| List Price: | $599.00 |
| Price: | $593.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Ships from and sold by Yapper Wireless Average customer review:  |
Product Description
The BlackBerry PlayBook delivers professional-grade, consumer-friendly experiences that redefine the possibilities of mobile computing. This ultra-portable tablet looks and feels great, measuring less than half an inch thick and weighing less than a pound. It's 32 GB integrated flash memory with 1 GB RAM. It features a vivid 7-inch high-resolution display-WSVGAn display resolution (1024 x 600) that is highly-responsive with a fluid touch screen experience. It also offers industry leading performance, uncompromised web browsing with support for Adobe Flash Player 10.1, true multitasking, HD multimedia, advanced security features, out-of-the-box enterprise support and a robust development environment.Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #160 in Personal Computers
- Size: 32GB
- Color: Black
- Brand: BlackBerry
- Model: PRD-38548-002
- Released on: 2011-06-01
- Original language: English
- Dimensions: 9.50" h x 2.00" w x 9.50" l, 2.25 pounds
- CPU: Unknown 1 unknown-units
- Memory: 1GB SDRAM
- Hard Disk: 32GB
- Processors: 1
- Native resolution: 1024x600
- Display size: 10.1
Features
- Delivers industry leading professional-grade performance with true multi tasking
- Consumer-friendly experience that redefine the possibilities of mobile computing.
- Ultra-portable tablet looks and feels great- less than half an inch in thickness and weigh less than a pound
- The 32GB internal memory offers ample space for media storage.
- Out-of-the-box enterprise support and a robust development environment.
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Product Description
A professional-grade tablet, the BlackBerry PlayBook helps transform the way you work and play by combining the features you need with a powerful, ultra-portable design you want. You'll enjoy uncompromised Web browsing, true multitasking, and brilliant multimedia playback, as well as advanced security features and out-of-the-box enterprise support.
Measuring less than half an inch thick and weighing less than a pound, the PlayBook features a vivid 7-inch high-resolution display that looks and feels great in your hand--and it supports 4-fingered multi-touch gestures. Wirelessly connect to your BlackBerry smartphone for real-time access to email, calendar, address book and task list, Documents To Go and BBM using BlackBerry Bridge (see more details below).
In addition to ultra-fast Wireless-N Wi-Fi support, this PlayBook model features a 1 GHz dual-core processor, 32 GB of storage, 1 GB of RAM, GPS for navigation and location-based services, dual HD webcams for video chats and snapping pics, and a highly intuitive BlackBerry Tablet OS based on powerful, user-friendly QNX technology. Plus, you'll be able to discover new apps via BlackBerry App World.
The PlayBook also offers a high-fidelity web experience with support for Adobe Flash Player 10.1, Adobe Mobile AIR and HTML-5--enabling you to enjoy all of the sites, games, media and richness of the full Internet. And you'll enjoy immersive 3D games thanks to the built-in accelerometer and 6-axis motion sensing (gyroscope).
The 7-inch multi-touch capacitive display has a 1024 x 600-pixel resolution for stunning playback of video and immersive 3D games. The PlayBook also comes with an HDMI output for connecting to a compatible HDTV or monitor and playing back Full HD 1080p video. It's compatible with video encoded in H.264, MPEG4, and WMV formats.
And with the dual cameras, you'll be able to video chat with friends and family wherever you roam (and are connected to a Wi-Fi network). The forward-facing camera has a 3-megapixel resolution while the lens on the back offers a 5-megapixel resolution--and both cameras can capture video up to Full HD 1080p.
Works smarter, play harder with the BlackBerry PlayBook (see larger image).
The vivid 7-inch multi-touch display looks and feels great in your hand (see larger image).
In addition to ultra-fast Wireless-N Wi-Fi support, this PlayBook model features a 1 GHz dual-core processor, 32 GB of storage, 1 GB of RAM, GPS for navigation and location-based services, dual HD webcams for video chats and snapping pics, and a highly intuitive BlackBerry Tablet OS based on powerful, user-friendly QNX technology. Plus, you'll be able to discover new apps via BlackBerry App World.
The PlayBook also offers a high-fidelity web experience with support for Adobe Flash Player 10.1, Adobe Mobile AIR and HTML-5--enabling you to enjoy all of the sites, games, media and richness of the full Internet. And you'll enjoy immersive 3D games thanks to the built-in accelerometer and 6-axis motion sensing (gyroscope).
Key Features
Uncompromised Web Browsing
With the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, you get access to the full web--not a scaled down mobile version. That means you get all the rich websites, games, and videos, the way they are intended to be enjoyed. The PlayBook offers support for Adobe Flash Player 10.1 and Adobe Mobile AIR as well as HTML5 and Webkit browser technology.Multitasking
Other tablets claim to support multitasking, but it just isn't the same. On the BlackBerry PlayBook, apps can run simultaneously and in real time. It's a sophisticated approach to multitasking--giving you more choice around how your applications run, allowing you to tailor the experience to your individual needs.Stunning Multimedia
Don't settle for amateur grade multimedia. Whether you're mobilizing your existing pictures, music, and videos, discovering new media or creating new content, the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet offers a high fidelity, multimedia experience allowing you to fully immerse yourself in whatever you enjoy.Video chat via the dual cameras with Full HD 1080p resolution.
Facebook for BlackBerry PlayBook app.
Ultra Portable
You don't spend your life on the couch, neither should your tablet. Your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet is perfectly suited to your busy lifestyle--it's small enough to go anywhere and powerful enough to take you everywhere.And with the dual cameras, you'll be able to video chat with friends and family wherever you roam (and are connected to a Wi-Fi network). The forward-facing camera has a 3-megapixel resolution while the lens on the back offers a 5-megapixel resolution--and both cameras can capture video up to Full HD 1080p.
More Apps, More Choice
Discover a huge catalog of rich apps developed and optimized just for the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet--all available through the BlackBerry App World storefront. Games like Need For Speed Undercover and Tetris, an eReader from Kobo and a powerful music store by 7Digital are just a few of the pre-loaded apps that come with the PlayBook. You can also download the Facebook for BlackBerry PlayBook app, which integrates popular features and functionality such as Facebook Chat, view and add friends, and interact with the News Feed.Business Ready
The BlackBerry PlayBook tablet is designed to empower those who want tools to power achievement. PlayBook enhances personal productivity and offers businesses a straight forward, no hassle way to quickly embrace tablet technology. It includes DocsToGo and Adobe Reader software as well as support for enterprise VPN connectivity and corporate intranet browsing.BlackBerry Bridge
On its own, the BlackBerry PlayBook is a high performance tablet. But for BlackBerry smartphone users there are additional benefits added to the PlayBook experience, like access to BlackBerry services living on the handheld. Get access to BBM (BlackBerry Messenger), email, calendar, contacts, memo pad, tasks from your BlackBerry smartphone--all on the large display (see more details below).Specifications
What's in the BoxBlackBerry PlayBook 32 GB, USB cable, BlackBerry charger, cleaning cloth, operating instructionsYou'll get 90 days of complimentary technical support. Speak with a BlackBerry expert if you need help or just want to learn more about your tablet's unique features. |
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Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to have a BlackBerry smartphone for the BlackBerry PlayBook to work?
If you don't have a BlackBerry smartphone, you still get all the powerful features of the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet like the uncompromised web, true multitasking, stunning multimedia, and tons of apps. If you do own a BlackBerry smartphone you can realize additional benefits delivered by BlackBerry Bridge like access to your BlackBerry email and the ability to browse files found on your BlackBerry SD card--all right from your tablet.What is BlackBerry Bridge?
BlackBerry Bridge allow you to wirelessly connect your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet to your BlackBerry smartphone for a secure, enhanced view of core BlackBerry services on the tablet's large high-resolution display--including full email inbox (BIS and BES), address book, calendar, memo pad, task list, and BBM.What is necessary to download attachments to the PlayBook via Bridge?
- MicroSD card in the BlackBerry Smartphone that is bridged.
- Room on the MicroSD card for the content being downloaded.
- The attachment has to be under 3 MB in size for it to download.
Which apps does Bridge work with?
BlackBerry Bridge is a feature that allows BlackBerry smartphone owners to interact with core BlackBerry applications including email (BIS and BES), calendar, contacts, on the Playbook's large 7-inch high resolution screen. BlackBerry Bridge links the two devices notification systems so you are alerted of new emails, BBMs, and calendar reminders right on the PlayBook's display. Through this same relationship, businesses running BlackBerry Enterprise Software can allow their employees to securely access information found on corporate internet sites using PlayBook. You also have access to your Smartphone browser so you can get on the web from virtually anywhere.What smartphone software version is required to use Bridge?
All BlackBerry smartphones with OS 5.0 or above will be able to leverage BlackBerry Bridge, which accounts for approximately 60% of BlackBerry smartphone users today.Is it true that the BlackBerry PlayBook will support Android apps on the PlayBook?
RIM has announced that it will launch an "app player" that provides an application run-time environment for Android v2.3 apps. This new app player will allow you to download Android apps from BlackBerry App World and run them on your BlackBerry PlayBook. The new app players for the BlackBerry PlayBook are expected to be available from BlackBerry App World in the summer of 2011.Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews70 of 71 people found the following review helpful.
What is everyone's problem?By D. Bannister
I own the iPad 1. I like it. I don't love it. The apps are great. But it is large and cumbersome. It doesn't really multi-task. And I hate the way it handles email. I use a Blackberry Torch phone. I love the way it handles email. And the apps are very good. Fewer. But very good.
So it was with some trepidation and excitement I bought the Blackberry Playbook. The trepidation was because of the advanced reviews which universally panned it. I looked at it, held it, and bought it. And I will tell you it is one piece of stunning equipment.
The build is much better than the iPad. In fact it is extraordinary. The screen is absolutely stunning. The machine loads the applications fast but NOT as fast as you see on the commercials. The browser blows the iPad Safari browser out of the water. It is very fast and of course has Flash. The camera front and back are very good.
But do you know what makes this tablet? The OS. It is extraordinary. You bring out Apps with a touch. You scroll through open apps by beginning at the left or right bezel and swiping toward the center. The context menus are opened by swiping down when the application is open. See a subtle alert in the top left hand corner, swipe diagonally from the the bezel to the center and viola there is a notification of your email. To wake it up swipe from the top bezel to the bottom. No more clicking a darn button. Thank you Blackberry. That alone was genius.
As I said I carry a Blackberry so through the Blackberry Bridge it tethers to my Torch. Emails and files. Everything, except the apps (different OS of course) is available on my Playbook. And I don't have to add on a data plan for 3G. A 3G phone Playbook is coming out in the summer they say for those who do not carry Blackberry phones.
I am waiting for the following apps - Dropbox (although I can transfer files in and out via the web), a free hand note taker and a better PDF program or a more beefy Adobe Reader app. And I am sure they will come.
Now to the reviews: They claimed the OS was not finished. Not true. They claimed multiple shutdowns and freezes. Not true. They poo-poo'd tethering through Blackberry Bridge. OK I am saving myself $30 a month up here in Canada or $360 a year in not having a 3G capability under a separate plan. And the tethering is flawless for both email and web surfing since the Playbook comes with a Bridge Browser that uses your phones' plan. So a person saves $360 a year and it gets criticized? Unbelievable! The apps. Yes there are fewer but there are new ones appearing everyday and they are above average and to my mind are as good as or better than the iPad. The negative reviews are baffling; truly, truly baffling.
I couldn't wait to get the iPad. I was enchanted. With the new iPad 2 I wasn't enchanted. In fact it is anything but.
The Blackberry Playbook on the other hand is simply astounding. I throw it in my briefcase. And away I go. I pull it out at a meeting or airport and it is understated and private. Will it take its rightful place in the tablet market? Not if jingoistic reviewers have their way. But it should. It should if build, function, cost effectiveness, reliability, and fun mean anything to anybody.
93 of 99 people found the following review helpful.
Good device - price is the problem....By Quentin Gerlach
If you're like me - then you've probably been waiting for a while for RIM to enter the tablet market with their long-overdue BlackBerry Playbook. RIM's been touting a couple of features that were a first for any tablet at the time - namely two cameras, one front and one back, HD output and a mini-HDMI port, along with finally releasing the new QNX OS (which RIM badly needed).
Well, unfortunately for RIM, they once again took their time getting this to consumers, and the end result is once again a whole bunch of those new features aren't really new anymore. IPad 2 introduced the two camera system for Apple, and I believe the new Galaxy 2 tablet coming out in a few months will have it as well. A bunch of tablets are also now HD-capable, and a bunch also have HDMI ports.
Anywho - I picked this device up today from Best Buy, and to sum it up in a sentence: classy, but expensive.
For a more detailed review, here goes ---
PROS:
1) The OS. By George, RIM finally has a decent OS!! If anyone has ever had or messed around with a Blackberry phone, one of the biggest gripes you'll have is that the OS is just... well, crappy. OS 5 and 6 were big improvements - but they still each leave alot out (like the browser - god, does Blackberry's browser suck at times), especially when you check out an IPhone or Android phone. The QNX is RIM's newest OS, and I hope they move their phones over to it ASAP. Clean, snappy, and doesn't actually use all that much memory - if you delve into the settings of the device. I will add, though - that as soon as I turned on my device, it had to update the OS. Nice RIM - already pushing out updates.... Doesn't bode well, but we'll see.
2) Screen. I'll give RIM credit, they did awesome here. The screen on the Playbook is nothing short of stellar. I played the movie Megamind (great movie) in HD on it, and it looked fantastic. Even better, hooked it up via HDMI to a projector, and it looked fantastic on the wall too. 7" may be a little small to people - IPad's is almost 10", and so is Galaxy 2 (supposedly - we'll see) - but I like the 7" screen personally. I don't really need a bigger screen - that's what I have a laptop for.
3) Weight. This also might be a touchy subject - but again, I personally like a device that feels solid in my hands. The Playbook definitely fits this bill. Although it only technically weighs 1 pound, it feels much heavier. The construction seems excellent - putting pressure on various points, the device barely bends.
4) Blackberry Bridge. Hell yeah RIM - I do NOT want to pay extra for another 3G data plan. Instead, what RIM does is by tethering your Blackberry phone to the Playbook, you can use the data plan on your phone to get the internet on your Playbook - and it works right out the box!! You don't even need a cable - it also works via BlueTooth!! Only problem - just works with Blackberry phones. If RIM updated this to work with all phones, that would make it literally perfect.
CONS:
1) Price. Jeez, 499 for the base model - 16 GB. 64 GB rings in at 699. (These prices come from Best Buy). It's a nice device, don't get me wrong, but 500 bucks for the base model?? There's a bunch of cheaper options out there. Especially with the size of the device - it's a little hard to justify. I hope RIM fixes this problem soon, for their sake.
2) Apps. Always seems to come back to this as well for RIM. The apps for the device - at the time of this - equal less than 100. Yeah, that's right. With the new OS, that means that all apps have to be rewritten to be able to work with the device - and be able to handle the bigger screen. I believe the IPad has over 25,000 apps specifically made for it, and the Galaxy and XOOM both use Android - and have its market to work with. Clearly RIM has an uphill battle here. Hopefully RIM supporting Flash on the Playbook will help the apps roll in, but I wouldn't hold my breath...
3) No e-mail support. As of right now - the Playbook does not work with BES servers. That means no enterprise e-mail support, or ability to control the device via IT policies. You must be joking RIM. Seamless e-mail support is the main reason people get Blackberries, and you can't make the Playbook to support this?? Fail....
There's a couple other things too I can think of - for both categories - but these delve deeper into the enterprise features of the devices, so if you're interested, leave me a comment and I'll reply
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The Blackberry Playbook is definitely a good entry for RIM - worthy of giving some of the other tablets a run for their money. RIM has of late been really lagging behind when it comes to keeping up with the tech of the day, but with the Playbook, they've finally stepped up to the plate. As for hitting a home run - ehhh, I've give them a double. The Playbook shines in a number of areas - but the key feature to me is the Blackberry Bridge. This is something that I hope a bunch of other tablets start incorporating - being able to use your phone's data plan on your tablet, without having to pay an extra 50 bucks for a separate one.
RIM, fix the weak spots on your device (either by updates or in the 2nd generation), and you could have a real winner here.
As far as recommendations go - for the average user, if you're feeling adventurous, go ahead and get a Playbook. It's a great device at what it does, but expanding those functions are difficult, especially with so few apps. For everyone else - stick with the IPad, XOOM, or Galaxy - at least until the apps get rolling on this device.
-- I'll update this periodically as more information and my usage time with it increases - so check back every so often --
UPDATE: Someone asked me in a comment if the Playbook had a memory card slot - which I forgot to include in my review. Unfortunately, the Playbook does NOT have an SD card slot - although, by using the Blackberry Bridge software, you can get the SD card that's on your phone to work with the Playbook. But as far as plugging in a card to the device itself - no. Thanks to J. Scheider for asking.
UPDATE (5/4/2011): RIM has announced that they'll be releasing the Video Chat app - a video conferencing app that will take advantage of the front and rear cameras, very much like Apple's FaceTime. It's supposed to be part of an OS upgrade that will get released sometime this week - I'll let you know how it is once I've tested it out.
31 of 33 people found the following review helpful.
Awesome tabletBy Silvana D.
A bit about me first - I am a techno-nerd. I LOVE gadgets. Large, small, you name it. After eyeballing many tablets, including the iPad, Xoom, Samsung and others I chose the 64GB Blackberry Playbook. Why? For one, because it is the right size. I can put it in my purse and carry it about with me. More reasons - it has spectacular graphics - true 1080p HD and it supports flash. It has a camera and an HD camcorder. It has a solid feel in your hands, the touch screen is very responsive and intuitive. After playing with it for a short span of time I now zoom from app to app. One of the (many) things I find amazing is that the tablet does not lag while running many concurrent apps - I'm not talking small apps, but processor intensive ones. The battery life is pretty good too - I've played for over 10 hours before I had to recharge it. The screen is spectacular - I said that already didn't I?
One thing I have read on various sites is that there aren't "many apps" available. HELLO - it is new - just released actually. How many apps were there for the iPad when it first came out? New apps appear daily and this summer it will run Android apps. That just exponentially increased the quantity of fodder for app hounds like me. The Android apps will be available through Blackberry App World. Read more about this on Android Central. Angry Birds anyone? It's also a boss gaming tablet for you gamers out there.
I have a huge iTunes library. One of the reasons I purchased the 64GB version was for the music. RIM made it so easy to import tunes from iTunes. First download Desktop manager and install. Plug in the Playbook. It installs the drivers and voila! It sniffs the installed iTunes and asks you what you would like to sync to the Playbook. I also read a lot of technical magazines I get electronically. I have these saved off to a folder on my PC. Now I copy them to my Playbook and read them where ever I am.
I can connect to the internet a few ways - with the wireless ability it has, or tethering to my mobile phone or, if you have a Blackberry running version 5 or above you can use the Bridge to gain access to the internet while about. I have scratched just the surface of this amazing tablet. It has so much more I could talk about.
I love my Playbook. I am so glad I waited for its release. WOW
Update
There is a 10" Playbook in the works for those who desire more real estate.
Read come here >>> http://astore.amazon.com/phoneshopp-20/detail/B004UL34VW
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