Battery Life

With no native email client we had to modify our general use battery life test a bit for use on the PlayBook. Here we're just playing MP3s and going through our (non-Flash) web browser battery life test, there's no active email checking in the background (which is present on both the iPads and Xoom in this chart).

General Usage - Web Browsing, Email & Music Playback

General usage battery life, at least today, appears to mirror that of the Motorola Xoom. At 7.66 hours of battery life the PlayBook is noticeably worse than the competition, and that's without checking emails in the background as well. Over 7 hours is still enough to get you through the majority of the work day, but heavy users should plan on charging the PlayBook at least once a day.

Video playback is a bit better. Running the same 720p base profile test as the rest of our tablets, the PlayBook managed 9 hours of video playback - comparable to the Xoom.

Video Playback - H.264 720p Base Profile (No B-Frames)

I also threw in battery life when running a 1080p main profile clip, something the other tablets can't do. There is definitely a negative impact on battery life for more complex videos, so keep that in mind if you plan on taking advantage of the OMAP 4430's flexible video playback support.

Pictures, Video Playback & Maps Accessories and Charging
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  • Azethoth - Thursday, April 14, 2011 - link

    That is a curious statement. What do you want lots of memory for?

    I can see memory being better for a phone that you listen to music from as more memory = more of your (compressed) library can fit on it. Personally I only sync particular playlists to my phone / iPad anyway.

    As for other stuff, well apps just do not consume a large amount of space. For my iPad 2 I went with the smallest memory size. The larger size I have on my original, er I mean on my sister's "new" iPad, was just a waste for me.
  • Chloiber - Thursday, April 14, 2011 - link

    Because it's an easy way to share things and upgrade your memory if you need more. I won't pay 100$ for 16GB of NAND flash (which cost's like 15$).
  • jjj - Thursday, April 14, 2011 - link

    For a device that can shoot and play 1080p video 16GB-64GB of storage is very little (and anything above 16GB is way too costly) Then there are also photos,music,apps that maybe soon will be actually able to do things and become bigger,it is after all a computing device and even if smartphones/tablets are in their infancy we can still hope that they mature sooner rather than later.
  • BuffyzDead - Thursday, April 14, 2011 - link

    "The screen is too small to comfortably read in portrait mode and even in landscape things can get a bit cramped." Steve Jobs already warned the entire industry on this point. It's too small to be a successful tablet. Everyone has portability in their Smartphone.

    "Apple's A5 still has a much faster GPU" .and the playbook isn't even shipping yet

    "App launches are unfortunately a bit high latency. .....whole process takes a couple of seconds but it feels longer than firing up similar iOS or Honeycomb apps." just throw more CPU at the problem. You know, down the road.

    "With no email or calendar apps, the PlayBook doesn't have a whole lot to notify you of. Presently the only notifications the PlayBook will deliver have to do with remaining battery capacity." LOL at this one.

    I predict Now, this thing will never sell in volume. Even improved versions down the road won't sell.
    3 reasons:
    1) It's too small.
    2) The User Experience does not even come close to that of the iPad1
    3) NO APPS

    Yes, while there are company's that may force this down their employees throat, that is not where the growth of tablet use is coming from, in enterprise.

    It's coming 100% from employees wanting to use their iPad's in the work environment.

    You finish with:
    "there are still more revolutions that will take place between now and when the mobile market finally matures"

    Ask yourself, Honestly, is there ANYTHING about this "experiment for RIM"
    that has an inkling of REVOLUTION ????
  • Azethoth - Thursday, April 14, 2011 - link

    The proper quote is:
    "While Apple and Google are clearly out to a substantial lead, there are still more revolutions that will take place between now and when the mobile market finally matures. I'm not saying that Apple or Google won't end up on top, I'm just saying that it's not guaranteed they will either."
    and
    "The PlayBook is a reasonable experiment for RIM, but I need to see more to really recommend the tablet."

    See how in context Anand makes sense? Rather than claiming the ridiculous: "this RIM tablet is a revolution", Anand is merely saying that this is an immature industry. Everyone fully expects actual game changing revolutions in this area in the future.

    Search this site for Anand's excellent follow up to the iPad 2 release that asks: "How do I as a blogger use a tablet to create [text] content". There were some responses about maybe covers that double as keyboards. There was wishful thinking about voice input maturing real soon now. Mostly there is a need for some kind of interface revolution before a tablet can become a reasonable answer for a blogger on the go. These are the revolutions Anand needs in a tablet.
  • BuffyzDead - Thursday, April 14, 2011 - link

    Correct !
    I wholeheartedly agree with Anand's review and conclusion:
    There are no guarantee's what the future may hold and he can not recommend this Playbook.

    1) I wanted to add that this Playbook will in fact be a total failure. Time will prove me right or wrong. Again, I predict Total Failure.

    2) I wanted to point out how RIM, as is evident by this Playbook version 1,
    has demonstrated Zero in it's capability to provide ANY REVOLUTION.
    At most, it's an outright attempt to copy or emulate (poorly) what the iPad REVOLUTION IS.

    BTW,
    If you think that "designing a tablet" to cater to "the blogger on the go" is a measure of success, then I pray for RIM's sake, you are not on their design team.

    Anand has repeatedly pointed out how a tablet might just not be for him, in general.
    I have maintained for the past 15 months that the iPad's true REVOLUTION, is that it CREATED a NEW MARKET.

    ALL of Apples competitors are playing catchup & copycat to cater to that NEW MARKET, which the iPad CREATED.
  • SandmanWN - Thursday, April 14, 2011 - link

    For real... lay off the coffee and Jobs shlong.
  • melgross - Thursday, April 14, 2011 - link

    For real, it's the only tablet so far that sold more than a small number. As many others have pointed out, so far the tablet market is really the iPad market. Other manufacturers have to prove that they can sell a large number of devices. We know that the Tab, is not a real tablet by Google's standards, and that it sold in much smaller numbers than the number shipped to retailers and cell companies. The Xoom is assumed to have managed about 100,000 sales, and what else has there been that seriously competes?

    Now, the Playbook, which has been criticized by those in the industry for having poor battery life, and problems with the software before release, despite RIM,s denials, is proving, from all the reviews I've now read today, to be having all of those problems just days before release. Pogue has stated that RIM is feverishly sending out updated on a daily basis. That's not good.

    Other tablets won't arrive for at least a couple more months.

    So what does the market really consist of now?
  • melgross - Thursday, April 14, 2011 - link

    It's hard to say. There are a lot of writers who have said that they type just fine on the iPad's virtual keyboard. Everyone's different. I remember a lot of people complaining about the first iPhone's keyboard, but since then, many, if not most new smartphones have no physical keyboards anymore, so people are getting used to them.

    I'm typing on my iPad2 now. The only complaints about the way Apple set it up are that I think that too much space is wasted on the two large numeric keyboard call up keys at the bottom of the keyboard, much of which could have been used for other functions, such as an "@" key, for instance. Otherwise, it's fine. On a 7" screen, typing for longer periods will be more problematical.
  • yelped - Thursday, April 14, 2011 - link

    Stop trolling, and PLEASE grow up.

    Thanks.

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