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BlackBerry PlayBook Battery Life Still Needs Tweaking

Categories: BlackBerry, Rumors, Tablets
By: , IntoMobile
Tuesday, December 28th, 2010 at 8:26 AM
BlackBerry-PlayBook

Shaw Wu, an analyst at Kaufman Brothers, says that the battery life on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet is still not quite up to snuff, citing “a few hours”-worth of juice in its current state. As a result, he’s expecting the launch to be pushed to March or May from our previously expected February timeframe. Of the challenge, Wu said, “Keep in mind that QNX wasn’t originally designed for mobile environments but rather for devices like network equipment and automobiles where battery life isn’t as much a constraint.”

Just to recap, the BlackBerry PlayBook is RIM’s first tablet, running a new operating system built on a company they acquired this year called QNX. The OS is designed to be multimedia-rich, stable, and built for multitasking. As for tech specs, the PlayBook has a 7-inch 1024 x 600 touchscreen, Wi-Fi (with an upgrade cavity for future connectivity), a 5 megapixel camera on the back, 3 megapixel camera on the front, dual-core 1 GHz processor, and 1 GB of RAM. Check out our eyes-on with the device over here.

I wouldn’t take this rumour too badly; battery optimization tends to be the last thing manufacturers work on before finalizing everything. At the very least, we know that the PlayBook will come with a 5300 mAh battery, which is more than the Samsung Galaxy Tab, and comparable to the iPad. Even if the battery life isn’t quite as good as folks would like, there’s still a good chance that the PlayBook will be able to beat competing tablets on price.

[via Electronista]

About The Author

Simon Sage

Simon Sage’s education largely surrounded writing, technology and online community, leading him to begin his blogging career at www.BlackBerryCool.com and to quickly discover a vibrant and active community surrounding BlackBerry and mobile technology. In exploring RIM’s platform, he has learned what enterprises are looking for in mobility as well as what makes the innocuous BlackBerry so appealing to them. Recently Simon’s been covering RIM’s gradual move into an already-crowded consumer market, and the impact of burgeoning challengers, such as the iPhone, as well as long-time leaders, like Nokia, on BlackBerry’s advancement. With plenty of content under his belt, Simon will be branching off a bit to see what other smartphone manufacturers are working on while still using BlackBerry as a barometer. At IntoMobile, you can count on his posts being even-handed, well-informed and thought-out.

  • Arcarese

    The playbook can’t compete on apps.

    The playbook can’t compete on battery life.

    The playbook can’t compete on screen size.

    The playbook can’t compete on price.

  • Anonymous

    Back in the mid-2000s Shaw Wu would make call after call on Apple claiming delayed products and problems and would always be wrong. Now everyone picks up his notes as if they are credible. His statement about QNX being designed to run on systems where power is not an issue just shows his ignorance of the platform. If people weren’t so desperate for things to write about analysts like Shaw Wu and Ashok Kumar would have to stand on their record instead of just being go-to fodder creators.