The BlackBerry PlayBook is a bit of a conundrum for us. On one hand, it has this awesome multi-app usability just like a full blown computer with live windows running in the background. It has a full-featured web browser that renders web pages just like a desktop browser with full support for html5 and Flash 10.1. We saw the demo videos here and here, and the PlayBook looks to deliver a tremendously competent multimedia and web browsing experience on par or perhaps even better than what the iPad can muster.
But on the other hand we have this ridiculous prerequisite set by RIM where for a PlayBook user to be able to have full email, calendar and BBM (and maybe even more) functions on the device, the user must first pair it with a BlackBerry phone, else you only get web access to your work emails and calendar — something like how you would access your Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo mail account via a web browser.
We don’t understand why RIM have decided to go down this path with a tablet that clearly has the potential to win the BlackBerry brand new customers and possibly some more adoring fans. For a number of customers, this pairing thing will be a deal breaker and RIM’s betting that the number will be small, but to us it’s not a smart gamble for a company that so desperately want to turn things around.
While we leave you with that thought, here’s a video of how the pairing thing works with the PlayBook and a BlackBerry phone. First you need to install an app called BlackBerry Bridge in your BlackBerry phone. Then, on the PlayBook side, you dig in the settings menu to bring out a QR code and once that is done you use your BlackBerry phone to scan the QR and the pairing is done.
Take a look at how its done in video after the jump.
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