BlackBerry Playbook

If you are desperate for a fast tablet with Flash Player, the Playbook is meant just for you. It’s priced well too

The Playbook is a product of BlackBerry, a brand that struck success by providing high-level security solutions, largely in telecom. It’s not a phone, though, but a tablet.

Over the last few years, the company seems to have moved far beyond just corporate users. I no longer know whether the BlackBerry is targeted at me—or a college student. The Playbook confuses me for this reason. Is it just another tablet, or a business device designed to ease the life of a super-busy manager?

My first experience with the Playbook was one of shock. I just couldn’t switch it on. The friendly store guy told me I needed to bring out my BlackBerry to activate it. Next, it was the salesman who seemed shocked when I asked him how people without BlackBerries will use it. He could not believe that there was anybody in this time-space continuum who did not have a BlackBerry.

I did bring it home, and realised the Playbook is fast, extremely fast. It can run Android apps (not very well), and does email (really well) too. The widgets are easy to set up, and it does video calls with amazing clarity.

Its browser supports Adobe Flash and HTML5. It handles most websites very well, except for those that demand an Internet Explorer and its ActiveX plug-ins.

The Playbook is available as a Wi-Fi-only model. In no-Wi-Fi zones, you can bridge it with your BlackBerry. The browsing experience with this bridge is good, but you are stuck with your BlackBerry for the connectivity. It would be better if I could use a 3G provider of my choice.

Regardless, the Playbook offers great speed at high quality, and the software is really nice too.

It could have had better buttons and a better on-screen keyboard. But if you didn’t use your tablet because it did not have Flash Player,  the Playbook will feel like nirvana.

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