1.Surf on the Couch. Let's start with the most obvious use for the iPad. Have you ever been watching TV and wondered where you'd seen a particular actor before? Having IMDB, Wikipedia and the rest of the web at your fingertips from the comfort of your couch can be a wonderful thing.
2.Mobile Gaming. The iPad was already a great gaming machine, with the ability to use the gyroscope and accelerometer to take portable gaming to a whole new level. The iPad 2 added to this with the ability to play augmented reality games, which makes gaming a great use for the iPad. And with the iPad 3's Retina Display, the graphics can even compete with console games. The Best Action/Arcade Games for the iPad
3.eReader. The ability to read eBooks from Apple's iBooks, Amazon's Kindle and Barnes and Noble's Nook certainly makes the iPad one of the most versatile eReaders on the market. But don't forget the great newspaper and magazine content, like The Daily from News Corp., which is hoping to redefine the daily newspaper for the digital age.
4.Recipe Book. The size and portability of the iPad makes it great for any room in the house, including the kitchen. There are tons of great cooking apps, such as recipes from Epicurious and Whole Foods Market. You can even manage your gluten sensitivity with apps like Is That Gluten Free?
5.Photo Album. It's one thing to carry around a bunch of photos on your iPhone, it is a totally different thing when you can display them on a 9.7" screen. You can easily store thousands of photographs on the lowest end iPad, and even display them as a slideshow. How much memory does your iPad need?
6.GPS. A great use for the iPad 4G model is as a GPS replacement. With an Assisted-GPS chip, the iPad can keep you from ever being lost. And the Maps app introduced in iOS 6.0 includes hands free turn-by-turn directions with data from TomTom.
7.Portable TV. This little-known use for the iPad can be great for parents that often find themselves at soccer games and tennis matches but might want to catch up on their television. Through the use of Sling Media's Sling Box, you'll never be without television. Shop for Sling Box
8.Home Stereo. One of the first things I recommend to new iPad users is to enable Home Sharing on iTunes and their iPad. This will allow you to play all of your music (and movies) on your iPad without actually loading them onto the device. And with the Digital AV Adapter, you can hook your iPad into your TV and get your music through your home theaters speakers. This definitely makes Home Sharing one of the best uses for the iPad.
9.Connect the iPad to Your TV. The iPad has a lot of great entertainment value, including the ability to stream HD video and play high-quality games. But what about watching it on the big screen? There a several methods to hook your iPad up to your HDTV, including using AirPlay to wirelessly connect the iPad to Apple TV. And most solutions work with both video and sound, so you can really get the full HD experience. Find out how to connect your iPad to your TV
10.Say Goodbye to Premium Cable. Have you ever wanted to ditch premium cable? The ability to stream Netflix and Hulu Plus directly to your HDTV means you can replace your premium channels without being forced to watch movies on a smaller screen. And considering the amount of television available on those services, some people could dump cable completely. The Top Apps for Streaming Movies and TV Shows
11.Family Entertainment . When you combine Apple's rigorous inspection of each app with the parental controls found in their iOS devices and the thousands of great games and apps on the iPad, you get the perfect family entertainment system. The iPad is great for family vacations when you need to entertain the kids in the backseat. Not only will they get access to movies, they can play games for far cheaper than most portable gaming machines. How to Turn Off In-App Purchases on the iPad
12.Business. The iPad is increasingly being used in the business, especially for those who must conduct their business while on the move, like nurses and doctors. Between the many different business-related apps in the app store and the ability to hit the web, it is not to hard to find great uses for the iPad in the workplace. The Best Free Productivity Apps.
13.Computer Replacement. Between its ability to hit Facebook, read Email and browse the web, the iPad can replace the laptop for many people. Apps like Apple's Pages and Numbers and the ability to hook up a keyboard via Bluetooth makes it a great computer on the go. And now that you can set up an iPad without a PC and use iCloud to make a back up, the iPad can actually replace the home computer for some.
14.Personal Assistant.The iPad 3 and iOS 6 adds a brand new use for the iPad: personal assistant. Siri can be a great little assistant, performing tasks from setting setting up meetings on your calender, finding nearby restaurants to eat at and even booking reservations for you. The best part? Reminders. Siri makes it incredibly easy to set a reminder, which is great if you too often find yourself forgetting to do something.
15.Second Monitor.Here's a neat trick: using your iPad as a second (or even third) monitor for your laptop or desktop PC. Through apps like DisplayLink and AirDIsplay, you can use your iPad as if it were an extra monitor connected to your PC. These apps work by connecting with a software package you download to your PC and then sending your iPad the video signal over Wi-Fi, and while they might not be quite as good as a real monitor, they actually perform quite well.
16.Wi-Fi Hotspot. The 4G version of the iPad 3 on Verizon has a really nice feature for those who like their Internet on the go: free tethering. This means you can use your iPad as a Wi-Fi Hotspot, and because it is 4G, you can get super fast speeds. The one caveat: tiered data plans can get expensive if you download too much data, and streaming HD video will use up the allocated data very quickly.
17.Video Conferencing. Did you know that FaceTime works on the iPad? In fact, it's actually better on an iPad because you have a bigger display. FaceTime works on the iPad by using your email address as a phone number, allowing anyoen else with an iPhone or iPad to 'call' you.
18.Video Camera. While the original iPad didn't have a camera, and the iPad 2's back-facing camera wasn't the highest quality, the camera on the iPad 3 is actually pretty good. And not only can you take video with it, there are a number of different apps that will let you edit video, including a version of iMovie for the iPad.
19.Be a Musician.For musicians, there are a ton of helpful apps that range from a digital piano to a guitar effects processor. You can even turn your iPad into a DJ station. Not a musician but want to be one? You can even use the iPad to learn an instrument thanks to nifty gadgets like ION's Piano Studio. 20.Control a Robot. The coolest use for an iPad? Controlling a robot. Double Robotics has created an iPad robot, which is essentially an iPad stand with wheels that you can control remotely. This essentially allows you to video conference on the move. But before you get too excited, the whole setup will run you $1999.
You've decided to buy an iPad. You've decided to go 4G. But which provider? Both AT&T and Verizon have both 3G and 4G data service plans for the iPad, but both are not created equal.
- The first thing you want to do in deciding on a carrier is check coverage, especially the coverage for 4G if you are buying the newest iPad. You can check AT&T's coverage on this web page, which shows the areas where data is covered. Simply click the Coverage tab at the bottom and note the orange circles that denote 4G coverage. Verizon's coverage map also shows which cities support 4G, with those cities highlighted with a green circle.
- If only one covers your area, your choice is simple. Verizon supports more 4G markets, and if your area is not supported, chances are that Verizon will hit it first. But for most of us, both AT&T and Verizon have the coverage in our area, especially if you look at 3G coverage for the iPad 2. So which one is better?
- If this were a horse race, AT&T and Verizon would be neck and neck in terms of performance and reliability. And because 4G has yet to be widely adopted, you won't see a lot of congestion on the networks. So if you are buying the 3rd generation iPad and you have 4G support in your area from both networks, you'll be more concerned with price.
- What about 3G? While the new iPad is going to be flying off the shelves, plenty of people will be picking up an iPad 2 at a discounted price. In this area, AT&T's 3G network is faster than the competition, and by a good margin. But being the sole provider of the iPhone has taken its toll on the network, which has become congested over the past few years. Verizon definitely wins the reliability award, but now that they are offering the iPhone and the iPad, their network will see a sharp increase in traffic.
But how much do they cost?
- If both AT&T and Verizon have the same coverage in your area, it is going to be a matter of cost. AT&T has the cheapest plan, offering 250 MB per month at $14.99, but if you are looking for the cheapest plan, Verizon's 1 GB for $20 is a better deal. It's too easy to blow through 250 MB of data, and paying the overage will rack up a higher bill.
- while both carriers offer a 5 GB plan for $50, AT&T offers 3 GB a month for $30, while Verizon just offers 2 GB a month at the same price. So if you are in the middle, AT&T wins the price war.
- As an added bonus, Verizon is adding in the ability to become a mobile hotspot to their data plans, so you won't need to spend extra money if you want to share your connection. Currently, AT&T is still working out the details on this issue.
- But one thing to remember is that you still pay for your data, and using your iPad as a mobile hotspot is a great way to exceed your data limits. In this way, it is in the carrier's best interests to offer the functionality for free in hopes that they can charge you more for the data. And in reality, having a data hotspot is more important for a smartphone than a tablet.
250 MB? 1 GB? What do those numbers even mean?
- Let's face it, most of us don't really know how much data we'll be using. AT&T states that most people consume less than 250 MB of data per month, but if you are using the 4G connection on a consistent basis, you are probably going to exceed that 250 MB range, and if you watch a lot of video, you could easily exceed 1 GB.
- In terms of price, Verizon's $20 a month plan is the best deal. The extra $5 buys you four times more data than AT&T's cheapest plan, which amounts to a lot of wiggle room. And for most of us, that'll be plenty of data. Even if you exceed 1 GB a few times a year, you are still going to save more money than paying for AT&T's 3 GB plan.
Should I get the 5 GB plan?
- It was recently revealed that users who gobbled up just 2-3 GB of data were being counted as among the top 5% on the network by AT&T, which is a good testament to how little data most of us will end up using on our iPad. Remember, if you are at home, you are probably going through your Wi-Fi, so that data doesn't count.
- Perhaps the best solution is to go for the middle tier plan and keep an eye on how much data you are using. The iPad doesn't have the same 2-year commitment as the iPhone and other smartphones, so you can actually adjust your data plan (or even drop it completely) month-to-month. In fact, many people do not sign up for a plan right at first, reserving that for when they take vacation or a business trip and might really use the plan.
During the new iPad unveiling yesterday, Apple announced it would drop the price of the 16GB iPad 2 to $399
with the Wi-Fi + 3G model discounted to $529. This was, of course, to
make room for the new iPad, which would start at $499 for the 16GB Wi-Fi
model and $629 for the 16GB Wi-Fi + 4G model. We knew the price drop
would likely be implemented by the new iPad’s March 16 launch date, but
it seems BestBuy and other retailers are already offering the new
prices. BestBuy is now advertising
not just the 16GB models, but the entire iPad 2 lineup, for $100 off
the usual pricing. However, the best price we have been able to find
comes from Micro Center. It is offering the 16GB Wi-Fi iPad 2 for $360.
BestBuy is advertising the new iPad as being available on March 16 (despite Apple’s own shipping times slipping), but it has not announced preorders for the device. On the other hand, RadioShack
confirmed that you can now preorder the new iPad by purchasing a $50
gift card that can also go towards the final purchase price. Its website
is listing all iPad 2′s as on sale in-store. RadioShack’s full press
release below also outlines its trade-in program for old iPads:
I’m writing to let you know RadioShack
will start selling the hot new tablet on Friday, March 16.
Starting today, the new iPad® will also be
available for pre-order by purchasing a $50 RadioShack gift card that
can be used toward the final purchase.
To celebrate the launch, customers can use
RadioShack’s Trade & Save program to receive up to $350 for an
iPad 2® and up to $175 on an original iPad® in working condition.
Customers can also use their Shack Card on the purchase of a new iPad®
or iPad 2® to receive a $50 mail in rebate. This special promotion will
end on Saturday, March 31.
Benefits of purchasing the new iPad® at RadioShack include:
• RadioShack’s smaller stores and neighborhood locations make shopping for Apple products and accessories more convenient.
• RadioShack’s Trade & Save
program allows customers to trade in an old mobile device or other
retired technology and immediately apply the appraised trade-in value
toward a current purchase. Shoppers can appraise their device at http://www.RadioShack.com/tradein, and then bring their device to the store to have the appraisal confirmed and complete the trade.
• RadioShack’s Mobile Product Support
(MPS), as free service available with any in-store mobile device or
tablet purchase. MPS includes free expert support over the lifetime of
the device. The 24/7 mobile support is accessible via phone, live online
chat at RadioShack.com, email or online forums.
• RadioShack is proud to be on the short
list of retailers that provide customers with optional AppleCare + for
accidental damage to iPads. Joining Target, phone carriers and Apple
stores, AppleCare+ can be added with the purchase of your iPad at
RadioShack locations nationwide.
(1)The new iPad has a Retina Display packing a million more pixels than your HD TV
In case you had any doubts, Apple just unveiled at a media event in
San Francisco the new iPad and boy does it have that ultra-high
resolution display you have clamored for. Apple’s marketing honcho said,
“Until you see it, you can’t understand how amazing it is.” The screen
itself packs in a 2048-by-1536-pixel resolution, or 3.1 million pixels,
for “the most ever in a mobile device.”
This screen resolution on a 9.7-inch display translates to a pixel
density of 264 pixels per inch, which is less than the 326 pixels per
inch on the iPhone 4/4S. However, when holding the device at 15 inches
away (the iPhone is typically held at 10 inches away), your eye is
unable to distinguish the individual pixels—hence the Retina moniker.
Another interesting aspect: With a 2048-by-1536-pixel resolution, the
new iPad has a million more pixels than your HDTV. It also has 44
percent greater saturation. Moreover, Apple upgraded the processor with
quad-core graphics, naming the enhanced chip the “A5X.” to drive all
those pixels. Executives bragged on stage that the device has more
memory and a higher screen resolution than an Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3
console.
(2)iPad gets iSight camera with fifth lens: 5MP stills, 1080p video recording
Another feature of the new iPad is a redesigned camera system that
seems to borrow heavily from both the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. Gone are
the poor man’s backside camera on iPad 2. The new iPad boasts Apple’s
proven camera system design featured on iPhone 4S.
On the back is the new iSight camera with a 5-megapixel CMOS sensor.
It’s got a number of iPhone 4S features, including backside
illumination, auto-exposure, auto-focus, face detection in still images,
video stabilization, a fifth lens and hybrid IR filter. This crazy
camera hardware is driven by an Apple-designed image processor built
into the A5X chip. Oh, in case you were wondering – yes, it records
video in full HD 1080p resolution at up to 30 seconds with stereo audio.
As for the front-facing videoconferencing camera, it is the same
“FaceTime camera with VGA-quality photos and video at up to 30 frames
per second”.
(3)Voice Dictation featured on the new iPad
The fourth feature highlighted with the new iPad is voice
dictation—definitely a taste of Siri. It supports U.S. English, British,
Australian, French, German and Japanese:
“The iPad, like all great iOS devices, has a great
keyboard. And now you’ll see there’s a new key on the bottom: a
microphone,” announced Apple exec Phil Schiller.
(4)The new iPad is 4G LTE
Apple just confirmed live in San Francisco that the new iPad will
support 21Mbps HSPA+ and DC-HSDPA at 42Mbps, as well as LTE at 73Mbps.
Apple execs gave demos of the device running on both AT&T and
Verizon LTE networks and confirmed support for both carriers. Apple also
announced international LTE partners, including Canadian carriers Bell,
Rogers, and TELUS. There will also be personal hotspot available on
support carriers.
Apple just finished the new iPad presentation at San Francisco’s
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Now we have full tech specs, and the new Retina Display
is its defining feature, but what about the little things? Per
pre-event rumors and whispers, the new iPad is a tad heavier and thicker
than its predecessor is.
The new iPad is 9.4mm thin and weighs 1.4lbs. As for the iPad 2, it
is 8.8mm deep and weighs 1.33lbs (Wi-Fi model). This makes the new iPad
0.6mm thicker and 0.07lbs heavier. However, we somehow doubt anyone
other than the most eagle-eyed fans will notice the difference.
As for its battery, the new iPad maintains the same 10-hour battery
life as both the original iPad and iPad 2. Steve Jobs highlighted
battery performance at the iPad 2 unveiling by underscoring how iPad 2
features the same “legendary” battery as the original model. “We don’t
want to give that up,” he said, “This has been tried and tested by many
reviewers.”
Apple has sent out press invitations for their iPad 3 unveiling, set of March 7 at 10am PT. The invitation reads:
We have something you really have to see. And touch.
The image shows a finger lingering over the iPad dock, and as with
the iPhone 4S invitation, the icons are cleverly used to provide
information: San Francisco on Maps, March 7 on Calendar, and Keynote.
(They couldn’t include the Clock icon showing the time since iPad
doesn’t have a built-in Clock app like iPhone does.)
There’s no Home button visible, but the simplest explanation for that
is the iPad is being held in landscape orientation (or upside down).
Also, the icons are all rendered very crisply, almost Retina-esque…
The iPad 3 event (if that’s the device name Apple is going with) will
take place at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.
Along with the widely expected Retina display, the iPad 3 is also rumored to be getting a better, perhaps quad-core processor, and 4G LTE networking.
A 10 Round Head to Head Smack Down comparing Apple's iPad 2 w/ iOS 5
against Research In Motion's BlackBerry PlayBook on it's newly updated
2.0 operating system software
Two months ago it might have seen crazy to speak of the iPad 2 and the BlackBerry Playbook
in the same sentence. The iPad 2 is the grand-daddy of the tablet world
and the Playbook was received like the poor step child. No native
email, contacts or calendar - only useable with a BlackBerry Smartphone -
the list was lengthy and the comparison of the two tablets was not a
fair fight.
Enter Playbook 2.0. Now we are back to square one and the battle is on. Much is new in Playbook 2.0 and much is improved from when the Playbook first hit the shelves last April.
One factor that we are not looking at for the "competition" but users
should think about is price. Currently, a 16GB iPad 2 will set you back
$499.00 and a comparable PlayBook 2.0 can be had for $199.00.
So, now its time for the ultimate battle - it is David vs. Goliath -
Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Mohammed Ali. There will be 10 rounds in this
battle. We will use the 10 point must system - meaning that the winner
of each round gets 10 points and the loser gets a lower number. We will
look at both devices in detail and put them to the test. Will it be a
knockout? Will it be a draw? You might be surprised to see the
results....read on.
iPad 2 vs. BlackBerry PlayBook 2.0 Smack Down
Round One: User Interface and Gestures
Ding Ding Ding.... Let's keep it clean.... FIGHT!
iPad 2
The iPad set the bar for user interface. It is clean, simple and powerful. While it is debatable who invented "Pinch to Zoom,"
there is no question that this feature is buttery smooth on all
iDevices. Add the swiping through pictures and the ease of moving apps
and you had a very easy and intuitive interface.
iOS 5.0 added some great new features. Now, four fingers swiping up
will bring display the mutil-tasking bar and a four finger "closing
pinch" of the hand will close open apps if these gestures are activated
in the Settings app.
That leads to one major interface flaw that still plagues the iPad 2
(and all iDevices, for that matter;) To adjust settings of any
application, you need to first leave the application and then go to the Settings
app and make adjustments. You then need to go back to the app you were
"tweaking." At times, this process can be quite cumbersome.
PlayBook 2.0
PlayBook 2.0 adds to some great features that have been there since
launch. PlayBook 2.0 also does a bit of iPad imitating with the enhanced
functionality of the App Dock now located at the bottom. Users can
choose which apps to move in and out of the Bottom dock. The
process is remarkably similar to that of the iPad - just touch and hold
until the icons shake and then drag them to a new location in the dock.
Where the PlayBook really shines is the many gestures available. Where the PlayBook can be a challenge is in the multiplicity of gestures the user needs to remember.
Swiping to "wake" the device is very cool and convenient. Swiping from
the lower left hand corner to the center will bring up the keyboard.
Swiping from either corner (while in an app) to the center will show the
Status bar.
One feature that the PlayBook gets spot on is the "swipe down from the top" gesture which brings up the Settings app from the Home screen and brings up the Options menu from within any app. This gesture becomes intuitive and extremely useful especially in the Browser, Calendar and Message apps.
RIM likes to refer to the experience of making these tasks simpler as
"BlackBerry Flow." The PlayBook almost seems to know what you want to
do and makes tasks easier and more intuitive.
Possibly the most powerful and fun gesture is the "Swype up" to reduce
an app and then the swipe up to "throw away" and close the app. While
this is very WebOS like - it works and its great.
Round One Tally:
Both devices shine in many areas, but when looking at the totality of
the gestures and the user interfaces of both devices the PlayBook takes
this round with 10 points and the iPad comes in a close second with 9
points.
Round Two: App Organization
When the PlayBook was introduced, we had different views available from
the Home screen - All, Favorites, Media and Games. Apps could be moved
into each category giving us some sense of organization to the apps.
PlayBook 2.0
PlayBook 2.0 has taken quite a few cues from the iPad 2. The App
dock (as mentioned above) is now a place to store up to five apps. The
PlayBook 2.0 also lets us create folders by simply holding an app until
they start to move and then dragging the app onto another app. Folders
can also be placed in the App dock giving you access to a full folder of apps right in the App dock.
Swipe up from the App dock and all remaining apps are displayed. If you
have more than one page worth, simply swipe to the left to get to the
next page.
iPad 2
App organization on the iPad 2 is now, quite similar to the PlayBook 2.
Apps can be organized in folders and folders are created in exactly the
same manner. Folders on the iPad can hold more apps than the PlayBook,
but you can't reproduce the clean look of the PlayBook when the App dock
is at the bottom and only the wallpaper is viewed above. The iPad
always has apps or folders populating the entirety of the screen.
Round Two Tally:
Both devices are very similar when it comes to app organization, using
folders and having the ability to populate a dock with "Favorite" apps
or folders. It is hard to pick a clear winner in this round so both the
PlayBook and the iPad 2 get 10 points.
Round Three: Multi-Tasking
When we thing about multi-tasking, we usually think about our desktop or
laptop and all the windows from all the apps open at the same time. It
is easy to just jump from the Word document to an email we are
composing to the website we were just viewing.
Given the limited memory and the hardware constraints of many tablets,
true multi-tasking can be a challenge. Multi-tasking actually came late
to iOS since Apple felt they could not do it "right" in the early
iterations. With iOS 5 on the iPad 2 and OS 2.0 on the PlayBook, we can
now really compare two very different ways of working with multiple
apps.
iPad 2
There has been much written about "true" multi-tasking on iOS devices. For argument's sake, let's say the iPad has very good "limited" multi-tasking built in. To get the most out of multi-tasking on the iPad 2, users should enable Multitasking Gestures in the iPad Settings app. This will allow you to move between your open apps by simply using four fingers and swiping.
I have tried this with about a dozen apps open at once and, for the most
part, I could successfully swipe between the apps. If I was matching a
movie, it would pause when I swiped to a new app and then I would have
to hit the Play button again to restart.
The other way to multi-task on the iPad is to double click the Home
button or, if multitasking gestures are enabled, move four fingers up
from the bottom to reveal all "running" apps. This is a bit clunkier
than simply swiping, but it is the only way to actually see which apps
are open. This is my biggest grip with iOS multi-tasking - when you
swipe through apps, you don't really know which one is coming next -
only by using the second method of seeing all open apps and then
choosing the right one can you figure it out.
When you iPad starts to slow down, you may want to close and app or two.
The only way to do this is to bring up the list of running apps, hold
down until the little "x" appears and then touch the "x to delete it.
The bottom line is that you can multi-task on the iPad, but you have to
go through a few steps to get back to the specific app you are looking
for.
PlayBook 2.0
I have always been a fan of WebOS and its multi-tasking abilities. The
QNX software on the PlayBook takes one of the best features of WebOS and
improves upon it. Start an app on the PlayBook and then just swipe up
from the bottom of the screen. You now see all of your open apps right
before you. Just swipe left or right and touch the app you want to go
back to - that's all there is to it!
Perhaps the coolest feature of multi-tasking on the PlayBook is the
ability to keep your apps "active" in the background. In the Settings
menu, you can select the Application Behavior dropdown menu to read Showcase, Default or Paused. When choosing Showcase, even though minimized, a vide keeps playing while you look at all of your open apps.
I have found that I could actually have more open apps on my PlayBook
than on the iPad. When I do need to close apps on the PlayBook, I just
swipe the minimized app up and away. This "throwing" away apps is not
only cool and visually fun, it makes it much easier and quicker to keep
only the apps I want open at all times.
Round Three Tally:
Both the iPad 2 and the PlayBook 2.0 can multi-task. Both have the
hardware to handle multiple apps open at once and both can allow for
plenty of apps to be simultaneously running. The PlayBook just handles
multi-tasking better. It is clear that the PlayBook was designed from
the ground up to multi task; for the iPad, multi-tasking seems like an
afterthought that was tacked on. Seeing the app minimized on the home
screen and still running is cool and helpful. Swiping through open apps
to find just the one you want is way more efficient on the PlayBook.
The PlayBook gets a perfect 10 in this round and the iPad gets an 8.
Round Four: PIM Functions - Contacts and Calendar
If you use your tablet to help manage your life you will need a solid Contacts app and a powerful Calendar
app to help get that done. Both the iPad 2 and the PlayBook 2.0 can
handle each of these functions, but they go about it in fundamentally
different ways.
PlayBook 2.0
Let's just get this out there...the PlayBook has, hands down, the best Contacts
app available on any mobile platform at this time. Now, it took a while
to get here as early PlayBook users were required to use the BlackBerry Bridge and connect their BlackBerry to see their contacts. Now, there is a native Contacts app right on the device.
What's so great about the Contacts app on the PlayBook 2.0? When you
set up your Contacts or Calendar app on the PlayBook 2.0. you are
prompted to input your login information for your Facebook, LinkedIn,
Twitter, Facebook and Email accounts. The PlayBook then "sucks in" all
your data and groups it together by contact.
For example, if I search for Kevin in my Contacts app, I see his
PlayBook video chat address, his emails, his LinkedIn and Twitter pages
and a full bio pulled from LinkedIn. Whatever I touch launces the
appropriate app.
Along the right hand side of the Contacts app are soft keys for:
Information, Status Updates, Company Information, Shared Meetings,
Shared Connections, Shared Locations, Favorite contact indicator, Edit
and Link - to link to even more accounts for Kevin.
The Options are staggering and the usability is incredible. I can see Kevin's Twitter update from the Contacts
app. It is easy to search and scroll through contacts and the usability
of the information present is further shown when using the Calendar app.
The Calendar app on the PlayBook also adds some new features to the
tablet world. When the calendar is launched, the default view shows the
month. Days on which you have appointments are shown in larger, bold
numbers. The Day view is shown to the right of the monthly calendar. You can choose the Weekly or Daily view from the top left hand corner. Choose Agenda from the top right of the app and your appointments for the day are listed.
One of the coolest feature of the Calendar app is the People
view which you can select from the top right. If you have a scheduled
meeting with a contact on a particular day, select the day and then
People view and the list of people you are meeting with shows up. Just
touch the Contact icon and you go right to the Contact
app. Imagine you have an important meeting and you need to do a bit of
research on him/her before you meet. If a meeting invite was created and
they are listed under People, you just go right to the Contact app from the Calendar and can read up via LinkedIn or Twitter or wherever you need to go to get the information.
To sum up, the core PIM functions of the PlayBook give you more of a "social hub" for your contacts and appointments.
iPad 2
Contacts and Calendar are two, isolated and not interconnected apps on
the iPad. Not that that is inherently a bad thing, but the integration
of a "social hub" present on the PlayBook is not an option on the iPad.
The Contacts app is functional if not underwhelming on all iOS devices. On the iPad, visually, the Contacts app looks very nice. Imagine a large address book and you can visualize the iPad 2 address book. Touch the Search box and type in a name and the contact info shows up on the right side of the address book.
When I look at Kevin's info on the iPad, I can touch an email address to
send an email or touch the URL for his LinkedIn profile - but I can't
do any of the options I spoke of above like I could on the PlayBook.
One nice feature on the iPad Contacts app is that I can see all of my
"groups" in my address book (assuming I have set up groups in either my
google or iCloud account.) I can't create a new group on the iPad, but
being able to see the various groups is welcome.
The Calendar app on the iPad has lots of eye candy built in. I can
easily shift between Day, Week, Month, Year and List view by touching
the corresponding button at the top of the screen. I can also "flip"
through the pages of my calendar like a book - a very cool graphic
feature that is both intuitive and fun.
Setting up a new appointment is just like any other iOS device. If I
choose my iCloud calendar I can invite attendees to meetings - but I
can't do that if I select one of my Google Calendars.
In the upper left corner I can touch the Calendars button to see all of
my synced calendars and decide which ones I want to actually "see" on
the app itself. One differentiating factor between the iPad and
PlayBook calendars is that all of my Google subscribed calendars showed
up on the iPad while I had trouble locating them on the PlayBook.
Round Four Tally:
This one surprised me a bit. Now, realize that my primary phone is an
iPhone 4s and I wrote a full book on the iPad 2 - I was not expecting to
be blown away by the PIM features of the PlayBook, but I was. Quite
simply, the merging of all data in the Contacts app and the ability to
have a People view in the calendar make the PlayBook 2.0 PIM functions
superior to the iPad 2 experience. The PlayBook gets another perfect 10
and the iPad gets a 7.
Round Five: Media Capabilities
So far, the PlayBook 2.0 is off to an impressive start. Now, we come to
the bread and butter of all things iOS related - Media Capabilities. You
would expect, and rightly so, that the iPad would have a huge advantage
in this round. In this round, we will look at both getting media onto
the device as well as the "consumption" of media through the various
players and apps once it is loaded.
iPad 2
iOS devices live and breathe media consumption. "iPod," after all, is
synonymous with "music player" in today's vernacular. The one caveat
with iDevice media consumption is that the user needs to buy into the
iTunes ecosystem. (For the brave of heart, you can "jailbreak" your iPad, opening up more media options - but make sure you know what you are doing first!)
Assuming we use the factory settings, most of your media will arrive via
iTunes. iTunes has the most extensive music library, a very extensive
Video and TV Show library and tons of Video Podcasts and Music Videos to
load onto your device. Most media costs you money, but there are always
lots of freebies around.
We also need to consider the vast library of iTunes U video files -
lectures and guides from top Universities - which are very informative.
New to iOS 5.0 is the ability to use Wi-Fi Sync to get your music and
videos onto the iPad. Your settings as to what goes on the iPad and
what gets updated will be the same as when you connected via the cable -
but now there really is no reason to have to plug the iPad into the
computer to get music.
One more other very cool option on the iPad 2 is the ability to "Home
Share" your complete media collection over your network. In a nutshell,
just enable Home Sharing on your primary computer and put in your Apple ID and password in the Settings app for the Music and Videos apps. Once enabled, you can see all your home media content and essentially stream it through your iPad.
Once your downloadable content is on the device, the fun really starts.
The Music app is beautiful and powerful. You can organize the view by Artist, Album or Song and you can display your view by your Playlists. You can also create a new playlist right on the iPad itself.
Once you find your music you have the standard music controls and the ability to repeat, shuffle or use the Apple Genius feature to find similar style music to what is currently playing.
Then you toss is all the available steaming music apps - Pandora,
Slacker, Spotify and hundreds of others into the mix and you have quite a
powerful music playing machine. Sound quality is also top notch.
Likewise with video, there is a plethora of content in the iTunes store
to download. One very cool feature is the way iTunes movies handle
chapters and divide the movie into quickly accessible chapters for
jumping right into a desired scene.
The iPad 2's resolution is not quite "retina" quality but it is still 1024 x 768 which is pretty darn good.
You can utilize high speed scrubbing to move to a very specific section
and you can adjust the picture from full screen to wide screen. If you
have an Apple TV you can also send your video to your home theater using
Apple's proprietary Airplay technology.
Toss in the Netflix, Flixter, ABC, XFinity and so many more apps that
allow you to stream video content to your iPad 2 and you are never at a
loss for media to consume.
PlayBook 2.0
Getting content onto the Plabook can be done in a couple of ways. If you utilize the BlackBerry Desktop Manager software,
you can easily choose music, videos and photos from your desktop
library to transfer onto the device. Desktop Manager is a bit slower
than iTunes, but it is effective for getting media on the device.
One advantage the PlayBook has over the iPad is the ability to use Wi-Fi
Sharing to move files from your computer to the PlayBook or from the
PlayBook to the computer. Just pull down the Settings menu and touch
Storage and Sharing and enable Wi-Fi Sharing. What is very cool about
this is that your PlayBook will appear as a connected device on your
computer. Just click on (in this example - the Media folder) and copy
and paste or drag and drop media from your computer to the appropriate
folder. Using the Wi-Fi file transfer I could copy a non-iTunes movie
file from my Mac right onto the PlayBook.
Music can be purchased from the 7 Digital Music store. It is organized well, but there is simply no where near the content you can find on the iTunes store. Prices were comparable to iTunes.
Videos can now be purchased at the Video Store powered by Rovi.
The video store will keep track of purchased items and has a very small
collection of movies and TV shows for download. Movies can also be
rented from the Video store. Typically, new releases rented for $3.99
and could be purchased for $19.99 and some older movies could be had for
$9.99. one gripe is that you can't just have all content stores tied to
your BlackBerry ID. For example I had to log in three different times
to buy an app, music or video.
The Music app on the PlayBook is certainly functional. The usual Play/Pause, Stop, Next and Previous buttons are present. Also present are the Shuffle and Replay
buttons. Expand the bottom pane and you can see album covers for
upcoming songs in a Playlist or on the album to which you are listening.
Testing the sound quality of the PlayBook compared to the iPad 2, the
PlayBook came up a bit short. I used high end Klipsch Earphones and
turned on the Headphone Audio Boost in the Sound settings
on the PlayBook. The PlayBook was a bit weak in both the Lowest end
the Highest ends of the register giving a bit more of a "muddled" sound
on the sample tracks I tested. One unique feature of the PlayBook is stereoscopic sound which does enhance stereo output in certain circumstances.
Couple that with the fact that while Slacker Radio is included with the
PlayBook, there is no Pandora, Spotify, NPR Music or many of the other
iPad apps that are available as of yet for the PlayBook. (Later in this
piece we will talk about side loading Android apps onto your PlayBook
which can solve some of this.)
The Video Player app is also pretty "bare bones" but functional on the
PlayBook. The usual video controls are present along with one feature
that is not present (out of the box) on the iPad. Connect an HDMI cable
to the PlayBook and your TV and then touch the Presentation Mode icon in
the upper right hand corner and you have a very powerful presentation
tool in your PlayBook. For PowerPoint presentations, this would be
awesome! Resolution is 1024 x 600 - a hair under that of the iPad 2.
We know that while DLNA support is not yet present on the PlayBook 2.0,
it is in development; meaning that wireless media streaming should be
coming to the PlayBook in a future update.
No Netflix, no Flixter, no Cable TV apps mean that finding streaming
video content is tricky. The fact that Flash Player is built in does
give you access to some web based streaming content that is not
available on the iPad. Factor in that Apple's battle with Flash is making HTML5 the video standard means that this distinction won't mean so much in the future.
Round Five Tally:
As expected, the iPad 2 delivered a knockdown to the PlayBook in this
round - our first "standing eight count" of the fight. The iPad takes a
perfect 10 in this round and the PlayBook gets a six.
Round Six: Email/Messaging
This is the area where the new OS in the PlayBook 2.0 changes the game
considerably. Prior to the OS 2.0 upgrade, the only way to email or
message was to "Bridge" your BlackBerry to the PlayBook. Now, native
messaging means this is a good battle for these two tablets.
PlayBook 2.0
Earlier we spoke of the "imitation" of some of the best features of
WebOS in the PlayBook 2.0. The PlayBook surpasses virtually every other
platform with the inclusion of a unified messaging inbox. What that
means is that in one place - the Messages app - goes not only your email, but also Facebook messages, LinkedIn messages and Twitter Direct Messages.
The beauty of this is that you don't have to open the dedicated app
(i.e., Facebook or Twitter) to respond. You can respond to and compose
messages in all of your logged in account right from the messaging app.
Just touch the Titter icon along the left hand side of the Messaging app and send a Direct Message - it couldn't be easier!
Email only gets better! Touch the Compose button to send an
email. What you immediately notice is that the PlayBook gives you a full
rich text email editor. You can change the font, the size, the color
and easily change the style of text right from the editor - just like
using a full featured email editor. Attach files that are stored locally
on the device, change the priority - you name it and you can do it from
the PlayBook Email app.
Perhaps the best email feature is that you can swipe down from the top to see the Options menu and then select Compose Email
up to four times! That means that you can have up to four separate
email compositions going at any one time. You can then swipe up to
minimize the app and do something else. That is a level of email power
unmatched in any device today.
The PlayBook has one of the best predictive (link to swipe tech) text
systems I have seen in a mobile device. When you start to type, the
PlayBook will show you five possibilities for the word you are typing
along the top of the keyboard. Simply touch the correct one and it is
inserted into the email.
Connect your PlayBook via BlackBerry Bridge to your BlackBerry Smartphone and you can take advantage of your BlackBerry Messenger app on the PlayBook.
iPad 2
Email on the iPad is...well, its email - just email. You can set up
multiple email accounts, you can have a unified inbox of email - but at
the end of the day you still get only email.
The iPad offers some nice features for email organization - adding
messages to various folders and the like. There are no rich text editing
features, however, in the Email app.
Typing offers Apple's version of predictive text, which I find somewhat
annoying. The ipad will suggest one word and you can touch the Space bar to accept that or try to touch the small "x" to get rid of it.
One built in iOS feature that is great which the PlayBook lacks is the
built in dictionary. Just hold down any word in an email (or other app,)
choose "Define" and the iPad will give you a contextual definition.
iOS 5 introduced a new way to communicate with your friends; iMessage.
iMessage is in some ways similar to BlackBerry Messenger - it is
"instant," you can see when your messages are delivered . You can attach
an image to your iMessage and send that along in the body of your
iMessage as well. iMessage can be sent to any iDevice - that means you
can send it to the phone number of an iPhone or the email address used
as the ID on any iPad or iPod.
You can certainly send Facebook messages, Direct Messages via Twitter and LinkedIn messages - but you will need to load up each app first to have that option.
Video Chat
We are looking at Video Chat as a sort of messaging/communication aspect
of both devices here. Both the PlayBook 2.0 and the iPad 2 offer
front-facing cameras for video chat. Both have video chat apps -
PlayBook's is called Video Chat and the iPad used Apple's FaceTime.
Both video chat apps are proprietary - you can only use Video Chat with other PlayBook users and you can only use FaceTime
with other iOS users. Clearly, if you have lots of friends with other
iOS devices, the iPad 2 will give you more people to talk to via
FaceTime. Anyone with an iPhone 4, iPad 2 or a newer iPod touch can use
FaceTime on their devices.
Functionality is fairly similar on both devices. The PlayBook does a
nice job of knowing which of your contacts have a BlackBerry ID for
Video Chat calls - this is done automatically as all your contact data
is sucked into the PlayBook. On the iPad, you need to specify your
contacts for FaceTime. You can use your Apple ID or your iCloud login to
set up FaceTime. You can call people using their iPhone phone number -
assuming they are connected to Wi-Fi. You can also use an associated
email address if they have that set up.
Both apps let you search your contacts and both allow you to move the
smaller video camera on the screen so that it is not blocking the view
of the person on the other end. One of the very cool features of the
PlayBook is that you can minimize the app and still see the video while
you swipe to see if you may have a message to check or perform another
task.
Video chat is pretty much a wash between these two devices. The one are
where the iPad has the advantage is that you can use the Skype app. We do hope this will be released soon for the PlayBook, but it doesn't look so good.
Round Six Tally:
After getting knocked down in the last round, the PlayBook got back up
and delivered its own knockdown in this round. In fact, the iPad 2 was
knocked down twice. The powerful Messaging app, unified inbox
with Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, rich text editor and more made the
PlayBook an email king - BlackBerry email is back in a big way! The
PlayBook gets a perfect 10 and the iPad 2 gets a 5.
Round Seven: E-Reading
The Kindle has revolutionized the way we read - no question about that.
E-Books are now taking over as a preferred way of consuming books. There
are options for E-Reading on both the PlayBook 2.0 and the iPad 2. Each
options sort of forces the reader to "commit" to one particular
e-commerce system (iTunes, Kindle store, Kobo store, etc.) The size of
each device was also a factor in this round.
iPad 2
The iPad 2 is big; for E-Reading, that is both a negative and a
positive. The big beautiful screen is a joy to use to read books. The
size can make the iPad somewhat fatiguing to hold for long periods of
time and that is something to factor in.
The iPad shines in the options available for E-Reading apps. The built in iBooks
app is visually beautiful. It has a built in dictionary, the ability to
adjust screen resolution, set for night time viewing, adjust fonts,
search within the book and more. One of the coolest features of iBooks
is the ability to literally turn the pages with a page turning animation
- you can even see the words on the back of the page.
The iPad also has a Kindle app, a Kobo app, Comic Book readers, interactive kids books and more. With the new update to iBooks,
you now have textbooks that are mind-blowing available for $14.95. In
short, if it can be read, it can be read on the iPad 2. Add in the Newstand app and one of the thousands of magazines or newspapers to which you can subscribe and the quantity of content is staggering.
PlayBook 2.0
Out of the box, the PlayBook has a Kobo app - but not much else. The
size of the PlayBook is much closer to that of an actual paper back book
making it feel more natural in the hand. It is also much easier to hold
with one hand as you hold your coffee cup in the other.
The Kobo app functioned well. Switching to night view (black background
with white text) is very helpful - especially if you don't want to wake
up your spouse/partner in the middle of the night. You can adjust the
Font size, jump to the table of contents and use bookmarks to keep your
place.
There are no page-turn animations, but you just tap on the right side of
the screen to turn a page and the left side to go back a page.
The Kobo store has most of the popular titles and most of the public domain works for free. The problem is that the Kobo
app is the only "official" app available now. This brings us to the
issue of "unofficial" apps. If you have been reading about the PlayBook
on CrackBerry, you may be familiar with the fact that the PlayBook 2.0
has a built in - behind the scenes - Android player. Some Android apps
are available in the BlackBerry App World, but you can "side-load"
Android apps - by following the directions
very carefully - onto the PlayBook. Now, this is not for the faint of
heart - but it is not too difficult. Once you side-load the Kindle app,
you will be able to utilize the Kindle reader and have access to your
library.
Round Seven Tally:
E-Reading is not a strength of the PlayBook. I love the size and I like
the way the books look on the screen, but the iPad simply has too many
options for consuming printed material. We seem to be going back an
forth with knockdowns in this battle. In this round, the PlayBook goes
down hard and the iPad 2 wins by a score of 10 to 5.
Round Eight: Photography and Videography
Neither the PlayBook or the iPad will replace your SLR any time soon.
You will also look like a major league geek if you go around taking lots
of pictures using a tablet. That being said, both the iPad 2 and
PlayBook 2.0 have built in front and rear facing cameras. Both shoot HD
video and both can manage your photo library.
PlayBook 2.0
The PlayBook comes with a 3MP Front facing camera for video chat and a
5MP camera for stills on the back. The PlayBook will shoot 1080P HD
video as well.
The camera is pretty bare bones but it does offer some nice options.
Taking a picture is pretty straight forward on the PlayBook - just choose the Photo or Video icon (in this case, Photo) and then touch the Camera icon to take a picture. The picture goes right into the Camera app (the equivalent of the Camera roll on iOS.)
Swipe down from the top and you have the options for image stabilization, 16:9 or 4:3 aspect ratio, Action (for a moving subject) or Whiteboard (for an image that can be used with a whiteboard.)
Image quality was about what you would expect from a 5 MP portable
camera. There is no flash so you are somewhat limited as to the pictures
you can take. That being said, I took a couple of indoor shots with the
PlayBook and the exposure seemed OK.
Taking video is as easy as touching the Video icon and then the start
button. Press the Stop button to end the video. You then need to swipe
down from the top and select Videos to see your videos. There are no
editing functions built in to the PlayBook 2.0.
The Pictures app is where you go to manage your photos on the PlayBook.
There you will find your Camera Pictures folder as well as folders (or
albums) of all the pictures you loaded on the device using Desktop Manager.
Touch an album to see all the photos in the album. Touch one image to
fill the screen. To have the pictures displayed in a slide show, touch
the large Play button in the middle. To go forwards of backwards, touch the appropriate icon.
Swipe down from the top in any album to see all the pictures in that
album, to delete a photo or to set a photo as your wallpaper.
There are no photo or video editing capabilities at this time in the PlayBook Pictures
app. You do have the option, however, to connect your PlayBook via HDMI
to your TV and use the PlayBook in presentation mode to display your
pictures.
iPad 2
The iPad 2 has a much lower, .7MP camera on the back of the device and a
.3 MP camera on the front. The front camera is used for Skype or FaceTime
video chat and you might want to use the rear camera for a quick
picture - but you will be disappointed with the image quality. The iPad 2
shoots 720P video out of the back camera lens, which is most likely the
way you would use the device.
You can zoom in by touching the screen and getting the slider bar, but
the more you zoom the lower the already poor picture quality will be.
The only option in the Options button is to have a grid on or off.
Once you take the picture, it goes into your Camera roll. From there you can easily Email it, send it via iMessage, Assign it to a Contact, Use as Wallpaper, Tweet it, Print it or Copy it.
You can also choose Edit and Rotate, Enhance, fix Red Eye or Crop it.
Choose Video instead of Photo, touch the Record button and start
to record your video. One area where the iPad shines is in the options
after the video is taken. You will see a timeline of the video at the
top of the screen and you can simply drag the handles to "trim" the
video. From there you can Email the Video, send it via iMessage, Send to YouTube or Copy it.
You view your Photos and videos in the Photos app. The Photos app
organizes your pictures into several different views depending on how
you synced your device. For example, if you have a Mac and synced some
of your Faces albums to the iPad, you will have a tab that says Faces. Similarly, photos are categorized into Events, Albums, Places and Photo Stream.
What is nice about Photo Stream is that if it is enabled on any iDevice
or Mac, any picture taken on any device goes into this cloud based
Photo Stream which then adds the picture to all your other connected
devices. You can also choose to create a slide show, customizing the
transitions used and which music to use from your device - you can even
send the whole thing to your TV using AirPlay.
iPad (left) vs. PlayBook (right)
[Click photos for larger images]
Round Eight Tally:
This was a tough round to call; the iPad 2 has a horrible camera, but
great photo and video editing built in. The organization and options
after a photo or video are taken are also more plentiful and more
intuitive on the iPad. The PlayBook as a pretty decent camera -
certainly way better than that on the iPad 2. Where the PlayBook falls
flat is in what you can do after you take a picture or video. With
virtually no editing or transmitting options all you can really do is
scroll through your pictures or have a basic slide show.
Since most of us won't really be using the camera for taking lots of
pictures but will using the video perhaps for HD video, this comes down
to what you can do after the photo or video is taken. That being the
case, the iPad 2 wins this round by a score of 10 to 7.
Round 9: Web Browsing
One of the features users are looking for the most in their tablets is a
good web browsing experience. Historically, it would be hard to put a
BlackBerry web browser up against an iOS browser, but the PlayBook and
its QNX operating system (maybe Torch browser)made for a very capable
browsing experience - but how capable?
iPad 2
The iPad 2 uses an optimized version of the mobile Safari
browser. Launch the browser and the iPad screen fills up (rather
quickly) with a full featured browsing experience. Pinch to Zoom works
like a charm on the Safari browser, scrolling is smooth and fast with
very little if any pixilation.
The options within the browser are limited; you can view Bookmarks or your History by touching the Bookmarks icon. You can also view those article you have saved to your Reading List.
Touch the Action button to Add a Bookmark, Add to the Reading List, Add to Home Screen (web clip,) Mail Link to Page, Tweet or Print.
You add new tabs by touching the "+" icon in the upper right hand corner. Safari works very well through multiple tabs.
Options for the browser are found in the separate Settings app.
From here, you can choose your search engine, use AutoFill, enable
Private Browsing, Clear History, Cookies or Data, Enable JavaScript and
Block Pop-ups.
All that being said, the important thing about the iPad browser is that
is just works and works well. Web pages loaded quickly and scrolling
through the page, touching hyperlinks and zooming in and out works just
as you would expect. Having the Google Search bar right up top next to the address bar made navigating to a new site very easy.
PlayBook 2.0
Fire up the PlayBook browser by touching the Browser icon. Web
pages loaded up reasonably quickly. The most touted feature that the
PlayBook browser has which is missing on the iPad is Flash support. Now,
for some this is not a big a deal, but even on our own CrackBerry.com
site, having Flash support allowed for much more dynamic content in the
ads to the right of the page. Flash also allows you to experience video
content that would not be available on the iPad 2.
Scrolling through web pages was very fast and reasonably smooth. I did
experience some lag - some pictures had trouble loading when I would fly
through a page. Pinch to Zoom worked very well on the PlayBook which is
a good thing. The 7" screen often needed to be expanded for my aging
eyes to clearly make out the text.
There are a few options available in the upper bar of the browser. A
Reader icon is at the top left; if an article is available in Reader
Mode, touch the icon and it will be displayed in a cleaner, easier text
based reader mode.
Touch the Bookmark icon (Gold Star) to see visual thumbnails of your bookmarks. Next to that is the Add icon - touch that to Add to Bookmarks or Add to Home Screen (web clip.) To the right of that is a Full Screen icon that will take away the Title bar to give you maximum viewing of the web page.
Swipe down from the top to see the Browser Options. You can see a visual of your open tabs, add a New Tab, see your Downloads from the web and access the web Settings.
Settings can be customized for what to show when you land on a new
page, what your Home Page should be, your default Search Engine as well
as font and coding options.
In the Content tab of the Settings, you can Enable Flash, Load
Images and Enable Java Script. You can allow Permissions for Location
based queries from web sites and adjust your Privacy and Security
settings. All in all, the PlayBook Browser offered more in the way of
adjustments and settings than did its iOS counterpart.
The most important part of browsing the web, however, is the smoothness
and speed of the browsing experience and the visuals of the page. This
is where the 7" screen of the PlayBook has a disadvantage. Pages still
looked, well...small on the PlayBook. More real estate would provide a
better web experience. It is important to note that in the independent HTML5 Test, the PlayBook ranks highest of any mobile device.
Round Nine Tally:
Both devices offer a quality browsing experience. The size of the iPad 2
gives it a huge advantage over the PlayBook 2.0. Couple that with a
smoother scrolling and zooming experience and quicker load times and,
even though the PlayBook gives us Flash support - the iPad 2 just
squeaks by in this round. The iPad gets a 10 and the PlayBook gets a 9 .
Round Ten: Gaming
Both the iPad 2 and the PlayBook 2.0 have powerful processors, good
graphic chips and plenty of memory to handle visually stunning games.
Both offer accelerometers to allow you to say "steer" a car just by
turning the device.
PlayBook 2.0
The PlayBook comes pre-loaded with Need For Speed Undercover and Tetris and there are many other apps available in BlackBerry App World. Apps from big time companies such as Electronic Arts and Gameloft can be found for both devices.
For purposes of comparison I looked first at identical games on both
devices. The two I chose first were Angry Birds and Need for Speed.
Need for Speed
was a joy to play on the PlayBook. This was one of those games where a
slightly smaller device proved to be a real plus. I always enjoyed
playing racing games on the iPhone, but found the iPad a bit big to hold
and "steer." The screen size of the PlayBook, coupled with the great
resolution and powerful processor made Need for Speed really shine. Load
times were quick, frame rates were very good and cut scenes played
beautifully. What I really enjoyed was minimizing the game and having it
run in the background while I checked an email.
Angry Birds
is Angry Birds. That being said, load times were very quick, and the
game play was very smooth. I could pinch to zoom out or in easily to
give me a better view - just like on most other devices. One area where
the PlayBook surpassed the iPad 2 was in the graphics. At least for
Angry Birds, the PlayBook was sharper and crisper than it was on the
iPad 2. As far as pricing goes, Angry Birds HD is $4.99 for both the
PlayBook and the iPad.
The challenge for the PlayBook in this round is in selection. App
developers simply don't put out the volume of apps for the PlayBook as
they do for the iPad. Some of the games are of a very high quality, but
they are few and far between. There is also a lot of "junk" to be found
in games for the PlayBook. We certainly hope that now that Android apps are supported on the PlayBook, more of them will find their way into BlackBerry App World.
iPad 2
iOS has really exploded as a true platform for mobile gaming. Many
developers have released HD versions of their most popular apps which
take advantage of the added horsepower and graphics capabilities of the
iPad 2.
I tested both Angry Birds
and Need For Speed to give a true comparison of "identical" games on
both devices. Angry Birds, as I mentioned above, didn't seem to "pop"
on the screen as much as it did on the PlayBook. Graphics were certainly
smooth and pinching to zoom in and out looked great. Load times were
about as fast from screen to screen as they were on the PlayBook.
Need for Speed
looked great on the iPad 2. The game was fluid and steering was
precise. Where the experience breaks down a bit is with the overall size
of the iPad. For games like this, I find the iPad to be too big. I feel
kind of like a moron holding and steering my iPad - it is much more
comfortable on the iPhone and on the PlayBook.
Where the iPad 2 shines is not only in the quality of games like Infinity Blade, Dead Space
and so many others. From music games, artistic games, strategy games
and so many more - the iPad 2 shines as a Gaming device. The PlayBook
simply cannot compete with all the available apps for the iPad.
Round Ten Tally:
Both devices really do excel as Gaming devices. Angry Birds even looked
better on the smaller screen of the PlayBook and Need for Speed was
easier to control on the PlayBook.
The iPad 2 not only looks and plays great (although its size is not a
plus for all games) but it has thousands of quality games from virtually
every major developer and studio to load on the device.
The PlayBook now supports Android apps and more and more of them should
make their way into the BlackBerry App World. You can also follow the
link above to learn about side-loading Android apps onto your PlayBook.
BlackBerry is still giving away PlayBooks
to developers who will write apps and over 6,000 responded. Hopefully,
that means that BlackBerry users will soon have many more apps from
which to choose.
After all is said and done, the iPad 2 wins this round based mainly on
the volume of apps available for download by a score of 10 to 8.
iPad 2 vs. PlayBook 2.0 - And the Winner Is...
After 10 rounds of head to head fisticuffs, here's where things stand.
TABLET SMACK DOWN TOTALS:
One Round is a Tie
iPad 2 Wins 5 Rounds - Score: 89
PlayBook 2.0 Wins 4 Rounds - Score: 85
The Winner - iPad 2
Which should you buy? Keep Reading...
Closing Thoughts - Picking the Tablet Best for You
This was a very close, hard fought battle. The PlayBook 2.0 jumped out
to an early lead due to the superior multi-tasking abilities and the
stellar (best in the business) PIM functions. The Contact and Calendar
integration is truly ground breaking on the PlayBook 2.0.
The iPad 2 took the Media (Music and Video,) EBook, Gaming and Photography rounds - which is not surprising.
When looking at the results, we see two very different, yet, very good
devices. It all boils down to why you want a tablet and how you plan to
use it. Last year, Kevin wrote a very important piece about the Hierarchy of Smartphone Needs. That logic can certainly apply to the world of tablets as well.
For content "consumption," the iPad 2 reigns supreme. If your primary
reason for getting a tablet is to watch videos, have lots of streaming
music options and have more "entertainment" apps than you can shake a
stick at - it is hard to beat the iPad 2 and will be hard for some time.
For content "creation" and content "management," the PlayBook is the
best tablet on the market today. If you want to read and send emails,
have unified messaging, have true contact integration and management and
a better "typing" experience - the PlayBook is the best in the
business.
Now you have a difficult choice. An iPad will manage your media and
excel in consuming content, but it struggles in the core PIM
functionality that those with busy lives crave.
The PlayBook gives you really unparalleled PIM functionality, a great
predictive text keyboard, true contact and calendar integration - but it
is just OK as a music and video player and lacks the media options
found in the iPad 2.
So, even though the iPad 2 wins on points, the strengths are really so
different that the user needs to decide what is her/his own hierarchy of
needs for a tablet.
One last consideration, but not insignificant, is price. At $199.00, the PlayBook is a steal.
No, it doesn't do everything the iPad 2 does. However, it does much of
what the iPad does and does it better. In other areas, the capabilities
of the PlayBook will only grow. With iPad 3 around the corner, we still
don't know how high the bar will be set in the future but we are eager
to find out!
I cant help but think that when Moses walked down the mountain, he was holding not one - but two tablets. Each was unique and each has served humanity quite well since then. There is room in our world for two stellar tablets to meet all of our tablet needs.
9:32 PM
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