the free games are quite good. the free apps are very basic but functional. Slacker radio is my favorite.
As for higher quality apps I think RIM should acquire a music app and photo manager app company, or pay and resell for its development. That's all that's really missing.
The web browser is by far very solid and few, if any, sites had any issues. For full-sized web pages being 16x10, I wonder if a column view is possible...scrolling and resizing is easy but still extra work.
It’s been a week since the RIM BlackBerry PlayBook became available in retail locations and most articles I have read the reviewers are pleased with the hardware and slick user interface. The lack of big name applications seems to be the primary concern so I decided to go through the BlackBerry App World and count up the available apps and see what kind of apps are available. You can check out screenshots of my top 10 apps and compare it to your list.
I am not pleased with the BlackBerry App World interface where you can only scroll through the top 25 apps in the Newest, Top Free, Top Purchased, and Recently Updated categories because then you have to browse through the various categories and sub-categories to find apps. You can use the search to find specific apps, but I would like to see the ability to see more of the top apps in 25 app blocks or something.
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| Image Gallery: Check out screenshots of my top 10 PlayBook apps after one week with the tablet. |  |
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It isn’t always about the number of applications that make a successful platform, but having key apps is important and the PlayBook still lacks many of the big names like Facebook and Twitter. However, it is important to remember that the web browser on the PlayBook is one of the best available with full Flash support so you can access your Amazon Cloud Player, Amazon Video On Demand video, and many other sites rather than worrying too much about dedicated applications.
Looking at the PlayBook’s App World last night I found the following:
- 19 categories with 63 sub-categories
- 875 paid applications
- 855 free applications
- Most expensive app was $599.99 for ATS v1.0 Terminal
As I was browsing around I found a few more good apps to download and install on my PlayBook and at this time these are my top 10 favorite apps:
- Web browser: Best application on the device IMHO
- Kobo Books: Wish it was faster, but does a good job with ebooks
- Need For Speed Undercover: Enjoyable racing game
- Slacker Radio: One of my favorite streaming radio apps
- Music player: Love the super loud speakers and basic player
- Glimpse: Slick RSS reader that reminds me of Pulse on Android devices
- Reader’s Digest: The PlayBook is perfect for reading this classic magazine
- Poynt: Great for finding movies and checking weather
- Rocket Storm: Beautiful Missile Command-type space game
- DoodleBlast: Fun, puzzle game with retro sketch interface
I would love to see RIM update their Podcasts application, like they have for their smartphones, so that I could add my own podcast feeds or import an OPML file because right now you are just limited to what they have in their catalog. I am hoping to see some great Bible apps (OliveTree would be perfect), Twitter apps, Facebook, Evernote, USAA banking application, SlingPlayer, and better games come to the platform.
As I mentioned, it is not that easy to discover new apps without some serious effort so I may have missed lots of other good apps in the App World. What kind of apps are you looking for on the PlayBook?
