Windows 8 Tablet pricing becomes clearer

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Blackberry Playbook Tablet Review

Last year I picked up an HP Touchpad in the fire sale that resulted in the model, and all of HP’s tablet plans, being discontinued.  Now RIM appear to be doing similiar with their Playbook tablet, with prices being slashed around the world.  You might think then that now would be the right time to pick up your first tablet, after all a great many people believe that tablets generally are just too expensive at the moment for what they offer.  I thought then that I’d review the Playbook and give my verdict as a seasoned tablet user.

I’ve used quite a few tablets in the last year, and indeed I now own three of them (don’t ask!) including the Touchpad and now the Playbook.  So which is better and how does RIM’s model stack up against the competition?

The Blackberry Playbook has a 7 inch screen, a 1GHz processor, 1Gb of RAM and comes with either 16Gb, 32Gb or 64Gb of storage.  It weighs a dinky 425 grams.  By comparison the HP Touchpad has a 9.7 inch screen a 1.2GHz processor, 1Gb RAM and either 32Gb or 64Gb storage, weighing a heftier 740 grams and the iPad 2, also with a 9.7 inch screen contains a 1GHz dual-core processor, 512Mb RAM, 16Gb, 32Gb or 64Gb of storage but weighs in at a much more reasonable 610 grams.

The Playbook does have certain advantages over the competition however which start with a micro-HDMI socket and include extras such as a touch-sensitive bezel, clearly labelled controls on the outer edge and two cameras, a 3MP affair on the front and a healthy 5MP camera on the rear.  This is compared to the woeful 1.3MP webcam on the Touchpad.  The battery life on the Playbook is also excellent, being a match for the Touchpad, but perhaps not the huge battery life of the iPad 2.

The screen is excellent but the resolution is only 1024 x 600 and this results in a fair amount of scrolling being necessary in order to read a full web page or document.  The included software bundle is generally speaking bog standard with apps for the camera, mapping (using the on board GPS which doesn’t work anywhere near as well as the TouchPad), music and music store, video (and YouTube), pictures, video chat (but only with other Playbooks which seems pointless), Calculator, Adobe Reader, Weather, Facebook, Twitter, Hotmail and Gmail (the last three are simply links to the relevant websites), app store and voice notes.  There is also DataViz’ excellent Documents to go for creating and editing Word, Excel and PowerPoint files.

I encountered a significant problem with my Playbook however in that these apps aren’t delivered in flash memory with the OS itself but are rather downloaded from the cloud and Rim’s own servers.  The update server was down when I got my machine and so for almost an entire day my tablet had nothing more on it than the web browser.  This is the achilles heel of RIM’s services as their servers do seem to go down with some regularity.  To have a hardware device that you’ve bought and paid for so tightly integrated with the company’s own servers is something of a worry.

The software is missing a few key apps.  There are currently no native email and calendaring apps (though these are coming later this month with the next OS release so this shouldn’t put you off buying one) and the machine and screen lock feature doesn’t work properly, it asked me for a password every time I turned the machine on even though I had told it to only lock after 30 minutes.  Hopefully this is something else that will be sorted out.

The app store is well stocked but not quite as well stocked as I might have hoped and it can be difficult and fiddly to navigate and find what you want.  I thought the app store on the Touchpad was fairly barren but the Playbook’s store is not much better.

With the OS itself I found some simple tasks, such as closing a browser window, took two actions where on other devices they would only take one, and the left-right swipe action needed to select a running app on the home screen to open was often over-zealous and swiped straight past the one you wanted.  Despite these niggles though the OS is certainly polished, very fast indeed and very responsive.  I really like it.

One of the problems I faced with my Touchpad was being unable to hold it in one hand when using it, it’s just too heavy and bulky for that, as is the iPad.  I was hoping then that a smaller 7 inch tablet would solve these problems.  Alas it’s still just a little heavy and left my hand aching between my thumb and forefinger after holding it for moderate periods.  Resting it on the knee doesn’t work too much either as it’s just too small for that and suddenly you find it’s too far away.  It can also get a little hot in extended use.

You might think then that I don’t like the Playbook and wouldn’t recommend it.  In fact quite the opposite is true.  For the problems and niggles there is also much to like.  RIM’s QNX operating system is very similar to WebOS in many ways, almost always in ways that make it intuitive and simple to operate.  It’s nice to see that RIM have put a great deal of focus on ease of use and they’ve certainly succeeded.

It is very small and light too, so if you’re looking for something to use on the daily commute this won’t get in the way and will be very comfortable to use in an airline seat too, where larger tablets can be too big.  I’d have liked to have seen a 3G/4G slot on something so portable, and this is a complaint I commonly make about tablets and laptops, but for these new super-cheap prices I couldn’t really complain.

It’s this new low price though that really sells the tablet to me.  In build quality, form factor and weight it’s every bit the competitor to Amazon’s new Kindle Fire tablet, but now it also competes keenly on price.  With that excellent screen it’s a very capable eBook reader but doesn’t have the Amazon Kindle-store-focused front-end.  If you’re after your first tablet you won’t get any better for the price.  If you want a tablet to use seriously though and don’t mind spending more, then you might be better looking at the available Android machines.

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Which is the Best Tablet Form-Factor – Review About the Author:Mike Halsey is a Microsoft MVP for "Windows Expert". He is also the author of Troubleshooting Windows 7 Inside Out from Microsoft Press and the Windows 7 Power Users Guide, a how-to guide for non-technical Windows users on how to get the best out of Microsoft's new operating system, with step-by-step and quick guides. You can follow Mike on Facebook, Twitter or on his own website The Long ClimbAuthor: Mike Halsey MVP, Monday February 6, 2012 -
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Which is the Best Tablet Form-Factor – Review

In the last year I’ve reviewed and owned a fair number of tablets covering just about every aspect of the market.  These have included the monster 12 inch ASUS EP121 complete with a Core-i5 processor and 4Gb of RAM down to my latest arrival, a 7 inch Blackberry Playbook.  But what is the best size and form-factor for a tablet?  Having used a fair few now I thought I’d share my thoughts with you on what the different screen sizes mean in terms of usability, weight and portability.

The first thing I need to say here is that personal choice comes into this in a sizable way.  I for instance like using large computer screens, 23 inch and above, on which I can see complete web pages and other programs and documents simultaneously.  I extensively use Windows 7's Aero Snap feature which allows me to pin programs and documents to the left and right of my screen so that I can compare them.  That’s when I’m working however.  A tablet for me is something that I will commonly use lounging on the sofa or sitting on the train.  It’s purely an entertainment device and, currently, will only be used for checking my email, a little light web browsing and gaming.

Weight and portability will also factor in largely depending on your own personal view.  Some people won’t mind having a slightly larger and heavier tablet with them as they commonly carry a bag that suits it.  For other people who might carry a smaller bag, or dislike such things, then portability and even pocket-ability is a major factor.

In the image below you can see three different tablets.  The 11.6 inch EXOPC Slate running the Windows 8 Consumer Preview, the 9.7 inch HP Touchpad running WebOS and the 7 inch Blackberry Playbook running QNX.  This will not be a review of usability of the individual devices and their operating systems, just of their size, weight and form-factor.  So which do I prefer and why?

Clearly if you are using a tablet for light duties anything above a 10 inch screen is going to make for a weighty machine that you simply won’t be able to hold comfortably in one hand.  The EXOPC weighs in at around one and half kilos and the ASUS EP121 was just as heavy, if not slightly more so.  I would say that these tablets aren’t for using casually or for travel.  They are for people who take their computing seriously and want a tablet they can actually do some work with.  I’ve seen people using iPads with docks and bluetooth keyboards on trains and it can safely be said this is by far the best way to use a tablet over the size of 10 inches.  In a way this actually negates the point of it being a tablet as it’s easy to argue that adding a keyboard to a tablet turns it into a laptop, or at least means that it suddenly isn’t a tablet any more.

So what of the 10 inch tablets.  Now this category includes many Android machines and also, most famously Apple’s iPad and iPad 2.  It is in this arena that Apple are on to a winner as weight does become an issue.  You might remember Steve Job’s address when he first unveiled the iPad.  Many people criticised him for resting it on his knee while he was working on it.  While this might have been necessary it still remains that the iPad and iPad 2 are two of the lightest tablets available in their class.  The HP Touchpad, seen above, is almost a third heavier than the iPad 2 and it shows.  In use I almost always have to rest it on something when using it, but as I’m usually relaxing on the sofa it doesn’t really bother me.

On the plus side, that 10 inch screen does allow me to see an entire web page or a whole document at one time.  There’s no swiping and scrolling around all the time so that I can read everything.  This is a huge plus for people who just want to be able to relax with their devices.  This form factor is really very portable too, though you’ll quickly notice the bulk when carrying it in your luggage for a trip away and for using it on a train.

One of the reasons that 10 inch tablets are more bulky is that this is the size of tablet that still uses the traditional 4:3 screen aspect ratio.  It’s very true that this allows you to see much more at one time, but if you’re after an entertainment device to, for example, watch movies then you will be using electricity to power parts of the screen that won’t be doing anything.  If you’re in an airline seat too this aspect ratio can get in the way and make what is in effect a small device suddenly feel bulky.

So it must be the 7 inch tablet then that wins?  Well, let’s not be too hasty as while these machines are certainly small and light, some will even fit in an ‘oversized’ jacket pocket, that small screen isn’t very suitable for today’s modern web browsing.  You will find yourself scrolling around a lot to read the information you want, though in portrait mode they can make excellent eBook readers, being the only tablets you can comfortably hold with one hand.

One major advantage of the 7 inch tablets is also one of their largest failings.  I feel with the Playbook that if I go out, perhaps to walk the dog, I want to take it with me and carry on web browsing while walking round the common or sitting on the bus.  Alas far too few tablets these days come equipped with SIM card slots and this is where these ‘mobile’ devices begin to fail.  If you’re after a tablet, whatever size you want, I would strongly advise getting one that’s 3G or even 4G enabled.  Mobile data costs are plummeting and a device such as this, unless you watch video on it, will use much less data in general usage than you might expect it to.

I firmly believe that all mobile computing devices these days should support mobile broadband, it’s a no-brainer given how we now work and play.  It is a shame though that too many manufacturers don’t include this, or charge significant premiums for it, when it’s such a cheap and accessible technology.  My EXOPC for example didn’t come with it, but the company fitted it for me for just £40 (around $55).

It’s this lack of portability on some 7 inch tablets that makes me ask why I should use that if I’m going to be tied to my home, why shouldn’t I use a 10 inch tablet instead?  For this reason I believe the 10 inch tablets are the overall winner, and clearly Apple believe this too as they currently make no other sizes.  If you can get a 7 inch tablet with a SIM card slot then I would advise to think seriously about it, but if a SIM card slot isn’t available, or is out of your budget, then 10 inch is definitely where the best value for money lies.

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Dell Plans To Show Windows 8 Tablet In Q1 2012 About the Author:Mike Halsey is a Microsoft MVP for "Windows Expert". He is also the author of Troubleshooting Windows 7 Inside Out from Microsoft Press and the Windows 7 Power Users Guide, a how-to guide for non-technical Windows users on how to get the best out of Microsoft's new operating system, with step-by-step and quick guides. You can follow Mike on Facebook, Twitter or on his own website The Long ClimbAuthor: Mike Halsey MVP, Sunday February 5, 2012 -
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