My PlayBook and Me

[NJBlackBerry]

From day one I've had love/hate relationship with the PlayBook. More like a disappointed/hate. Been disappointed from day one. Perhaps comparing it to an iPad and Xoom (that I had for a short time) and then a Kindle Fire and Samsung Galaxy Tab spoiled me.

I knew about the early limitations. Bridging to get e-mail. Limited applications. No Kindle Book reader. I knew them.

But 2.0 was going to be great (I was told last summer). And when I met with RIM I was told how great it was going to be.

I didn't follow up on the 1,000 rumors on what was in and out of 2.0. I didn't root, or sideload or do anything. I didn't DingleBerry.

It just kind of sat inside a desk. I updated it when new versions of the OS came out.

And yesterday it came out. And I get ActiveSync for Corporate Exchange. Losing all the benefits of BES. I guess that's better than the Fire, which doesn't support Exchange out of the box (use Touchdown), but definitely not what I had expected (remember, I didn't read the rumor boards).

Maybe my expectations (last year) were too high. Maybe RIM has a great device that I just don't get. Or maybe there is a reason RIM is doing so poorly in the tablet marketplace....

No flames please. Just had to vent. It goes back under the desk.

[bostonnerd]

Pretty much parallels my experiences. Dusted off the unit and loaded 2.0 last night to see what all the fuss was about, and it was underwhelming to say he least.

I already have an iPad and iPhone on EAS and like you miss the BES functionality (although a BB 9810 on BES is still my primary business device).

We have a very robust/secure WiFi around our corporate campus which the PB is useless on.

If there were enough compelling business applications for the PB I would just live with bridging to my BB but....

Device is going back into the orphaned toys drawer for now

[jsconyers]

Wow, no BES functionality? I suppose the EAS is there so you can add it to Mobile Fusion. I know in the Mobile Fusion webinar I attended last month, they mentioned it supports the Playbook running OS 2.0.

[bostonnerd]

Wow, no BES functionality? I suppose the EAS is there so you can add it to Mobile Fusion. I know in the Mobile Fusion webinar I attended last month, they mentioned it supports the Playbook running OS 2.0.

Nope no BES. From what I can gather, RIM's whole architecture is built on one PIN per device/user. Was from day one, and will probably be so into the future. They can't handle two devices interacting with the BES accessing for the same Exchange user.

RIM had to of known about this architectural limitation from day one of the PB prototype (if not before)

Hence the Bridge function. They were caught between the design rock and the hard place. There was never a plan to have BES support on the tablet. Best they could do was license the activesync specs from Msoft and go the EAS route.

[ifonline]

It goes back under the desk.

You have taken this a step further than I have as my PlayBook is still sitting in a desk drawer even after the OS2 release. I have a feeling that mine will be taken out of the desk drawer long enough to dust it off, take a few pictures of it, and post it to eBay this weekend.

[fourstringfuror]

Not wanting to be contrarian, but I have an acquaintance who cannot stop singing the praises of his PB. He says it has nearly replaced his laptop for functionality.

[bostonnerd]

Not wanting to be contrarian, but I have an acquaintance who cannot stop singing the praises of his PB. He says it has nearly replaced his laptop for functionality.

Not contrarian at all. Everyone has a different use case. If it works for your friend, great. For me, no tablet of any brand could replace a laptop the majority of the time.

[penguin3107]

I have an acquaintance who cannot stop singing the praises of his PB. He says it has nearly replaced his laptop for functionality.

Get some new acquaintances. This one is defective.

[NJBlackBerry]

For my uses, not only does it not replace my laptop, it doesn't replace my iPad...

To each his own.

[fourstringfuror]

I've got $50 cash in my pocket. Let's trade ;)

Sorry, this is in reply to bostonnerd.

[fourstringfuror]

Get some new acquaintances. This one is defective.

Funny.

[Wavester]

I was not impressed enough with the PB to purchase one when they were released. I did go to the retail outlets to see what they were about but I saw no need to buy. When I was given one for Christmas I was pleasantly surprised. My ipad2 sits mostly unused; however neither have come close to replacing my laptop.

I did dingleberry and had the native Ice Cream Sandwich Android running before the 2.0 release. My primary use is connecting to my home and office computers, jumping on the web to check accounts, scores, weather and admittedly most things I can do with my blackberry.

I'm reserving my disappointment for the BB10 devices if they are not up to par.

[Dubdub]

No sync to Outlook for contacts, calendar, etc., was the deal breaker for me. I bought one at a great price but took it back without opening the box once I found no sync to Outlook.

My iPad does what I need and I wanted the PB to be the iPad killer, but alas, the iPad wins.

[ezrunner]

PB does what I need, I am not looking to use it in same manner you Gents are......

[TBOLTRAM]

When given a choice I got my wife a Mac Pro 13 inch laptop last year. It does quite a bit, has Office on it, easy to print with via Wi Fi and can play DVDs. Also with the bigger screen she is happy watching the Lady GaGa utube videos in HD.

To each their own but I have a hard time seeing where a tablet would replace a laptop for general use.

[fadmin]

No tablet was meant to be a laptop replacement, at least imo.