So, I was one of the many who jumped on the bandwagon and bought a Playbook when they were offering them at a ridiculously reduced price over Christmas. I was never really that interested in getting one but they were cheap and I wanted an e-reader (Playbook comes pre-installed with a Kobo app) so I convinced myself that it was worth it.
Overall I’m happy with it but it definitely had things I was not happy about such as limited app selection when compared to other marketplaces, no email, and my biggest one – the Kobo app does not work properly. I won’t get into it but suffice to say, don’t preview any books if you want to buy them – the app will not download the full book after having the preview downloaded.
I use it to check my webmail, check RSS feeds and watch some videos both online and downloaded – my daughter watches Tangled on it almost every day – but other than that it never seemed to be anywhere near the same category of an iPad – which my oldest has.
The new OS was just released this morning and I was only able to download it and look at the interface before leaving for work. I have to say I instantly liked it. The major things I’ll be using Mail, Browser, AppWorld are all at the top and easily accessible. When I put my password in I noticed that there was a number portion to the keyboard which seems like a small thing but it’s one less barrier to entry and I was a lot happier than I was expecting to me about it.
That’s not much of a review but I’ll take a closer look tonight and let you know!
UPDATE March/18/2012
I have spent some time with my Playbook and I have to say that I like it but you definitely need to learn the rules of engagement. For example, you can transfer video files from your computer to it but depending on the video format – there may or may not be audio. I use a lot of .avi files and depending on the audio codec it just may not work. My workaround was to convert the files using Miro to convert the files to .mp4 and that seems to work.
The keyboard is temperamental. At times, in the middle of typing, it will just disappear.
I really like the native email app though, it pulls our email accounts, Twitter and Facebook feed in all.
I think my biggest complaint is based on developing for the device. The setup process is EXTREMELY convoluted. I won’t get into it but it took me around 4 hours to get set up. Now I have to keep a password on the device – which is just an extra step we don’t need.
Update Jan/15/13
Bought an iPad 3. Your argument is invalid.
2 responses to “Blackberry Playbook OS 2.0”
I got a Playbook with Kobo for my birthday in Feb. and have been trying to transfer my sisters Kobo books to it ever since. Everything I or any of my friends have tried, failed. I was able to transfer the PDF books from my computer to the Playbook, but cannot get them into Kobo. I can read the books in PDF, but it doesn’t register where I was in the book when I leave the book to do something else, contrary to the Kobo books. I am frustrated. All the Kobo books I have on my computer do not transfer at all to the Playbook, only the PDF files. These are two different things. It is frustrating!!!!!
Debra – thanks for the comment. I agree that it is very frustrating. There is a free e-pub reader that I have ( I can’t remember the name off hand ) and I download the e-pub version from Kobo onto Playbook and use it to read them.