I have been watching news from RIM, maker of Blackberry smartphones and, now, the Blackberry Playbook tablet, for a long time. Last September they announced the Playbook and I have been anxiously awaiting its arrival ever since. Well, it was released on April 19 and I was there. Having saved up some extra money under my mattress over the months, I plopped it down and walked out with a 32gb version of this cool new toy.
I brought the thing home and played with it for hours....tons of fun. Great graphics, fast, lots of apps (though not as many as there are for iPads and Android tablets (but more on that in a second).
I also did what I never thought I would. I started downloading eBooks to read on the Playbook. It uses the Kobo ebook reader. I have found that I have a lot more time to read now that I can carry all those books around with me instead of having to haul the hard copies. It really is convenient and I am enjoying it a lot.
As for apps, RIM has announced that they will soon be releasing an app that will allow virtually ALL Android apps to run on the Playbook. And since it's so easy to convert iPad apps to run on Android OS, that means that almost any app available for tablets will have the potential to be released for the Playbook. I can't wait! But in the meantime, there are way more apps for the Playbook than I would ever need available already.
If you're thinking about getting an iPad, think again. There are still hundreds of thousands of websites you can't really view with an iPad since it doesn't support Adobe Flash. The Playbook does, and you can see all those websites in their full glory.
The version I got has a 7 inch screen (see photo) and can easily be held in one hand or even put in your pocket. They Playbook 2 will be available with a larger screen like the iPad if that's your preference.