PLAYTIME MEETS PRODUCTIVITY: THE BLACKBERRY PLAYBOOK
This month we offer a full-scale product review

We at Deltech highly recommend hitting the reset button to help separate current reality from the recent and over-publicized introductory hiccups, or self-aggrandizing analysts’ verdicts of tablets that have become historical failures only weeks or days after their release, or the apparent desire for what would amount to broad and collective rejection of competition in our free market economy.

After all, if 3 calendar months is a year in technology time, how much value can there be in rehashing beta issues that are now ancient?  With PlayBooks deployed and operational in-house, the setup process and device functionality has clearly moved to a ‘business-ready’ state.  What gets lost in this orgy of comparison—to the iPad2 of course—is what the PlayBook intended to do and can do!  On that score, the story provides a refreshing picture of what highly portable and easily accessible multitasking can be.

This is not a story about tablet comparisons, so let’s get the one of the two big elephants out of the room right now.   At 38 apps on my Blackberry Torch I maxed out my apps consumption.  At 76 apps on my PlayBook I maxed out too—the added real estate of the PlayBook opens new possibilities.  Are my 76 tablet choices the same as yours? Most likely not, hence the need for a variety of apps to meet users' preferences.  Do the Blackberry Twitter and Facebook icons point to real apps?  No.  They are simple shortcuts—abut then you have uncompromised browsing capability on the PlayBook.  Do 100,000 (iPad) apps versus 6,000 or so (PlayBook) apps matter at the company/analyst level?  No question about it!  Suggestion to Blackberry: do not ignore the number but don’t be too distracted by it.  Do apps matter significantly at the user level?  For sure, one word: choice!  You get to pick from 10 to 20 variants of your favorite app and get all the key apps that you want.  I for one would like the 60 Minutes app on my PlayBook.  However, will the availability of apps alone shape the user experience and ultimate satisfaction of a tablet user?  The verdict from this side is no.

First Impressions

Upon removing the tablet from its packaging, even after handling one in a retail store, it seemed smaller than I expected.  Put that down to a natural increase in skepticism whenever we hand over money.  By the time I was done with installation, it had regained the size I remembered.  After having owned and used it for a couple of weeks, and doing another round of comparisons with the larger devices, it does seem that the 5”x7” form factor is the more portable size.  That said, I believe the whole battle over tablet size misses the point: users will always remain split on their preferred choice.  It will be interesting to see if this near-religious issue of tablet size becomes entirely irrelevant with manufacturers offering multiple sizes of their tablets. 

Of course, with new devices come new thinking.  Some now argue that tablets are for PC haters.  I have not yet encountered one of those tablet owners.  The trend thus far appears to be for a PC complement.  But the jury is out and according to Intel, which plans to pour resources into tablets, the format is still in its early infancy: exciting times ahead.

Ease of Use

Where users share common needs and establish real bases for value—the user interface, productivity tools, multimedia capabilities, multitasking, OS stability, browsing, etc.—the PlayBook shines.  Control is as easy as 1, 2, 3!  Swipe (up, down, left, right), tap and type.  Voila, you have all the command expertise you need to operate the PlayBook.  The touch keyboard is responsive and the contextual menus could not be easier. 

A lot is said and written about processor power but in truth, users only experience that in the course of use.  The accelerometer flips viewing from landscape to portrait and back, effortlessly.  And there's some wicked car racing on tap, if that's your thing.  Blackberry today makes use of two corners: the top left to bring up contextual help, the bottom left to activate the keyboard.  It would be nice to see the top-right corner enlisted for improved connectivity: read on.

Connectivity

The so-called bridging issue (needing to have your phone with you) to access email, calendar, contacts and tasks appears to be the technical equivalent of modern day ‘drama.’   If you do not have a BlackBerry phone then you’re out.  That’s a miss by Blackberry and a needless contraction of their addressable market.  It needs fixing ASAP.  If I had product decision making authority—and I have been there—I would prioritize that gap over porting the ‘gang of four’ to the PlayBook natively. As this story about Verizon’s plans shows, Bridging has it money-saving merits.  Why have two data plans when one will do!

If you have a Blackberry smartphone, which you will likely carry with you anyway, the bridging part is almost mindlessly simple and very transparent.  We hear very little from analysts about information syncing—a challenge that will arise when those productivity features become native on the PlayBook.  Effective data synchronization between tablet and smart phone would seem to merit out-of-the box availability when added email or contact management capabilities come.  Apple already has MobileMe so RIM should not go native blindly.  For the (unverified) record, RIM supposedly has native productivity functionality queued up for a not-too-distant OS release, this year. 

As things stand, the ‘virtual’ presence of phone features on the PlayBook via bridging seems to be a step ahead.  One area RIM might consider improving (very) soon is to make switching from Bridging to WiFi easier and more programmatic (e.g. a one-button tap—that seems more ‘tablety’ than the smart phone checkbox). The switch dialog could be activated by a diagonal swipe from the top right corner where the connectivity icons already are.  Also, it would seem to make sense to be able to call up Bridging from both the tablet and smartphone.  Then, a user could set preferences for Bridging vs. WiFi connectivity—when both are possible—as we can today for Mobile network vs. WiFI access on the smart phone's.  Once bridged, most tasks—not phone of course!—are even easier to use on the PlayBook, given the added real estate. 

Productivity

Sure there are games to help you unwind and you can learn to love racing.  But for most of us, especially PlayBook users, enhancing mobile productivity is the driver.  I am not sure why RIM is shying away from that—at least they don’t seem to be shouting it out.  Even though the PlayBook will impress you with clear, crisp and powerful sound, tablets overall, regardless of the maker, will never be über portable sound systems.  Good headphones make a smartphone a much more convenient option.  However, Tablets will never become the preferred movie screen; after all, we need to hold them before our faces—too much work!  They may allow us to bring our own movies onto the plane—and suddenly cheap flights go upscale!  Tablets may own airport lounges, cottage chairs, and even the back seat of the car, but whenever we set them down there will likely be a monitor or TV not too far away.  

We may see tablets carve out new spaces.  This provider promises to turn your playbook into a portable music server.  And wonder of wonders, we may see—of all things—a resurgence in reading as the ebook form revitalizes that very worthwhile habit.  The PlayBook supports Kobo books, with an inventory of over 2.3 million ebooks--enjoy your reading!  Even with all these factors thrown in, for the majority of business users, a tablet’s purpose will still be to provide solid intermediate computing capability and uncompromised access to information—productivity when mobile: a natural BlackBerry strength.

That brings up the other big elephant in the room, non-native productivity applications: Calendar, Contacts, Email and Tasks—the aforementioned ‘gang of four’.  For many this is a major issue.  Others may, as I do, like the current BlackBerry approach.  With Bridging, it was very transparent and easy to use all the smart phone based applications.  I had a hard drive fail on me recently, mid-week.  Since then, syncing information immediately has been my mantra.  My 2:00 a.m. Sunday morning backups are now a second level of security.  I would like the updated PlayBook OS that will support native productivity apps to respect my need for continual and immediate data sync, and allow me to automate real-time syncing of my PlayBook with my smart phone. By the way, Bridging provides an equivalent capability today! 

Additionally, per Deloitte technology analyst Duncan Stewart, their research shows that from 60 to 80 per cent of tablet buyers choose WiFi-only.  Even if  RIM chooses to offer a cellular version of the PlayBook with native productivity applications, the current WiFi only model will continue to win a large share of the audience.

MultiMedia

Here the PlayBook shines.  The camera quality is terrific.  The 7” form a factor permits several easy one-hand holds that still allow you to use both cameras.  Videography in fluorescent light or with very rapid camera movement will be a bit jerky.  However, I found the simplicity and quality of my PlayBook HD video recording to be much more accessible than using my Nikon D90 in HD video mode. Unanticipated benefits like the absence of DLSR lens adjustment noises put the PlayBook HD recording miles ahead.  I would have to buy a $1,000 kit to get this level of HD quiet with my DLSR.  $1,000 saved!  Video playback is similarly awesome.  One area for improvement is managing native recorded video from its own panel: deleting a video from the recorded list is non-intuitive (i.e. too complex).  If you happen have a lot of videos in each--say, you're shooting short clips for instructional or review purposes--going back to the 'All Videos' screen will just add work and make you bug-eyed.

Close the Gaps

An immediate need that I, and I suspect many others crave, is good native file and folder management.  That is just too important to be left to an app!   Also, with USB 3.0 blazing on newer laptops, the PlayBook should follow suit.  Battery life may take a hit but with USB 2.0 as a fallback, let the user choose.   It's not clear why  a smart phone that is one third the volume of a PlayBook can take a microSD card and the PlayBook can't.  That seems like a clear gap.  Then, the whole issue of 16GB, 32GB or 64GB ceases to be a limiting factor.  Apple has made huge strides in supply chain management and memory cost control.  RIM needs to adopt different and agressive tactics on that front.  In fact, the PlayBook should go whole hog to full size  SDHC, and make use of those processor cores and 5 megapixel camera to allow recording of HD video and pictures to flash memory--there's some really fast flash cards on the market today.   Lenovo has shown how to do SDHC, on their ThinkPad.  Add zoom capability while recording--even if its a digital manipulation--that could serve as an editing proxy for quick and dirty projects.  Enterprises are doing more video in communication so RIM needs to ride that trend.  It's not all about secure email anymore.  Editing on the keyboard needs front/back arrow keys for non-destructive typing (going back without having to delete).  And throw in the earlier mentioned Bridging for non-BlackBerry phones.  The recently announced opening up of BBM to developers is along that line.  RIM should continue in that direction.

These 'real' capabilities will matter as much, if not more to users over the longer term, than the giant 'app' thing and offer opportunities to establish clear PlayBook supremacy.  RIM needs to be agile and respond quickly.  The fact that Cisco has taken an unwavering enterprise-oriented approach for its Cius, as has Lenovo, may be an equally big headache for RIM.  The company needs to not lose its enterprise cred in a fit of iPad-phobia. 

The loud calls for 3G capability seem to be about making productivity apps native on the PlayBook.  What might be even more valuable is for RIM to look ahead and optimize QNX for LTE (Long Term Evolution, aka 4G) for superfast multimedia content delivery on all its devices.  We have Rogers on LTE in Toronto and Ottawa, and more carriers will follow soon.  They need to for their own good.  Plus, with China Telecom as a heavyweight in LTE, RIM would beef up its product capability to compete more strongly in China, where Apple is making bigger inroads.

Android is part of the healthy competition that has emerged but it too has its challenges.  I remember Linux, only too recently, promising to eliminate the hell that was Unix fragmentation.  Now I just can’t seem to remember which of the ‘several hundred’ variants of Linux promised that.  Sorry Linux, but for any OS to be an industry heavyweight, it needs strong stewardship.  Android, even under Google’s stewardship, shows some shades of the same schizophrenic behaviour—a sole provider verticalization of the horizontal Linux problem.  Even Amazon’s Kindle, despite the clout of its massive book inventory, is having headaches.   Thus QNX, iOS and Android are three peas in a pod.  There is no reason why RIM should not play nice with Android.  As good Android apps emerge, the PlayBook should allow access to them and enhance its value.   

The PlayBook Ecosystem

Even without the ‘100,000 apps’ that everyone keeps talking about, you will find more than your share of applications to beef up your PlayBook’s capabilities.  One practice RIM might encourage—instead of being distracted by an overdone marketing number—is to focus on the developer-app user relationship.  Encourage most developers to let users try out apps before purchase.  Even at 99 cents, if you believe the app disappoints then you will invariably think that you have paid needlessly.  That can be a dissastisfier that grows with repeated failed purchases, something that can be turned to advantage instead. Users opting out before purchase will be good feedback for wise developers.  In time, RIM can end up with a stable of, say, ‘only’ 10,000 apps but all of them pure gold!

A Solid and Lasting Contender!

Overall, as a new entrant, the PlayBook is well beyond the launch days and performs outstandingly well.  The operating system has been a model of rock-solid stability thus far.  RIM has work to do in building and solidifying the PlayBook ecosystem, especially on the developer front.  That said, this device is a solid piece of engineering and is well tuned to run and outperform in the new marathon that is the tablet game. 

Welcome PlayBook!

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ENTRY-LEVEL ISIS 5000-16

Avid Extends Best-In-Class Shared Storage to Broader Content Creation Market

As communications becomes more multimedia oriented, the business of content creation has begun to spread beyond its traditional home in film and video production.  Well, it’ still film and video production but it is being done in more places and for different uses.  That’s one reason why Avid has responded to content creation needs with the ISIS-5000, which makes highly reliable shared storage …

… more affordable and accessible, without compromise in the manageability and premium grade performance of the ISIS line.

The ISIS 5000-16 is ideal for small- to mid-size postproduction facilities, rental houses, broadcasters, educational institutions, and government agencies. In addition to offering superior workflow and interoperability with Media Composer®, NewsCutter®, Symphony®, Avid DS video editors, and Avid Interplay® Production asset management, ISIS 5000-16 also delivers full support for the Apple Final Cut Pro editing software. The ISIS 5000-16 system comes standard with Avid NewsVision™ 2.0, a complete entry-level newsroom solution for local and regional broadcasters (announced today in a separate press release).

According to Christine Viera, vice president, Media Enterprise Marketing within Avid, “More media professionals in networked production environments rely on Avid shared storage solutions than from any other manufacturer.”  The ISIS line which also includes the benchmark ISIS-7000 has transformed production facilities everywhere.  With the ISIS-5000, that market-leading standard is more accessible than ever before,” Avid ISIS 5000-16 outpaces the competition with advanced, self-balancing intelligent storage, backed by comprehensive reliability and workflow testing. It’s also based on software that is proven daily by the most demanding broadcast and media enterprise customers in the world

Availability

The Avid ISIS 5000-16 is available now. Pricing ranges from about at $37,500 SRP which includes a Force10 S25N 24-port switch, a one-year Priority Support (5x8), and 90 client licenses. The ISIS 5000-32, which was launched last year, starts at about $54,000 GRP and also includes 24-port switch, a one-year Priority Support (5x8), and 90 client licenses. All ISIS-5000-xx configurations support Mac or PC clients. For more information, please call Deltech at 905-940-4993, x151.  Ask for Sherman.

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AVID INTERPLAY: THE MONEY IS IN THE MEDIA

Monetization of media is an all-consuming pursuit of content producers and post producers.  Well, there’s also some interest in creating and distributing quality content too.  That’s why an organizational ability to manage and share content is so critical.  That’s where Avid Interplay rules, with a four-pronged approach built on Acquisition, production, Archive, Search & Retrieve and Distribution.

Avid Interplay provides the content superhighway within your business to move, manage and transform content rapidly and effortlessly.  In use in over 700 post and broadcast facilities, Avid Interplay has helped its users to cut their task times from hours to minutes. 

Learn more.  Get your free guide on workgroup productivity here.

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SOLID STATE ADVANCES

In the world of technology, the expression “eating your own dog food” has become something of a litmus test of product trustworthiness.  In that case, Intel is showing that solid state drives (SSDs) are knocking hard on the door of mainstream use.  Want proof?  The company now requires that all its newly purchased laptops be equipped with an Intel solid-state drive and it has already rolled out SSDs to about 55% of Intel’s mobile PC by the end of 2010.  It expects to have the remaining 72,000 or so units equipped by the end of 2011 for a 100% SSD supported mobile workforce. 

Now that’s really eating it, but for good reason.  The company claims to have experienced a wide range of benefits such as improved system performance, longer battery life, a 4x faster I/O performance of SSD vs. HDD, and a 90% reduction in the annual drive failure rate. Although performance data has also benefitted from Intel’s new core i5 and i7 processors, the evidence of SSD contribution is still very powerful.

Long live the magnetic disk?

The modern-day magnetic hard disk drive (HDD) remains a brilliant piece of technology.  How impressive is a read/write clearance of only a few millionths of an inch above a platter that spins anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 revolutions per minute?  The analogy of a Boeing 747 flying about 6 inches above the ground just takes your breath away!  And the trusted magnetic hard disk is not only cheap, but will only continue to get faster, larger and deliver even more bang for the buck.

Bust as was the case with air travel over sea travel or jet planes versus propeller airplanes, sometimes even taking the established standard to new and unprecedented levels of performance can’t hold back the tides of time.  And so the writing on the wall gets bolder in favor of SSDs.  Who knows, the magnetic hard disk may not even get to see its brightest tomorrow at the rate things are going.  Or at least, it may have to give up a lot of turf real soon.

But Wait ….

Could the news be more contradictory!  Storage prices continue to go down, down, down but SSD prices are staying high.  NAND memory volumes may not catch up with notebook and laptop storage demand for another decade or so, yet NAND prices are depressed, the market is oversupplied, and NAND manufacturers are investing heavily in increased and improved productivity. 

As happens at regular intervals in the technology space, we are entering one of those transition periods when the tea leaves are so scrambled that trying to read them is an art.  What is more trustworthy is to observe what customers do.  And their wallets sometimes do the talking.

Prices

With SSDs now available in 600GB volumes, only price remains as a barrier to full SSD adoption in the laptop, netbook and mobile device space.  The new solid state drives come in a 2.5” SATA interface speed of 3Gbps (for the 310 OEM and 320 mainstream series) and 6Gbps for the 510 ‘Enthusiast’/High-end series.  All volume sizes—40GB, 80GB, 120GB, 160GB, 300GB, and 600GB are available as 320s.  310s come as 40GB and 80GB and the 510s as 120GB and 250GB.   

The 600GB is available for about $1050 and the 300GB for $525.  At about $55 for a 300GB SATA drive, these prices represent a 10x multiple over current HDD per-Giagabyte prices.  PC World believes that SSD prices have to come down to $1/GB or less for SSDs to become mainstream.  Yet price alone does not tell the full story.  For a highly mobile person with a lot of data to lose, the $475 differential between HDD and SSD 300GB prices may be a small sacrifice for the added security.  

That's why customers are already overlooking those differentials and ramping up purchases. Even at the bottom end, 40GB SSD prices compare favorably with similarly sized Class 10 SDHC cards, which offer premium priced and high-convenience storage.  If anything, this comparison shows that SSD’s have already crossed a major price threshold on their way to mainstream adoption.

Gotta have it, for all the right reasons

Intel data shows that employees define improved PC performance as faster application load times, quicker PC reboots and faster restore from sleep.  Another big advantage is not having to shut down the PC between location moves, when mobile.  There’s the added plus of not having an active disk, even if it’s parked, while making those moves.  SSDs deliver handily in all these areas.

Larger disk size, better price and a growing list of pluses.  Here come SSDs!

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