BlackBerry PlayBook

I purchased a playbook for use on travels and where it's not suitable to utilse a laptop. It may not be as fancy as an iPad however it does just the same and better than many laptops and computers. As with BB phones, it has App World and many free apps offered on a regular basis and advises when updates are available. You can map the Playbook to make adding files (documents, excel, word etc) easy and adding pics, music (it has dual speakers) and videos through the standard BB Desktop App. Documents to go is like mmobile 'MS Office'. You can also 'print' a file from your laptop to the playbook via a Print to Go app. The size is ideal and Apple have only just caught up with the iPad mini but not price wise. For the price, it's good - 64Gb from £129 - it does what I need it to do so no use paying a lot more to be an iSheep.

I purchased the blackberry playbook a week ago i basically got it the same day as my blackberry phone (i had never had this much technology before ,

(was i so scared at my age thinking i could never learn these)

the staff at my local currys shop in macclesfield were fantastic they were such fun and humourous that they did,nt make me to old at all for such gadgets ,they even offered to set the blackberry up for me ,which i declined because i thought i must learn myself but they did tell me to return if i did need help ,

once home with my playbook i preceded to set it up with my blackberry phone ,i switched the playbook on and followed the instructions step by step which was quite easy , once set up i went into my fb which was great it was so fast unlike my laptop which is so slow and freezes which i found frustrating ,it has loads of free games on ,a great camera and video ,basically its the same as my laptop only a trillion times faster and better ,I must tell you the main reason for buying the blackberry playbook is THAT i am PROFOUNDLY DEAF ( i lost my hearing completely this year)and the only way to keep in touch with friends and family is by text or e-mail so with the playbook i can keep in touch 24/7 with everyone , i take on long journeys trains buses to all my medical appointments so my family know where i am , but the best bit is watching bbci player on it when i am out (i have,nt learnt to put subtitles on it yet but my son on his next visit will sort that) i have done so much with it that i rarely put the laptop on ,must tell you i was going to get a kindle for christmas but i no longer need one as this as got one on ,i keep it switched on permamently when i,m not using it i just put it on sleep mode ,its fit in my handbag and i have also now paired it to my computer you just need your computer password to do this i did,t know my password so i just got in touch with my broadband company and they were very helpful ,apparently i can take it all over the world if i wanted to at no extra cost ,i look forward to exploring all it can do , so far i really recomend it as it as become my new companion.

Although the BlackBerry Playbook has not yet been released in the UK i recently had the opportunity to play around with the 16GB Version. In the interest of total transparency these are my impressions based on no instruction and limited user time. It's smaller than an ipad, bigger than a mobile phone, a similar size to the galaxy tab. It has a camera on the front and the back and runs android apps. The first thing that struck me about the PlayBook was it's weight, it feels like a sturdy piece of kit, but it is quite heavy. Its a great design very slick and solid but i really couldnt figure out how to get it going, or once i'd launched an app, how to move on to the next one - i hold my hands up as an apple user and say that i kept looking for the 'home' button. The PLayBook doesnt have a home button - or any buttons for that matter except an on/off, play, backwards & forwards buttons on the top of the device. Everything else is acheived through use of the touch screen. The graphics are great and it looks really good. It wasnt intuitive to use and i struggled to find my way around. I'm sure this is easily cured by having a set of instructions or by spending a length of time with it. However i am not really sure where it's place is in the market, and think that perhaps it is a release from BlackBerry so as not to be left out. I wouldnt buy one.