The market has been buzzing with rumours about a BlackBerry tablet, whatever RIM chooses to call it. While many people seem very eager to see what the company is conjuring up, we must confess to harbouring some cynicism. It is not because we disliked BlackBerries – far from it (you will seldom see us without one). It’s just that we do not see a BlackBerry tablet making major waves in the market. And here is our rationale.
- RIM’s efforts on the touchscreen have not been exactly great. The Storm and the Storm 2 have not set the world on fire, and judging by most reports so far, even the Torch has not really done as well as expected.
- From what we have seen of the BlackBerry OS 6 on the Torch, it (like Symbian, to an extent) is not really designed for touchscreens with menus rather than icons calling the shots. In the Torch, we had the option to switch to the keypad – something that will not be there on the tablet (unless they push a keyboard underneath it, something we rather doubt).
- Speaking of the keypad, one of the core strengths of the BlackBerry range of the devices has been its text-friendliness, generally because of well-designed and spacious keypads – one of the reasons why it is now appealing to the social networking crowd. Now, considering the fact that we have found typing far from easy on all the tablets we have seen so far, be it the iPad, the Samsung Tab or the Olive Pad, we cannot really see the BlackBerry tablet being easy to text on. RIM would need something special to overcome that or maybe a whole new interface to retain its texting edge.
- One of the problems with all non-iPad tablets has been the fact that there are next to no apps designed for a high-resolution tablet display, making them look like oversized phones. Even the Samsung Tab, which is the closest thing we have seen to an iPad struggled in handling apps that had been developed for lower resolution screens. Unless RIM has been working on a tablet app store in the background, this is a challenge even all apps in the BlackBerry App World would face.
- Would we love an iPhone with a larger screen? Yes! An Android phone with a larger display? You bet! A BlackBerry phone with a big display? Er…It all boils down to interface, really, and we hate to keep harping on it but while Android and iOS were designed for touchscreens and large displays, the BlackBerry OS is not. Unless it has been changed radically, in which case, we would withdraw this point. Show us proof, RIM!
- The iPad works because it serves up a terrific multimedia experience, not because it is a blown up iPhone or iPod touch. The Samsung Tab could score with video calling. The BlackBerry tablet will need to be more than just an e-mail or social networking device like its phones to click. Now, honestly, what could that be? We are still scratching our heads.
You’re an idiot who doesn’t even have their facts straight: the playbook is not OS 6, rather they bought a company that specializes in touch screen software to make specific OS for their tablet. You can compare this to the iPhone or to a traditional Blackberry without trying it. The iPad IS just a blown up iPod touch you moron. What do you think it is? At lease the blackberry will be 1080p with Hdmi out an have 2 cameras.
Well the thing about comparing the iPad to the Playbook is that the user is completely different. This entire post is redundant and is similar to “blackberry torch vs. iPhone 4” just a pointless waste of time. Obviously iPhone users think that their phone is better and can more than blackberry users.. But at the end of the day blackberry still has huge market share and is definitely doing alright for themselves. Personally, I believe the tablet will do exceptional with a business user and someone who is looking to do more with their tab than only play games and surf the web. Blackberry users need their devices for very specific reasons an often don’t care about the lacking app store. Your personal opinions are welcome, but are obviously extremely bias. You may have just posted a thread called: why I think blackberry devices suck and don’t sell. The fact is they do sell. They’re going to corner the business market with this device whether your small minded outlooks believe so or not.. And by the way I happily have an iPhone 4 and an iPad.