[jabxyz]

Originally Posted by aiharkness

My guess is you probably want to wait.

I am somewhat in your situation. I have been carrying a 10" WinXP netbook on travel. I am always trying to minimize what i carry, and I was hoping the PlayBook would take the netbook's place. For what I do, with Adobe Reader and the Doc's to Go apps on the PlayBook, I am going to try leaving the netbook home and see how it goes. But I know it is an experiment that may not work out. I want it to work, though, and I am going to suffer the learning curve and the PlayBook's current shortcomings as much as i can stand.

I do not believe there is anything you can do on the PlayBook that you cannot do on your netbook, with the exception of bridge to your BlackBerry. But the Bridge could be the feature that sells you on the PlayBook.

Well I hope that you experiment does work out for both of our sakes. Venturing a bit farther down the netbook replacement road, what if anything are you doing for a case/keyboard? In trying to work this out as a viable netbook replacement for my purposes I'd (1) need one of the combo case/BT keyboards setups. (2) Is there a version of MS Office available for the Playbook? I tend to use Word,Excel and Powerpoint on business trips and I can run MS Office on the netbook. Assuming that I can lick these two hurdles and they add in the capabilities that they appear to have left off this version, i.e. WiFi it should be all good.

EDIT:
I now see that it comes with the DOCS To GO suite preloaded and free. That takes care of my point #2. Now it sounds like I just have to locate a leathercase/BT keyboard setup and wait for them to work the bugs out, get more apps up and add in the obvious feature set that they left off this version.

[jpfchicago]

Originally Posted by stevetaz

If I may ask....Too much effort to make it work? What does that mean?

Software half-baked. What does that mean?

Can you be a bit more detailed?

I will also say that anyone purchasing a brand new product has to understand there will be bumps in the road. It is kind of sad, but I expected to see issues with both hardware and software and I am pleasantly surprised there hasn't been more issues.

RIM has released something they have never made before using an operating system they have never used before. Truthfully, did you really expect it to be 100% right out of the gate?

This kind of a release is not for everyone and I am actually surprised I jumped in and have stayed with it so far. I have had a few issues that I have worked through and one that probably needs a software update and I will wait.

Usually I am one to lay back and wait for the second or third generation of anything, but not this time. I also bought it as a toy so my business is not reliant on it and it is not mission-critical and if anyone bought it expecting 100% out of the box day one I guess I can understand frustration, but I don't think they were being realistic.

What do I expect for $500.00? A tablet that works without too much effort. A tablet which contains software which has been tested and refined. I am sure that I will come back to the 2d or 3d version of the Playbook as I am a true user of Blackberry devices. By then, RIM will have gotten the bugs out.

[stevetaz]

Again, you say it takes too much effort, but you are not defining what that is.

I am certainly not trying to change your mind, just get an understanding what you found such a burden. I have been using mine and while there is a learning curve I do not feel like it has been a gargantuan effort or burdensome.

[OVERKILL]

Update:

An issue I've noted is that if I let the device sit for an extended period of time it will disconnect from my WiFi. When I go to reconnect it, it tells me the profile has been disabled *null*.

Go into the profile, click Save and Connect, and it does.

[stevetaz]

What is an extended period of time? 30 minutes, an hour, two hours, etc?

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted by stevetaz

What is an extended period of time? 30 minutes, an hour, two hours, etc?

Several hours, like 5 or 6+.

Doesn't always happen. Happened yesterday. Yet it has been sitting all night and all day today, I just went on it, and it was still connected, no issue. This "disconnect" has happened 3 or 4 times now though overall.

[hrbuckley]

I don't know if it is because of the update to the Bridge software to support BBM or that I'm no longer in AT&T land but I can surf BIS internet through the Bridge now. It behaves a bit flaky, well a lot flaky. It tries to save pages instead of loading them.

[whatsanipad]

I bought one today. I have a Xoom that I like a great deal and wanted a 7 inch. The PB seemed a good alternative;
LIKES:
Browser is a real browser, not a "portable" version. I use webmail to each of my email accounts and the PB works great for accessing all four accounts (with different web interfaces).
Love the screen, love the UI.
Like the mini-usb charging port, I can use the same charger for my MP3 player, my Droid and the PB
DISLIKES
Really dislike the BB Desktop. I would prefer to drag 'n drop files, or at least use Win Media Player synching.
Not enough apps, but there were'nt enough Android apps when I got my Xoom.
No kindle app is a big downer as is the lack of an app to kill apps in memory...I have to reboot frequently from kludged memory

Haven't decided if I'm going to keep it or not...I have 13 more days to decide.

[whatsanipad]

Oh, I do not have a BB phone...so have no use for Bridge.

[ifonline]

Originally Posted by whatsanipad

Really dislike the BB Desktop. I would prefer to drag 'n drop files, or at least use Win Media Player synching.

You can drag and drop files, either via USB cable or via WiFi.

[whatsanipad]

Could you either give me a quick pointer how? Or, point me to documetation on how to use it?
I'm probably missing somethnig.

[whatsanipad]

Never mind...figured out. And yes, that makes it much easier.

Thanks

[daphne]

There are a lot of videos and tutorials available for using the PlayBook.
Check at BlackBerry.com.
BlackBerry - PlayBook Is Here - New BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet - BlackBerry Tablet

[ARichards]

Originally Posted by whatsanipad

I bought one today. I have a Xoom that I like a great deal and wanted a 7 inch. The PB seemed a good alternative;
LIKES:
Browser is a real browser, not a "portable" version. I use webmail to each of my email accounts and the PB works great for accessing all four accounts (with different web interfaces).
Love the screen, love the UI.
Like the mini-usb charging port, I can use the same charger for my MP3 player, my Droid and the PB
DISLIKES
Really dislike the BB Desktop. I would prefer to drag 'n drop files, or at least use Win Media Player synching.
Not enough apps, but there were'nt enough Android apps when I got my Xoom.
No kindle app is a big downer as is the lack of an app to kill apps in memory...I have to reboot frequently from kludged memory

Haven't decided if I'm going to keep it or not...I have 13 more days to decide.

I apologize if I am telling you something you already know, but you can use drag and drop. I tried using the BB Desktop to move my mp3 files and it kept timing out. But the Playbook shows up as an external drive and you can drag and drop using a Windows Explorer window quickly and successfully. I don't even use the BB Desktop except to do backups anymore.

[whatsanipad]

Thank you...I did figure that out and you're right, using it as an external HD is much easier than using the BB Desktop.