iPad2 or BlackBerry Tablet.

[WillEH]

I've had a very very long discussion over the last few months, with various people. Both about the iPad 2, and the BB Tablet.

I'm seriously torn, I would like a tablet for work/pleasure, just for browsing, watching movies, etc.

I keep getting the points, iPad = no flash. Not sure if that's such a big deal for me, as I seem to have survived with my iPhone with no flash for the last year.

BB Tablet seems to be better built, faster, etc, according to some people, fans of apple and not fans of apple.

I would like a un-biased suggestion if possible (ironic I ask that on a Mac forum)

I'm not sure what is the best deal, both the iPad 2, and BB tablet are priced at the same. I'm only looking for the 16GB.

So what shall it be? BB or iPad 2. I'm guessing BB Tablet does not sync with my MBP?

 

[S.B.G]

I suppose it depends on how ingrained you are with . If you're like me, you have a Macintosh, an iPhone, an Apple router etc... Adding a non- device to the mix is a slight hassle if you want to sync it to everything else.

Otherwise, if syncing isn't part of your plan for the tablet, then I would say try each of them out. Go to a store and play with them or use a friends and see which you like better.

Me: I'm still planning on an iPad... just don't know when yet.

 

[WillEH]

I suppose it depends on how ingrained you are with . If you're like me, you have a Macintosh, an iPhone, an Apple router etc... Adding a non- device to the mix is a slight hassle if you want to sync it to everything else.

Otherwise, if syncing isn't part of your plan for the tablet, then I would say try each of them out. Go to a store and play with them or use a friends and see which you like better.

Me: I'm still planning on an iPad... just don't know when yet.

I like Apple, but I'm not a massive fan-boy type. I love to try new things, etc. I may drive up to Best Buy and test the BB Tablet out today. I wouldn't mind syncing it to my MBP. I'm wondering if BB Tablet is compatible with mac

 

[blevins321]

The big thing that draws me to iOS devices is the sheer number of apps and their respective capabilities. Sure Android is catching up to that, but Blackberry and the Playbook will never be able to replicate the popularity of the iPad.

 

[locust76]

Why is this even a question? The iPad has the superior ecosystem of all tabs, and the BB PlayBook is just getting started. Not only that, but the developer tools for BB are horrible, according to developers and RIM employees (google open letter to RIM and developers letter to RIM).

It seems as though RIM didn't care when it came up with the PlayBook, and they continue not to do so.

Isn't the PlayBook the one without the built-in mail client? (supposedly there's a required 3rd party app for email, for god's sake)

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

You've been discussing this for months? You probably should learn the name of the "BB Tablet". It's the playbook. Sorry, it just was bugging me

Secondly, I have been to best buy and played around with the playbook for 10-15 minutes. I think it's actually a pretty impressive tablet. I know it has some glaring omissions like a mail app, but that will come in time.

I have an iPad 2 so I will try to compare them with you based on my 15 minutes.

Hardware: IMO the playbook hardware is second only to the iPad 2 (compared to the other tablets I've seen). It feels very solidly built. It feels light and thin in the hand. Has good performance (although I think the iPad 2 still has it beat, ever so slightly)

Software: Aside from the missing features, the software it has seems very nice. I like how you swipe up from the top, bottom, and sides, to activate certain features. This is something I would like iOS to adopt more (I guess it already is starting with notification center). I like the card-like view for multitasking. The software seemed a bit glitchy at times, particularly when switching orientation.

For me the iPad is still a generation ahead of the rest. Especially when it ties into my Apple ecosystem so nicely. I think 2011 really is the "year of the copycats" where everyone desperately tries to throw something together to compete. Most of the hardware/software feels very incomplete. I think 2012 is the year all the other tablets emerge as equals to the iPad.

Another thing to be thinking about is size. the 10" and 7" makes a huge difference. I prefer the 10" of the iPad because I use it as a laptop replacement all around the house. The 7" feels a lot more mobile, but it would feel too small for my purposes.

 

[Consultant]

No one is buying the playbook because it's a POS. RIM is firing staff in an attempt to keep costs down due to low sales.

http://www.loopinsight.com/2011/06/16/rim-implodes-announces-layoffs-500000-playbooks-shipped/

 

[bembol]

No one is buying the playbook because it's a POS. RIM is firing staff in an attempt to keep costs down due to low sales.

http://www.loopinsight.com/2011/06/16/rim-implodes-announces-layoffs-500000-playbooks-shipped/

I am done with RIM/BlackBerry. It must boredom, I don't know why I keep buying it. LOL

I don't think I ever kept one for more than 6 months, tonight is a record after a few hours my new 16GB is back up for sale. I bought it off kijiji just this afternoon.

What PITA to use, the simplest thing like transferring Videos is taking hours. WTF?!?!


Why couldn't Apple release a 7" iPad, I wouldn't be in this mess.

 

[VPrime]

I have both.
I have developed software for both...

I will start from a consumer point of view.
I hate the playbook. On paper it is fantastic, but once you start using it the faults really show. It has great specs, good CPU good cameras, bright screen etc. Feels solid in your hand.
Multiple tasking is REALLY good, feels a lot like a computer even though it functions like the iPad ( unless you turn on demo mode which has apps actually continuing to run in the background). Web browser is also great, very computer like.
So what's the problem?
I'll start with the hardware... The power button us impossible to press. I bite my nails so I have to use a pen. my brother has normal human nails and still has a really hard time pressing the power button.
The battery life is pretty bad. I find my iPad (iPad 1 as I just got my iPad 2 a couple days ago) batterylife lasts much longer. For every 1 timeI charged my iPad the playbook would die twice.

The OS...
Really quite solid, It feels fast.. I think it is fairly polished. appsncan sharefiles between each other by saving to a "shared" location. It separates them by audio, documents, photos.
BUT there are problems. There is no spell check or auto correct which makes it very difficult to type.. This is one of the reasons why I stopped using the playbook and haveit up for sale. Also text selection is terrible. like iOs you touch and hold to bring up a cursor or a text selector. problem is the touch and hold time is insanely long. I actually assumed there was no copy paste because th gesture took so long.
Overall I like the OS, I like the direction. just a few bugs they need to fix.

Software.
As you probably know, the playbook doesn't have any calandar or email clients... This may not seem like a big deal until you notice that you can't do simple things like email someone a link to a site, a picture or what ever else. or even email abilities inside apps...
Sure there is web based email, but having an imbedded email client is really nice..
Less copy pasting between app windows, which would be really nice as the copy paste sucks.

Browser was fantastic.. BEST part of the playbook. flash works really well compared to other flash enabled devices. The only flash issue I had was sometimes it would thinkn I clicked a flash ad while scrolling.
I just wish the screen was a bit bigger to take advantage of the browser. This is just my personal preference though.

Another part of the software is the lack of software. The app world has very few quality apps, and a lot of developers are jumping ship ( more on this later).
The App world also has some messed up policies.. If you download an aoo which was free, then later the developer decides to charge money..The app world no longer acknowledges you as a customer.. you are not entitled to updates or even allowed to redownload the app. This doesn't matter if it is a free update or not, if they change the price you no longer own it. (this was the final straw for me to abandon the playbook as a developer.. Impossible to do any promotions).

As a developer I find other issues with the Device. first they only released an adobe Air SDK. There is no native SDK. so you are limited to what you can do, and makes developing native looking apps a little more tricky since they dont offer all GUI apis. So as a developer you are spending more time creating basic GUI items that should already be there.
They are not releasing the Native SDK until later this summer, but in my opinion a lot of developers will already be turned off by the playbook.
There is also very poor documentation included with the DEV kit..
And it is sometimes out dated or just wrong.
There are a bunch mire things wrong with it for developers, I just don't feel like going through it again ( typed this out many times kn different boards). plus thus post is getting quite long so Ill just end it..

So yeah, the playbook had potential.. it still may once they add the android app functionality..... If it works as promised. I just feel that by the time they include everything they originally promised most developers and users will be gone.
No one to by apps means no one to make apps.

 

[WillEH]

Well, I'm getting an iPad 2. Seems that I'm not buying it, but I'm getting one for my birthday. Good times!