Rim Blackberry Playbook 3G (1GB + 32GB) Review | 168 Data compared

The Melty.fr review highlights the BlackBerry PlayBook as a premium, well-built 7-inch tablet featuring a high-quality screen and smooth QNX-based gesture navigation. Key strengths include superior multitasking capabilities and an excellent web browser with full Adobe Flash support, along with high-quality cameras and stereo speakers. However, the device is criticized for lacking native email, calendar, and contact apps, requiring a BlackBerry Bridge connection to a smartphone for basic productivity, alongside a limited app ecosystem. Ultimately described as a "work in progress," the PlayBook offers impressive hardware but suffers from unfinished software, making it a professional, though dependent, device rather than a complete standalone consumer tablet.

The Begeek review highlights the BlackBerry PlayBook as a device with excellent hardware hampered by premature, unfinished software. Pros include a high-quality, professional build, a superb 7-inch display, and a powerful dual-core processor that ensures a very fluid, responsive, gesture-based user experience. However, the tablet suffers from significant software drawbacks, most notably the lack of native PIM applications (email, calendar, contacts), requiring a "bridge" connection to a BlackBerry phone. Furthermore, the app store is described as severely lacking content, and the web browser, while supporting Flash, can be unstable. Ultimately, the review describes the device as a high-potential "half-baked cookie" with great cameras, but it feels more like a smartphone accessory than an independent tablet at launch. The review focuses on solid construction while criticizing the absence of core standalone features.

The BlackBerry PlayBook is a fast, 7-inch tablet featuring a fluid QNX-based operating system, lauded for its high-quality display and exceptional multitasking capabilities. Key pros include a robust "desktop-style" web browser with full Flash support and strong, well-built hardware. Significant cons highlighted in the review include the lack of native, standalone email and calendar apps at launch, forcing users to connect to a BlackBerry phone, alongside a cramped, middling 7-inch screen and poor power button design. Furthermore, the app ecosystem lagged significantly behind competitors at the time. Though offering solid battery life and representing a strong option for existing brand users, the PlayBook’s success was hampered by its late market arrival and limited native features. It serves as a powerful, yet compromised, niche device.

The BlackBerry PlayBook is a high-performance 7-inch tablet featuring exceptional build quality, a bright 1024 x 600 display, and powerful stereo speakers. Driven by a 1GHz dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM, the QNX-based operating system delivers a fast, smooth user experience with impressive multitasking capabilities via intuitive bezel gestures. Key pros include a superior web browser with full Flash support, 1080p video playback, and high-quality 3MP front and 5MP rear cameras. Conversely, the tablet is heavily criticized as an "unfinished" product due to the lack of native email, calendar, and contact applications. These essential functions require a "BlackBerry Bridge" connection to a smartphone, limiting utility for non-BlackBerry users. Further cons include a barren app ecosystem, the absence of expandable storage, and a poorly designed, tiny power button.

The Clubic review of the BlackBerry PlayBook highlights a high-quality, "business chic" 7-inch tablet featuring an excellent, bright display. Pros include a fluid, gesture-based QNX operating system, true multitasking, and a powerful browser with full Adobe Flash support. However, the device is criticized for a small, recessed power button and significant software shortcomings. The major drawback, or "con," is the initial lack of native email, calendar, and contact applications, forcing reliance on the "BlackBerry Bridge" feature with a tethered phone. Additionally, the App World store lacked a robust selection of third-party apps. While the 1GHz dual-core processor provided a smooth, lag-free experience, these software gaps made it a difficult sell at launch. Ultimately, the review concludes that while the hardware was ahead of its time, the unfinished software ecosystem limited the PlayBook's appeal. The device required future updates to achieve its full potential, serving more as a promising prototype than a complete, competitive consumer product.

The Les Numériques review of the BlackBerry PlayBook highlights a device with high-quality, compact hardware—notably a bright 7-inch display and solid build—but severely hindered by an immature software ecosystem. While the QNX-based system is fast and features an excellent, full-featured browser, the lack of native email, calendar, and contact apps requires reliance on a BlackBerry smartphone via BlackBerry Bridge. Despite superior speakers and capable cameras, the sparse app store, awkward power button, and lack of core functionality render it an incomplete, albeit speedy, tablet for non-BlackBerry users.