My Blackberry Playbook review
It sucks. [END REVIEW]
Okay, maybe I should elaborate a bit more... try reading here, for just a SMALL sample of what I, and it seems many other, PlayBook users are going through.
Multiple users, all getting the same problem. When you first power on the unit, and get it on the wifi and then register your new account, it wants to do an immediate update. Sure, fine I think... and that's where the problems begin. Not just for me, but for MANY users.
Once the update process begins, THERE'S NO WAY TO GET OUT OF IT. If it fails, you have to reboot, and then after the reboot, it gives you two options: A) Try again, or B) Power off. That's right... it's TRY AGAIN, or NOTHING. So... I'm now on my SEVENTH attempt. I kid you not... MY SEVENTH. This time, lo and behold, it managed to complete the download of the update... after taking I don't know, an hour or so to download 300MB.
The power button on the thing SUCKS too. When it powers down the screen, it takes a couple of tries to press the power button "just right" to get it back on again. Flimsy is the word that comes to mind.
All in all, I've had the thing out of the box for four some-odd hours, just trying to get it past the initial setup portion... AND I'M STILL NOWHERE WITH THIS THING. At the moment, it's nothing more than a rather stylish looking PAPERWEIGHT.
An expensive, but stylish, paperweight.
Bottom line thoughts thus far... NOT READY FOR MARKET.
Okay, maybe I should elaborate a bit more... try reading here, for just a SMALL sample of what I, and it seems many other, PlayBook users are going through.
Multiple users, all getting the same problem. When you first power on the unit, and get it on the wifi and then register your new account, it wants to do an immediate update. Sure, fine I think... and that's where the problems begin. Not just for me, but for MANY users.
Once the update process begins, THERE'S NO WAY TO GET OUT OF IT. If it fails, you have to reboot, and then after the reboot, it gives you two options: A) Try again, or B) Power off. That's right... it's TRY AGAIN, or NOTHING. So... I'm now on my SEVENTH attempt. I kid you not... MY SEVENTH. This time, lo and behold, it managed to complete the download of the update... after taking I don't know, an hour or so to download 300MB.
The power button on the thing SUCKS too. When it powers down the screen, it takes a couple of tries to press the power button "just right" to get it back on again. Flimsy is the word that comes to mind.
All in all, I've had the thing out of the box for four some-odd hours, just trying to get it past the initial setup portion... AND I'M STILL NOWHERE WITH THIS THING. At the moment, it's nothing more than a rather stylish looking PAPERWEIGHT.
An expensive, but stylish, paperweight.
Bottom line thoughts thus far... NOT READY FOR MARKET.
Labels: Blackberry, FAIL, IT, RIM
posted by Christian Conservative @ 5:08 p.m.
5 Comments:
At Wed Oct 19, 10:27:00 a.m. EDT,
Unknown said…
When (if?) you ever get it running you'll feel better. Of the tablets I use daily - iPad, Xoom and PlayBook - it's by far the nicest. It's really fast, the screen is clear and bright. Overall decent hardware.
The software, on the other hand, leaves something to be desired. I can't believe they rolled this out without native email, etc. and that it still isn't available. I'm lucky that all I use it for is the browser, I guess.
At Wed Oct 19, 10:46:00 a.m. EDT,
Christian Conservative said…
Finally got it online... yes, it's fast, but the lack of apps is SEVERELY limiting, especially the lack of non-BB e-mail integration.
Also finding the screen far too small, in terms of using my fingers to do anything... and I have slim keyboard fingers. Can't IMAGINE the frustrations that someone with thicker hands must be going through with this thing.
At Thu Dec 29, 09:35:00 a.m. EST,
Naya Saal said…
Just purchased the Playbook. What is the reason many apps are not available for the device? For instance, it says the TSN app is available, but when go to download, it says not available. Finally, will BB ever have Skype???
At Wed Jan 18, 11:46:00 a.m. EST,
Christian Conservative said…
Posted by Anonymous:
"RIM shipped us a free Playbook which I opened up today. It seemed promising at first then quickly descended to the same old, same old from Blackberry (eerily reminiscent of the Storm, which is an awful excuse for a smartphone). Unresponsive touch screen. Huge update to install right out of the box. Had to manually pair with my Bold since the automatic pairing failed. Worst of all, no apparent back button or way to exit apps like when viewing Messages. I found myself totally stuck with no apparent way to go back to the main menu. Didn’t bother with the browser since I assumed like on the Bold it’s just a complete fail. I spent about 10-15 minutes on this piece of junk then I literally tossed it into the trash. I can see why they are shipping this crap out to people for free. I wouldn’t even consider paying for it."
Thanks for the note Anonymous... just a heads up, based on the name of my blog, I had to edit your comment for the breaking of the Third Commandment... "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain" ;-)
At Wed Dec 17, 03:02:00 a.m. EST,
Brad said…
Very nice UI, both cameras record in 1080P, cameras are quite good, side speakers are surprisingly good, 7" size is nice for efficient transporting while on-the-go. Can multi-task better than almost every tablet out there
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