69 thoughts on “∞ PlayBook vs. Etch A Sketch: A head-to-head battle”

1.  Jim, loving this crusade of yours.

2.  PlayBook, the Charlie Sheen of tablets.

3.  The biggest problem with the Playbook comparison is the Playbook does not come in Red.

4. EtchASketch: Most sane people give up after 10 minutes when they realise it’s actually pretty unusable.
   PlayBook: …yeah, complete this joke yourself

5. Easy to pick on someone who’s down.  Sure, RIM is having a bad year or 2.  But I for one hope it will turn around.  Jim and Mike need some serious soul-searching to own up to their own hubris.  The mistakes are obvious.  The product flaws are surmountable.  It just takes humility, determination and patience.

6. When I was a kid, I just -had- to know how my etch-a-sketch worked. So I broke it open. Silver powder everywhere. Parents very angry. 

   But thanks to this article, I have absolutely no curiosity as to how the Playbook “works”, though I suspect I would once again find strange powder (blended Blackberry Bolds and Storms?), plus assorted gears and strings.

7.  Jim, I applaud your relentless creativity in slamming the Playbook “fairly.”

   You know me. I don’t give a tinker’s damn about “fair” in the “politically correct” sense amongst the weenies who complain about instances of the lack thereof, that often being their only defense against attack.

   In the case of the Playbook, I was at my Office Depot store and noticed a Playbook display. . .with NO Playbooks on it–empty spaces for them, but no product. I asked the store manager what was up with that, and he said, “Oh, we have Playbooks. We just don’t want to put them out for security reasons.”

   Hmmm. Though that may be understandable, it’s really not a good way of promoting a brand new product, in my opinion.

   OK, so they figure out a way to nail those suckers down so they don’t get ripped off. I’m still looking forward to the market itself determining the fate of these would-be “iPad killers.”

8.  Sorry Jim, I have to take exception with this article, in particular the following excerpt you include:
        “…PlayBook fans…”
   Can you cite evidence that such fans even exist .. those who’ve bought, used, loved and recommended it?

9. ROTFLMAO! SPOT ON!

10. I agree with your theme except in RIMs case I think the kicking and piling on is due entirely to the RIM CEOs trash talking the iPad as their PlayBook was being developed prior to release. It went far beyond aggressive PR and marketing. I interpreted it as bullying.
    .
    Now RIM has released a turd. Everybody knows it, the reviews are almost unanimous.
    .
    Poetic justice say I.

11. iFixit.com… if you’re curious.

12. ‘Jth9234’ is a fan. You’ll get to read his rebuttal…
    …non-stop.

13.  Did I mention I really love my iPad 2 😉

14. Bullying?  That would apply only if RIM had the wherewithal of one. I’d say their foot-in-mouth declarations the noise of a wounded, cornered African cat.

    Is the Playbook really a turd? The hardware is reasonable.  They rushed the software but that can be fixed.  The QNX team is strong and gives RIM the real software chops they previously didn’t have.  But they will only be allowed to get it right if Mike and Jim do not insist on being the show themselves.  It’s a software game and they just aren’t software visionaries.  Time to pass the baton.  

15.  hahahahahahahahahahaha!!!

16. They dropped the baton, Ankle, dropped it into the fire where it burned up.
    The Playbook hardware has received better reviews than the software, yes. Those who buy are betting the software can be improved before the already hugely tarnished reputation of the PlayBook is completely devastated. As is said, you only have 1 chance to make a first impression. In the case of the PlayBook the impression is horrible.
    .
    Citing history, it is highly likely to never recover, even with more trash talk.
    .
    Couldn’t happen to a couple of more deserving technical clueless trash talking CEOs.

17.  Pretty compelling arguments Jim… I was looking at the Playbook, but now I’m leaning in favor of the Etch a  Sketch.  Do they still make them in red?

18. Your articles stink of childish fanboyism, and rarely reflect the real world at all.

    The only genuine negatives people have been able to find in the Playbook (and these have been MASSIVELY overstated) can be summed up as follows:
    1. Apps 
    2. A small power button

    You don’t even need to use the power button, because the innovative bezel is touch sensitive, and a simple swipe from left to right wakes up the tablet. Why use buttons?
    As for apps – well, it has over 4,000 Playbook optimised apps. Thats about as good as Android and not insanely far behind iPad specific apps. And a native email app really isn’t as important as people have been making out. Many people rightfully want to use a tablet as a laptop replacement with excellent browser – why on earth would it be absolutely essential to have a special native app to deal with that? Do you *need* to always use a native email app on your laptop? No. So why should a tablet be any different?

    The positives, on the other hand (and these have been massively UNDERSTATED), are seemingly without end. You’ve got:
    Excellent browser
    Full, proper multitasking that would embarrass most laptops
    High quality screen and cameras
    Good Flash implementation
    A fluid, innovative OS with advanced gestures
    Super fast, with expandable storage
    Useful and secure ‘Bridge’ feature
    HDMI port
    Beautiful UI that makes iOS look old and dull. The list goes on.

    Find fault if you need to, but this is THE tablet that has completely distracted me from the iPad 2, and that i’ll be buying the second it arrives in the UK.

19. You’ll be buying one the second it arrives in the UK? Wait, so – all this praise, and you haven’t actually  *used* one yet?

    In other words, “it looks good on paper”.  Well, QED.

20. If Amateur Hour is Over, as RIM’s playbook ads state, how come I went into a local Staples to look at one, and it WAS on display, but everything on ITS display was smooshed over to one-half of the display? No matter what I did I couldn’t get the thing to work. 

    It’s great you like your spec list. A tablet with a screen 45% the size of an iPad’s screen FOR THE SAME PRICE, that doesn’t have native email or contacts… Dude, that’s NOT good. 

21. The screen size is preferable for me. A massive tablet is useless and housebound.

    Its not just about a ‘spec list’ – things like multitasking and Flash are real things that directly affect the user experience. Price is affected by far more than mere screen size. If it was as simple as screen size = value, then Apple would have a hard time justifying the price difference between the iPhone and the iPad.

22. In reality, history is littered with examples where companies and individuals have recovered from unimpressive first impressions.  Sometimes, you have to market it as a different product.  Sometimes, you don’t even need to do that.

    I can’t speak for everyone.  But until I bring a more successful product to the world than the Blackberry, I would not consider myself qualified to call Balsillie and Laziridis clueless.  And to consider a company done like dinner because of a few missteps would be hubris itself.  Just ask Michael Dell who once piled on Apple when it fell on tough times.  RIM is in fact nowhere near the precipice Apple once approached.

23. The problem with that line of “defense” for the PlayBook is that the software ISN’T fixed yet. The device HAS potential to be good, because the hardware is good. But it’s NOT good yet, because the software isn’t. Unfortunately, people have to review the whole package — hardware and software — as it is now. Not as it could be one day, maybe.

    And yeah, right now, it’s a turd.

24. I don’t completely agree.  But, as much as I love my iPad, I would agree wholeheartedly that I pine for better multitasking and the availability of Flash.  Often, I have to ditch my iPad in favor of my Mac in order to access Flash-centric websites.  And the verdict is in – the web at large is not ditching Flash in favor of HTML5 on a large scale anytime soon.  Having said all this, I have tested the Playbook extensively and I still prefer the IPad for now.

25. Hey Anthony Daniel Heslehurst, aka Jim Balsillie or Mike Lazaridis
    You really need to read some of the reviews of the TurdBook rather than relying on your own YouTube videos and blogs of your trash talking before the turd launched.
    .
    It’s over Jim & Mike
    and
    your clueless leadership killed it. You forced a release of a product way before it was ready.
    You both deserved to be fired immediately.

26. Difference between an Etch A Sketch and a Playbook? I’d buy an Etch A Sketch

27. It’s not defense.  I have no skin in this game. Actually I do – I have an iPad.  But I just think, while easy and tempting, it’s shortsighted to be judgmental so early in a game.  So early. 

    RIM got flummoxed because it is now a software game, which was not their strength.  But their investment in QNX can pay off huge.

    What does one gain by piling on RIM except to sound smug and smart for a few moments?  But it is so much more interesting to surmise how much fun this industry can be if RIM rights its ship.  Instead of celebrating which company will win or lose, we can enjoy the rapid innovation instead.

28. Ok you brainwashed iJunk fans. You don’t want to give the Playbook a fair review then I will.lets see now…PB: HD high quality screen.iJunk: Makes cathode ray tube look mighty nice.PB: 2 high quality front facing stereo speakers.iJunk: 1 mono rear facing. Hello!!!! humans have 2 ears!!!PB: multitask.iJunk: do one thing at a time or i’ll be confused DUH.PB: 2 high quality cameras with 1 HD.iJunk: don’t bother to say cheese it would not make a difference.PB: HD video @ 60 frames/sec.iJunk: believes 60 frames/sec is too fast and speed kills.PB: watch your HD movies on your big screen using HDMI.iJunk: you need to buy and adapter????PB: tether it to your phone using bluetooth for 3G data connection.iJunk: pay over $100 more for 3G and buy a seperate plan.PB: flash web browsing.iJunk: Jobs says looking at flash websites for too long makes you become cockeyed and of course the brainwashed iFans believe it.PB: QNX runs anything from nuclear plants to cars to satellites to PB.iJunk: iOS runs ummmm iJunk.PB: Problems with 900 PB? We’ll deal with it before it gets to consumers.iJunk: Dead pixels? Maybe the consumers are all farsighted and they will not notice.PB: very intuitive interface.iJunk: click on app, click home button, click on app, click home button, click……PB: starts at $499. Cheap for what you’re getting.iJunk: starts at $499. well… you’re getting junk and the proof is in the list above…

29. Ok you brainwashed iJunk fans. You don’t want to give the Playbook a fair review then I will.lets see now…PB: HD high quality screen.iJunk: Makes cathode ray tube look mighty nice.PB: 2 high quality front facing stereo speakers.iJunk: 1 mono rear facing. Hello!!!! humans have 2 ears!!!PB: multitask.iJunk: do one thing at a time or i’ll be confused DUH.PB: 2 high quality cameras with 1 HD.iJunk: don’t bother to say cheese it would not make a difference.PB: HD video @ 60 frames/sec.iJunk: believes 60 frames/sec is too fast and speed kills.PB: watch your HD movies on your big screen using HDMI.iJunk: you need to buy and adapter????PB: tether it to your phone using bluetooth for 3G data connection.iJunk: pay over $100 more for 3G and buy a seperate plan.PB: flash web browsing.iJunk: Jobs says looking at flash websites for too long makes you become cockeyed and of course the brainwashed iFans believe it.PB: QNX runs anything from nuclear plants to cars to satellites to PB.iJunk: iOS runs ummmm iJunk.PB: Problems with 900 PB? We’ll deal with it before it gets to consumers.iJunk: Dead pixels? Maybe the consumers are all farsighted and they will not notice.PB: very intuitive interface.iJunk: click on app, click home button, click on app, click home button, click……PB: starts at $499. Cheap for what you’re getting.iJunk: starts at $499. well… you’re getting junk and the proof is in the list above…

30. Even if the PB was released when the native email and the android emulator was available the reviewers would’ve still found something to pick on. Maybe the small power button??? which I don’t have a problem using with my xlarge fingers.

    It’s very obvious those brainwashed iJunk fans are on a mission do destroy RIM. You will not succeed! Nobody can succeed to destroy a good product. All you can do is slow it down to start but those who have bought the PB and love it are the real promoters of the product. By the summer when the native email and the android emulator are released the PB will be unstoppable.

31. I looked through the comments and I could not find your name so the answer is NO. DUH

32. The first and last time I will ever visit this website. This article was trash.

33. So the only people qualified to criticize RIM are those who’ve done work that’s as good or better? Not even consumers who are expressing opinions about personal gadget purchases?

34. You forgot one comparison. The Etch-a-Sketch doesn’t have a crappy Flash theme song written by Queen…

35. People are actually stealing them off the displays???? Hmmmmm I don’t know what to say to that except that that’s not too bad for a product that flopped!!!!

    I bet you’re one of those people that believe Apple is TOO BIG to fail… hehehe

36. PB: recalled

37. I did mention in it in my review. Read the whole comment before replying…

38. PB: recalled

39. PB: selling like a turd sandwhich

40. Yes, PB recalled.

41. PB: widely panned by reviewers (except, of course, your great “review”)

42. You do understand what that means, right?

43. (except, of course, your great “review”… NOT!)

     There, fixed it for ya.

44. Jim Dalrymple is a ass-hole. The Ipad1 and Ipad2 (Maxi-pad) has limitation as well (The Etch A Sketch can’t do Flash nor can the Maxi-pads). How can your first and second generation maxi-pads have the same issues (seems like they cannot fix their own issues). Now you want to pound on a first generation PlayBook. The cool thing about RIM is they know how to fix their issues can the Maxi-pads say the same. Wait for the second generation PlayBook let’s see what else you and Steve can SUCK on!!!

45. Jim Dalrymple is a ass-hole. The Ipad1 and Ipad2 (Maxi-pad) has limitation as well (The Etch A Sketch can’t do Flash nor can the Maxi-pads). How can your first and second generation maxi-pads have the same issues (seems like they cannot fix their own issues). Now you want to pound on a first generation PlayBook. The cool thing about RIM is they know how to fix their issues can the Maxi-pads say the same. Wait for the second generation PlayBook let’s see what else you and Steve can SUCK on!!!

46. Or, it could be that most reviewers, having already experienced what an enjoyably functional tablet works like, simply gave the Playbook negative reviews because it wasn’t fully functional. Brainwashed? Try “disappointed.”

47. That is just it. It’s not early in the game. Apple is eating everybody’s lunch, and this will only continue. In less than a month, Apple will be once again, capturing all the headlines with iOS5! How can anybody think it’s early in the game???

48. You don’t have one single credible argument. Flash sucks on the desktop, what makes you think it will suck less in a mobile device. 80% of video consumed in mobile devices is from iOS. So ponder on that one just so that you can fathom how irrelevant Flash has become. iOS 5 announced early next moth. RIM is DOA.

49. The “few missteps” are HUGE:  Blackberry’s attempt at a touchscreen phone (the Storm) and now releasing a tablet that really can’t do anything, and in particular has to be tied to a Blackberry in order to work. And AT&T won’t even allow Blackberry Bridge to work on its network!

    This is much more than a few errors, like including a crappy email client. There’s NO email! Also don’t overlook the fact that Blackberry has had since the original iPhone was released over 4 years ago to come up with some kind of reasonable answer, and yet STILL can’t get a decent software OS, web browser, etc.

    Blackberry’s problems are much more than a couple of turds. It’s their philosophy and the approach it’s taking to customers:  “We started mobile email, we have the greatest most secure system, so therefore we’ll just keep on keeping on and you should therefore buy what we sell.”

    Uh, no. Blackberry hasn’t evolved, and what it fails to recognize is that the major driving force in smartphones isn’t corporations, its consumers. The tide has reversed – consumers now drive corporate adoption of devices like the iPhone and iPad, not businesses giving them to their employees.

    And Blackberry just doesn’t get it.

50. What Blackberry has is a Corvette engine and chassis without seats, dashboard, etc. While it has great specs, you can’t drive it anywhere because there’s nothing for the driver to use.

51. Not sure about criticize.  But to call someone clueless, you’d better have proven yourself clued in. Otherwise, it’s just more hot air.  But hot air is fine; it keeps bloggers employed 🙂

52. The real question is – how can anybody NOT think it’s way early in the game?  If 1-3 years of dominance construes game over, then Nokia should have been crowned cell phone and smartphone king for eternity.

53. You’ve been reading too many iPad-centric reviews.  The Playbook has problems but it works well overall.  To say there’s nothing useful on it is no better than saying the iPad is useless without Flash.  Both are so wrong.  As written here already, I still prefer the iPad but please try the PB for an extended period of time yourself before jumping to conclusions.

54. The use of “clueless” here is emotional rhetoric, exaggerating to make a point. We all do that.

    I can call someone “clueless” if it legitimately seems to me that he’s making poor decisions without understanding their import. And so can you.

55. “The tide has reversed – consumers now drive corporate adoption of
    devices like the iPhone and iPad, not businesses giving them to their
    employees.”

    That is only true in some cases.  It’s so important, when trying to be informed, to not just read select headlines.  In many companies, employees do not make decisions on what device to use at work.  Sure, you can buy and use your own device outside of work.  But for corporate email etc., it’s the CIO or IT manager who still has the final say.

56. Hilarious! This is a classic in the making!
    I for one learned this from my Palm Treo fiasco.
     If it doesnt work properly out of the box, it never will.

57. I agree with Moeskido.  For example, I can call him clueless.

58. And I won’t be very offended by that because I consider the source. See how it works?

59. I love how patently untrue most of the statements in this post are. Clearly it was intended to be satirical and fuel the flame of the already angered PlayBook fans, but its a bit much. Can’t get online? It can get online just as much as any iPad without 3G. Wifi-only tablets are fairly typical. And you, like everyone else, seem to be hung up on the fact that it lacks native email/calendar. Surely you’ve heard of online calendars and email? Have you tried pointing the browser to gmail.com? The PlayBook, much like every other tablet, works quite well using email in the browser. Everyone seems to talk about the PlayBook like it literally cannot do *anything*, which really just makes you sound like a mindless automaton repeating already misinformed reviews. Ankle Skater seems to be the only reasonable person commenting on this post. Yeah, the iPad wins this comparison by a long shot, but the PlayBook is far from useless and its definitely early in the game. People cried “useless” on the original iPhone because it lacked many important features, but look how that turned around.

60. It isn’t early in the game for people who actually paid money for essentially a beta product. Why do people keep excusing this, as though fixing it later is an acceptable answer for people who believed the marketing and bought now?

    Come buy our car! … we promise we’ll have the engine running well in a few months. And we’ll add tires too!!

61. Thanks for a great post.  I would rather stay with the iPad 2 as a sure thing than the Playbook!

62. “Maxi-pad”, huh? Well, in that vein, anyone who buys a Playbook has a preference for RIM-jobs. (Not to be confused with “Rim Jobs”, which is probably being Rule 34’d as I write this.) So there.

63. ROTFL !!!

64. Maxi pads are pretty popular though. I see women buying them all the time.

65. Yes they do, but only to collect waste….

66. Stupid article by a stupid american and you wonder why the rest of the world hates you all.

67. stupid post by a stupid earthling and you wonder why the earth is going to be blown up to make way for an obsolete intergalactic bypass

68. Keep grasping….one of those straws is bound to hold!

69. Etch-a-sketch has two knobs.  Playbook does not, but knobs buy them.