RIM introduces it's tablet.. the PlayBook - Page 3

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaveF 

Really? You get uneasy over the thought that you might buy software from someone who has sent a Notary-Public authorized form of their identity to someone? I take it you've never downloaded software or shopped on eBay.

 

That aside, did you read the essay? The entire process of getting setup to develop for RIM was described as almost Byzantine; completely off-putting for a small shop.

Ebay is a pretty good example.   despite numerous attempts, a large slice of the software sold their is pirated, non-for resale.   I can't tell you how many people I've run into who have been completely screwed buying server software on Ebay only to get CDRs or Not For Resale or Non-Profit VLK copies of Microsoft software.      Which is why I pretty well gave up ebay.   Between that and being scammed as a seller, I'd never have anything to do with Ebay again.. (worst experience ever:  I shipped a Denon 3808CI receiver to someone, had them receive it, claim it was damage, file a claim with Paypal, then ship me back a box of papertowels, provide the return notice to Paypal, and I ended up out a receiver and $800, where Paypal's only answer was "well, you have to take it up between you two, outside of here, and file a claim.." yeah, like I'm flying to Michigan to file a small court case claim :(   )

RIM sells software by a means where people can pay as part of their phone bill.   This means they have a higher requirement to fulfill then most, as bills that appear on your phone statement are handled totally differently.   Having someone send in paperwork to prove they are who they say they are doesn't seem like such a bad thing

Quote:

Originally Posted by davesmith 

Can anyone see this succeeding? Same price as an iPad 2. Oh dear.

Yes.   I think this appeals to a certain market.   With it's VM capability to run android marketplace + proprietary apps and enterprise friendly administration tools, this will find a home.   

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joseph Bolus 

The problem is, it's the same price as the iPad 2 ... but with a much smaller screen.

 

I suppose it's possible that it will find a very small niche as a enterprise tool, but that's about it!!  

I just can't see the average consumer paying the same price as an iPad 2 for a device which provides less access to digital media and with a smaller screen to boot.

 

 

 

 

How do you mean access to less digital media?

Apple's non-protected MP4 audio will play just fine after purchase on this device.    So, let's cover the other bases:

iPad2:   Plays apple media types (m4p, m4v, etc.)

Playbook:  Will play apple un DRM types (M4A, etc. so music, but not the movies and formats)

Win for Apple

Netflix:  will be an App on both.   Wash.

Hulu: App on both.   Wash.

DiVX: Playbook YES, Apple: no.

MKV and self-X264: Playbook Yes, Ipad2 No

Adobe Flash: Playbook YES, Ipad2 No

DLNA compliant: Playbook: Yes, iPad2: No

The iPad2 will have an advantage in the apple ecosphere that no other device will have.   This is true.    But with people getting media and sources from things like Amazon, Hulu, Netflix, that isn't as universally a requirement as it sounds.   More then that, like android devices, the playbook doesn't require dongles or adapters to go HDMI, and it's support of broader formats as well as things like Flash give it a few things that apple will never support.

I think there is room in the marketplace for a bunch of different type of tablet devices.   And competition is good for everyone ;)

Actually, at the presentation today, they showed the playbook do something that I finally found incredibly useful: presentation mode.   From HDMI, it can output a video stream to a projector or source, and then on the tablet have a completely different display.. so, imagine kicking out a movie over HDMI while you browse the web on the tablet portion... that is a potentially great feature, especially for those of us who do presentations often.. actually, my mind turned right to how a client could use this for their scoreboard app.

They also showed it having universal media format support (DiVX, etc.) and word is we'll have a VLC (MKV!!!!) support also, which is nice

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaveF 

iPad does that, you know. If you need that asap, you can buy a tablet today for that feature :) (That was the original feature. The iPad 2 addition is mirroring and also 1080 output options.)

So, iPad does MKV output and Powerpoint streaming using an external player over HDMI.. interesting.   ;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaveF 

Yes.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4066
 

Does the Playbook? I've not seen anything about it running PowerPoint or MS Office.

Yes.   Blackberry has been a LP for Powerpoint/all office products for a very long time.. which is why way back when there was talk about Microsoft being interested in buying them (which I still think would have been a smart move)  interesting.   I really, honestly hadn't seen that ;)  Too bad about VLC coming out of the itunes store though.

The engadget review is kind of ridiculous ... which isn't unheard of, to be honest, I can't think of any product they've ever reviewed where I took most of their review seriously..

I will add this: I have now had a playbook in my hands for about 6 hours.   There are a few things I would say, but without outting my client who provided it, there are some fundamental errors in these reviews... first, the app store is basically locked.   So, talking about few apps available isn't really the point, since I don't think the AppWorld is actually expected to go live for a few days.   Second, the comments about the power button make me wonder about how they are using it.. it wakes up just fine via gesture without needing to find the power button; so either I have a radically different result then them, or ... the power button is literally a power button.. on/off, but it hibernates and wakes up via gesture, immediately rushing for the power button is the wrong idea.

The thing is, there are lots of things I like so far, but I come back to my basic problem: I can't find a use for any tablet.   My wife has the iPad (1, I haven't jumped to a 2 yet, and not really feeling pressure to do so, thankfully) and while there are some thoughts that are cool, I just don't see anything on here that pushes me to "do" it outside of my client who will be using these, so I need to know how they work.  

I'm not sure about the "flash being landmines"  I'd have to think of something to try that.   So far, no issues with Youtube, Hulu or most websites I've tried (ABC/CBS/etc.)   so I'm not sure where that comes in.

Again, though, it still brings me back to my original thought......... I can't find a hard purpose for any of these.   Maybe that problem is just me.     I will say in a comparison to the Xoom, I don't know why anyone would grab a much more expensive Xoom which my experience was total crap with.

They had another micro update today; so I will concur that there are apparently a flood of updates and we might see more before the launch day; I'm betting the first thing people will need to do is get wifi connected and download software.   That part that people mention is dead on.    So far, I haven't seen browser crashes at sites I've tried.. it works here just fine (AND I can hit Return and get a new paragraph in the reply box!!)

I'm not really sure what the use project for this is.   The client that I am working with this on does nationwide distribution through retailers of endcap product (the kind of thing you buy in a checkout isle).   Don't laugh, these little $10 nothing items are a pretty big business.  Anyway, their purpose for it makes sense, they have a commitment for a fair chunk of them, so we pulled together 3 in "advance" to test with their ordering system.   The ordering system basically submits to their custom software an EDI order, that order is transmitted to the manufacturer and warehouse and walla, tons of (endcap product) ships to a Target store in joeblow, tennessee (or wherever).     I'm not all that convinced this is any better at all compared to their old option (where the sales guys and the people who went to trade shows carried netbooks).    As for the cameras.. yeh, that's interesting.   I'm not sure about that.   Some of the people in this clients employ carry blackberry because of the way the camera function can be hardware locked out (made useless).   This is because they don't want sales people are kind of "eh" and flightly and can hop company to company, and the ownership is all paranoid about people taking pictures of their winter product line (patent pending) and leaking it over to competitors.. ah!  The world we go through.. I think the one draw to the playbook for them is the paranoid one; the ability to access the HDD on these thiings over the internet from anywhere and wipe them dead clean.   IF that holds true, it's a cool little feature for the paranoid.  I haven't tested anything like that yet .   I've spent the evening getting txts about "have you tried..."      I think the hardware here is pretty nice; I will wait and see.

We often get asked to support crazy things. I have someone else who has everyone with the iPad/iPad 2 just so they can remote desktop back to a Windows2003 server and run peachtree. (and FYI, if there is ANY app that should never be run through a touch system, it's Peachtree accounting).  So, this is definitely not the craziest thing I've seen.