[adi_toxic]

Hey guys!!
This is my first post on this forum

I want to buy a tablet but I am very confused between all the choices available - ipad, playbook, galaxy tab or motorola xoom.

I am going for a vacation in 5 days and need to buy one before that..I hope you guys can help

My main purpose is the use of a pdf reader, movies and games, and surfing the internet.

One of my main question about the playbook is that I do not posses a bb smartphone at the moment. Is there any chance I can use the services like the BBM only with the playbook?

Thanks and please suggest which one of the above tablets is the best(unbiased advice please )

[aiharkness]

Playbook is not for sale yet. You will not be able to get one in the next five days.

See what others say about your BBM question. My understanding is the playbook will bridge some apps, maybe BBM, for example, from the BlackBerry handset. But I'm not clear myself.

No opinions on other tablets.

[Dubdub]

And with the Playbook, you will need a BB and a BB data plan for data.

And you can only get BBM on a BB with a BB data plan.

From your description of how you might use it, perhaps the iPad will fit your needs. You need to check t make sure that it handles pdf files however.

[aiharkness]

.... The Playbook will have wifi. My understanding, such as it is, is that it will do non-BlackBerry things (like web browsing on wifi) standalone, but bridge a BlackBerry handset for BIS and BES data. So you would probably be able to use webmail via a browser, but not BIS email, for example, at least not without a handset on a data plan. Or so I gather.
Posted via BlackBerryForums.com Mobile

[stevetaz]

And your profile indicates a Storm on Vodafone....

No BB in your possession?

[Dubdub]

Originally Posted by stevetaz

And your profile indicates a Storm on Vodafone....

No BB in your possession?

That is possible.

9500/9520 is GSM in Europe and elsewhere

9530/9550 is CDMA and GSM

[jimn367]

Unless you are willing to do some mod work to get the Android marketplace on a device, or you are willing to 'root' a device and get a new version of Android and the market place on a device, you have two decent tablet options and one affordable outlier. The Outlier meets MOST of your requirements, but has some limitations.

Of course, there is the ipad and Galaxy tab. Both of these with core capabilities and apps in their marketplaces meet all of your nedds. To choose between the two there are two functional questions that you need to answer:
1) Do I want to easily synch with itunes?
2) How big of a device do I want to carry?

The Galaxy tab is much smaller, but does not 'natively' synch with itunes or play itunes DRM protected music. So if you bought a lot music a couple of years ago on itunes, it probably will not play.

The oulier I am referring to is the $249 Barnes and Noble color Nook. It is a fantastic device for the price, BUT it runs an older version of Android and does not come with the full Android marketplace (yet).

[Hauser]

If you need one in the next 5 days, iPad and Galaxy are your only options, even then it's a hard choice - iPad 2 is coming out within the next month or two, and Android has a great new tablet OS called Gingerbread but it's unknown when or if it will come out for the Galaxy, which currently uses a smartphone OS and really doesn't compare well to iPad.

One thing's for sure, iPad will hold its value well if you want to sell it and upgrade or switch in a few months.