BlackBerry PlayBook - Tablet - 32 GB - 7" TFT ( 1024 x 600 ) - rear camera + front camera - Wi-Fi, Bluetooth

Had used many tablets at work for testing, then this little beauty came along. I was worried at first about the lack of app's but soon realised the app's I was using on other tablet's where there mainly due to the poor browsing support and experience. The Playbook's inclusion of Flash definitely sets it aside from the rest the browser works with youtube, iplayer and many more just how it's meant to with no need for an additional app just to give a lesser cut down experience at cost.

At first thought the larger border on the tablet was a waste of screen space, now understand why they did it, when holding it for long viewing on the train my thumbs have to go somewhere. Viewing video is excellent and easy to get content on it, did spend a lot of time transcoding videos before sticking them on the device at first, then recently got lazy and just started dumping un-transcoded videos on it and had a happy surprise up to 95% just worked!

Noticed that most magazine reviews and large gadget site reviews have it's star rating pretty low, suggest you read owners and users reviews instead to give you a more accurate opinion seems the people using these little beauty's are well happy but the review sites aren't.

Oh almost forgot to mention the sound this thing kicks from such small speakers is simply amazing.

Never though I'd find a tablet better than the original Ipad but Blackberry have managed it. Nice work fella's... will be retiring the IPad

Bought this in America after a long wait. I have a BB Torch and was looking forward to email sync without a 3G contract.

I wanted a device that would allow drag and drop file transfer, ability to view PDF, PPT, Word and XL documents - it's not really a tool to edit these, but viewing on the superb screen is great. I wanted a better web experience than with the Torch, but don't expect Google Chrome performance. I wanted a camera that would allow me to take pictures during presentations and conference poster sessions.

I wanted something fast and portable - the best tablet is the one you carry with you.

I'm not that bothered by Apps and don't play games. I do listen to music and already have my Torch sync'ed to iTunes.

So it delivers on these fronts and for that I am very pleased. I can view my extensive reference collection at the touch of a button, answer emails and BBM.

Now the unfinished part...

Amazingly, for a "professional tablet", it did not come with a File Manager!!!! So I have 1400 files listed in alphabetical order every time I open Adobe reader. This has been fixed with a very good App for £4.99, but really, what a faux pas!

None of the file viewers cater for file structures, despite them being present when mounted on my laptop and viewable through the File Manager App. I expect that will come with upgrades.

The keyboard is nice to type on but needs some cursor keys. The web browser could do with a scroll gesture to move down the screen.

I had to upgrade BBM on my Torch, to make it run through the BB Bridge interface, but that seems to be working fine now.

It's pretty hard on battery life. I bought the dedicated stand-charger and it stays on this all night. My USB ports don't really give enough umph to charge the Playbook.

Overall, I am delighted. Minor bugs aside, and the web browser has a few, I think it offers exactly what I wanted. I didn't want an iPad, I wanted something more flexible. I didn't want Apps, but I did want access to pdf files. If this sounds like what you are after, then you won't be (too) disappointed either.

I fully expect the experience to improve in time

I think the BlackBerry Playbook is absolutely fantastic. The build and quality is superb and the BlackBerry O/S is slick and makes the Playbook such an enjoyable experience and a breeze to use. It takes only a few minutes to get up and running compared with so many tablets in the same price bracket that are frustrating to use. The Playbook has no home button, just a simple swipe down to bring up options or close an applciation and a swipe up to bring up menu options. The multi tasking is a horizontal swipe and its ability to run apps in the background like this beats the IPAD hands down. It is just so much more easy to use and is smarter in terms of interface design. You can see BlackBerry have spent a lot of time and effort designing the O/S. The Playbook also comes with a front and back camera built in as standard (5mb and 3MB). The Playbook screen resolution is 1024 x 600 and is clear, the colours are vibrant and watching films is a joy and in par with the iPAD, if not better.

I have changed my revie from 5 to 3 stars after reading my review a few months later. Why? Device is short on apps and too expensive when compared to other devices. Blackberry have still not brought out email client despite announcement. No Skype either. What's the point of front and rear web cam then? Poor Blackberry development really let the product down. Appears they have a good device but do not care about customers.

Good points
Good quality screen
Slick O/S design makes working on the tablet quick and an absolute pleasure to use.
Built in cameras are 5MB and 3MB and provide more than you need.
Web access is quicker than most tablets out there.
Built in Flash.
Very responsive.
Excellent built keyboard and overall functionality.

Bad points
Applications are not as plentiful as either Andriod or Apple Store.
Applications slightly more expensive than other devices but you can actually download Android apps as well as shown on Youtube. I have yet to do this
Web Access sometimes crashes. No doubt they will provide a firmware to fix this in the future. The Amazon Kindle also had issues with the devices crashing (just look it up on the web) but this did not put people off so a minor issue
No built SD card so you are stuck with the tablet (16, 32 and 64GB only). a big shame in my opinion but Apple did the same with the iPAD.
Battery life could be better I suppose. 8 hours.

When the BlackBerry Playbook came out it did not sell as well as expected but I think this is because they priced the device the same as an iPAD. However, the iPAD has a 9.7" screen compared to the Playbook's 7" screen which works for a lot of people (although 7" is fine in my opnion). I think it was the apple Store that really made the BlackBerry Playbook not sell though as Apple have millions of apps and ther BlackBerry is still playing catch up... big time. I am hoping BlackBerry continue with bringing out more apps as I think they really have a fantastic device but just lacking in application downloads in comparison which is a shame.

Avoid cheap Android tablets in my opinion. Believe me because I bought the Android 70 IT and had to take it back as it was a toy and had an awful O/S and the build quailtiy was very poor for the same money. BlackBerry Playbooks have dropped down in price significantly so for your money it is the best tablet to buy right now in my opinion.

For those waiting for the Kindle Fire it compares well with the Playbook but comes with 8GB storage although you can keep stuff in the cload but it comes with no camera and I'd be interested to see how it compares when it ships to the UK.