RIM, makers of the BlackBerry line of smartphones, state that the new PlayBook is the world’s only ‘professional-grade’ tablet. We should be excited by the prospect of another tablet platform. If RIM can do for tablets what it did for mobile email, a RIM tablet should be very exciting news indeed. The actual tablet hardware is gorgeous — while its 7in display is somewhat reminiscent of last year’s original Samsung Galaxy Tab, the PlayBook’s build quality is much better. It feels good in the hand, the screen is swift and responsive, and the use of the whole bezel to quickly switch between applications and multitask is very well implemented. At an operating system level, too, RIM has done excellent work, as the PlayBook responds well to basic tablet tasks and even offers some non-work distractions with a few key games. The phrase ‘a few’ sadly also applies to the other tablet applications on offer; at the time of writing, they were rather thin on the ground. RIM has made some curious decisions with the hardware in this generation of the PlayBook. There’s no 3G access at all — this is purely a Wi-Fi product. The idea is that you’ll use it with a BlackBerry handset, something made even more obvious when you realise that the PlayBook has no inbuilt email or calendaring at this time. You keep your precious data on your BlackBerry and if your PlayBook is lost or stolen, your data isn’t lost with it. It’s an idea that’ll appeal to IT managers, but in usage it’s a bit annoying. As such, if you’re a BlackBerry enthusiast the PlayBook is worth consideration, but those who own other smartphones will find the lack of onboard email and calendaring an absolute disappointment, and should look to the Android or iOS camps for their tablet fix.
