You Choose: Playbook or iPad


Bangalore: Innumerable tablets with varieties of features have been flooding into the market. However the supremacy of Apple iPad has not been able to be suppressed by anyone in the market. The very recent vendor in the Indian market is Blackberry Playbook which has been making the news for quiet a sometime now. Competition is mounting and every vendor wants step into the world of tablet now. Apple ($11.9 billion) surpassed Nokia ($9.4 billion) to become the world's biggest phone maker by revenue last quarter. The Finnish company sold more than five times as many devices as Apple, 108.5 million versus 18.6 million. Whereas shares of Research In Motion Ltd. turned down ahead of the company's earnings report in June 2011. Given the existing scenario it will be interesting to see how the tablet war unfolds. Playbook The Playbook runs on QNX operating system. QNX is a decidedly efficient and bulletproof operating system that powers everything from jet fighters to, well, little black tablets and is backed by 1GB of RAM. As far as the design and hardware is concern Playbook is a 7-inch tablet from RIM is flat, black, and minimal in its look and measures 194 x 130 x 10mm, weights 424g. It is a dual core, multi processing, multi tasking professionally graded tablet and features a display resolution of 1024x600 with multi touch capacitive screen. It has web browsing with Abode flash support and provides wide variety of games, media. It has built in support for HTML 5, Bluetooth 2.1, and Wi-Fi 802 a/b/n. One can opt for a version with a 3G or 4G (US) connectivity to make calls or surf the Internet without being connected to a Wi-Fi network. Video Chat supports HDMI output when in 'Mirror Mode', allow you to display what is on your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet's screen to a larger HD television or monitor. It includes a Video Chat application and Blackberry Messenger (BBM) support via BlackBerry Bridge. RIM claims the most striking feature in Playbook that's makes it unique from the tablet world is the presence of Blackberry Bridge that allows you wirelessly and securely connect their Blackberry smartphone to their Blackberry Playbook over bluetooth. It is to be noted that Playbook will support android based apps also. There is a 3-megapixel front camera for video calling via BlackBerry Video Chat and a 5-megapixel rear facing camera that is capable of recording 720p video. There's a basic digital zoom, you can switch between the front and rear camera, as well as setting your aspect ratio (16:9 or 4:3) and whether you want it to be auto, sport, or whiteboard. The battery support is for 7 hours. Some of the interesting facts of Playbook are that it will be supporting Android based apps and it personally offers apps like Hangman, Kiddo Plus,F1 Live, Weather Today, Cure with Diet, Nic Nac Noe. It is available at 27,990 (16 GB), 32,990 (32 GB) and 37,990 (64 GB), depending on the models. iPad2 iPad 2 runs on Apple iOS, 1GHz and comes in 9.7 inches LED-backlit Multi-Touch display, IPS technology, Fingerprint-resistant coating with a battery life up to 10 hours. iPad 2 will feature a dual-core A5 processor and includes two cameras, a front-facing VGA camera and a rear-facing camera. It has HDMI video mirroring, which will let you mirror your iPad screen on an HDTV. It gives amazing browsing experience with WiFi + 3G connectivity (in iPad 2 3G model)Sensors : Gyro, accelerometer, and compass 3.5mm stereo headphone jack, built-in speaker for entertainment experience and micro-SIM card tray (Wi-Fi + 3G model). The 16 GB (Wi-Fi only) iPad 2 is available at 29,500, 16 GB (Wi-Fi + 3G) - 36,900, 32 GB (Wi-Fi only) - 34,500, 32 GB (Wi-Fi + 3G) - 41,900, 64 GB (Wi-Fi only) - 39,500 and 64 GB (Wi-Fi + 3G) - 46,900. As far as the features of both the devices are considered both displays amazing attributes but there are certain key differences. Apple iPad2 runs on iOS operating system which is very popular among the masses as well as the developers. But Blackberry Playbook runs in QNX OS which has not been experimented much. As far as size and weights goes iPad is definitely bigger and heavier in size compared to Playbook. Playbook features just 7 inches whereas iPad is of 9.7 inches. Playbook has a unique feature like Blackberry Bridge which iPad lacks, and also Playbook supports android based apps which can be a big blow to Apple. Moreover Apple iPad do not support Adobe Flash which Playbook can do. However it is up to the consumers to decide which one to opt for and which one takes the cake. If anyone of our readers have any of these devices then share your experiences with us. And if do not have, but planning to get one for yourself then tell us which one will you opt for and why?