BlackBerry Z30 vs Iphone 5s: rethinking what we want in a smartphone

 By Rob Enderle

President and Principal Analyst, Enderle Group

As I was going through the features of the new BlackBerry Z30 it hit me that the phone’s problem is that it doesn’t give us what Apple says we should want, it gives us what we actually should want. Somehow the years of brilliant Apple marketing have convinced us that, in a phone, what we want are things a phone really isn’t good for, or at best should be secondary to phone function.  The rolling joke from day one, which I’m finding less funny at the moment because it’s a joke on me, was that the iPhone is great at everything but being a phone. But instead laughing it off the Island Samsung and others have emulated it which means we have a ton of Smartphones which do amazing things but kind of suck at, well, being a phone.   

Granted the Z30 comes out at a time when BlackBerry is under a cloud. As I write this, it appears the firm’s ability to find a buyer or an investor who will take the company private has floundered, but with millions of customers it is still doubtful the firm will fail.  But I think its success will be predicated based on its ability to get us to rethink what we want in a smartphone, switching to what really is important from where we are now.  Let’s discuss this in the context of the Z30 and ask if Apple made us stupid. 

Benchmarking

I spent years benchmarking products and there are two parts of a benchmarking exercise that is often forgotten. One is start with a set of requirements, not start with an existing product, and the second is to apply weightings to those requirements because each will have a different importance.   For instance if you were benchmarking cars and you had kids, having adequate safety for your kids would generally rate higher than having a pretty blue display on the stereo system.   You might want the latter but your requirement for the firmer would likely be absolute. This allows you to rank products based on your specific needs.   


Image via Shutterstock

Why a Z30 is Better than an iPhone 5s

On a list of priorities for something with the name “phone” in it should include battery life, wireless range (fewer dropped calls), and for something that is in the Smartphone class, the screen size does matter. Let’s touch on each.

Battery Life: It doesn’t matter if a phone has a pretty screen, tons of apps, or can connect to iTunes if the fricken battery is dead.   Seriously, a decade ago we measured phones on battery life and that was one of the most important aspects of the phone and that battery life was measured in days; and not single digit hours. The Z30 has a massive battery that should again give days of battery life.   

Connectivity: The number of apps and how thin the device is pale against the need to be connected. Having an important call dropped or being unable to connect in the first place. The Z30 has two antennas, not one, and each can be dynamically adjusted to work together to significantly increase range.   This slowed the phone to market because the FCC hadn’t seen this technology used in a phone before and thus increased the review time for the product.

Screen Size: While the BlackBerry Z30 is hardly unique with a 5-inch screen their use of more efficient AMOLED makes it one of the most power frugal contributing to battery life. But in a Smartphone smaller isn’t better, bigger is better because you get more screen real estate to work with.  The market share shift from phones in the iPhones class to ones that have larger screens suggest this, the size of the screen, is a feature people value highly.  

Industry Standard Plugs

In Europe they actually made this a requirement (one that Apple is currently choosing not to comply with) but when you use industry standard plugs you can borrow chargers, share chargers with other products from different vendors, and more easily connect to things like projectors (though, on this last, this is rarely done with Smartphones today.   Having the combination of longer battery life and more power access should be a significant advantage.

Storage Expandability

Also not unique to the Z30 is an SD slot but you won’t find one in an iPhone. If you do want to put movies and music on the device you choice in a phone without an SD slot it to either scrap it for an newer more expensive phone or not do it in the first place. For the cost of an SD card you can add the storage you’ll need to a BlackBerry Z30.

Security

With word that the NSA limitations on spying now consist of dead people, animals, and insects (for now) the idea of a secure phone has suddenly become far more attractive.   It is somewhat ironic that this is what the US President, who is a big Apple fan, uses a BlackBerry himself to keep other governments from spying on him. Security should be a top tier requirement but for most it just isn’t which is why I’ve ended with it.

Wrapping Up: BlackBerry’s Goal

To be successful with the Z30 BlackBerry has to get us to care about what we should be caring about in the first place. Battery life, connectivity, screen size, standard plugs, expandability, and security all of which the Z30 stands out as leading with. It lags on apps but are they really more important than all of this other stuff?  Shouldn’t they be?  I wonder if we should be pissed that Apple made us all stupid. Something to think about this week.   

Edited by Alisen Downey

Savi People app brings 'smarter' contacts to iPhone, integrates with your favorite social networks

Posted By Ray Nicolini

Via Engadget.com

If you haven't been completely content with the stock Contacts app on your renowned Cupertino handset, and were wishing there was a little more to squeeze out of it -- there might just be something in the App Store waiting to meet your needs. Enter Savi People. The 99-cent application essentially brings all your address book connections into one hub, but what separates it from the Contacts you've come to know is its integration with most of your preferred social networks -- you know, the likes of Twitter, Facebook and, with the latest update, Instagram. Assuming you give Savi People the credentials to get into your accounts, you'll be tweeting, sending direct messages and posting on people's walls in no time directly from the app. You can grab Savi People for a little less than a dollar right now, though that could change at any time as it is a "special" price.

iTunes (App Store)

Research In Motion is dead, for now

Posted by Ray Nicolini

Via BGR.com

I saw from the inside and outside how RIM transformed the mobile landscape, and how the company even battled its own inner demons throughout the years. Here are my thoughts on the company’s worst quarter in five years:

RIM grew incredibly fast. It grew faster than the company knew how to manage, and RIM slowly — and then quickly — slipped as a result. This is the company that used to make users choose between a device with Wi-Fi and no GPS, or GPS and no Wi-Fi, just to have two products on the market instead of one. This is the company that refused to take the consumer market seriously for a number of years. This is the company that couldn’t see the future when it was right in front of them.

One of my high-level Research In Motion sources who I’ve known for a number of years wrote an open letter to the company a few months ago that I published on BGR. Looking back at it now, here are some of the most intriguing and timely quotes:

• Let’s obsess about what is best for the end user. We often make product decisions based on strategic alignment, partner requests or even legal advice — the end user doesn’t care.
• We need some heavy hitters at RIM when it comes to software management. Teams still aren’t talking together properly, no one is making or can make critical decisions, all the while everyone is working crazy hours and still far behind.
• The public’s questions about dual-CEOs are warranted. The partnership is not broken, but on the ground level, it is not efficient. Maybe we need our Eric Schmidt reign period.
• Just because someone may have been a loyal RIM employee for 7 years, it doesn’t mean they are the best Manager / Director / VP for that role. It’s time to change the culture to deliver or move on and get out.
• Strategy is often in the things you decide not to do.

What’s so interesting is that RIM has actually started to implement most of what the open letter said the company should do. The company isn’t releasing BlackBerry 10 until it’s happy with it, the end user has been more of a focus, the company has gotten rid of a number of executives, and the dual-CEO structure is gone. Unfortunately, it’s not enough. RIM has a fundamental problem with what the company can offer, and what the company can do best.

RIM CEO Thorsten Heins even stated yesterday during the company’s earnings call that RIM’s best-in-class enterprise integration, security and push email are no longer a huge selling point for the company. Really? It took five years to figure that out?

The enterprise loves the BlackBerry Bold 9900′s keyboard, but most BlackBerry customers want a full-touch smartphone and RIM’s all-touch smartphones are poor excuses for a phone. In fact, an iPhone 3GS or prepaid Android smartphone is a much better option for the majority of people in the market for a low or mid-range smartphone compared to a BlackBerry Torch. RIM’s average selling prices have taken a nosedive since the company’s products can’t compete on features, only price, though competitors like Huawei and others have seized this opportunity to introduce lower-priced Android smartphones.

Something I have been told from another senior source at Research In Motion is that the company is considering ditching their system access fees for all carriers. This amounts to more than $1 billion in revenue each quarter for RIM, but the company thinks it might be a way to drive BlackBerry 7 sales before BlackBerry 10 finally hits the market. It would be a radical move that could help the company sell more units in the short term, but would get them nowhere in the long term. In fact, all it would really do is buy the company time to try and get BlackBerry 10 out of the door, or buy time while it explores other options for the company’s future.

I spoke with the same inside source who wrote the open letter to RIM we published last summer, and here is what this person had to say: “RIM only has one hope. Ditch the QNX bullshit experiment that will be the exact definition of a 1.0 operating system — it can not compete.” The source went on to say, “Take on Windows Phone and negotiate with Microsoft. You need BBM on Windows Phone, get a royalty fee from all the others. Then build out the BES story with Exchange — beef that up, now there’s an interesting and unique value proposition.”

BGR exclusively reported in January that Research In Motion was pushing for a sale of a part (or entire) company to Samsung. Those talks were real. RIM has talked with a bunch of companies about licensing its software and OS, licensing BlackBerry Messenger, licensing the company’s network infrastructure, and even selling different parts of RIM flat out.

The RIM we know, is dead. The company has 12 to 15 months until it’s either acquired, or broken into pieces and sold for parts. I’m not even sure why the company still plans to launch BlackBerry 10 smartphones at this point.

BeatBlaster app turns your iPad into a jaw-dropping Hi-Fi sound system

Posted By Ray Nicolini

Via 9to5mac.com

Quality music players are far and few between on the iPad—especially ones with an interesting twist. Enter BeatBlaster for iPad. Born from the collaboration between mobile conception, development agency AppConcept, and communication and design agency StagLabel, it recreates the look and feel of those old Hi-Fi sound systems with stunning graphics, head-turning design and an assortment of useful features. First up, it plays your existing music, but it also lets you access lyrics, get detailed information about the artist, and more.

Moreover, the view switches to a new mode that animates huge speaker graphics when you play a favorite song. If you are really last century, you will like a turntable mode that spins vinyl records for the right mood. We also love visually flipping through CD jewel cases in the music library—a seemingly effective solution for sorting through huge libraries. Not everything about BeatBlaster is about looks, though.

BeatBlaster for iPad works well with the free companion BeatBlaster Remote app that connects wirelessly with your tablet over Bluetooth. Why is that cool, you ask? Well, how about docking your iPad to a home stereo system to control it from across the room using an iPhone? Better yet, hook up BeatBlaster to supported AV receivers through AirPlay for true cables-free nirvana. BeatBlaster will set you back three bucks and is available now from the App Store.

More information and screenies are below.

BeatBlaster for iPad

• Equalizer and speaker (based on the track’s volume)
• Background support (iPod and web radio)
• Search your iPod library by song, artist or album
• Discover new songs thanks to Radionomy web radios’ catalogue, which include a featured and a top 25 section

• Browse web radios by type or search by artist or keyword.
• Put a web radio in the “favorite” section to launch it faster.
• AirPlay support

 

 

• Player – It is the brain of the app, from where you can control everything. Switch from iPod to radio mode, adapt the volume, seek, enjoy the equalizer, follow the lyrics, and get information about the artist

• Turntable – For those of you who loved to watch your vinyls spinning on your turntable, we reproduced with fidelity this old school way to enjoy music.

• Speaker – That is where the sound comes from. We managed to make it move in sync with your iPod and web radio sound.

• Library – Where you will find your CD collection (Music synced with iTunes) and a variety of high quality web radios.

• Remote – Put your iPad on a docking station, launch the BeatBlaster and sit back on your couch. From there, use the “BeatBlaster Remote” to play music, go to the previous or the next song, change from radio to iPod mode or adapt the volume. “BeatBlaster Remote” is available free on the App Store for your iPhone or your iPod Touch.

Why the iPhone is worse than a BlackBerry

Posted By Ray Nicolini
Via BGR.com

I love my iPhone. In fact, I’ve loved every iPhone Apple has launched since the first model was unveiled in 2007. Slowly but surely, Apple has introduced new features and eliminated upon almost every major gripe people had with iOS to push the limits of what we expect from a modern smartphone, and also to keep the platform on par with or even ahead of the competition. Copy and paste, MMS, background apps, multitasking, notifications, folders and much more have been added over time. There is one thing that makes me hate my iPhone every single day though, and I hope Apple is going to address it soon. I need more control over my alerts.

I really wish Apple would create an area in settings, or even add on to the notifications options, to allow users to set custom alert settings for different things. For instance, I’d love it if I could have different profile modes with settings for vibrate, ring, volume and ringtone much like how RIM’s BlackBerry phones have worked for ages. And there’s plenty of room for improvement beyond what RIM is doing in its BlackBerry OS… just look at how great Motorola’s Smart Actions feature is. Apple could totally take this one step further and allow location-based profiles for alerts, system settings, and more. When I get home, I want Bluetooth to turn off automatically, and I want my alert profile to change, for instance.

I might want my phone to vibrate for almost all alerts, and sometimes I want my phone ring as well. Sometimes I want everything to be on silent and have my phone ring only if it’s a certain person calling or messaging me. I just want more control over how my phone acts in this respect — it’s something that is half-assed in its current state. Sure, you can set custom alert tones for SMS and iMessage, and you can set custom ringers for specific contacts as well, but this is all being fed through a very rudimentary ”your phone is either on ring or vibrate, you idiot” switch.

If Apple does decide to introduce some sort of profile control, it will fix one of the most glaring holes still in iOS, in my view. We’ll get there eventually, I believe.

Samsung Confirms White Galaxy S II is Coming… And It’s a Beauty

Posted By Ray Nicolini


If you’re a fan of Apple’s white iPhone 4, but you’re not keen on its iOS operating system, then feast your eyes on this beauty. Samsung has just announced that its Galaxy S II is coming to the U.K. on September 1… in white!

Internally, the white device is identical to the existing black Galaxy S II — boasting the same 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display, a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, plus an 8-megapixel camera at the back and a 2-megapixel camera at the front.

The device has been so successful since its launch in the U.K. that in just 85 days, Samsung had already shifted a whopping 5 million units — that’s before the Galaxy S II has stepped foot in the U.S. — a new record for the company

If you’re looking at that photo above and you think you’re having a spell of déjà vu, that’s because you may have seen it yesterday. U.K. retailer MobileFun listed the device on its website with a slightly premature August 15 launch date. The price advertised was £410 (approx. $667) for the unlocked, SIM-free model. However, Samsung has confirmed to SlashGear that the device will be available through a number of carriers with subsidized pricing.

If you’re eager to get your hands on this device in the U.S., it’s expected to launch in August with Verizon the first carrier to offer the device, and it may be well worth the wait: One rumor suggests the device will come packing 4G LTE by the time it gets to Verizon. There’s no confirmation, however, that the U.S. will get both colors to begin with.

LTE is just one feature that may give the Galaxy S II an advantage over Apple’s iPhone 5 — which is expected to launch a month later in September. If the iPhone 5′s rumored specs list is anything to go by, it will compete with the Galaxy S II’s high-resolution screen, but it won’t match its processor or its RAM.

What do you think of Samsung’s white Galaxy S II? If I wasn’t already in love with the iPhone, I’d snap this up in a heartbeat.

[via SlashGear]

Viber exits beta, now available for all in the Android & iOS and soon BlackBerry

Posted By Ray Nicolini

VoIP client Viber has exited beta and is now available for download without an invitation.  If you aren't familiar, here's the skinny: Viber allows for free calling and texting among its nearly 20 million registered users over 3G and WiFi connections, across both Android and iOS platforms and soon on BlackBerry.

Source: Viber

If your BlackBerry broke today, would you get a new one?

Posted By Ray Nicolini

This is why I always recommend that people purchase phone insurance along with a smartphone. A few months ago I left a cup of water on my bedside table, something that I do every so often. When I woke up I saw a few drops of water on my device. Panicked, I dried it off and assessed the damage: little trackball functionality and apps weren’t opening. Basically, I was screwed. As it turns out, I did think to put insurance on it, which made the replacement process easy. I even upgraded from the 9630 to 9650 (though the 9650 is so damn buggy that I’m not sure it’s that big an upgrade). To this day I wonder what would have happened if I didn’t have insurance. Clearly, running a BlackBerry site requires owning a BlackBerry. But in which direction would I have gone?

The situation is easier to address if I put someone else in my situation. Let’s say that a good friend had the same cup of water incident. Clearly, she cannot use her BlackBerry any more, and since she doesn’t have insurance she needs a new handset pronto. Since I run multiple phone sites, I’m usually the go-to guy among friends when it comes to phone advice. What would I have told her when she called and asked me what to do? At this point there are really only two options.

Keeping the BlackBerry

The first, and the least offensive to the BlackBerry geeks among us, is to recommend she get a refurbished model. The major carriers offer these at a relatively steep discount. They’re often free when you extend your contract, but they’re still cheap to buy outright. There is little difference between a new and refurbished model, though sometimes there can be damage that not even the factory can detect. It’s a risk, but a small one. If you want to stick with BlackBerry, this is the best route currently.

This brings to light an important point about the state of RIM and the BlackBerry. We have not seen new BlackBerry models from most carriers in quite some time, and we’ve really seen only fresh designs — for RIM, at least — in the past year. Even if we didn’t know about this year’s upcoming models, I still couldn’t recommend that a friend extend her contract to buy a new BlackBerry. It’s just not worth it. That’s a two-year agreement for a handset that is already well out of date. Plus, once we learned that RIM would put out an entire new line of devices this year, getting a BlackBerry on contract became a non-starter. If your contract has expired since February, the only choices have been to remain patient for the new models, or to pick up a different brand of smartphone.

In any case, the refurbished model will typically set you back between $80 and $150. That might hurt in the short term, but it is far, far better than using a phone upgrade on a new BlackBerry that is actually several years old. It might have been released last year, as was the 9650, but it’s technologically further behind. You’ll be thankful later that you saved your upgrade for when there’s an actual upgrade on the market.

Ditching the BlackBerry

It’s unfathomable to many of the faithful, but more and more people are opting to ditch their BlackBerry devices for other platforms. I know more than a few friends who have picked up the Verizon iPhone once it dropped in January, and I know even more who have gone the Android route. Yet, with a broken BlackBerry and no upgrades on the market, it is a real alternative for many people.

I was struck earlier this month when Robb from RIMarkable — which I find to be one of the most thoughtful BlackBerry blogs out there —recommended that a co-worker ditch the BlackBerry. It was a familiar scenario: broken phone, replacement needed immediately. The co-worker also wanted it to do things like stream Netflix, and have a bigger screen. He asked about a BlackBerry to check out, but Robb knew as well as the rest of us that one does not currently exist. Maybe by August one will, but that does the friend no good at the moment.

Here’s another reason why I can see myself sometimes recommending people ditch the Berry: we have no idea when we’re really getting these devices. They announced the new Bold at BlackBerry World, but all we have now is a supposed August release date. Considering how long it took to release the last Bold announced at RIM’s yearly event (then WES), I’m not to sure about an August release. We also saw August as a common date on roadmaps for other new devices, such as the new touchscreen and the Torch 2. But with no announcements, we just can’t be sure when they’ll drop. If I knew they were coming out in August, I could recommend waiting. But because I know there is a possibility of delay, it’s tougher to justify.

Get on it, RIM

Like Robb, I don’t want to recommend friends switch from the BlackBerry. While I understand the awesomeness of both the Android and iPhone, they don’t handle email as well as the BlackBerry. Since that is the No. 1 reason I have a smartphone, I’d rather have a BlackBerry than the other two. But I also want a device that is at least somewhat up to speed. That is, I know it’s possible to put other great features alongside RIM’s best-in-business email platform. But I’ve yet to see it.

This might appear to be piling it on RIM. After all, the company recently came under fire from within, as an anonymous exec blasted the company in a letter printed on BGR, and then many fellow and former employees echoed his sentiments. It really does seem as though RIM is a company at a crossroads right now. While Apple brings its new gizmos and apps to the market, and Android pumps out what seems like one high-end phone per week, RIM stagnates. We know they can be better. My only plea to RIM is to give me a reason to recommend the BlackBerry when people need a new smartphone.

Follow me on Twitter
Via www.BBGeeks.com

The BlackBerry PlayBook is my favorite tablet

Posted By Ray Nicolini

Research In Motion launched its first tablet, the BlackBerry PlayBook, on April 19th of this year. Since that point in time — and even before, courtesy of reviews — the slender slate has been lambasted. A vocal minority belts praises for the tablet on Internet forums and in the comments sections of news sites and blogs, but the clear consensus is not favorable. Most see potential in QNX, but the lack of core PIM and email functionality coupled with RIM’s current situation makes it hard for many to take the tablet seriously. And yes, it’s a BlackBerry that doesn’t support email out of the box. While I agree with much of the criticism surrounding RIM’s first tablet, my overall feelings stray greatly from those shared by most who discuss the PlayBook. Read on to find out why.

I had hoped to wait until after RIM had updated the PlayBook software to include BlackBerry Bridge-less email support, but June came and went without a peep on the matter so I decided not to wait any longer. Truth be told, the introduction of native email will have absolutely no impact on my usage, as I believe the email experience on almost any modern tablet is terrible. While thumb-typing on the glass touchscreen of a smartphone is a great experience for me, full typing on the glass touchscreen of a tablet is not. I love the email UI on the PlayBook, iPad and other tablets, but I simply can’t take typing on any of these slates for more than a sentence or two at a time.

Here’s how I use a tablet: while sitting on my couch watching television or a movie, I might pick it up and browse the Web a bit or use a few apps. Maybe I’ll want to run through the RSS feeds I subscribe to in Google Reader quickly, or maybe I’ll want to check my Twitter stream quickly during a commercial.

When passing by a tablet on my coffee table, I might pick it up and do some quick searching or add a movie to my Netflix queue. I also use tablets from time to time while my smartphone is charging.

On rare occasions, I might try to watch a movie or TV show on a tablet. This only lasts a few minutes, however, as the tablet form factor is anything but conducive to watching videos. Who wants to site there and hold a device while you watch movies on it? I typically last for about 3 or 4 minutes before growing tired of having to hold it, so I stop the video and move on.

Finally, I use tablets as eBook readers. I purchase books from Amazon’s Kindle store and from Kobo’s eBook store, and I like that I can easily sync my accounts to multiple devices and pick up a book on one device right where I left off on another. I also love that I’ve cleared space on my book shelves for more important things, like bottles of scotch and boxes full of gadgets I’ll never look at again.

Let’s go through my use cases one by one…

The PlayBook is great for browsing the Web. In a monumental departure from BlackBerry devices of old, the PlayBook’s browser is a joy to use. It’s fast, the UI is extremely clean, and it renders most sites as they should be rendered. It annoys me that some sites load as mobile versions instead of full versions, but this is an issue common to all tablets and it’s one that should be addressed by webmasters, not vendors. The PlayBook also supports Flash video, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Most people will argue with me here, but I think the PlayBook already has plenty of great apps that suit my needs. Sure I might not have 13,755 options for a to-do list app like I do in Apple’s App Store, but most of my bases are covered and covered well. Netflix Queue Manager is easy to use and lets me quickly add movies and shows to my queue. News360 sports a wonderful UI — as it does on all platforms — and lets me browse and read top news stories from numerous sources. Pipeline is an absolutely gorgeous RSS reader for the PlayBook that offers full support for Google Reader accounts, and GeeReader is a good free alternative that gets the job done quite well. ScoreMobile lets me check Blue Jays scores quickly in a great-looking UI, and the Facebook app for RIM’s PlayBook is fairly comprehensive and easy to use. I do wish there were better Twitter apps for the PlayBook, but BlackBird and Blaq will get the job done until more choices come along.

Watching videos on the PlayBook, as infrequently as I attempt it, is as good an experience as one might expect. The PlayBook’s display is bright and vivid, and the speakers are surprisingly decent for a small portable device. So, for the 3 to 4 minutes every other month I try to watch a movie on a tablet, the PlayBook has me covered.

Finally, as an eReader, the PlayBook puts other tablets to shame. The size is perfect for eBooks; I find other tablets like the iPad 2 to be way too large to provide a good reading experience. The PlayBook is also much lighter than competitive offerings, thanks in part to its size of course, and I really do love the hardware. The sleek shape of the tablet and the soft-touch rubbery feel of the back of the PlayBook are just terrific. The PlayBook undoubtedly features my favorite tablet hardware to date, approached only by T-Mobile’s G-Slate.

But the iPad 2 is so thin! And sexy! And aluminum! This is all true, but we’re not talking about a sleek laptop or a refrigerator here. This is a tablet. You hold it in your hands and you shift it around constantly. Metal is hard and the iPad 2′s edges are sharp. The PlayBook is soft and its squared edges sit well in the hand. Just like most things Apple builds, the iPad is absolutely gorgeous. Unlike most Apple products, however, I do not find that function is on par with form in the iPad’s case.

Whether you consider this an endorsement for the PlayBook or a commentary on the current state of consumer tablets, the end result is the same. The BlackBerry PlayBook is my favorite tablet. By a wide margin, in fact.

Tablets as a whole do not improve any experience worth noting. Sure a tablet can browse the Web, but not as well as a PC. Sure a tablet can run productivity apps and email clients, but not as well as a laptop. Sure a tablet can provide an affordable portable computing experience, but not as well as a netbook. Sure a tablet can play movies and TV shows, but not as well as a TV. Sure a tablet can let you play games, but not as well as a dedicated portable console. Sure a tablet can keep users connected on the go and run a number of apps, but not as well as a smartphone. You get the idea.

The tablet is, at its core, the definition of jack of all trades, master of none. Apple’s iPad is a gorgeous, elegant device that gives consumers the opportunity to purchase a large-form Apple product for a mere $499, and that in itself plays a huge role in the tablet’s popularity. Other vendors do not carry the same hype and allure that Apple is enjoying at the moment, and that is a big reason their tablet sales are barely a blip on the radar; of course there are other equally important reasons such as the lack of intuitive and distinguished user experiences, but in the end, these vendors are building products that consumers simply aren’t asking for just yet. I’ve written this before, but it bears repeating: Consumers don’t want tablets, they want iPads.

But the most popular product isn’t always the best product, and for my personal usage, the PlayBook is at the top of the pile for me right now. The QNX OS also shows tons of potential, and while I believe iOS provides one of the best mobile user experiences money can buy, I far prefer gesture-based navigation on a larger device like a tablet. Swiping the big screen to switch apps, open menus and discard open applications is far better than poking at a home button, and the PlayBook’s gesture support is great.

If RIM makes the right moves and catches up, uses TAT as much as possible, and finds a way to innovate in some key areas, the company’s future tablets and smartphones could be fantastic. And I’m very confident that RIM is taking this matter seriously. While the native email update users are waiting for is still missing in action, RIM has already issued five software updates for the PlayBook OS since its release in April. This update frequency shows that RIM is being proactive with the PlayBook, and the device’s OTA updates are absolutely painless.

Back to TAT for a moment, this was a key strategic acquisition for RIM and I think it will pay off big time. Historically, the BlackBerry UI has been somewhat, well, boring and ugly. This is putting it mildly. RIM seems to be well aware of that however, and the PlayBook UI is already a 180-degree turn from the stale BlackBerry UI of old. But there is plenty of room for innovation there, and that’s where TAT comes into play. “TAT is an integral part of the RIM PlayBook strategy,” RIM’s Vice President of Handheld Software Product Management Andrew Bocking told BGR. “We continue to add TAT into the PlayBook UI as well as applications such as ‘Scrapbook.’”

In the meantime, even as it stands today, the PlayBook is the one-eyed man in the country of the blind.

Via BGR.com