I have no desire to get a PlayBook, or any other Tablet whether it’s from Acer Iconia, Samsung Tab, or Motorola Xoom. I prefer to get something that is more mature rather than a new OS that just came out such as from RIM PlayBook or the HoneyComb from Google Android version 3.0. But this post isn’t about how good or bad Android is compared to RIM PlayBook, I only manage to test Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 Inch with Android 2.x and I thought it was a good approach for Samsung to integrate an OS designed just for smartphones rather than a Tablet bigger than 4 inch.
But PlayBook on the other hand, RIM is very brave in extending their smartphone lines to Tablet, and PlayBook is it’s proof of good hardware, bad software. On the OS approach, new, but not bold. PlayBook is button-less, and supposedly multi-touch gesture. This thing is a nightmare to use for the User Interface stand point. It has the look of the OS 6.0 from BlackBerry Smartphone OS of the Torch and Bold 2.0. So it’s slick, but it’s not as fast response as I expected.
The 7 Inch Screen is probably enough for some of us, but I really prefer 10 inch, and I know some of us do too, otherwise, why would Samsung build a 10 inch Tab? It’s what the consumer wants and the consumer gets, especially a bigger estate of screen. Sure I can put the PlayBook in my back pocket, but it’s not even comfortable.
The Gyroscope is sensitive, that’s partly because it’s only 7 inch, so it’s easier to accidentally rotate the device. Just don’t take the thing on a car ride during traffic, it’ll just go up and down in rotation. The screen is nice, especially with the automatic screen brightness. The device I tested was the 64Gb PlayBook.
The device itself wasn’t heavy, comparable to the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 inch, it fits nicely on my hands, however, when it comes to browsing the net, it’s too small. Too small for my comfort. I scroll often up and down to read the content, and navigating through the content is slow with up and down gesture. I also found the browser to be slower than snail. It is so slow, I thought my internet was dead. There was no indication that it’s still loading. It was frustrating.
Overall, if you want a 7 inch tablet, get the Samsung Galaxy Tab, it’s much better, runs on Android, more apps and Android has been out for awhile. Let me know what you think of PlayBook.