Review: RIM BlackBerry PlayBook

Research In Motion's BlackBerry PlayBook was released in the UK last week and is the first commercial tablet to run the QNX operating system (OS), the OS the company acquired when it bought QNX Software Systems in 2010.

We reviewed a 16GB model, provided by the UK arm of IT hardware, software and services vendor Insight, one of the first firms to offer the PlayBook, which it priced at £332.99 + VAT (see picture).

There are two other models, with 32GB and 64GB storage options, priced respectively at £399.99 + VAT and £464.99 + VAT.

Specifications
The PlayBook has a Texas Instruments (TI) 1GHz OMAP 4430 dual-core processor, with 1GB of system memory, and supports Symmetric Multi-Processing (SMP) giving it good multi-tasking capabilities.

It has dimensions of 194 x 130 x 10mm and weighs just under a pound (425g). As a guide to how big the PlayBook is, see the picture below of it alongside HTC's Flyer tablet and the Asus Eee Pad Transformer.

The screen is a seven-inch WSVGA capacitive touchscreen model giving a sharp, crisp display driven by an Imagination Technologies PowerVR SGX540 graphics accelerator to a native WSVGA (wide super video graphics array) resolution of 1024 x 600.

As well as the volume increase/decrease and play buttons, there are the following ports: a micro-HDMI display, a micro-USB 2.0 connection, an audio headphone jack, and a non-USB mains adaptor connection.

There are two cameras, a three-megapixel front-facing one and a five-megapixel rear-facing one.

Network connectivity
Network connectivity is catered for with an IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi card and Bluetooth version 2.1, an update on version 2.0 with enhanced data rate (EDR) support, and secure simple pairing (SSP).

SSP gives more security and makes it easier to pair the PlayBook with other Bluetooth devices.

The PlayBook has a standard GPS antenna, accelerometer, six-axis motion sensor and a digital compass.

In use
The first thing we noticed about the PlayBook is the great build quality, easily comparable with that of the Apple iPad. The rubber backing on the PlayBook is also a neat touch making it non-slip.

The tablet runs under QNX, and is entirely gesture-based, giving users control through use of finger touches only. The only buttons on the device are volume controls and a power button.

The system was very responsive, and we found it easy and fast to access the applications on the main screen.

For enterprises, the most useful app on the PlayBook is BlackBerry Bridge, which allows access to corporate email, tasks, contacts, and BlackBerry's Messenger instant messaging service, by using the BlackBerry Smartphone's mobile connection as a proxy service.

Bridge works by pairing the PlayBook with a BlackBerry Smartphone with a Bluetooth connection. Users' emails thus travel from the server (running BlackBerry Enterprise Server) to the Smartphone via a mobile connection, and then to the PlayBook by the Bluetooth connection.

Therefore, corporate employees will need both devices to take advantage of Bridge. Employees will also need their BlackBerry Smartphones to be running version 5 or higher of the OS.

In practice, we found that the range of the Bluetooth connection was about 15 metres. When the connection is broken, any data transferred over the Bluetooth connection is not left on the PlayBook.

Without a companion BlackBerry Smartphone, the PlayBook reverts to being just another tablet able to access Cloud-based email services like Google Mail (Gmail), for example, albeit a well-built one with a faster OS.

It is possible that RIM may choose to allow a BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) client to be installed on the system further down the line, allowing secure email access without having to use a BlackBerry Smartphone for email access.

Bridge was easy to set up and, even when looking at a couple of hundred emails on the PlayBook, we didn't see any delay paging through the emails we had received.

Applications

The office productivity application that is compatible with Microsoft's Office suite is the Documents To Go suite. It is free on the PlayBook and includes Word to Go, Sheet to Go and Slide to Go, mirroring Microsoft's Word, Excel and PowerPoint appplications.

Viewing a document was easy, but editing one on the relatively small screen is difficult without a keyboard.

An improvement in compatibility with Microsoft Office is in the offing, because RIM has announced its intention to enable the PlayBook to sync with Exchange Server behind Microsoft's Office 365 cloud service. Office 365 is currently in beta, but Microsoft is expected to launch the finished service next week.

Pre-installed applications include those for taking voice notes, video chatting and Facebook. PlayBook users can also download applications from BlackBerry App World, although business-focused native PlayBook apps are currently in short supply.

RIM is working on a way round this though, and has said that users will in the future be able to download 'app players', allowing them to run BlackBerry Java apps and Android (v2.3) apps in a special sand-boxed area on the PlayBook.

Media
The PlayBook has stereo microphones and speakers, and the sound quality (to our ears) was way above that normally associated with these types of devices.

The dual HD cameras also gave sharp still pictures, and playback of HD content was similarly sharp with no frame jerkiness. Codec support includes H.264, MPEG4, and WMV, and there is native Flash 10.2 support onboard, as well as HTML5 compatibility.

Accessories
Unfortunately, the PlayBook launches at a time when there are a limited number of RIM-built accessories, such as sleeve coverings and battery chargers. There isn't yet a Bluetooth keyboard option, although it's expected to appear later this summer.

Battery life
The 5.3Ah Li-ion polymer battery should be good for eight hours with less intensive and infrequent use, and maybe 4-5 hours if the PlayBook is used with applications requiring lots of processing, eg HD video playback, video-conferencing, etc.

The PlayBook charger is a proprietary model, and charges the device fully after a couple of hours. This is much quicker than if the PlayBook were charged using a standard USB charging connection.

Conclusions
By combining a decent form-factor, fast processor and QNX OS, and much better security than most other tablets, our conclusion is that RIM has a winner on its hands with the PlayBook.