Playbook

Testing out posting on the newest gadget acquired here. Apparently, it is just nice.

Oh, how rude of me. Here, introducing the Blackberry Playbook.

So as the story goes, this guy originated from the recent BB Dev Con. Somebody got it for free and realise that it is not much of his taste or usefulness, decided to sell it for RM800. Deal or No Deal? Deal lar of course.

As it is a developer's unit, mine came with a security swipe done and there is just one application available: Browser. After numerous painstaking forum-reading and tweaking, I finally got the developer version of the QNX OS installed. The beta 2.0 version comes with the option of developer mode, which enables you to tweak and modify further. And...you can download Android Apps. Yes, Android! I skimmed through the procedures and decided that it needs my hidden geek talent somewhere and ample of time to do this. More to come on this if I am successful.

One of the features that impresses me most is the browser. it is fast, slick and it operates just like how you would expect normal PC browsers do. Yes, they do have a Facebook for Playbook and 3rd Party Twitter apps, but nothings beat browsing it throught the browser. Videos (flash is supported, huge deal for me), links, pictures are all very eaily accessed. More apps are definitely in demand. Or they could be the ending of RIM, as this grimly prediction foresees.

The touch is great, a far-fetch from the initial Storm phones. Interactive and smooth. The playbook goes by with the most minimalist of design, with only the tiny power button and the previous, play/pause, next set of buttons. Everything else is interative within the 7-inch screen.

And the OS. Yes, it is amazingly simple and interactive. The swoosh and swipes provides easy navigation across the apps. And you can multitask. Well, most of the time that is. Avoid doing so while playing heavy games like NFS Undercover.

As there are more to discover, I shall leave it to this few first impressions for now. So far, it has never cease to impress me and hopefully there are more to come. Especially app developments.