Blackberry playbook
Research In Motion finally announced the most awaited tablet computer and iPad competitor BlackBerry Playbook. Earlier known as the BlackPad, Blackberry playbook was expected to include a tablet version of the newly announced BlackBerry OS 6.0. Instead of that, RIM moved to a new UNIX based OS platform called QNX, which was further optimized to work on tablet computers and mobile devices. The advantage of QNX is that it is a real-time operating system that provides true multi-tasking. Playbook is also the first web tablet to get a dual core mobile CPU. Here is a comparison of the software and hardware features of Blackberry Playbook with Apple iPad.
Blackberry Playbook photos:
Blackberry Playbook
Blackberry Playbook vs Apple iPad comparison:
We all expected a derivative of Mac OS in Apple iPad, but Apple put it to work with iOS. Still multi-tasking is not available for Apple iPad, and the promised multi-tasking with iOS 4.2 is not a true multi-tasking. Whereas the new Blackberry tablet OS is a symmetric multiprocessing operating system which could be used to take the most out of hardware and the software. As we all know, Apple iPad has 1GHZ A4 chip and 256MB of RAM. The QNX technology in Blackberry Playbook OS supports multi- core processors. So with 1GHZ RAM and the 1GHZ ARM CPU, Blackberry Playbook is a far better performer than Apple iPad. The application count is where Apple iPad beats BlackBerry Playbook. However, Blackberry Playbook supports application development in C, Java, Adobe Air, Adobe Flash, HTML 5 and Blackberry WebApp platforms- so we can expect a good number of apps by the date of its launch scheduled for next year.
BlackBerry playbook has two cameras, 5Mp in the back and 3MP in the front. Apple iPad at the same time doesn’t have a camera in the front or back. The 7 inch capacitive touch screen in Playbook is smaller than iPad, but it supports 1080p HD videos. BlackBerry PlayBook also includes an HDMI port to connect the device to an external HD display. Currently, Apple iPad is available in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB variants. RIM hasn’t announced the storage options in Blackberry Playbook, but we hope that there will be at least a 16GB model. Another disappointing thing in Blackberry Playbook is the non-availability of a 3G model. While iPad is available in 3G option, we should wait and see if people are interested in a WiFi only tablet with fewer numbers of apps. The latest market price of iPad 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models are $499, $599 and $699 for Wi-Fi only model. Blackberry Playbook seems to better in the hardware specs side, but in order to complete with iPad. It would need to be placed in the price range $400-600 for the entry level model.