Gameiac Maniac

devwebpro.com

 Adam Ostrow and Christina Warren co-authored a new article on Mashable.com titled “BlackBerry PlayBook Enters the Tablet Race.”  The review was based on feedback after Mashable tested the device for a week. 

The results: 

Build, Form Factor and Screen 

• Weighs 425 grams, feels sturdy and compact
• 7-inch
• Resolution 1024 x 600
• Landscape mode: feels similar to iPad; text clear, graphics bright, keyboard feels good to the touch
• Portrait mode: reading text on most web sites almost impossible without zooming, keyboard uncomfortable
• Screen: WSVGA rather than IPS, colors still look good, touch screen very responsive, accelerometer fast,  works in all directions

User Experience 

• Interface: easy to pick up
• Screen: black bezel on top and bottom is touch sensitive; swiping finger up from bottom minimizes apps and shows home screen; menu or status bar accessed by swiping down from top or diagonally from top left; swiping from lower left or right side switched between open apps  
• Notifications: accessed by tapping on them in status bar; dismissed by swiping from left to right

Apps

• In addition to apps built in Adobe Air, PlayBook supports older BlackBerry OS apps and (though not at launch) Android 2.x apps
• Ships with a variety of pre-installed apps
• To access BlackBerry mail client, BlackBerry Messenger, address book: must connect BlackBerry devices to PlayBook through a Bridge mode that allows PlayBook to access data without storing it; non-BlackBerry owners need to use a web client to receive and send email 

Browser

• Supports Adobe Flash 10.2 out of the box, but some heavily Flash-based sites like Google Maps didn’t work well in PlayBook’s browser
•  Facebook: user can’t get notifications from Facebook or easily accessed messages from a central location  

Connectivity and Camera

• Both cameras have solid optics
• PlayBook too large to act as a real optical device; should work well in the field and for video chat
• Mini-HDMI port: allows users to interact with content, games and video on a second screen
• Ability to sync wirelessly with your desktop or laptop computer   

Sink or Swim?

• Appeal of PlayBook currently limited to existing BlackBerry smartphone customers as a result of email and messaging limitations
• Lack of apps until Android apps become available on PlayBook
• Users preferred a larger screen
• PlayBook not recommended over iPad 2 or Motorola Xoom at this time   

This entry was posted on Friday, April 15th, 2011 at 4:03 am and is filed under Comm361, Online Journalism, Student Blog Posts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.