You see I've used iOS, and while I can see it's appeal to those less tech inclined, I absolutely loathe it. It's facsimile of multi-tasking is atrocious. While Apple currently holds the crown of the longest lasting tablet battery life wise, it is in my opinion a hollow victory. What good is winning the trophy of building a car with the world's highest rated miles per gallon, when the car can only drive in a straight line? How does Apple achieve these fantastic battery life rates? Two things: large batteries (nearly 50% of the iPad's construction is battery), and an OS that cannot truly multi-task. One program runs at a time, and when you sleep the iPad nothing runs, except for the basics (clock function, wifi connectivity, and the basic preinstalled app programs, like mail if configured). To the common user this is a non issue.
For me this was a total deal breaker. Yes to a developer iOS is a great thing, and a really good source of potential income. To a user who would like to replace his laptop for business related IT work, it's a no go. This is particularly true if you need to establish any kind of secure connection on the iPad and then maintain this connection from within another app. Basically any non apple apps have a 10 minute window before they have to be reactivated to maintain there connections. This causes what you're doing to be dropped in the other app. While you simply need to connect again after making the app active again, it is a 20 second ordeal, and a break in concentration repeatedly.
Enter QNX (pronounced Que-NIX, like UNIX). QNX allows for true multi-tasking. When you switch an app, the app is not paused. It runs. (This can be configured in the settings if you don't need this or wish to conserve battery juice) On top of this the OS is incredibly snappy. I cannot talk highly enough about QNX and what RIM has done to it for the Playbook. Some of the things I really appreciate are the gestures, which require absolutely 0 hardware buttons to be pushed. I appreciated the ability to pair a bluetooth keyboard and mouse (which enables a cursor on the screen!!!). I love the playbook's size, and build quality. It's simply a VERY well made tablet. RIM put a lot of thought into it.
Some of the negatives the device has received besides the lack of basic functionality (read: native email and calendar clients) concern the hardware buttons. The complaint that the power button in particular is too small and recessed to be useful is a prime one. I would argue that this is not a bad thing, and it makes it hard when handling the playbook to accidentally push, AND QNX does not require hardware buttons to run at all. Every function is accessible via the OS. Sleep, restart, power off, are all accessible quickly and in any situation. A button is not needed to wake the device. A gesture is.
Why is this such a plus to me? Less wear and tear on the hardware buttons, and it just feels more natural interacting with the device this way.
Another negative I have in particular is the inability of the Playbook to connect to adhoc connections. This is presumably a security concern. The work around is tethering and hoping your cell service provider does not charge extra for it's use (mine doesn't fortunately). This over site will probably be included in an OS update or future app. Another is the lack of a SSH client. SSH functionality is built into QNX, as it is possible to SSH into your Playbook. The lack of a client for the Playbook itself stems most likely from the absence of the native SDK. Currently RIM has started beta dev closed testing on the SDK as of a few days ago. Once the NDK (Native SDK) is released it will allow you to write apps for the Playbook in C/C++ and other programming languages. When this comes out the flood gates will be opened and almost every complaint of a missing app will be plugged within a few weeks. I'm very much looking forward to this.
This NDK will likely have in tow behind it the native Email and Calendar apps that RIM has promised for some time. And will also likely include the delivery of the Android App Player. This "player" is basically RIMs android virtual machine which will allow Android apps that have been recompiled for their machine version (an arbitrary thing for Android devs to do) to run on the playbook natively. This is fantastic. It provides a quick way for tons of existing apps to come straight to the Playbook. Some that I hope will arrive are the Real VNC Player iOS and Android both currently enjoy. It's the best VNC Viewer implemented on a tablet out there.
Once all these things are out and available the Playbook will seriously be a laptop replacement. It's size makes it perfect for the task. RIM's serious enterprise chops and experience make it more than aesthetically up to it, but OS capable as well. This tablet's potential is untapped at the moment. RIM knows this. When they deliver on their promises and provided it's not too late for them to do so, the other tablet manufacturers are going to have a tough time selling theirs to businesses. As it stands right now... no other company can compete with QNX. It is hands down the best tablet OS i've used and I don't see any of the current champs beating that. (too bad Meego is essentially gone the way of the wind, I had high hopes for it...)
If you're sitting on the fence still concerning the playbook... give it another month. Watch for all the positive reviews rolling out by then when these updates hopefully have rolled out. RIM would have be stupid to screw this potential up.
-Matt-Fu
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