My Hands-On Experience with the PlayBook

Today, I got to go to an event in NYC to play with the PlayBook and meet with some of the people at RIM who are working on it.  It was great to finally get some hands-on time with the PlayBook and talk to people about what we can expect when it comes out.  It’s been a long day, but you can check out my impressions in bullet-points below.

Release Date: Everybody said they are targeting a “March/April” launch.  This is a small departure from the previous statements about it coming out in Q1.  I am thinking that they are more aiming for early April now.

Build Quality/Weight: As soon as I picked up the PlayBook, I could tell that it was very solid.  It is very thin and light, but it doesn’t feel too light.  It also feels pretty durable.  I often saw people from RIM waving the PlayBooks around in their hands and didn’t seem too concerned about breaking them.

Battery Life: By the end of the 2-hour event, most of the PlayBooks that I saw were getting pretty low on battery.  bear in mind, though, that these tablets were being used continuously for those 2 hours and often had a few HD games running.  Also, the software version that they are running was the same version used at CES, so it didn’t have any of the optimizations that RIM has no-doubt been working on for the past 2 months since then.

Media: One thing I found and took a quick picture is of the built-in music app.  I didn’t play with it too much, but the interface looks slick and the speakers get some good volume.

Heat: One of the PlayBooks that I played with that had been getting some pretty heavy use on Need for Speed was getting pretty hot in the back.  When I asked somebody about it, she told me that heat is one of the last things that they optimize, and that it should be better when it comes out.  Again, this software version is almost 2 months old now.

Corporate Connections: I asked Ryan Bidan, RIM’s product manager for the PlayBook, about connecting to internal corporate sites from the PlayBook.  A few months ago, it was revealed that the PlayBook will only get a one-way MDS connection (MDS allows handhelds that are connected to a BES server to access your company’s internal resources over your cell connection).  Ryan told me that the PlayBook has a VPN implementation that is fully built and ready to go.  He also asked me if I’d prefer to be able to use my handheld’s two-way MDS connection through the BlackBerry bridge, but it definitely didn’t sound like the first time that’s occurred to him.  Perhaps we’ll see this feature at some point soon as well.

OTA Software Deployment: I had a chance to talk to Alex Kinslla, the VP in charge of the App World, to ask him about OTA software deployments for devices on the QNX operating system.  He told me that enterprise will likely have some method of loading apps directly onto the PlayBook, but that they were focusing heavily on making the App World the go-to marketplace for apps so that OTA downloading wouldn’t be necessary.

Sizes: I like the size of the PlayBook so far.  It’s portable and the keyboard is very easy to reach with your thumbs.  I had my Nook and my MSI netbook on hand, so I took a quick picture of all of them together so you can get a good size comparison.  It’s a little bit smaller than the Nook, but it doesn’t really feel that way.

Ryan Bidan told me, that while they think the 7″ PlayBook is a great form factor, it will not be their only one.  He didn’t say if there were other sizes in the works already or not, but there will eventually be something for everybody.

Android Apps: I asked about Android apps being able to run on the PlayBook, but nobody had a comment on it.  I’m not at all surprised that nobody said anything, but it had to be asked.  I’m working on a piece about my thoughts about Android apps running on the PlayBook that should be fully cooked later this week.

It’s Pronounced T-A-T: This one is random, but while I was talking to a rep from RIM’s marketing team, he said of The Astonishing Tribe: “I hate calling it TAT.”  When I asked him, he said that the guys at the tribe like being called “The Astonishing Tribe” or to pronounce each letter in TAT.  QNX, however, can be pronounced as Q-N-X or “cunix”.  Interesting to know.

Final Thoughts: I went to this event with high hopes for the PlayBook, and they did not disappoint.  I had a lot of fun meeting other bloggers and the guys at RIM today.  I am definitely looking forward to this release in the next month or so.  Now I have to finish my PlayBook app so that I can get RIM to give me a free one.

YouTube is taking forever to upload my hands-on video, so I’ll post that up tomorrow, but in the meantime, you can check out the pictures that I took from the event below.

Related posts:

1. New Developer Webcast: Boost Your Super-App Experience
2. Did You See the PlayBook in a Super Bowl Commercial?
3. PlayBook Simulator Updated to Include Browser, Flash Support
4. RIM Demos Need for Speed on the PlayBook