BlackBerry PlayBook Full Hands On Review

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BlackBerry. Although the iconic brand of mobile phones was once the de facto standard of smartphones with its awesome email client, BlackBerry Messenger, calendar and rock solid keyboards – the brand has lost its luster among the tech blog crowd. But RIM has come out with the BlackBerry PlayBook, an all-new tablet with a new operating system, and no keyboard. How does the BlackBerry PlayBook stack up? Can it compete in the crowded tablet market? Is it too little, too late for RIM’s QNX-based BlackBerry Tablet OS? We’ve spent over two weeks with RIM’s tablet. How does the “first professional tablet” come out compared to the opposition?

On the hardware side, the BlackBerry PlayBook is an incredibly well-built, solid device. Build quality has never been an issue with BlackBerry devices, and it isn’t with their PlayBook. It’s built like a tank, quite frankly. The 7-inch device has got a solid heft to it, but it isn’t too heavy or too thick.

The screen of the PlayBook is fantastic. It has a nice resolution with deep colors. It isn’t an OLED screen or a Retina Display, but it’s incredible well-looking and is a nice screen for a tablet of this class. The PlayBook does have a bit of a thick front bezel, but it’s actually touch-sensitive and used in the user interface of the device (more on that later). Because the touch-sensitive bezel is used in operating the device, there are just three physical buttons on the PlayBook – the power/sleep button, and a two-button volume switch.

On the inside, it’s powered by a 1GHz dual-core processor. It has 1GB of RAM and will come with 16, 32 or 64GB of memory (we tested the 16GB model). Those aren’t just superfluous specs, the PlayBook is a beast. It’s probably the most stable and powerful tablet I’ve used to date. The Motorola Xoom probably is comparable in the computing horsepower department, but I’d give the edge to the PlayBook because of the stability of the software.

The software in the PlayBook is officially dubbed the BlackBerry Tablet OS by RIM, although it’s based on the QNX OS. QNX provides software for in-car entertainment systems and other “infotainment” embedded systems. Although you may not heard of it, it’s got a solid reputation and is an incredibly stable operating system. And, the BlackBerry Tablet OS inherits all of that. The tablet did not crash once while I used it, and I never had to force quit out of an application – even third-party ones. Let me be clear, the BlackBerry Tablet OS is the Battleship Bismarck of mobile operating systems. To put a fine point on it, I am surprised it is this stable in its first release. iOS, Android, webOS – they all had issues in their first few versions.

There are no ‘guide’ buttons on the PlayBook like Android or iOS devices. As mentioned, the bezel surrounding the screen is touch-sensitive and you slide your finger up from the bottom bezel to switch applications and go back to the home screen. You slide from the top down to get to the app settings. Although some of my Twitter followers didn’t like this user interface, I found it intuitive and easy to use. Plus, it has the advantage over physical buttons of that you can use the tablet in any orientation (without having the guide buttons be upside-down).

The PlayBook also has the best browser of any mobile operating system. It’s quick and stable, and offers Flash support out of the box. It’s like somebody took the awesome Safari browser from iOS and added the Flash support from the finicky Android Browser.  The web browsing experience on the PlayBook is the closest yet to what you’d get on a desktop OS. I honestly, can’t wait for the rumored 10-inch PlayBook to surf the web on a bigger screen.

The PlayBook also offers ‘true’ multi-tasking. Yes, iOS and Android offer what they claim is multi-tasking, but the PlayBook has multi-tasking like you’d find on Windows or Mac OS X. You can flip between the different “cards” while the apps run in the background (or you can have inactive apps pause while they’re in the background). This is where the dual-core processor comes in handy.  While at CES, I was shown by RIM several different 3D rendering programs open, and the tablet didn’t have any slowdown or lag at all. The tablet is fast, and you can have a cumbersome amount of apps open and it won’t slow down any of them.

However, you may have trouble testing that, because there aren’t a lot of apps out there for the PlayBook. As much as I’m impressed with the stability and performance of the BlackBerry Tablet OS, the lack of (good) third-party apps is a glaring hole. There are certain apps we’ve come to expect on every mobile OS. Gmail. Twitter. Kindle. Facebook. Angry Birds. None of those apps are on the PlayBook. If you’ve used an Android tablet or iPad, the lack of apps will hurt. (Disclaimer: RIM has since announced that Angry Birds is coming to the PlayBook). There’s no email client at all unless you pair the tablet with a BlackBerry phone. On the home screen, you’ll find buttons for “Yahoo Mail” and “Gmail”, but they disappointingly take you to the web browser and the web versions of those mail providers. Unfortunate, because even with the PlayBook’s awesome web browser, the experience isn’t as nice as a dedicated app would have been.

RIM will be allowing Android apps onto the PlayBook – a brilliant move by the company. I thought that they would just be releasing a general Android emulator onto the device, but in fact, they’re actually going to force Android developers to resubmit their Android apps to the BlackBerry App World with some special code. It helps RIM stay relevant, but I think it will slow the spread of Android applications to the BlackBerry Tablet OS.

Many have asked, “If RIM is going to allow Android apps on the PlayBook, then why not go with Android altogether?” The stability, security and performance of the BlackBerry Tablet OS answers that question. I love Android, but it can crash, it can be buggy, and you can see the application “Force Quit” dialog from time to time. The user interface and performance of the BlackBerry Tablet OS is fantastic, but its weakest point is the lack of third-party apps.

Another negative for the PlayBook is its battery life. The dual-core processor is amazing and lends awesome performance to the PlayBook, but that – in addition to the WiFi connection – will drain the battery of the PlayBook something fierce. You will probably need to charge it multiple times per day if you are a heavy user. And while it’s great that the web browser does have Flash support, Flash is a battery killer. I left a web page open with Flash running and then put the tablet asleep. In the morning, the battery was completely dead.

The battery life doesn’t make the PlayBook unusable, but it isn’t good and you’ll likely need to have it plugged in often.

The camera on the PlayBook is okay.  It’s a 5-megapixel camera that can record 1080p video. The video looks fine, and the image quality is what you’d expect from a smartphone camera. It won’t replace anybody’s DSLR, but it should be good for some quick snapshots if you don’t any other camera on hand. It also has a 3MP front-facing camera for video chat. The front-facing camera’s quality is quite well. Usually, we see manufacturers put cheap 1.3MP VGA cameras in as the front-facing camera, but the PlayBook’s front-facing camera quality is a bit nicer. Something to consider if you’re a big video chat user.

It’s also somewhat difficult to get the pictures off the PlayBook, as there is no dedicated email client. As far as I know, there’s no way to email the pictures off the device. You’ll have to break out the USB cable and drag and drop them to a computer. Another minor annoyance.

Pricing for the BlackBerry PlayBook is actually quite fair when compared to its contemporaries, like the overpriced Motorola Xoom or the Apple iPad 2, which carries the usual Apple Tax. The 16GB model goes for $499, $599 for the 32GB model and $699 for the 64GB model. It’s ultimately up to you to decide if you like the value proposition RIM is offering. But, I believe that for a dual-core tablet of this quality, those prices are fair.

I’m really quite conflicted by the BlackBerry PlayBook. In some ways, it’s the best tablet I’ve ever used. It’s got an awesome design and feels great in the hand. It’s got a fast dual-core processor and has an amazing operating system. Unfortunately, the lack of developer support and lack of apps – even from the big boys (as aforementioned, no Kindle app, no Facebook app, no Twitter app, etc.) makes it hard for me to honestly recommend this tablet. My bottom line is this, if you are looking for just a web browsing device or you’re attached to your BlackBerry phone at the hip, pick this tablet up. Otherwise, wait until there are more apps out there. But don’t be mistaken, the PlayBook deserves to be respected and has a lot of potential.

Disclaimer: RIM gave us a BlackBerry PlayBook for review purposes.