Skip to main content

Hands-on with the BlackBerry PlayBook, one of the best tablets at CES

Image used with permission by copyright holder

The debut of Android hasn’t been kind to RIM. In the last year, BlackBerry has plummeted from dominance to irrelevancy on carriers in the United States and things don’t appear to be turning around with BlackBerry 6.0. Fortunately, RIM has a pretty good trick up its sleeve: BlackBerry Tablet OS (based on QNX, a platform RIM acquired). I had a chance to sit down with the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet on the show floor of CES, and the experience was somewhat surprising.

The first thing I noticed about the BlackBerry PlayBook is its size, which is a scant 5.1 x 7.6 inches. It’s hard to compare the 7-inch wide screen to the iPad at all. Much like the Samsung Galaxy Tab, it’s tiny. It’s also a great tablet. For the first time in a good long while, RIM has gone their own way and pushed the envelope with a different approach to the tablet.

Recommended Videos

The design of the OS is very reminiscent of Palm’s underrated Web OS. Open applications can be windowed and flicked through like a photo album and even tossed up (and away) much like Palm’s OS. Hopefully BlackBerry Tablet OS will last a little longer than Palm’s ill-supported smartphone operating system.

blackberry-playbook-multitasking-ces-2011
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Unlike Android or iOS, there are no buttons on the front of the PlayBook. Instead, to do most things on the device, you swipe your finger from the black border area onto the screen. This technique allows you to swipe from different sides of the screen to bring down invisible top menus, multitask between applications, and easily minimize apps. It’s surprisingly intuitive compared with the clunky ways Android and iOS tablets handle multitasking, though I didn’t get a chance to see how notifications arrive and display themselves.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Gestures are great, but they’re only good if the computer behind them is fast enough to match. Luckily, RIM has embedded a dual 1 GHz processor and a full gigabyte of RAM in the PlayBook, making it one of the snappiest tablets at CES this year. The tablet had no problem running a demoed Flash game of Quake III Arena, several movies, a multi-tabbed browser, music, and pictures at the same time. The only slow portion of the demo was the Web itself, which can hardly be blamed on RIM, as the Internet is notoriously slow at CES due to the 125,000 other attendees trying to access it. I’d dare say the PlayBook runs a lot slicker than most Android-based tablets and certainly could sit on a shelf next to the iPad without feeling embarrassed. If RIM decides to make a 10-inch version of the PlayBook, Apple may have something to worry about.

blackberry-playbook-buttons-up-top-ces-2011
Image used with permission by copyright holder
blackberry-playbook-ports-bottom-ces-2011
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Other features include 4G Internet access (if you buy it through Sprint), Wi-Fi, a 1024×600 screen, a 3MP front-facing camera and 5MP rear camera that both take 1080p HD video, Adobe Flash 10.1 for unimpeded browsing, HTML 5 support, syncing software to link up to a BlackBerry mail account, a mini HDMI port, Micro USB, media buttons on the top, a magnetic charger, and 16-64GB of storage. It weighs a little under 1 lb (400 grams).

RIM seems to have learned some valuable lessons in the last year. All of its devices are much snappier and feature its stopgap BlackBerry 6.0 OS. In addition, RIM seems to finally value apps. Thanks to a renewed emphasis on apps and the waving of development fees, representatives told us that the App World market grew from 5,000 apps at the beginning of 2010 to about 17,000 now. RIM’s executives may not be happy about this, but we sure are.

I initially wrote off BlackBerry, but the PlayBook shows the company has some creativity left in it. RIM has been touting the PlayBook as a great business device, but it may prove more popular on the consumer market. Still, like most 7-inch tablets, it feels too small. Hopefully a larger 10-inch version is on the company’s radar.

The BlackBerry PlayBook does not have an official price or release date, but representatives say it will hit shelves in the first few months of 2011.

Image used with permission by copyright holder
Jeffrey Van Camp
Former Digital Trends Contributor
As DT's Deputy Editor, Jeff helps oversee editorial operations at Digital Trends. Previously, he ran the site's…
It really looks like the iPhone 17 is getting a 120Hz display next year
The lock screen on the iPhone 16.

One of the biggest criticisms of regular iPhones in recent years has been their lack of 120Hz displays, which have been available in the iPhone Pro models going back to the iPhone 13 Pro in 2021. For instance, the iPhone 16, though celebrated for being the best iPhone on the market, still operates at a 60Hz refresh rate like many of its predecessors. However, this is expected to change with the upcoming iPhone 17 series set to launch next year.

Industry insider Digital Chat Station is the latest to confirm that all iPhone 17 models will feature a “high refresh rate” display. This information aligns with a September report from display expert Ross Young, who clarified that the entire iPhone lineup will feature 120Hz displays next fall.

Read more
The iPhone SE 4 price just leaked, and it’s better than we expected
iPhone SE

The iPhone SE 4 has been a highly anticipated choice for quite a while now, and we expect it to release sometime in the first quarter of 2025. While we know a lot about the iPhone SE 4, we haven't been able to nail down a solid estimate on its price. Now we have, and it's pretty awesome: the iPhone SE 4 is predicted to come in below $500.

Apple has been hard at work on its own in-house modem, and the iPhone SE 4 will be the first device to include that modem, according to a report from Naver. Since Apple is providing its own modem, it won't need to pay Qualcomm a fee for its 5G chips. The exact amount Apple pays Qualcomm isn't known, but it's a not-insignificant amount of money.

Read more
The Samsung Galaxy S25 may get a potentially lifesaving car crash safety feature
The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra's camera lenses.

Your phone is packed full of features that you're probably glad to have, but you hope you never need to use. For example, features that help you find a lost phone. Then there are the safety features. Samsung has been behind in terms of crash detection, with Pixel and iPhone taking the lead — but now a new leak suggests the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra could have a car crash detection system.

This isn't a new feature. Samsung has worked to implement crash detection in previous phones, with both the Galaxy S24 Ultra and the Galaxy Z Fold 5 featuring sensors, but not the necessary software to power them. Android Authority spotted documentation that indicates the inclusion of a car crash sensor, but that doesn't mean it will work.

Read more