New to the forum, some questions about playbook.
 

Hello, I just joined the forum after spending some time reading on it, I'm very impressed with the level of support on the forum and the help people recieve for their questions.

I have quite a few questions about the playbook. I can't find answers to most of these questions, so please, bear with me. I will try to keep it as brief as possible. I've looked at all tablets so far and am confident about the playbook being the best for what I want.

Ok, so, I'm going to university for my first year next year and am doing a BBA with an honours in accounting. For this I will need a word processor, a spreadsheet and a powerpoint, everything the playbook has. I also only care about those things, playing with some apps (apps don't matter too much to me) and surfing the web and some media things like videos and music so I feel that the playbook could easily replace a pc for me. However, I called futureshop to ask questions and the answer I got about the spreadsheet to go was that you could only review information, not actually put info into it and do much with it. Is this true? It seems odd that you can only review things on it. I would really like something I can do my accounting work on and I'd like people's opinions on the spreadsheet to go, would it be good for accounting work?

Also, I've read a lot on the forums and other sites about problems with the wifi not working properly, internet not working properly like pages not opening all the time, videos not always working and the bridge not always working. I've read about other minor glitches. This may be a dumb question but those will be fixed in updates right? I won't be purchasing the playbook until about september or october so I hope the bugs are fixed but ultimately, I would like to know if this playbook will be good for a business class in University. I really hope it is, I love RIM and their products so far.

I'd also like some opinions from people who own the playbook, do you like it? or dislike it? In your opinions, is it worth buying?

Thank you all, all opinions and comments are welcome, both negative and positive. Sorry for the long post but I have a lot I need answered, I've never bought a product so close to release, I usually wait for a few new models to come out. Again, thank you.

Re: New to the forum, some questions about playbook.
 

Howdy OMStudent,
I am a PB owner...and do use spreadsheets to go on both the PB and the Xoom.
I find it a good tool for review...but would not suggest you use it as your primary vehicle for building spreadsheets...use your desktop/laptop to build the spreadsheet.
I find the docs to go products better for reviewing work sent me by others.
I like the PB...has the best browser of all the tablets, IMHO.
I like the UI, the size and clarity of the screen.
I do not feel any tablet is a replacement for a laptop or desktop, but a useful adjunct when traveling or away from the computer assuming a wireless access point is available.
Keep monitoring the news about new releases and updates...by Sept, there will be a number of new tabs on the market at various price points, using Andorid 3.1, Win7 and PB may have Skype, Android interconnectivity worked out...giving you a wide range to choose from.
Hope that helps.

Re: New to the forum, some questions about playbook.
 

All sounds right to me and couldn't have put it better ;-)

Re: New to the forum, some questions about playbook.
 

Thank you very much, I will look into getting a laptop, my dad said he may give me his as a gift, it would be ok for work but I doubt it would do well with casual games and/or web browsing, not to mention, I like the security that comes with RIM's products. So, the spreadsheets aren't good for actually doing work on you say, but let's say I ignorantly bought a playbook to replace a pc anyways. Would I be able to do work on the spreadsheets? Like is it not possible? Or is it just inconvenient? I'm not a fan of windows and I'd like avoid it if possible. I kind of like the Xoom, I may look into it but the Ipad isn't what I'm looking for really. Thank you for your comment.

Re: New to the forum, some questions about playbook.
 

Yep. Every one of those reports is true. some of the time. I received a playbook for free (developer) and love it / use it heavily throughout the day. The software is great 95% of the time. the 5% of the time when bridge won't work or the browser keeps crashing or uploaded files don't show up until after restarting are annoying when they happen, but that isint too often, really.

On the other hand, you can't imagine how big of a smile i had when using bridge for the first time. I received an email, and at the same time my BB was dinging, i noticed a small red glow in the upper left of my PB, tapped it, tapped the message i just got, immediately was able to read the message, tapped download the ppt and PDF attachments, and was instantly viewing them.

They can be fixed in software, and i know for a fact that RIM is already testing versions of the OS with significant revisions / updates / fixes.



I am a university student as well; my major / focus / needs are significantly different from yours, but i can say with utmost confidence that the PlayBook is not ready to *replace* a laptop and certainly not a desktop.

the Docs to Go is great for reviewing, and passable for creation, but i can't imagine doing complex accounting work in the Sheets to Go program. I deal with pretty complex excel workbooks from time to time and no software (asside from MS excel) can really handle them proper.



tl;dr: Playbook is the perfect companion to a BlackBerry. it's got its software bugs, but i assure you, those can be fixed with updates. Overlooking the bugs, the software / toolset is powerful, but not something i would rely on for full blown production. Especially when you can get a more capable netbook for less than the PlayBook's price, it *does not* make sense to exclusively use a playbook... at least not yet. the OS needs to be smoothed out a bit, and the productivity apps need time to be written / improved.



i hope that helps. i'll be able to post back more information if you like.

Re: New to the forum, some questions about playbook.
 

somerandomguy:

Please don't use CODE tags for quotes. Use QUOTE tags instead when you want to quote text from another post.

Re: New to the forum, some questions about playbook.
 

I'd agree with what's been posted above.

I don't know how limited the PlayBook Docs To Go spreadsheet is as far as functions, but I would not want to have to start from scratch on a complex job with it. I think you could probably do it, just it would likely be much easier on a computer with a keyboard, mouse, and large screen.

As far as the total system, I haven't had as many problems as some people have posted here and elsewhere, but there are bugs, no doubt. The good thing is the hardware is solid. The software will get better; we just wish it would get better faster.

My bottom line advice, if you are thinking about the PlayBook as your main "computer" for the majority of your needs, don't. It won't work. Even on campus, you may find you still need to carry a laptop. Maybe; maybe not. So, if you already have a laptop, the PlayBook will be a good addition. If you don't have a laptop, get that first, then the PlayBook if and when you can.
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Re: New to the forum, some questions about playbook.
 

I concur with aiharkness, good advice.

Thank you very much for clearingg that up, glad to see RIM is working hard to improve the device. But since the RIM is big on business, won't they maybe get good word to go and good spreadsheet to go, or maybe android apps for that stuff? Again, thank you. I think I will get a playbook after a lappy.
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Ya I guess I'll have to do that, I was hoping to replace a laptop, but I think I'll get a playbook or other tablet for fun, sort of as a reward for going to uni. Thank you.
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