BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet Review

The BlackBerry PlayBook is RIM's entry into the burgeoning tablet market that is currently dominated by Apple. It faces a stiff competition from the iPad and the various Android tablets that are just now coming to market. Does RIM have what it takes to compete at this level of consumer tablet? Is the BlackBerry PlayBook something that the average customer should be parting with their hard-earned money for?

In a nutshell, no. The PlayBook has a lot of things going for it, solid hardware, speedy processor, and dual-cameras. But hardware is only half the story. And the story of the PlayBook is as much about what RIM left out as what it put in. The PlayBook is not quite ready for prime time, and could definitely benefit from going back in the oven for a little bit longer, especially on the software side. Considering that ensuing updates to the OS and integrated apps could improve the PlayBook, bear in mind that this review is current only as of launch time: April 2011. Read on to find out what the PlayBook does right, and why we think it is sorely lacking in other areas.
Hardware
The hardware on the PlayBook is really quite nice. The 7-inch size, no matter what Steve Jobs says, is very easy to hold in the hand and use while on the go. Unlike the iPad, which almost requires that you put it down in order to type on it, the PlayBook accommodates typing with two thumbs quite easily. The tablet weighs just under a pound, at 425g (0.9 lb), which is enough heft to give it a solid feel without being too heavy to easily carry around. Not to mention the fact that the 7-inch size can fit in many more jacket pockets than a 10-inch slate.
The screen itself is very nice to look at. The 1024 x 600 pixel resolution provides crisp images and colors really pop off the screen. Viewing angles are phenomenal and outdoor viewing was even usable, if not exactly great. The screen is capacitive multitouch glass, and we found it to be very responsive to the touch.
The bezel around the screen is rather large, but part of that is because it includes a gesture area that is used to initiate functions in the OS such as multi-tasking and settings. Dual speakers frame the front on the left and right sides and pump out some of the loudest sound we've ever heard from a mobile device. They offer rich, full sound. At the top of the PlayBook, within the bezel, is a light sensor and the 3 megapixel front facing camera.
The sides of the PlayBook are coated with a soft-touch rubber that has a quality feel and provides some grip. The PlayBook is a svelte 10mm (0.4 in) thick, which is certainly thin enough in our opinion. On top of the device are a power button, volume controls, and a play/pause key for media. A 3.5mm headphone jack is present as well. The power button is very small and quite difficult to depress. Thankfully, the tablet can be activated by swiping from one side to another, without using the button. On the bottom of the tablet are three ports: micro-HDMI, micro-USB, and a three pin accessory dock connector.
The back of the PlayBook is fairly sparse, save for the chrome BlackBerry logo dead-center and the 5 megapixel camera centered at the top. The position of the camera works well, never once did we find our fingers blocking the lens while we snapped a picture. The entire back is coated with the same soft-touch rubber that is on the sides of the PlayBook. It provides nice grip without showing fingerprints or minor scratches. The overall design of the PlayBook is a delight in minimalism, and the squared edges are very different than the tapered sides that we see on the iPad and other tablets.
RIM offers an option to pair a BlackBerry smartphone to the PlayBook via its Bridge app. This allows access to the mail and messaging (as well as contacts, calendar, and tasks) data that exist on the phone and lets the user manage those from the tablet. The apps only appear when the phone is paired, within range, and connected, and all of the information immediately disappears from the PlayBook when the devices are disconnected.
RIM positions this as a security feature for enterprise customers, as they will not have to re-certify each tablet for their networks. While it is a nice feature to be able to access a phone's email system on the tablet, it is no excuse for not having a true email client on the tablet, especially with email and messaging being something that is so important to the BlackBerry brand. RIM's CEO has promised that an update is coming that will provide a real email app, but no timeline has been given as to exactly when. Frankly, it's something so essential that should have been bundled at launch, otherwise the PlayBook appears like a half baked contender as a standalone tablet.
Usability
The PlayBook runs RIM's brand-new BlackBerry Tablet OS, which is based on the QNX OS that it purchased last year. Keen-eyed users will notice similarities to a number of other mobile operating systems - especially webOS.
The application tray offers up crisp icons floating above the wallpaper much like iOS. The tray scrolls smoothly and quickly and has a kinetic bouncing effect when the end of the list is reached. Users can categorize their applications into Favorites, Media, and Games tabs within the app tray, as well as rearrange their placement. Unfortunately, there was not a way to create custom categories as far as we could tell.
The upper right corner of the main screen is home to information such as battery status and Wi-Fi connections, as well as toggles for orientation lock and Bluetooth. There is also a cog icon that is used to access the settings menu. The left corner is home to the notifications system for when the PlayBook is connected to a BlackBerry smartphone. Front and center on the top bar is the current date and time.
One of the highlight features of the new BlackBerry Tablet OS is the way it handles multi-tasking. The PlayBook is capable of running more than one application at a time, in fact, it can run many applications at once. When an app is opened, it shoots to full screen when it is in focus. Users can swipe up from the bottom bezel of the screen and the app will shrink back to the desktop, just like on webOS. Then, more apps can be opened while the first apps remain open and active. Users can easily switch between open applications by swiping in from the left or right side of the screen, again much like the way application switching works with webOS. Once an app has been shrunk back to the desktop, it can be closed by swiping it up towards the top of the screen. Similarities to other systems aside, multitasking works very well and the gesture based controls are very easy to learn.
Part of the reason multitasking works so well is because the UI on the PlayBook is very responsive and snappy. RIM was smart about equipping the PlayBook with a dual-core 1GHz processor and a full 1GB of RAM, and the effect of having such powerful hardware is quite obvious. Apps open quickly and lists and menus are very responsive. All of that adds up to an easy-to-use tablet that does what is expected most of the time.
The PlayBook provides an on-screen keyboard that can be used in both portrait and landscape orientations. It has multitouch capabilities and is quite responsive. Typing is fast, although it can be rather cramped for touch-typists in landscape orientation. The portrait keyboard is great for typing with two thumbs, almost like typing on a giant smartphone. The downside of the keyboard is that RIM offers no auto-correct features whatsoever, and that can turn out to be maddening at times. Any on-screen keyboard worth its salt is backed up by a great auto-correct/prediction system, and not having one is a real detriment. There were numerous times where we were typing away furiously only to find out that our text was littered with typos.
There are many little touches and attention to detail scattered throughout the OS that shows that RIM's designers have really put an effort into polishing the user experience. The way the icons shrink back into the background when switching tabs in the app launcher and the generous use of transparencies and gradients are perfect examples of this. There are some inconsistencies, but for the most part, the underlying OS is quite solid. The fact that all of the functions work in any orientation, forwards, sideways, or upside-down is a nice touch that lets the user just get on with doing a task instead of trying to figure out if they are holding the device properly.

Data The PlayBook version that is available now is a Wi-Fi-only model, so there is no cellular radio within the device. The PlayBook support 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, but we found it to be very flaky at times (in fact, it would not work with our wireless N router at all, we had to switch back to an old G router to get the PlayBook to connect). When it did hold a connection, the speeds were acceptable and it appeared that we were able to take advantage of most of the bandwidth that was available to us.
The PlayBook does support Bluetooth, which is how the BlackBerry Bridge application connects to a BlackBerry smartphone for features like email and calendaring. This also allows you to tether the smartphone's internet connection to the PlayBook, so that is an option to get connectivity on the go. We also appreciate that the PlayBook's storage can be accessed as a network drive over the Wi-Fi connection, even when the screen has been blanked. This makes it convenient to grab a random photo or something off of the tablet when it is not at your side.

Messaging Despite all of the great qualities of the PlayBook, the device has some serious Achilles heels, and messaging is one. Out of the box, the PlayBook has no form of messaging whatsoever. There is no email client, no IM client, no video chat client, and certainly no SMS client. RIM's famed BlackBerry Messenger platform is nowhere to be seen. There are pre-loaded shortcuts to webmail versions of popular email providers such as Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail, and AOL Mail, but those are a poor substitute for a native email client. Not having any form of communication app available out of the box is a huge detriment and quite frustrating in our opinion. The webmail options have their own limitations thanks in no small part to the browser, which we will see later.
As mentioned before, for now the Playbook depends on the Bluetooth bridge that establishes a connection with a BlackBerry smartphone to inherit the phone's access to email accounts and messaging apps. And while this may be convenient to BlackBerry users, it limits the appeal of the Playbook as a lone tablet device.

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