[OVERKILL]

We got our first two we ordered from Rogers in today. Will be ordering another two on Tuesday.

Pros:
-Very fast
-PIM access over the Bridge works very well! Interface is very nice.
-Flash video playback is excellent
-Web browsing is very fast/smooth
-Switching between applications is great. Very smooth experience
-Can use the Bridge browser to access anything on my network at the office through MDS. Can check the toner levels on the printers, login to the AP to check wireless stats/make changes, login to the router, access Sharepoint...etc.

Cons:
-Bridge took a number of times to get setup with my 9780. The process must have failed at least four times.
-Cannot access any of my photos/videos through the Bridge file browser. I can access the SDcard on my 9780 and see the folders, but perhaps it is the content encryption being enabled, but none of the media files are visible.
-Would like to be able to see/use BBM through the bridge. But that feature is obviously not available (yet?). Same goes for SMS.
-No SSH client to access my Cisco gear yet. Hopefully BBSSH gets ported.

That's all I can think of for the moment. Will add to these lists as I go.

[tsac]

Thanks, keep adding.

[Dubdub]

What are your first impressions of the new Playbook? Please be concise and keep on the subject. You can post positives, negatives or both. I am looking for real world comments.

I hope this will serve as a thread to help others decide either for or against buying one.

[Jagga]

build .1710;

Typing:

very comfortable to type at medium speeds; 35 wpm. doing this directly from my PB - browser, or view BB Bridge apps.

Bridge Apps:

well done! does as advertised and expexted. particular concern that composing, replying or forwarding bridge emails using attachments dont actually get attached although its shown - pb/bb memory locations - is bothersome hope this is fixed.

no Bridge BBM; awaiting this.

no auto correct/auto text. i notice the rename from the latter to the former in BB6. cursor placement needs a slight refinement in forum tables like this repky area. worst implementation of Deleting text - only before the cursor not after, arrrgh!!

Browser:

Browser is incredible; 4 tabs to bgr, hofo, bbforums (this site), and any other eats up ram BIG time and fast! (non mobile sites).

Podcasts are great selection, F1 with Mark Webber in HD is great fidelity.

Speakers:

Quality and volume are accurate and sound great! this is the best of all tablets on the market, high volume actually sounds a bit like surround sound! placement of speakers are purrfect!!

Dual-Band WLAN:

Ive enjoyed this on my MacBook, former iphone 4 and time capsule and i can say its incredibly on the PlayBook.

SDK NEEDED: Apps are still low in number and due to the sdk arriving in beta this summer hoping developers have not wrote this platform off yet.

thank you to Kobo Book store for including "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu for free. RIM developers and senior staff need to read & live this book; seems the marketing team is the only ones that have.

[scotth]

build .1710

1. wifi disconnects randomly
2. can not create a manual connection to a LEAP wifi network
3. can not globally set internet proxy information to "auto detect"
4. multi tasking is amazing - works very well
5. gesture based navigation is additicing - wished my Torch (9800) had the same feature!
6. web browser is good - renders all the pages correctly so far
7. documents to go program opens XML files fine - but if you get an email with an XML file (.docx) it won't open?
8. unread messages in the top right corner does not sync correctly with your BlackBerry
9. can not edit the name of bookmarks in the browser
10. easy to transfer files to the device over wifi
11. have a menu page on the top of the screen called "BlackBerry Bridge" with nothing in it - wish I could delete or at least rename that page

[bahurd]

1st, I am a BB user for many years and still prefer it over the rash of other phones out there... I don't own any Apple products other then an old iPod Touch (I do confess to buying a Mac in 1985...) and don't own any Android device.

Having said all that, I must say I am quite dissapointed with RIM's efforts on this product.

I went to Staples yesterday to review and maybe buy a unit. This Staples had plenty in stock and the manager indicated they hadn't sold any. My 1st impressions; 1. We couldn't get the screen to change orientation, 2. The user interface (gestures) is unlike anything else I can think of in the class i.e. iPad or Android (either 2.2, 2.3 or 3.0). Possibly RIM really meant to target the device to the business crowd (which I am one of) but had no outside testers??

Maybe I'm missing something and the initial impressions I have are off. I read the following review this morning; RIM BlackBerry PlayBook: A Work in Progress - PCWorld and came away thinking it is on the mark.

Just my thoughts.

[aiharkness]

Same build as those above me.

This is my first tablet and so I don't have any notions of what to expect. i know this is 1.0 operating system, I've read everybody else's pros and cons, so I've known sort of what to expect. But i have one serious disappointment.

As far as I can tell, I can't access any files on the media card with the Bridge Files app when encryption is enabled, not even the unencrypted media files.

The one experiment I did was disable encryption and then unencrypt a PDF by copying it to another folder. i was then able to open that PDF and my unencrypted pictures and such.

This is personal PlayBook, personal BlackBerry, no BES, no IT policy. Encryption is set to use device password only, not device key.

May my expectation was unreasonable on this, I don't know.

[NJBlackBerry]

While I struggle to get past the lack of applications, one very noticeable item is that fact that URLs are not active in the bridged e-mail application - you can't click on them.

I hope that is yet another feature that will be available in the upcoming weeks (like BBM). I can't replace my other tablet until Amazon decides to release a Kindle app (which they said they were going to do last September).

[aiharkness]

Originally Posted by NJBlackBerry

While I struggle to get past the lack of applications, one very noticeable item is that fact that URLs are not active in the bridged e-mail application - you can't click on them.

I hope that is yet another feature that will be available in the upcoming weeks (like BBM). I can't replace my other tablet until Amazon decides to release a Kindle app (which they said they were going to do last September).

Here is what I am observing, but i do not know why it should be different. If i use the messages app when opened from the All screen, a single tap opens a link. if i close the messages app and open the messages app from the BlackBerry Bridge screen, a single tap will not open the link, but a quick double tap will. I have done it three times to make sure I am not imagining things.

[NJBlackBerry]

Will try that now!

[aiharkness]

I know it shouldn't make any difference. It's the same app, regardless of which view it is opened from. But I also thought about the fact that I was using wifi and probably the link was opening in the regular browser and not the Bridge browser. Would it have made a difference, I wonder, if I was not on wifi?
Posted via BlackBerryForums.com Mobile

[stevetaz]

Just tried it as detailed by Ira and in both cases a single tap opened a link in an email. I also left the Bridge connected and turned off WiFi and still a single tap opens links in emails.

HOWEVER, what I just noticed is that it seems emails to my BES account all require only a single tap to open links. Emails to my BIS accounts seem to need two taps to open SOME links, but not all. What is also odd is that the email notifications of thread posts from BBF include addresses that are not active links. I would have to cut and paste into a browser. Other forums that I subscribe to are coming in with active links.

Very odd.....

[stevetaz]

Oh, I am on 1710 if it matters....

[NJBlackBerry]

Further input - it worked on some links and not on others....

[aiharkness]

Another irritant for me...I downloaded a protected PDF, not thinking, and found I could not delete it (nor any of the PDF's I donwloaded)--I simply see no way to do it. Workaround was to enable file sharing on USB connection and delete it using my netbook.

I tested some video downloads from archive.org and deleted those. Funny there's no provision to delete documents. Coming someday soon, I expect.
Posted via BlackBerryForums.com Mobile

[pda luvr]

Running OS 6 on my Tmo 9700. Can't connect bridge, even manually. I like the glass and how it doesn't leave fingerprints everywhere. So far it feels pretty weak. I understand the business tablet philosophy but out of the box, it's simply too lacking.

[NJBlackBerry]

What version of the OS are you running on the 9700.

Funny how some people think it is a business tablet; others think it is aimed at consumers.

[robbym]

Some networking hiccups out of the box (though easily fixed) and now I'm very happy with my playbook. Hardware wise it's a no brainer though I also think QNX has tremendous enterprise potential over Android or iOS. Not sure this would be my choice for the kids (or oblivious commercial user) though - it really is a power users tablet. It's exactly what I've been waiting for. Good job RIM!

[hard10]

WOW! I have been reading and patiently waiting for this release. At first I was not really going to buy this unit until all of the bugs had been worked out and I had read more of the "real world" reviews. I am very happy to say I pulled the trigger and went to BestBuy this evening. I've been playing with it ever since.
My biggest decision was whether to get the 16gb or the 32gb. After calling around, the local BestBuy (WPB, FL) only had the 16 in stock which made my decision easier. Glad I did. My compliments to RIM for an excellent product.
Only things I've found annoying so far is the spell check does not seem to have a built in dictionary for misspelled words and a way to remove the unwanted icons (and corresponding programs) from the main page. On my 9650 I was at least able to create a folder called "not used" & stick them in there. If these are my only complaints, I'm a very satisfied customer.

[aiharkness]

Originally Posted by aiharkness

Another irritant for me...I downloaded a protected PDF, not thinking, and found I could not delete it (nor any of the PDF's I donwloaded)--I simply see no way to do it. Workaround was to enable file sharing on USB connection and delete it using my netbook.

I tested some video downloads from archive.org and deleted those. Funny there's no provision to delete documents. Coming someday soon, I expect.
Posted via BlackBerryForums.com Mobile

Clarification: The regular PDFs showed in the browser downloaded screen and could have been deleted from there. They were downloaded from direct links to the document files, i.e. press down on the link, select save as, etc.

The protect PDF link was not "direct", but opened an applet or what ever it is called, and from there save is selected and the file downloads. When that is done, the file does not show on the browser downloads screen.

Then, when you open the Adobe Reader app, you see a screen with a list of documents, but on this screen you can only open document. No delete selection.

By protected, what I mean is these PDF files require a plugin installed on the computer to read the PDF. You can downoad the PDF, but not open it unless the plugin is installed.

Posted via BlackBerryForums.com Mobile