BlackBerry Tablet Falling Short

Sigh…this comes as heartbreaking news to me. The reviews for the BlackBerry tablet have come back and let’s just say that these reviews have been less than stellar. I can’t say that I’m much surprised as I had sense enough not to set my hopes too high for the BlackBerry tablet to begin with but for my preconceived notion to be confirmed does cause a bit of a blow to this once BlackBerry loving heart of mine. Not even sure why I set my standards for the BlackBerry Tablet so low when I’m admittedly a BlackBerry loyalist (don’t even know that I can call myself much of a “fan” anymore). I guess it’s just that feeling in your gut that tells you when something’s just not ready. Well, in terms of the BlackBerry tablet, I had one of those feelings.

The idea for the Blackberry tablet, the PlayBook to be exact, was announced by Research in Motion (RIM) and the date was set to release it to stores on April 19^th set at $499. Of course, speculations grew high and many couldn’t wait to see exactly what this new PlayBook would entail. Well, the results are in and things aren’t looking too good. RIM is partially to blame for the less than stellar reviews that the PlayBook is getting as they released the device to reviewers before including the final features. For example, though RIM claims that the PlayBook will be offered in 4G, the version released for review only had Wi-Fi capabilities. What sense does that make?

But wait, Wi-Fi wasn’t the only thing missing from the PlayBook during the time of review. The PlayBook was also missing built-in apps for address book, calendar, notepad (which is one of my favorite Blackberry apps), email, calendar and, get this, BlackBerry Messenger (gasp!). Excuse me, PlackBook, but what DID you have? You had the audacity to show up in public missing everything that would make you an even remote iPad competitor when you are already joining the race from far behind. How dare you? Just say that you don’t want to win upfront next time and make it easier for us all.

It appears that RIM assumed that the new “Bridge” feature offered on the PlayBook that allows users to pair the tablet with a recent BlackBerry smartphone in order to access productivity data via the tablet’s Bluetooth connection would be enough to compensate for all of the currently missing applications. Here’s where I pause and shake my head in disgust. (Another deep sigh…) Um…RIM, I’m sorry if it never occurred to you but I could care less about your little Bridge feature. Hard for me to appreciate something I never had. What I do not, by any means appreciate, however, is the fact that the applications I have grown to know and love (or at least like a lot) on my Blackberry haven’t even made it to this funky little PlayBook…yet.

I’m over you RIM. You’re promises that the PlayBook will be the most awesome device equipped with the inclusion of Android applications fall on deaf ears. It’s over before it’s even begun PlayBook. Thanks for nothing.

April 14, 2011