Blackberry PlayBook deals & review

The PlayBook is BlackBerry´s answer to the touchscreen tablet market and while having much to boast about also looks set to jump straight to the top in terms of performance. With a dual core ARM Cortex processor and 1GHZ RAM it is certainly the speediest tablet on the market. With support for OpenGL the PlayBook can run the most intensive 3D games with ease.

The PlayBook has opted for a slightly smaller 7" screen compared to the 9.7" iPad or the 10.1" Toshiba Folio. This may have drawbacks in terms of visual entertainment but offers much more in terms of portability. The screen uses capacitive technology allowing multitouch input, and comes with a very sharp 1024 x 600 screen resolution.

The PlayBook features two cameras, a rear facing camera and a front facing camera. The rear facing camera is 5 megapixels and can be used for taking pictures or capturing video in 1080p HD quality. The front facing camera is 3 megapixels and can be used for video calling, as well as coming with 1080p video capture.

The operating system in use on the PlayBook is the new BlackBerry Tablet OS, based on QNX technology. This has a lot of similarities with Palm´s WebOS and features ´true´ multitasking, unlike the multitasking found on the iPad which is incomplete. The PlayBook comes with support for BlackBerry Enterprise Servers and can be connected to a BlackBerry smartphone to make use of an existing BlackBerry data plan.

This can be done through Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, and the PlayBook will also come with 3G support (with a 4G version also available). Also on board are microUSB and an HDMI port for connecting the PlayBook to a TV. Through connecting a BlackBerry smartphone to the PlayBook you can also use the tablet as a larger screen for your phone.

The PlayBook not only comes with Adobe Flash support, a feature that was sorely missed on the Apple iPad, it also comes with support for the new HTML5. The level of features present on the PlayBook means that virtually the entire internet is accessible to its users. As a BlackBerry device it is no surprise that it comes with great email support, and by connecting it to a BlackBerry smartphone you can access the email functionality there as well.

In the tablet market the Samsung Galaxy Tab appears to be the closest rival to the BlackBerry PlayBook as there are many similar features – the 7" screen, the dual cameras and smartphone tethering. The BlackBerry PlayBook will be more expensive however, but inside it is easy to see why. The BlackBerry PlayBook has more processing power and functionality than any other tablet around.