BUSINESS
CAREERS
LUIGI
BENETTON
Waterloo, Ont.-based
Research in Motion Ltd. (RIM)
recently released the biggest test
of its BlackBerry brand: the
PlayBook tablet. Here are my
first impressions.
Hardware
The one-pound device feels
solid. Front- and rear-facing
cameras take pictures and videos
and two microphones pick up
surrounding voices. (RIM
assures me videoconference
apps are on the way.)
Two speakers drive great
audio. Media controls join the
power button and microphones
on the device’s top edge, while
the bottom features HDMI and
micro-USB ports, plus charging
contacts.
The screen punches above its
seven-inch size, putting out crisp
video in several formats, including Flash. RIM made no specific
battery life claims, but in my
limited experience the PlayBook
will run all day on one charge.
The PlayBook behaved like a
USB key when plugged into my
Mac. I dragged Office files to the
PlayBook that I later edited on
the tablet.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF RESEARCH IN MOTION LTD.
Research in Motion
Ltd. (RIM) launched
the PlayBook tablet
earlier this year.
RIM's tablet is
small, coming
in at 5.1 inches
tall by 7. 6
inches wide.
Size
The Playbook screen is the
size of a paperback page, which
makes RIM handset applications far easier to use (especially
web browsing and handling
email attachments). BlackBerry
owners might find themselves
doing more work when away
from their computers instead of
avoiding the tiny handset screen.
It’s also the size of many GPS
units and could become one
provided RIM or a third party
provides software (likely via
Bridge—more on that later)
and dashboard-mounting accessories.
But forget about two-hand-typing on this tablet, unless you
have the hands of a 10-year-old
or a contortionist. This is a
thumb-typing or one-hand-typ-ing device only. (It also supports
Bluetooth and, I expect, wireless
keyboards.)
up to view the application list
and swiping from the top-right
or top-left corner inwards to
view the status bar.)
Included applications
Out of the box, the PlayBook
offers a wide selection of apps
and lets users switch between
them using an application “
carousel” that resembles the Palm
WebOS switcher.
Multitasking seems hit and
miss. The system capably downloaded podcasts while I worked
on other things, but it didn’t reli-ably download selections from
App World.
BlackBerry users may like
working on PDFs and Office
documents on the PlayBook versions of Adobe Reader and
Documents to Go. The YouTube
viewer and the Kobo book reader
also become usable on the bigger
screen.
The Twitter and Facebook
icons aren’t apps, but links to
said sites that start the PlayBook
browser (which is infinitely more
usable than the handset
browser).
signs of less-than-adequate
development.
One of the first things I discovered after first turning on the
PlayBook was a tablet OS
update. That’s odd for a product
released the day before I got it.
RIM released another OS
update the following day, though
none came out during the following week.
Pinch-to-zoom doesn’t work in
the Messages application, nor in
newsreaders like the Globe and
Mail, Huffington Post or Tech-Crunch, though it works in the
browser and other applications.
The on-screen power off
option takes at least a minute to
shut down the PlayBook. Turning it on afterwards takes about
as much time. Instant on only
happens if the PlayBook is
allowed to drift “off” on its own.
Screen
Typing and screen gestures
proved simple to figure out,
partly because RIM uses gestures people have learned on
other tablets and partly because,
with a few minutes’ practice, the
PlayBook’s “bezel-start gestures”
are easy to memorize. (System
“bezel-start gestures” include
swiping from the bottom bezel
BlackBerry Bridge
The PlayBook pairs with a
BlackBerry handset using BlackBerry Bridge, available in the
App Store.
Currently, all personal information manager (PIM) apps
(calendar, contacts, tasks, messages and memos) must reside
on the smartphone, while Bridge
allows the tablet to access the
phone’s information. (RIM plans
to provide native PIM apps so
people can keep this information
on the tablet.)
Bridge also allows access to
files (documents, pictures,
PDFs, etc.) that reside on the
handset.
The PlayBook-handset connection is quick and makes reading and working with information on the phone a much less
squinty and scrolly experience.
IT security pros will love how
Bridge lets users keep phones
tucked away (and less prone to
loss) while keeping the PlayBook itself empty of sensitive
data (presuming they can prevent users from copying files
onto the PlayBook). However,
people new to RIM may resent
needing to buy a handset to
access PIM apps.
Third-party applications
RIM approves then distributes third-party apps (what few
there are) via App World. When
the Android “app player” arrives
this summer, RIM will add apps
made for the Google Android
operating system.
Rough edges
Next to currently available
tablets, the Playbook betrays
Conclusions
One theme recurs throughout
this review: RIM released an
incomplete product, expecting
people to wait for things like
native PIM apps and as-yet-unrealized promise (like use as a
GPS unit).
I don’t hold this against RIM,
which must balance competitive
pressure to market a tablet with
the need to make sure that tablet
stacks up well in a continually
swelling market.
As is, the PlayBook will com-
pare favourably to most tablets
save The-Tablet-That-Must-
Not-Be-Named (in-Waterloo-
Ontario at least), from an outfit
Forrest Gump once called “some
kind of fruit company.”
Why? The PlayBook is still
incomplete, it’s smaller, it lacks
native PIM apps, not to mention
third-party apps, yet its prices
match those of the market lead-
er’s offerings.
