iPad2 vs PlayBook head to head

Most reviews are not highlighting the plus and minus points of PlayBook in a clear way and are mostly focussing on lack of applications which is understandable for a brand new device. In fact PlayBook is coming with 3000+ apps during launch compared to only 40+ Android tablet specific apps which is quite commendable.

 

iPad2 wifi scores over PlayBook here-->

- 10 inch is a better choice for tablet when you are not really carrying it around

- Has a huge choice of applications including native email and contact apps

- Has a battery performance which is 10-20% better than PlayBook

- Has 10-20% faster browsing

- Has a cool magnetic cover accessory available

 

PlayBook scores over iPad2 wifi here-->

- True multi-tasking which is a big plus for a tablet. This single feature puts PlayBook in a different league altogether with mind-blowing possibilities for this brand new platform

- Supports flash which is the biggest media format of internet. One needs to understand this is not just a basic flash support, but flash has been truely integrated with the OS at all levels for optimal performance. This is the technical challenge which prevented Apple from supporting Flash on iPad/iPhone with a convenient lie that flash is not good enough to be supported. This is bigger than what most people realize. Other than flash video, now the huge range of web based adobe flash and flex applications (which has over 3 million strong developer support) works very well on PlayBook.

- 7 inch size makes it portable.

- Bluetooth tethering with any smartphone (not just blackberry) for internet connection on the go

- Blackberry bridge for existing blackberry owners to securely check their mails, im on the go. There is also a game changing feature called 'bridge browsing' where essentially one can browse the internet in the bridge mode without additional charges as this process is not tethering but same as browsing in the phone and having PlayBook as your monitor.

- It has a hdmi output allowing one to watch high quality video on their hdtv

- PlayBook has a 'presentation mode' - one can output a video or a powerpoint presentation to a projector or hdtv and still simultaneously do other task in this mode

- OS updates can be done 'over the air'. One doesn't need to connect to a PC to do an update. In a 'post PC era' one needs to connect iPad to a PC for every little thing!

- Has better cameras both rear and front. One can even shoot a 1080p hd video on PlayBook which is not the case for iPad2

- Has a brighter screen and higher pixel density which makes HD Video much better to watch on PlayBook than iPad. Also with the brighter screen it's actually possible to use PlayBook even in sunlight unlike iPad

- Highly secure and will soon have email application with true security features of Blackberry. 

- Another interesting feature where one can connect PlayBook to hdtv for output and sync a bluetooth keyboard and mouse, you can actually convert PlayBook into a desktop

- Comes with a free native office suite for word, excel and powerpoint

- Comes with two free high end games from Electronic Arts including their popular game Need for Speed.

 

My take on PlayBook Email controversy:

PlayBook has been hit a lot on lack of native email app during launch. The fact is that there is a 3rd party email app (called Early Bird) available for PlayBook which is as secure (or unsecure) as native email apps of iOS or Android. The secure native email app of PlayBook which needs to work with BIS/BES or something similar without an actual carrier service will take another 2 months which is quite understandable as it is a bigger challenge than it was for iOS or Android to put out a native email app.

 

So, will PlayBook kill iPad or vice-versa. In my opinion both are good tablets and the exploding tablet market is big enough to support both these tablets which are really quite different from each other in many ways.