BlackBerry PlayBook tablet gets mixed reception

RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook tablet has met with lukewarm first impressions from reviewers ahead of its release in the US, but the device has been stoutly defended by the firm's chief executive, Jim Balsillie, who labelled criticisms as misguided.

Following RIM's US launch event for the PlayBook on 14 April, various testers with access to the device have voiced their opinion of the business-oriented tablet.

Many praised the hardware, but raised questions over its lack of mobile network connectivity, its need to pair up with a BlackBerry smartphone to access email, and the current lack of applications.

The PlayBook, which goes on sale in the US on 19 April, has a 7in touchscreen and sports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, but no built-in 3G network access.

While it can surf the web over Wi-Fi, the PlayBook is intended by RIM to pair up with a BlackBerry smartphone using Bluetooth, whereby it can piggyback on the phone's 3G connection and provide a bigger screen for the BlackBerry's email, contacts and calendar applications.

Some reviewers pointed to this dependency as a weakness of the PlayBook against other tablets such as Apple's iPad, but RIM chief executive Jim Balsillie countered by claiming that this is what customers were looking for.

In a TV interview with Bloomberg, Balsillie said that a lot of people interested in the tablet want a secure extension of their BlackBerry.

RIM has previously claimed that its enterprise customers do not want the administrative overhead of managing a second device with secure corporate email access for each user.

Balsillie also pointed to the PlayBook's smaller and lighter format than the iPad, which makes it easier to carry around for an extended period.

Reviewers praised RIM's user interface, but questioned whether the company can get enough developer support behind the QNX platform used on the device, which is not compatible with applications for the firm's BlackBerry smartphones.

RIM has already moved to counter this by announcing its intention to deliver two "app players", each providing an application run-time environment to run BlackBerry Java apps and applications designed for Android 2.3.

The PlayBook is still expected to go on sale in the UK sometime during the second quarter of 2011, according to RIM.