BlackBerry PlayBook 32GB 7" Multi-Touch Tablet PC with 1 GHz Dual-Core Processor, 5MP Camera and Secondary 3MP Camera, Video, GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth - Black

I got the Playbook several days before the release of OS 2.0, thinking that if the new OS was successful the price might go back up. I've now installed OS 2.0 and, while it did add some nice features, including many that people had been clamoring for, I'm not sure it's really much better. That may change as more Android apps become available for it but that's what it'll take.That said, even with the original OS it's a very nice tablet. I use a number of tablets so I'm able to compare them. This is certainly among the nicer ones in many ways.The biggest advantage it has over the rest are the really fine and loud speakers. It's the only tablet I've seen that's louder than an Ipad and it's a lot louder. And the sound is a bit clearer and cleaner as well. This is with the speakers. I haven't used the earphones yet. I haven't felt any need.The screen is excellent. It's not the kind of pop-out color saturation the Samsung tablets have but it's a bright, natural looking screen that's as good as any tablet I've used and better than most. And it's the only screen I've used that's actually okay to use outdoors. Some can be seen outside, sort of, if you don't mind it looking a bit washed out. This one, even on a bright sunny day, is easy to read a book on. They did the screen right.The OS is simple and intuitive and everything you need is always right there and never in your way. It's easier to learn than IOS and easier to use, once learned, than Android. The problem with the OS is that it's not very customizable. You can change the wallpaper and put icons where you want them and that's about it. Even IOS is a bit more customizable. With OS 2.0 they did add folders but they're large and clumsy while IOS's folders are graceful and the same size as other icons.I think the changes in OS 2.0 made the interface a little less intuitive than it was, but it's still much more straightforward and easier to use than the rest. For the non-technical person who doesn't want to spend much time learning the ins and outs of a tablet, this is certainly the best choice. For the tinkerer (like me) it's still easy to use and I have to be content with that. They already did a lot of the things I might do, so it might be said to be pre-tinkered. :)One pleasant surprise is that it plays every video I've tried to play so far, and I've tried a lot of formats. it hasn't failed yet. I was expecting that to be a problem since I use a lot of formats for various things and I thought that until a good Android video player became available it would require me to convert videos. So far I haven't had to. It plays them all.The quality of the apps has been very good, as have the prices. Most of the Android and IOS apps aren't available but it's easy enough to find replacements and they've all been just fine. Installing OS 2.0 caused a few problems with apps but updates have already become available for all the ones I've had problems with and they're all working fine now. There aren't all that many apps but so far everything I've needed has been there, usually with a few to choose from, and they've all been good. Hopefully now that Android apps are appearing there won't be any exceptions to that down the road.One thing they didn't do and should have with respect to Android apps was make them easy to install from sources other than the Blackberry App world. The way it works is that developers have to convert them to be run on the Playbook and then upload them to the Blackberry app store for vetting. That makes it all nice and safe and cozy but the fact is that a lot of my favorite Android apps have been converted by people on the internet and are available for download but there's no simple way to install them. There is a way that I haven't tried yet but I will, that requires doing things that a lot of non-techie people won't be willing to do. They should have made it easy to just copy over and install these apps. The risk, doing this through legitimate sources such as xda-developers, is small.Transferring content to the Playbook is possible via Wifi from any Windows PC (and probably Mac and Linux as well). You just turn on the Playbook sharing mode, give it a password if you choose, make note of it's IP address and then open a Windows Explorer window to that IP. The Explorer window opens on the Playbook and you can simply drag and drop files to it. This is the easiest way to transfer files that I've seen on any tablet. It also works in the background. No special mode is needed for the Playbook. I've transferred videos while playing a game or watching a video on the Playbook. This is the first tablet I've seen that takes multi-tasking seriously.The web browser is excellent, but so are those on IOS and Android. Which is the best of those is just a matter of taste. They're all very good and any advantage one might have is always temporary. They're really all pretty much the same. If anything, IOS is a bit behind without Flash but even that's temporary since Flash is going away.After saying all that good stuff about the Playbook I think I'm still faced with the fact that it's kind of in a world of it's own. It doesn't really mesh with the rest of the world in the many little ways that Android and IOS do. For the working person who isn't already using a Blackberry phone and working in a Blackberry environment and wants a tablet for utility purposes, this might not be the best choice. For someone like me who wants it for consuming media and playing an occasional game and browsing the web it's an excellent choice. I'm retired and a gadget lover and I play with these things and this is certainly going to be among my favorite toys. If I was still working and I wanted the most useful tablet I think I'd go with IOS or Android.Barry

So far, so great.I never wanted a tablet before. And I am one of the people Blackberry doesn't even think about: the completely nontechnical type.People like us learn how to use whatever we are interested in, but we have no innate flair for it. We just slog slowly and carefully through directions until we understand each part of How To.So I bought this with a fairly good idea of my inevitable learning curve for a new ecosystem, as well as the rewards for my efforts later on. So far, I am extremely pleased.Between the tutorials on the Blackberry site and the generous enthusiasts at Crackberry.com, I was able to find out all the little steps I could not have guessed.(Patience at the beginning is the prerequisite virtue for those who have no idea how anything from Blackberry works. It is not that hard to learn.But if you have no knowledge, and no patience for learning either, then you have nothing to work with at all. In that case, buy an Apple.)The Playbook hardware is very well-constructed, and a real pleasure to use. The screen and the sound quality are exceptional, and 64GB is fine for my purposes.This combination is why I bought the Blackberry Playbook, and why I am glad I did: it has wonderful visual clarity, great sound and decent storage at a very good price.The app aspect is obviously extremely important: you have to know exactly what you want this tablet for, and what the available apps will and won't do.So far, my basic software needs have been easily satisfied. In this, I am in a minority. I wanted a simple browser, decent audio and video software, a good file manager, and an epub reader.And in particular, I wanted to be able to play my personal audio and video files from different sources- which is working well so far.Then I added a few extras, as everyone does, according to interests. I'm all set. But before buying this lovely little device, make sure you can use it according to your needs.I am delighted, rather than disappointed, because I knew what I wanted before I bought it.I read about the screen, but that didn't prepare me for just how clear and beautiful it really is. I knew the sound quality was very good too, but I was still surprised at just how good.Battery life is excellent so far. WiFi has been painless, and browsing has been easy. My desktop installed the device drivers and set up the Playbook without any problem.The included charger works just fine, and I ordered a separate rapid charger too, along with a good case.I know I have barely touched the surface of what this device is capable of, but I'm not in a hurry. I enjoy leisurely meandering around in the world of possibilities.All in all, I find this device somewhat astonishing: the sheer quality of it has exceeded my expectations by quite a bit.Having said that, I will add that if anything goes badly wrong, I will come back here and report it. Stars will fall.Meanwhile though, I am enjoying this as much as I have ever enjoyed any gadget, and then some.Update- nearly 2 years later:Tablets come and go, sometimes bringing frustration and dissatisfaction in their wake. (I still can't finesse my relatively new Dell Venue 8 Pro to function properly, no matter what. It exists as a permanent annoyance, neither mercifully dying nor ever working very well. Ugh.) But meanwhile, the Blackberry Playbook is humming along as beautifully as ever. It has never given me a moment's trouble in all this time. Even the battery still charges well. When I use it always I feel a little surge of gratitude, as you might feel for an older car that has always been a peach rather than a lemon. It shows no degradation from use, and that of course is the mark of exceptionally well-made technology. I wish now I had bought another one when it was on sale for 100$, since I see that it is currently selling for nearly twice the price it was 2 years ago! And I am very glad I bought the rapid charger and a good case too- for extremely low prices. I am sorry though that all this personal happiness (great device, relatively very small cost) is at the expense of Blackberry. They built the world's most well-constructed tablet I know of so far, and for their trouble received terrible publicity. But as I wrote in my original review, I knew exactly what it would and would not do before I bought it, and it remains a champion of enjoyable reliability.Update: 3 years later. I still enjoy this tablet every day. No aspect of what I loved about it in the first place has diminished over time. The battery is still great, the sound remains better than any other tablet I have, and its excellent peripherals are still working as well as ever. It has still never given me any trouble of any kind.The same cannot be said for my experience with other tablets. After a year or so of constant tinkering and tweaking my Dell Venue 8 Pro, it is finally working well. For now. But although I finally like it, the high price I paid in time and vexation left a very bad taste. Worse yet, users are having trouble upgrading it to Win 10. So if I want to do that, I probably have more misery to look forward to. And as for the original Nexus 7, there are many things I liked about it, and still enjoy. But its cheap construction means if I want to go on using it, I'll have to crack the case and install new parts. I might try that, but then it never worked perfectly in the first place either. So it too has left a bad taste despite many great features.The early failure of otherwise promising tablets from poor software or too-cheap parts is an ongoing problem in the tablet world. I know it all depends on the person and the tablet, and no two experiences are the same. But so far, this has been mine.