What's Prize Fight funs!
I'm Brian Tong.
We're bringing you a tablet where that has nothing to do with Apple or android and where size doesn't matter.
It's Prize Fight between the BlackBerry Playbook and HP TouchPad.
Our judges for this fight are senior editor Donald Buds the Bell, senior editor Erik "Cranky" Franklin, and myself the Love You Tong Tang.
Now, we'll take all 3 judges scores
in average amount to the nearest tenth each round.
Final Prize Fight score will be an average of all rounds using the same decimal system.
Get ready for 6 round show down.
First up is design.
The BlackBerry Playbook tablet has a great design and it's the sleekest 7-inch tablet on the market, but it size hurts it.
it makes it feel too small for a full tablet experience.
Its power button is amazingly frustrating and it's so flush that you'll need a fingernail to use it.
Now, HP TouchPad
has a 10-inch shiny black curve design with a solid weight.
It's thicker compared to others and it's bowling ball surface feels greasy plus it collects fingerprints better than a CSI.
It's nasty.
Now, the Playbook takes round 1 with a 3.3 and the TouchPad get the 2.3.
Next up controls and user interface.
The Playbook has unique interface that involves swiping up or down or left and right from the basal of the screen.
It is a similar look and feel of webOS, but it's cleaner, snappier, and arguably easier to use
with impressive multitasking to match.
The TouchPad's webOS introduced the deck of cards interface, but it can be inconsistent when some apps allowed to be stacked like e-mail, but not photos, then you have web browsing windows that are stacked, but it would work better if it was inside the app.
Adding a left hand navigation bar in some apps can cramp things up on a large screen size and it does many things well, but it's not always a straight forward.
The playbook gets an edge of 3.3 and the TouchPad gets a 3
So, after averaging 2 rounds, BlackBerry takes the lead by 6 tenths of a point.
Next round is features.
Both tablets have pretty slim pickings when it comes to their app stores, but the PlayBook is unique because it depends on a BlackBerry phone to create a bridge for your e-mail contacts encounters.
Without a BlackBerry, you'll have to use Web based client and that hurts it as an option for many consumers.
Now, it brings a rear facing camera with 1080p HD recording that's smooth as butter, the best integration of true flash on a mobile device that I have seen,
and it's HDMI video out port has unique presentation bells and whistles.
The TouchPad handles e-mails, contacts encounters with its own dedicated apps with a noble idea and bells and whistles like wireless charging, the ability touch and share content between a Pre3 and the TouchPad for that 1 person who has both and flash compatibility as well, but the lack of a rear facing camera, HD video capture, and any type of video output hurts in here when almost every tablet in the market has these options.
PlayBook gets a solid 3.7 and the TouchPad gets a 2.7.
Next round is WebBrowsing and multimedia.
The PlayBook really flexes it muscle here when it comes to HD video playback, 3D gaming, and browsing the web with the full web experience that's snappy and responsive pinching and zooming, but its weakness is still limited to an etsy betsy little stream.
The TouchPad text rendering on its web browser just isn't as clean and scrolling and zooming just aren't smooth either.
Bouncing from the stack of pages
and back into the browser is annoying.
It has full flash support, but it was more inconsistent compare to the PlayBooks.
It's largest string creates a more enjoyable experience for multimedia, but it's still not enough.
BlackBerry takes it 4th round in a row with 3.7 and HP gets a 3. So, after averaging 4 rounds, the playbook increases its lead by just hair.
Next round is performance.
The PlayBook brings a more fluid and smoother experience across the board with all functions including
resizing flash content on the fly at it's plane and its 10 hours of continuous use is competitive with other tablets.
The TouchPad matched with the 10-hour battery life before talking, just video, but it just isn't snappy on launching apps, switching between them, and the screen poly really needs to be better.
The judges here all agree, the playbook gets a 4 and the TouchPad gets a 3. So, buckle up, the final round that decides it all is value.
If you're investing in BlackBerry and can take advantage of the playbook pairing system and might make sense
to get a playbook 499 for the 16 G model, but it's geared as device for 1 person.
And its 7-inch screen halted back with other 10-inch options on the market.
Now, the HP TouchPad also offers 16 G 499 model and it gets the edge for the better value with its larger screen, it's native apps that make a it more consumer friendly experience out of the box, and it's a tablet that's more sharable between multiple people.
HP finally takes a round with a 4 and the PlayBook gets a 3.
So, let's average out all 6 rounds and in a prize fight where the BlackBerry PlayBook came out swinging taking the first 5 rounds.
It was just too much for the TouchPad, and the playbook wins 3.5 to 3 and is your Prize Fight winner.
I'm Brian Tong, thanks for watching.
We'll catch you guys next time on another prize fight.
