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"Hands on with RIM Blackberry PlayBook 2.0\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nInstalling PlayBook 2 on PlayBook 1\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPlayBook 2 Home Screen\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPlayBook 2 Multitasking\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAppWorld Drawing Search\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPlayBook Folder Creation and Naming\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAppWorld Kids Section\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nE-mail Account Set-up\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSetting Up Messaging Accounts\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSetting Up Twitter Message Handling\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEmail Client in PlayBook\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nContacts in PlayBook\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPlayBook 2 Calendar\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCalendar Details and Contact Integration\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDocument Creation in Word to Go\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMeeting Detail in PlayBook\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPrint To Go 2232012 91522 AM\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPrint To Go File Management\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFolders in Print to Go\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nplaybooks-facebook-client\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTweeting from PlayBook\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPlayBook Dock and Folder Management\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWeb Browsing on PlayBook\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWeb Search in PlayBook\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPlayBook Web Browser Reading View\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRacing Game on PlayBook 2\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTesting VideoChat\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPicture Taken with PlayBook\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBlackberry Playbook 2.0, which arrived earlier this week, is a marked improvement on the first-generation PlayBook platform released along with the 7-inch device almost a year ago. It\u2019s also still probably not enough to make PlayBook a winner in the consumer tablet race.\nWhen Research in Motion (RIM) first began showing off the PlayBook and its QNX-based operating system, I was impressed. The card-like interface \u2014 reminiscent of HP\u2019s now open-sourced WebOS \u2014 was elegant, smart and powerful. It used not only the screen, but the black frame around it to initiate on-screen interactions. \nThe PlayBook was a true multitasker: with live video windows running right alongside live web pages and games.  But there were also big issues.\nRIM insisted on a marriage between your BlackBerry phone and the PlayBook. The Blackberry Bridge should have been a cool concept: access your phone\u2019s mail, contacts and tasks on PlayBook via a Bluetooth connection. \nUnfortunately that bridge was rickety \u2014 and for some, completely broken. Without that connection, the PlayBook had no native email client. This was shocking, considering mail management was one of the BlackBerry platform\u2019s best features.\nBlackBerry PlayBook 2.0 ($199 for the 16 GB model), which launched on Tuesday, solves this and myriad other issues. Now there\u2019s a smartly designed native e-mail client. If you don\u2019t want to use BlackBerry Bridge, which works perfectly now, you don\u2019t have to.  \nThe updated PlayBook can now act as a true hub for your messages, contacts and calendar\u2014and not just for your main e-mail account. It can also bring in Facebook and Twitter contacts.\nGetting Started\nOnce I entered my username and passwords for my work e-mail and Facebook and Twitter accounts (I could've done LinkedIn, too), the PlayBook was bursting with contacts. Sending, receiving and managing e-mail worked smoothly. \nUnlike the email interface on, say, the Amazon Kindle Fire, PlayBook\u2019s client looks like it was built from the ground up to work with the hardware and platform. The Facebook contact integration is a nice bonus; I do sometimes like to focus on my Facebook messages. If you want to use Facebook in full, PlayBook 2.0 has a native Facebook client. \nRIM has not convinced Twitter to build a native client, however, so that home screen link still takes you to Twitter\u2019s mobile web site. This is fine for basic tweeting, but no good for posting photos and videos from the PlayBook. I eventually found a $5 app that resembles Twitter\u2019s new Web interface. It works OK.\nPlayBook 2.0 happily sucks in all your Twitter contacts, but since it thinks everyone you\u2019re following is a contact, this ends up being a bit overwhelming if you follow thousands of users. Sorry, RIM, Stan Lee is not actually one of my contacts, I just follow him on Twitter. \nIn the messaging app, you can manage all your Twitter Direct Messages. But that's not typically how we use the service. Twitter integration needs to be about initiating tweets \u2014 and PlayBook 2.0 fails miserably in this area. \nI can\u2019t tweet a photo or video from the platform, as I can on the iPad. I can, of course, tweet from within the Web browser \u2014 but that has nothing to do with the PlayBook.\nSpeaking of the browser, it\u2019s great. Pages load quickly and zooming in and out is smooth and effortless. The 1024x600 pixel screen makes web pages look sharp in portrait or landscape mode, and the browser now includes a one-touch \u201CReading\u201D view that strips away everything from the page except the article you\u2019re reading. It\u2019s nicely done and works without a hitch.\nRIM also updated its interface with an Application Dock. This comes with five apps: Messaging, Contacts, Browser, Calendar and AppWorld. You can add one more, or add a folder and start dragging and dropping apps into it. This is pretty much what Apple iPad owners can do, and it\u2019s quite convenient for organizing apps into categories such as \u201CProductivity\u201D and \u201CAction Games\u201D.\n Business Chops\nPlayBook 2.0 is a more productive device. The virtual keyboard is much improved, with auto-correct suggestions \u2014 though they're hard to read in blue text on black. It isn't really built for thumb-typing. I felt as if I was stretching my thumbs to reach certain keys and often missed the narrow spacebar. \nI do have a new option for typing on the PlayBook. BlackBerry Bridge now lets you use your RIM phone as a remote control. I can type on a BlackBerry device and control the PlayBook\u2019s mouse and cursor with the BlackBerry\u2019 phone\u2019s touchpad and touch screen. This worked like a charm on the brilliantly-designed BlackBerry Bold 9930. The remote capabilities also let you control on-screen presentations.\n\nSEE ALSO: RIM Co-CEOs Are Out, Heins Is In\nThe Documents to Go Suite is pre-installed, so you can create documents that work seamlessly with Microsoft Word and spreadsheets that port smoothly into Excel. \nHere\u2019s another neat PlayBook trick: Print To Go. The app is a sort of mobile documents manager, but it\u2019s the way you gather those documents that\u2019s interesting. You download a print-to-file app on your PC and then print documents, files and photos to Print to Go \u2014 which then wirelessly delivers them to your PlayBook. \nThe Print to Go interface on the PlayBook is a bit of a weak link, however. I found it difficult to organize the documents and folders. When you launch one of the documents, the PlayBook was unaware that you started in Print To Go and offered no obvious way to switch back. Even so, it\u2019s an easy way to grab PC-based documents for a quick business trip with your PlayBook.\nThere are other highlights. The gaming experience is good (likely thanks to the 1 GHz dual core processor and full GB of RAM). Photos and videos that I either download or take with the device look excellent. There\u2019s even built-in video chat \u2014 but just like Apple\u2019s FaceTime, it\u2019s platform-limited. For now, I can video chat with anyone who has PlayBook OS 2.0 (eventually it will work with Blackberry OS 10 devices). \nAs you might have guessed, I don\u2019t know anyone who owns a PlayBook. However, I was able to test with a friendly RIM rep. The quality was about what you\u2019d expect, and as long as neither of us moved a lot, there wasn\u2019t too much lag.\nPut simply, there\u2019s a lot of good stuff in the new PlayBook platform. So why don\u2019t I love it?\n Not All Good\nFirst of all, RIM has not changed the hardware. It\u2019s black, elegant and larger than the Kindle Fire. But the buttons are the worst on any tablet I\u2019ve tested. They feel cheap. The power/sleep button is hard to press, yet was accidentally triggered more than once in my backpack. \nAs slick as the PlayBook 2.0 interface is, I experienced numerous crashes during my testing. I frequently could not launch apps. Other times, they\u2019d simply stopped working. Facebook took a dive when I tried to use the camera. The camera takes almost three seconds to boot up. The browser wouldn\u2019t load until I closed some apps, and the touchscreen is still not as precise or responsive as that of the iPad.\nBlackBerry has filled the PlayBook 2.0 with plenty of apps. AppWorld offers access to thousands more. But I still couldn\u2019t find a decent drawing app, like Sketchbook Pro on the iPad. There's no Amazon Kindle Reader App. There\u2019s a video store pre-loaded on the device, but it\u2019s not really well integrated. And this may be the PlayBook\u2019s biggest problem.\nIn the year since RIM introduced the PlayBook, we\u2019ve learned some valuable lessons about the tablet market. Yes, you can compete with Apple, but only if you do it in a very specific way. First of all, your product needs to be super affordable: $199 is the new sweet spot for non-Apple pads. \nThe 16 GB Playbook is now $199. That\u2019s good news; it's the same as the Amazon Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet (while beating them both on storage space and functionality\u2014the Playbook has two cameras).  \nBut the Fire and (to a lesser extent) the Nook succeeded because they, like Apple, offer ecosystems of content. In other words, they make it simple to consume books, movies and music on the device. Think of it as frictionless consumption. PlayBook has a great platform, but no ecosystem to speak of.\nI had entered my credit card info to buy that over-priced Twitter app. Then when I used the video store, I had to start all over again. New user name and password, new credit card details. Same thing for the music store. Each time I launched one of PlayBook\u2019s media stores, I was shown a new user agreement. This will not fly for consumers.   \nOverall, RIM has done a decent job of making the PlayBook a usable tablet. Based on the areas where PlayBook truly shines \u2014 e-mail, calendaring, document creation, remote control via phone \u2014 I see it as a strong contender for the business tablet space. The iPad, Kindle Fire and Nook, though, have nothing to worry about."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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