blackberry playbook

Now, we could have taken the obvious route with our latest tablet Prizefight. The HP TouchPad is the new tablet kid on the block and of course the "on the nose" comparison would be the iPad 2. Less on the nose, but almost as obvious would pit the TouchPad against the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. Boring, boring, boring! (Incidentally, typing the word "boring" three times in a row doesn't preclude us from making the two aforementioned theoretical comparisons in the future.)

The tablet market is growing beyond Google or Apple-based devices, so we thought … Read more

Sony is firing up the PlayStation Network again and most of America should have access by now. But the Japanese government says it won't allow PSN back on in its country until Sony can ensure that it's triple-dog-super-secure. Which, uh ... I kind of want it to be that secure here, too, don't you? Plus, artists gets screwed by pirates AND the RIAA, the fascinating and potentially globally destabilizing bitcoin project, and the power of Prey gets back a man's laptop from hundreds of miles away. --Molly

On today's show, Donald Bell gives us his in-person BlackBerry PlayBook review, why Twitter is like your freeloading, couch-surfing bum of a brother, and how the FBI's command and control server could end up taking Elvis off life support. What, you didn't know Elvis was still alive? The things you learn on BOL. Plus: the white iPhone is coming! No, really! And your comments on throttling, for good or for ill. --Molly

Get ready, 'cause it's coming.

By "it," I'm of course referring to the deluge of tablets ready to flood the market. Make no mistake, in the next two to three months, consumers will have more tablet options than they know what to do with.

This week sees the launch of RIM's long-awaited BlackBerry PlayBook. This tablet is targeted at an arguably esoteric market, and includes the expected features aimed at that business demographic, but it also includes features that average shoppers are looking for.

Check out the full review for more details, but before you do that, read the PlayBook's speed results in their entirety.… Read more

Despite rising competition from the likes of Android, Apple's iOS-based iPad will continue to lead the tablet market on into 2015, according to a report out today by Gartner.

Looking at the tablet market by operating system, Gartner pegged Apple's share at 84 percent last year and is forecasting 69 percent this year. Though Apple's dominance may ebb over the next few years, it will still maintain its lead, with 63 percent of all tablets sold next year and 47 percent in 2015, according to the market researcher.

Amid any decline in market share, unit sales of … Read more

After spending some quality time with RIM's in-production BlackBerry PlayBook at CES, I can tell you it's a beautiful 7-inch tablet. A sharp, high-resolution screen, pleasing rubberized perimeter, and gesture-based interface converge to create a piece of electronic equipment that I would proudly make my mini-computing companion. (Hands-on CNET videos here and here.)

However, the PlayBook comes with several thick strings attached that are awkward enough to trip up prospective tablet-buyers.

No 3G without a BlackBerry The tautest tripwire pertains to data. Many top-tier tablets come in Wi-Fi and data (3G) versions. For a little less, you can … Read more

If Research in Motion's BlackBerry PlayBook is to succeed at market the way the company hopes, there are a few engineering hurdles to overcome. The most significant, according to Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu, is the device's relatively poor battery life.

Sources tell him the tablet currently lasts just a few hours per charge, compared with rivals like Samsung's Galaxy Tab, which lasts about six, and the iPad, which lasts upward of 10. If true, that's an untenable situation for RIM, which really needs to hit the mark with the PlayBook, and it may cause a … Read more