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RIM introduces it's tablet.. the PlayBook (1 Viewer)

mattCR

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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
 

Sam Posten

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There are NO REFUNDS available on the App store in any event, ever, so why do I care if Apple sends my money to a shady person after I have chosen to buy their app? It's the ultimate in caveat emptor....
 

DaveF

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Playbook pricing is out: same as iPad

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2011/03/blackberry-playbook-launching-april-19-pre-orders-start-at-499-for-16gb.ars



Research in Motion used a press release this morning to announce that the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet is officially available for pre-orders starting today, with a launch on April 19. The WiFi versions of the PlayBook will be priced at $499, $599, and $699 for 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB, respectively.
 

mattCR

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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.
 

Joseph Bolus

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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.
 

ManW_TheUncool

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Originally Posted by mattCR
With it's VM capability to run android marketplace . . .

I'm not too convinced that the VM capability for that will work well enough in actual practice though -- at least not w/ their first try at this. It's very rare for that kind of thing to work well in their first iteration/gen -- heck, in many cases, it *never* works all that well even after the platform matures and had time to refine it...


_Man_
 

mattCR

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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 ;)
 

Ted Todorov

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Has RIM demoed the Netflix/Hulu apps -- how do we know when they'll exist? Unless I missed the news (not difficult, I'm not paying attention) even Android doesn't have them.

So far as the other formats IIRC VLC* on the iPad plays a bunch of them. Haven't tried myself, life's way too short. All I can say is that the iPad does a breathtaking job playing 1080i/720P HDTV recordings -- either converted via EyeTV or streamed via AirVideo (which does a whole bunch of different formats, check their web page).


Also it's nice that the Playbook is claimed to play a whole bunch of formats, but reality is often different. There were all kinds of video playback claims made for the Xoom but reality was that it couldn't play anything with a remotely high bitrate, including stuff that the iPad 1 plays without a hitch.

*Unfortunately VLC was pulled from iTunes at the behest of Nokia employee Rémi Denis-Courmont. However no one says some other third party app can't play all sorts of formats -- clearly Apple has no objections.
 

Ted Todorov

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Originally Posted by mattCR
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.

Yes, so long as they have unlimited data and fat enough pipe to stream without hiccups. And even then I seriously doubt quality can approach that of locally loaded video files. And too bad if they want to watch something on the subway or airplane.


So far as Flash, the iPad plays Flash video just fine, via the Skyfire browser and I seem to remember hearing about additional apps as well.

Good for the Playbook doing HDMI without a dongle. Can it do it something useful with it, like full video mirroring, or 1080P video out like the iPad 2? How about stream video to your HDTV wirelessly? No?

It may not seem like it, but I really want to see worthy competitors for the iPad out there -- it will only push Apple to innovate farther. But neither the Playbook nor any other tablet out know is in the same league. Hopefully by 2012 someone will come up with a great tablet.
 

mattCR

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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
 

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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.)
 

mattCR

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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. ;)
 

DaveF

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Originally Posted by mattCR

So, iPad does [...] Powerpoint streaming using an external player over HDMI.. interesting. ;)
Yes.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4066

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

mattCR

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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.
 

DaveF

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Also: if $15 for Keynote is too rich for your blood, one could export slides as PDF, sync to the iPad, and display the slideshow via iBooks or other solution. :)



I can't Google up any info about Office running on the Playbook. Do you have any links?


I infer from your comments that Office runs in some fashion on Blackberry phones. How's that work? Is it like the DocumentsToGo solutions back in the Palm era?
 

DaveF

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Reviews are coming in

http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/13/blackberry-playbook-review/


http://techcrunch.com/2011/04/13/blackberry-playbook-review/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29&utm_content=Google+Reader
 

Sam Posten

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Roflwaffles: "Even when "it works," it doesn't: "sites... aren’t optimized for touchscreens so Flash elements become... like landmines" j.mp/ijflIt
 

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