As an IT staffing recruiter, I am attached to my Blackberry 24/7. The first generation of the Playbook was disappointing. It didn’t support native email and compared to the iPhone it had practically no apps.
Flash forward to 2012. The new PlayBook 2.0 takes care of these issues. It’s also introduced a few new features. All at a great price point.
In spite of all the bad press lately, Blackberry is still the number one smartphone in Canada. The release of Playbook 2.0 at such a competitive price should help RIM hold their ground in Canada at least.
Playbook 2.0 Operating System Features:
Ryan Ayres with his new Blackberry Playbook 2.0
- Native e-mail: Yay! Now you don’t have to own a BlackBerry to access email on the PlayBook. You can send and receive messages from any account linked to your PlayBook
- Improved social media access: You can organize your social media contacts in one spot
- Way more apps: Now has 10,000 apps and the ability to run some Android apps (no need for hacks anymore)
- You can now forward documents from your Blackberry to the PlayBook to view them on bigger screen
- Improved Documents-to-Go software
- BlackBerry Bridge 2.0: Now you can control the tablet with your BlackBerry smartphone’s screen, trackpad and keyboard
What’s Still Missing?
The new Blackberry Playbook 2.0 is getting lots of positive press
- While it has good integration with social media overall, there still some big names missing from the App World, the most obvious being Skype and a full version of LinkedIn.
- Apps like Video Chat could still use some work – right now can only interact with other PlayBooks
- Another thing you instantly think of when someone mentions BlackBerry is BBM. Still not available on the PlayBook 2.0 – “But that’s on the way,” promises RIM’s marketing manager, Jeff Gadway.
BlackBerry Bridge
The coolest new feature, I think, is BlackBerry Bridge 2.0. With this, you can tie your phone to your tablet to remotely control your PlayBook, or use it as a clicker for a PowerPoint presentation. Even if you don’t have a PlayBook you can install the new Bridge app to turn your Bold into an HTPC remote. How cool is that?
What do you think of the Playbook 2.0? Are you left feeling a little dissatisfied?
Agree with this article. The best, business oriented, easiest to use tablet on the market, 3 years later. This not recognized by the market and, unfortunately, some providers ie: The Economist, are starting to back away from supporting the PB. It is unfortunate BB does not have the resources to exploit this product.