Blackberry Playbook 64GB - £129!!

prowla

FYI a man in Currys told me that £129 is the price they are selling them in the shops too, but they didn't have any in stock at the minute.

And no, I wasn't thinking about the HP Touchpad - (a) RIM said they were pulling out of the consumer market in April, (b) they laid off Playbook production workers about a year back and canned plans for a 10" version.

To my mind, at about £100 it would probably work as a very handy sized web browser, so if the price keeps going south, I might even get one!

ravylesley

jimboban wrote: »

And to take this further, you could tether with any device (iPhone, Galaxy S3, etc) capable of offering wi-fi tethering - you're not stuck with BB being the only option (although that does have some nice value-adds)

Yes it can be tethered to any phone but there is a downloadable os for tethering it to a BB phone and thats BB bridge

Mr_Bigglesworth_2

mrs_sparrow wrote: »

I also asked a question about the PB when I got it, apparently you can also connect one of these to it: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004ZMYEMY/ref=ox_sc_act_title_9?ie=UTF8&smid=AT03S1450633N and then you can use a mobile broadband dongle with it. I've tethered mine now but I am going to give it a try when I buy the cable.

Or you can use a mifi type unit for Internet on the move

rbbadger

If you are not sure about whether or not the Playbook is a good buy, this comparison of the Playbook with IPad 2 might be useful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWG3ljfSmDI&feature=related

It's quite long so may also be useful as a cure from insomnia if you are not geeky :rotfl:

The review is a little out of date but gives quite a lot of information about the playbook.

C_Mababejive

jimboban wrote: »

As with all above, I'd love to know what you're basing such a sweeping statement on!

For some people, it's perfect and (relatively!) costs peanuts.

For others, it's not an apple device therefore must be awful...

With some nice wide middle ground in-between.

If I'm going to "pay my money and take my chances", I'd much rather risk £129 than £600 odd that it would cost for an equivalent capacity iPad!

cant understand why everyone is automatically assuming im about to big up an ipad over a playbook.

I wouldnt choose either. I'd choose a reasonably spec'd android tablet. The ipad is IMHO overpriced and poor value .

My experience of the playbook is that my partner bought one. She has had it a while now. I find it incredibly illogical and difficult to use. Added to this the blackberry OS and the handcuffing to certain apps and not others and it wouldnt suit me. Thats not to say that there are others for whom it does all they need. Im just saying thati cant live with it and im glad its hers and not mine.That goes for her apple ibook lappy which she battled with and finally swapped for a tosh pc lappy.

Can you use outlook express for email on the playbook or MSN messenger..?

transient

nice of the OP to acknowledge where the deal was seen first

pb3

C_Mababejive wrote: »

My experience of the playbook is that my partner bought one. She has had it a while now. I find it incredibly illogical and difficult to use. Added to this the blackberry OS and the handcuffing to certain apps and not others and it wouldnt suit me. Thats not to say that there are others for whom it does all they need. Im just saying thati cant live with it and im glad its hers and not mine.

I own both the Ipad and a Playbook and I love them both.

Actually I find the Playbook O/S quite intuitive - I love the "flick up and close" way of closing applications, and find myself frequently trying to do this on the iPad :rotfl:

The lack of applications sucks though. I'm not sure whether RIM still allows the sideloading of Android apps? There was talk of them blocking this a while back.

The build quality is superb and the screen looks fantastic - though admittedly it is a bit heavy!. In common with all Blackberries it takes a year and a day to do a cold start.

We are all different - I loaned my Playbook to a mostly computer illiterate friend and he absolutely loved it - found it dead easy to use. Had to prise it out of his hands

Thanks to the OP for the heads up - I''ll purchase one for my Mum.

pb3

mrs_sparrow wrote: »

I also asked a question about the PB when I got it, apparently you can also connect one of these to it: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004ZMYEMY/ref=ox_sc_act_title_9?ie=UTF8&smid=AT03S1450633N and then you can use a mobile broadband dongle with it. I've tethered mine now but I am going to give it a try when I buy the cable.

Hmm... I am a bit sceptical about this, though I'd be absolutely delighted to be proved wrong!

The cable you linked to would indeed connect a mobile broadband dongle to the Playbook. But what then? Does the Playbook O/S have the support built in to recognise the dongle as a modem? And where would you enter the necessary APN settings and intitate the connection?

pb3

Grum64 wrote: »

From the CNET REVEIW:

Blackberry Playbook Bad Points:

Must be connected to a BlackBerry phone for many key features to work
Video calling only works between PlayBooks
Fewer available apps than on competing platforms

What date was this review?

The reason I ask is that before the release of version 2 of the Playbook O/S, the Playbook was a lead balloon and all of the points above held true. For example it did not have an integrated email client - What were RIM thinking?

With the current O/S the only reason you'd need to bridge to a Blackberry phone is to use its Internet connection or to have the convenience of using BBM on the Playbook's much larger screen.

The lack of apps and the video calling restriction still remain though.

C_Mababejive

I agree it is a well made machine. I also like the video playback quality etc.I do have a blackberry 3g phone which i like. Perhaps im a bit traditional and prefer a keyboard. Maybe im just not a swiper..