pre approved by Skoda UK, and using fuel sold by them.

No thanks. I've got a motorola xoom which, despite not being reviewed as one of the best tablets, does everything I want or need it to and I have yet to be told about anything an Ipad can do that it can't. I'm glad so many people are happy with their ipads, really I am, but what is disturbing is the slightly evangelical "the only way is apple" attitude that apple owners seem to develop. I mean, I think Skodas are great but I don't feel the need to tell every other driver that Skoda is the only valid choice of car.

It's odd and faintly disturbing

or buying a Skoda and ebing told you can only drive it on roads pre approved by Skoda UK, and using fuel sold by them.

No thanks. I've got a motorola xoom which, despite not being reviewed as one of the best tablets, does everything I want or need it to and I have yet to be told about anything an Ipad can do that it can't. I'm glad so many people are happy with their ipads, really I am, but what is disturbing is the slightly evangelical "the only way is apple" attitude that apple owners seem to develop. I mean, I think Skodas are great but I don't feel the need to tell every other driver that Skoda is the only valid choice of car.

It's odd and faintly disturbing

In almost any other context I would agree with you but the tablet market says no. How we laughed when the iPad was announced but people bought it like it was going out of fashion. It set a benchmark and Apple were on v.2 before the major competitors even had a v.1 on the shelf. To still be thinking of something hamstrung like a Playbook takes some dedication, whatever the price.

Apple took the lead with slate tablets (they'd been around as pc tablets for a few years before), but are struggling to keep the lead from faster cheaper and expandable competitors.

Pretty sure at last count they only had a 27% market share, set to tumble with the kindle fire outselling iPad 2 3 to 1.

In almost any other context I would agree with you but the tablet market says no. How we laughed when the iPad was announced but people bought it like it was going out of fashion. It set a benchmark and Apple were on v.2 before the major competitors even had a v.1 on the shelf. To still be thinking of something hamstrung like a Playbook takes some dedication, whatever the price.

Oh agree. Apple are masters at taking existing concepts and polishing them and then creating a success story. The genius is the way they persuade people that Apple is the only option. A friend posted on Facebook the other day saying he was fed up of his iPhone and fancied a change, and he asked if anyone had any suggestions. He was bombarded with 'iPhone 4 all the way' messages. It's bordering on some sort of religious zealotry with some people such is their devotion to apple. That's the aspect I struggle with. I've moved on and find android superior for my needs but apple fans often regard such behaviour as treacherous. It's just bizarre.

Sent from my motorola xoom using tapatalk

Bit not as bizarre as buying a Playbook would be :p

Sent from my motorola xoom using tapatalk

Apple took the lead with slate tablets (they'd been around as pc tablets for a few years before), but are struggling to keep the lead from faster cheaper and expandable competitors.

Pretty sure at last count they only had a 27% market share, set to tumble with the kindle fire outselling iPad 2 3 to 1.

:no:

http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/19/googles-andy-rubin-six-million-android-based-tablets-out-the/

http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/16/idc-ipad-maintains-tablet-dominance-hps-touchpad-fire-sale-bu/

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/276246/20120104/amazon-kindle-fire-ipad-sales-threat-analyst.htm

Must have been the phone share I'm recalling.

Either way, too expensive and not enough to make me give up a laptop, which for the money is what I'd buy over an iPad.

Dropped the idea of the Playbook, but I keep reading one phone maker is planning a fire sale to make way for their replacement tablet......

£200 or less I'd get a tablet. Any more and I'll stick with a laptop and decent (non fruit) mobile.

Ok yes Apple products really are beautiful and the design I agree is fantastic. I also don't mind the software in it's functionality and ease of use but I find them very limited and actually quite boring to use. It's all about the apps on iPhone/iPad.

I'd be more tempted to spend a little more and get a proper Android tablet over the Playbook.

And over the iPad I would spend an £20 and get an Asus EeePad Transformer Prime with the new Tegra 3 Quad Core.

Phil

Is the Playbook officially dead yet?

Makes a refreshing change to be a fanboi. Especially as my Android phone would make you weep with frustration, my windoze computers are older than my 4 yr old son and I still use, pretty exclusively because its just there, Internet Explorer... If I hadn't lost my Sony mp3 player, also older than my son, I'd mention that too. Olaf, my iPad, is quite simply the best toy I have ever bought myself.

A couple of times I nearly bought one of the very cheap Android tablets but decided against it as I thought 7" is too small and at even sub-£150 the potential for patchy support and limited content offered far less value than the holy trinity of Apple/Itunes/App store at 3 times the price.

Bump! Did anyone ever buy the Playbook? Apparently the new OS comes next week offering native email/calendar apps, improved Android compatibility (although you can't just install .apks so it's not as flexible as I thought :() and they still look good hardware wise compared to other 7" tablets. My dad just bought a HTC Flyer which is making me look at tablet computing again but the Flyer was still about £240 so quite pricey when there's cheaper out there ranging from things like the Archos range of G2 tablets that start at under £100 and get generally favourable reviews. The more I read about the Playbook it seems fantastic (or will be once it gets native email etc), but as I'm sure we all know in the Tech Shed, Betamax was technically more advanced than VHS...

im looking at the samsung galaxy 8.9 inch tablet atm. apparently the ipad doesnt have flash player? its also a pain in the neck to do stuff on apple software, once your with them your tied to their products. simple stuff like transferring music is terrible with apple stuff! just my view lol...

No, I don't believe the iPad has Flash. Can't say I've ever really used Apple stuff, but I'm treating their tablets as I treat their computers; very nice if you have the money but there are ways of making better use of your cash elsewhere. I'm not exactly loaded at the moment, but thinking of something as a bit of a treat and I reckon I could get a fair bit of use out of a tablet if I buy the right one. The Playbook seems cheap-ish for the spec it has and looks like it could be picking up some much-needed features in the next week or so so could be a contender for the sort of email/web browsing/media playback (basically anything except games) that I'm likely to do on it. I'm also after something smaller than a 10" screen, my head of department got his new iPad last week which I set up for him and I still find it on the large side for a device so I'm thinking more like 7-8" screen but decent resolution which again, the Playbook would provide.

Apparently, the Blackberry's been rooted sometime last year, so that the facility provided in this weeks OS update is a bit "After the Lord Mayor's show":-

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/12/02/blackberry_playbook_rooted/

Nick