BlackBerry Playbook Users

#1 · 02-09-2012 7:54pm #1

So this is a thread for those to discuss their BlackBerry PlayBook's. The reason I think ti was needed is that due to the recent price drops a lot of people have bought one. Fire away here with any questions you have. Or list off your favourite apps (and why). You can also post any "how to's" you think people might be interested in.

Some hints and tips first.
To hard reset press and hold the power button and the vol up and down until the screen goes black

To create a folder just press and hold an icon then drag it over an icon to create a folder

Once in a folder swipe your finger over the word "BlackBerry" on the bottom of the screen all the way to the left and it'll exit out of the folder back to the previous menu.

To wake up your PlayBook swipe from the top bezel to the bottom bezel.

When in an app swipe from the top right or top left corner to get access to the task bar (settings, wifi, bluetooth, orientation etc...)

Touch the time on the task bar (at the top) to see a calendar and set an alarm.

PlayBook print to go feature is great too for priting tickets or itinerary, meeting info etc.. direct from your PC to your PlayBook. Check it out here:
http://us.blackberry.com/software/desktop/print-to-go.html

My favourite apps
Games:
lets golf 2 HD 75 cent
Need for Speed Undercover
Asphalt 6 Adrenaline HD free

Apps:
Twitter app: Blaq 2.50euro
Files and folders theres a free trial version too. It's great for accessing your files and folders on your playbook or blackberry smartphone but also it allows you to access files on Dropbox, Box.net, Sugarsync and Google docs.
Splashtop HD Remote desktop control. Great for watching netflix apps on that are running on your PC if your wifi is fast enough.
Zinio great for reading magazine subscriptions
Picshop 4.99euro Great for editing pics quickly. there also Picshop lite which is free but has less options.
Pacemaker 19.50 euroRelease your inner mixing DJ. This app is a lot of fun but it is expensive. There's a lite version too for 4.50euro. To see a demo click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJIYNusMYAs

cookie1977 · 02-09-2012 7:59pm

For those with BlackBerry smartphones the PlayBook can do a little more. You can tether over Bluetooth once you've bridged the two devices. That way you can take advantage of the BlackBerry compression feature so your data will be compressed. Once you have your BlackBerry (BIS) add-on active the playbook can use data directly from that so even if you've no tethering packages from your network it wont matter as the playbook will use that data. Once you're back in a wifi zone it'll switch back to that data if you've previously connected the device to that wifi thus saving your data allowance.

You can also tether other devices over bluetooth to use that data when out and about away from wifi.

cookie1977 · 02-09-2012 8:04pm

The current latest official OS for the playbook is version 2.0.1.688 but you can get free access to the latest dev release (2.1.0.840) by registering here:
https://developer.blackberry.com/devzone/register

If you ever want to downgrade to the official just power off your PlayBook. Make sure you've downloaded the latest release of BlackBerry desktop manager:
PC: http://us.blackberry.com/software/desktop/desktop-pc.html
MAC: http://us.blackberry.com/software/desktop/desktop-mac.html

Start the program and plug in your PlayBook. Allow the desktop manager to detect it and it'll offer you the option to install the latest official release.

You can also use BlackBerry desktop Manager to back up and restore your device.

The device is due to get a major update to BB10 (the name for the new BlackBerry smartphones launching in Q1 2013) some time in early 2013 but there'll be a few more minor updates before then. As it stands the device has the best html5 rating of any other tablet at present and BB10 also has the best html5 score of any device on the market or in development. http://html5test.com/results/tablet.html

cookie1977 · 02-09-2012 8:10pm

To copy files over the air (wifi sharing) to your device just:

Swipe down from the top left or right corner diagonally on the screen. Click the cog, scroll down on the left hand side to "Storage and Sharing". Turn on File Sharing and Wi-Fi Sharing. You can password protect this if you like.

Scroll back up on the left hand side to select About then from the drop down menu on the right select "Network". Not it's IPv$ address and on your windows pc click start and run and type:
\\YOUR IPv4 Address i.e. \\192.168.1.20
and hit return. It should open the playbook folder structure in windows explorer in a couple of seconds. This can be slow depending on if others are using the wifi in your home or if it's a,b,g or n wifi. Hand for files and pics but a little slower for movies.

cookie1977 · 02-09-2012 8:37pm

To side load apps (installing android ports)

From a PC: http://crackberry.com/how-sideload-android-apps-playbook-os-v20-use-android-app-player

From a MAC: http://crackberry.com/sideload-android-apps-your-mac

Here's a farily complete list of android apps available for sideloading:
http://playbookbars.com/

There are lots of sources of sideloaded apps but remember try not to use apps that are free for sideloading but would normally cost money if bought by an android device. Some people have converted android apps without the developers permission and so the developer is loosing money on these apps.

_Kaiser_ · 02-09-2012 8:40pm

Excellent thread mate.. I'm checking out some of those apps now

cookie1977 · 02-09-2012 8:46pm

Some more apps:
LastPass password manager (free but only available to you if you're a premium subscriber to lastpass http://www.lastpass.com)

Qfolio for monitoring stocks and share prices

Taptu News about your interests in one app

Eventseeker Whats going on where you are. Works for Ireland too

SpaceTV free Great for watching whats happening with NASA (vids and pics) in particular the curiosity rover.

Del007 · 02-09-2012 11:11pm

How ye finding the playbook lads?

Do ye use it instead of your laptop?

Jovem · 02-09-2012 11:12pm

Random thoughts on the Playbook

Apps for kids;
The Land of Me - 3 in the series, well worth the money. Ideal for 3 to 6 year olds
Sylvester's Band is pretty good, if a little long
The Whale Who Could Fly is very good

Apps for business;
Evernote - old reliable, seems to have improved from a poor start
The Economist - some great free content

Bookmarks;
Save to the homescreen and then organise into folders. Much more effective than the rubbish random list within the browser

Email app;
If you download the developer level OS, email in portrait is one key improvement. Email app is pretty good generally

Internet Tethering
I have a 9900. Playbook works brilliantly with this phone. Tethers in seconds

_Kaiser_ · 02-09-2012 11:43pm

Del007 wrote: »

How ye finding the playbook lads?

Do ye use it instead of your laptop?

Well I only got it today but I can see myself using this a lot for casual browsing, IM, streaming to the TV etc

For any serious work I'll still use my laptop but then I see this an addition to my collection of gadgets

, not a one-for-all replacement

RUCKING FETARD · 02-09-2012 11:45pm

Whats a playbook?;)

cookie1977 · 03-09-2012 7:17am

Del007 wrote: »

How ye finding the playbook lads?

Do ye use it instead of your laptop?

For general browsing and watching movies/tv. I still use my laptop a lot. I do find though it's great in meetings and splashtop allows me to do a lot of stuff remotely. I use the two devices to compliment each other.

_Kaiser_ · 03-09-2012 9:29am

cookie1977 wrote: »

and watching movies/tv.

How are you handling the codec issues (I gather it has problems with AC3). What media player are you using?

cookie1977 · 03-09-2012 9:34am

Well the only codec I have issues with is mkv files but other then that I haven't noticed any issues with the native player. Although I dont have any ac3 files. I primarily watch stuff in mp4 or avi format.

I love blueplaylist app for music

Any files I cant play I convert with Mediacoder

cookie1977 · 03-09-2012 4:34pm

Here's some pics of the OEM PlayBook stand (combined rapid charger). When it's connected to the stand unfortunately there's no access to the hdmi or usb ports so it cannot be on the stand and connected to something else. Pity really as otherwise it's great.

03-09-2012 5:00pm

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

How are you handling the codec issues (I gather it has problems with AC3). What media player are you using?

Its a bit of a nuisance alright.

When i've got AC3 or DTS in a movie and I want to play it on the playbook I just re-encode the audio to AAC and then remux, takes about 5 min all in.

Lack of subtitles and many other features like multiple audio tracks is a bit of a pain also. Yeah there are some third party players that do them but the official one should do it.

cookie1977 · 03-09-2012 5:01pm

Each OS update has brought new codes so if and when the full release of 2.1 happens we might see these codecs arrive. Hard to know though.

cookie1977 · 04-09-2012 11:37am

when browsing on the playbook if you touch the right edge of the screen near the bezel then slide your finger on to the black bezel (to the right) you can then slide your up and down the black bezel to scroll down or up web pages. Once you let go you'll have to repeat the slide from screen to bezel again to be able to scroll. It's handy when you get the knack of it.

velosolex · 06-09-2012 11:06am

My daughter's Samsung N140 died - not repairable. She used it for You-tube, Face-book, web browsing and playing online games. Our desktop PC is an old Dell running XP. Would the Playbook suit her? Would she need to connect the Playbook to the Dell? and if so would the XP be a problem?

cookie1977 · 06-09-2012 11:10am

Playbook would be grand I'd imagine. It would do all she needs to do based on your stated needs. It doens't need a PC but it can connect to one even if it's got windows xp. It supports flash so I would imagine online games wouldn't be too much of a problem.

velosolex · 06-09-2012 11:39am

Thanks for the reply, her birthday is soon, easy decision.

omahaid · 06-09-2012 8:43pm

Did anyone have this problem?

http://www.expansys.ie/ft.aspx?k=254071

I got one from PC World and just gave it a test run (its for Christmas for my daughter) and Ireland isn't on the list...

cookie1977 · 06-09-2012 8:44pm

omahaid wrote: »

Did anyone have this problem?

http://www.expansys.ie/ft.aspx?k=254071

I got one from PC World and just gave it a test run (its for Christmas for my daughter) and Ireland isn't on the list...

To be honest this "person" has been posting this where ever they can. It means nothing as all you do is select UK. This is much ado about absolutely noting. If you've any faults with the device just bring it back to where you bought it from.

billy few mates · 07-09-2012 3:04pm

Sounds like some sort of a Crown Conspiracy as a way of getting back at us for what we did to the GPO in 1916. Either that or it might be due to the fact that the Americans are so s**t at geography they assume Ireland and the UK are one and the same.....:rolleyes:
Seriously though, this happens regularly enough, especially when you log onto a website for tech support or to register a product, or a download site etc, they ask you to select your home country from the drop down list, quite often Ireland isn't listed so you just select our nearest neighbour, the UK.

One thing to be aware of though and I know this because it happened to me and my mate, we bought ours in the shop in The Loop in Dublin Airport and when we switched it on for the first time it wasn't able to run through its 'set up' if you connect to the net using the Eircom (free) WiFi there. Not a huge problem for me as I just connected to a normal WiFi network and everything worked fine (once I swore my allegiance to the Queen of course

) but it could be an issue if someone was going to buy one on their way through and then hope to use it on the flight.
Mind you its a small price to pay when you factor in the savings from buying the 64GB for €160 there.....

cookie1977 · 07-09-2012 3:06pm

billy few mates wrote: »

Sounds like some sort of a Crown Conspiracy as a way of getting back at us for what we did to the GPO in 1916. Either that or it might be due to the fact that the Americans are so s**t at geography they assume Ireland and the UK are one and the same.....:rolleyes:
Seriously though, this happens regularly enough, especially when you log onto a website for tech support or to register a product, or a download site etc, they ask you to select your home country from the drop down list, quite often Ireland isn't listed so you just select our nearest neighbour, the UK.

One thing to be aware of though and I know this because it happened to me and my mate, we bought ours in the shop in The Loop in Dublin Airport and when we switched it on for the first time it wasn't able to run through its 'set up' if you connect to the net using the Eircom (free) WiFi there. Not a huge problem for me as I just connected to a normal WiFi network and everything worked fine (once I swore my allegiance to the Queen of course ) but it could be an issue if someone was going to buy one on their way through and then hope to use it on the flight.
Mind you its a small price to pay when you factor in the savings from buying the 64GB for €160 there.....

RIM (BlackBerry) is Canadian. But yes you do need access to wifi to complete activation.

billy few mates · 07-09-2012 3:09pm

@Velosolex: My daughter is thirteen and she has a laptop and a playbook and seems to go from one to the other seamlessly. She seems to use the laptop for The Sims and the PB for Facebook, Web browsing and chatting face to face with her friends. She also has a Blackberry phone so loves the BB Bridge features like being able to use the data with her phone to use the internet on the Playbook when we're on a car journey or away from home. She also has lots of music and movies on there to keep her occupied.

billy few mates · 07-09-2012 3:11pm

RIM (BlackBerry) is Canadian. But yes you do need access to wifi to complete activation.

Oooops....My bad....!

cookie1977 · 07-09-2012 3:12pm

billy few mates wrote: »

Oooops....My bad....!

¬¬ I'm watching you!

billy few mates · 07-09-2012 3:28pm

From Canada....? :eek:

velosolex · 07-09-2012 5:49pm

Not home from work yet, but my daughter got her Playbook today, hopefully when I do get home she will have it up and running! Fancy one myself. Then she can teach me.

Newimperial · 09-09-2012 4:32pm

I just got one and it seems like a good gadget. One question though, Any idea how to turn off the predictive text?

Cheers.

BlackBerry Playbook Users

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