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Hands On With the BlackBerry PlayBook Web Browser

Posted: 17 Apr 2011 08:01 PM PDT

The web browser on the BlackBerry PlayBook is one of the key parts making up the PlayBook experience. I do not think I could cover all it can do in one article but I will attempt to hit the highlights. The browser opens the door for many of the web apps you currently enjoy on your desktop or laptop such as: Gmail, Twitter, Facebook, Pandora, Slacker, etc. It has some limitations in this current build of the OS such as pausing the browser windows and sometimes reloading them when you leave them for two long. Otherwise the PlayBook browser tends to put even my desktop browser to shame in terms of speed. I also like that RIM carries over some nice desktop features like the ability to remember which tabs you had open last time.

Its nice that RIM lets you choose your default search engine.

You can also turn off flash or javascript if that is your thing.

RIM was nice enough to throw in Porn Mode on the BlackBerry PlayBook in the way of Private Browsing. This allows you to browse what you want and then have none of the cookies or session information saved once you close the browser. In case you were wondering WebSockets is an HTML5 spec that lets developers have a website speak to a server without having to resort to AJAX.

I thought I would first cover the options available to you on the PlayBook. As we mentioned before you

Full Flash websites like Pandora work like a charm and you simply swipe down from the top bezel to get the menu. From there you can view your downloads and open a new tab.

You can also view and edit your history by heading to the icon that looks like a clock.

The same is the case for your favorites. Though I wish RIM would let you reorganize the favorites as you wish.

When you type in the Go field the top result is always a search with your preset default search engine. Mine is Google.

As you can see Google maps and other heavy AJAX websites work like a charm

If you hold your finger on a link or image you are given more options of what to do like saving the file, opening the link in a new window, viewing a full image, etc.

When you upload files it only shows you the preset pictures, videos, music, and documents. I am not sure if RIM will let you upload any file you wish.

I then tried the www.plus.im chat client website which also worked like a charm if you don't like Meebo.

What REALLY impressed me is that the PlayBook browser handled WordPress, the software that runs BerryReview, with ease. I could upload multiple files. Edit articles with the WYSIWYG editor instead of plan HTML. I am really grateful that it works since that means I won't even bother with an app.

RIM also reworked their website for the PlayBook which is nice. Its not the most user friendly but it has some really cool effects!

There is also the option to browse in portrait mode though I don't advise it but it does work.

Let me know if I missed anything!

Just as a fun teaser I was checking out some of the flash game websites and these games are better than most of the games in App World for the PlayBook. Check out Sonic Jump below:

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Posted by Ronen Halevy for ©BerryReview, April 17, 2011, 11:01 pm. | Hands On With the BlackBerry PlayBook Web Browser | Leave a comment |

Hands On With the BlackBerry PlayBook Video Player

Posted: 17 Apr 2011 11:03 AM PDT

I am absolutely loving the video player on my BlackBerry PlayBook. The only real limitation I have found so far is that it does not work on MKV files so I could not test any of my 720p or 1080p video content. On the other hand practically every video file I tested on the device worked like a charm with the exception of some old Coupling episodes I had coded I had coded in DIVX 3 but I tested out DIVX 4+ along with XVID and they worked like a charm.

Like the music player the video player will show the current status in the menu bar while a video is playing though I am not quite sure what that would be good for. Maybe if you want to take a quick jump to your email and back… The videos can also keep playing while you skip around between apps and that notification shows you a thumbnail of the video playing.

I also like how RIM lets you easily edit and delete files from your video collection en masse without having to do one at a time. That is nice with the limited 16GB on my device.

The only real knock I have on the PlayBook video player is that it does not remember where you were in a video when you exit it and go to another video or another app. RIM really needs to fix that ASAP. On the other hand I love how it lets you easily skip forward or back in a video. It is so fast it beats my desktop in skipping speeds!