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RIM BlackBerry PlayBook: Unfinished, Unusable

Posted by timothy on from the don't-keep-that-all-bottled-up dept.

snydeq points out this InfoWorld review of the BlackBerry PlayBook, "an 'unfinished, unusable' tablet from RIM. 'At the core of it all, the design of the PlayBook as a BlackBerry-dependent device was simply a boneheaded decision by executives who hoped a hit product might entice more BlackBerry sales,' Gruman writes. 'Why RIM chose to ship the PlayBook in such a state is unfathomable. The iPad 2 and Xoom have been out for weeks, so there's no heading them off at the pass. Instead, the PlayBook debuted with all eyes on it — but instead of a world-class performer, we got the homeless guy who plays air guitar in front of the mall.'"

13 of 260 comments (clear)

  1. I love how he still gives it a "5.4" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I read the first few paragraphs, and he says he would rather use no tablet at all than this thing -- and it still gets 5.4 from him. Score inflation much?

    1. Re:I love how he still gives it a "5.4" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yeah but it reads like a review of a dead prostitute, actually just half the body, (where the iPad is the luxury escort service).

      It's like: I can't describe the disgust that washed over me as the severed pelvis fell out of the bloody shipping container, then a detached half a face, and one breast. Maggots had already eaten most of the vulva and the stench of a decaying rodent, along with a sappy green bile oozed from the vagina like some hideous sore.

      I'd give it a 5.4.

  2. Not Dead on Arrival by pacificleo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Classic case of hubris and " love to hate " syndrome . It has got a good CPU , Support Flash , QNX run on Dalvik VM so there is always a plan B of supporting . Android Apps . I think for version 1 this is a decent device and i have used the pre released unit . Multitasking is good enough and by any count it is better than Xoom . in a world filled with Android and Apple Fan boys its hard to measure anything on a standalone basis .

    --
    somethings are best left unsaid , I am one of those things
    1. Re:Not Dead on Arrival by the+unbeliever · · Score: 4, Informative

      It's DOA because you can't use email, calendars or contacts unless you attach it to your Blackberry phone, which AT&T has already blocked via AppWorld.

      That was a boneheaded move by RIM, and unless they correct that feature then I can't see the Playbook doing very well.

    2. Re:Not Dead on Arrival by UnknowingFool · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The review is a bit harsh and from what I read, it does have good hardware and the software has potential. I would agree that RIM seems to have launched it unfinished and incomplete. As expected with a launch of any new product you expect there to some things missing especially since this is the first time RIM has used QNX on a product. I would commend RIM on that aspect of it. I could understand that there are be quirks or bugs with the system. I understand that there are not many apps at the moment. What I don't understand is why RIM would launch a tablet or any mobile device without a calendar, contacts, or an email client. Sure you can use your Blackberry phone to tether to it and RIM says that functionality will be added later but why not just wait? With all the negative reviews so far telling people to wait until RIM fixes these things, potential customers are going to wait anyways. All RIM has done is to give a negative first impression of their product.

      --
      Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
    3. Re:Not Dead on Arrival by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Classic case of hubris and " love to hate " syndrome. It has got a good CPU , Support Flash , QNX run on Dalvik VM so there is always a plan B of supporting Android Apps. I think for version 1 this is a decent device and i have used the pre released unit. Multitasking is good enough and by any count it is better than Xoom. In a world filled with Android and Apple Fan boys its hard to measure anything on a standalone basis.

      No, it's a classic case of an Apple competitor rushing out a half-finished tablet in a desperate bid to get into the game. Nobody would be giving Apple this much slack if the iPad had the same deficiencies. And why should we judge the RIM PlayBook on a standalone basis when there is a tablet out there that has set the standard against which to measure? It only makes sense to claim the PlayBook shouldn't be compared to another tablet when you know it would it won't fare very well.

      John Gruber nailed it with this Daring Fireball (http://daringfireball.net/) post from yesterday--

      "I don’t understand why so many reviewers bend over backwards to grade these things on a curve. If the iPad 2 had the problems and deficiencies the Xoom and PlayBook have, these same reviewers would (rightly) trash it, and declare (again, rightly) that Apple had finally lost its Midas touch. These aren’t “beta” tablets. They’re bad tablets. It’s that simple. It’s true that their hardware seems closer to iPad-caliber than their software, but improving software is the hardest part of making products like these. By the time RIM releases “a serious software update or three” the entire market will have changed. The truth is, Motorola, Samsung, and now RIM have released would-be iPad competitors that pale compared to the iPad. Just say it.

      The mass market doesn’t buy, and doesn’t want to buy, products based on what they might become months from now if these companies somehow dramatically improve the software. They buy products for what they are today, out of the box. Motorola and RIM and Samsung are Apple’s industry peers. These are the big leagues, this is The Show. They’re charging customers real money to buy these things. They should be judged by the same standards."

    4. Re:Not Dead on Arrival by dskzero · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "I don’t understand why so many reviewers bend over backwards to grade these things on a curve. If the iPad 2 had the problems and deficiencies the Xoom and PlayBook have, these same reviewers would (rightly) trash it, and declare (again, rightly) that Apple had finally lost its Midas touch. These aren’t “beta” tablets. (...)"

      This is a lie. People were all over the first iPad despite all the deficiencies, claiming they were not needed (Some of those being implemented in the second iPad). I haven't touched this RIM tablet (and I won't, I think tablets are pointless for me), but the reviewers' bias for Apple is obvious no matter the state of the market.

      --
      Oblivion Awaits
    5. Re:Not Dead on Arrival by sglewis100 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This is a lie. People were all over the first iPad despite all the deficiencies, claiming they were not needed (Some of those being implemented in the second iPad). I haven't touched this RIM tablet (and I won't, I think tablets are pointless for me), but the reviewers' bias for Apple is obvious no matter the state of the market.

      Perhaps it did enough. It had apps, a calendar, email, contacts, a great web browser, great battery life, a great screen, weighed half of the lightest notebooks, and felt pretty darn fast even without a dual core processor. Built in apps did multitask, third party ones didn't, and push notifications filled party of the gap. But probably the most important thing in all of that is that it had a calendar. And email. And contacts. And you didn't need a tethered iPhone to pull that off. Yes, clearly a year ago, you could ship a product without multitasking and a camera. But today you cannot ship a product without email.

  3. And they botched the launch, too. by twidarkling · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Not enough product shipped to stores (we got 3 64GB models, just enough to satisfy preorders on launch day), they didn't hype the fact that we'd be opening an hour early on launch day for those who wanted to pick up one, they didn't get a demo model out so people could play with it to entice more preorders, didn't get a demo out to stores so staff could learn a bit and show people fun stuff about it, or useful stuff about it, and accessories didn't reach the store for the most part until the day after launch or later. Three mediocre cases, that's all there was available for people to chose from. Seriously one of the worst product launches I've seen pretty much ever.

    --
    Canada: The US's more awesome sibling.
    1. Re:And they botched the launch, too. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Not enough product shipped to stores (we got 3 64GB models, just enough to satisfy preorders on launch day), they didn't hype the fact that we'd be opening an hour early on launch day for those who wanted to pick up one, they didn't get a demo model out so people could play with it to entice more preorders, didn't get a demo out to stores so staff could learn a bit and show people fun stuff about it, or useful stuff about it, and accessories didn't reach the store for the most part until the day after launch or later. Three mediocre cases, that's all there was available for people to chose from. Seriously one of the worst product launches I've seen pretty much ever.

      The food here is terrible...and in such small portions!

  4. I read the title differently... by Yuioup · · Score: 3, Funny

    A better title would be:

    RIP BlackBerry PlayBook: Unfinished, Unusable

  5. I must object... as a homeless guy... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    As a homeless guy who plays Air Guitar in front of the mall, I am insulted... I am MUCH better than RIMs Playbook
    (currently using my homeless iPad to post on Slashdot)

  6. Re:phones also suck by Doug+Neal · · Score: 4, Informative

    BES Express is a free product. From an administrator's point of view it's somewhat limited in functionality compared to BES, but from the user's perspective the all the synchronisation and directory integration works as expected.