The end of the week has arrived. It’s time to round up what our team have been mouthing off about in their opinion pieces this week. We can’t guarantee you’ll agree with them but that’s where the fun is, right?
Mic reckons a BlackBerry tablet might be a good idea
It’s codename sounds as if it was picked out of a hat by intoxicated marketing executives, but word of a BlackBerry Blackpad tablet has got our writer, Mic Wright coming around to the idea.
BlackBerry maker, RIM has already dabbled in some underwhelming touchscreen technology but Mic thinks the company will learn from past experiences to develop a tablet capable of showing its face in front of the Apple iPad: “…rumours around the Blackpad suggest RIM has consciously built an iPad rival – a 9.7in touchscreen tablet with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and twin front and rear facing cameras,” Mic observes.
He goes on to say that the Blackpad doesn’t have to be an iPad killer, but something that does what RIM does best.
“While Apple has made in-roads with IT departments, Blackberry has laid down far more roots at big businesses. The Blackpad should be ultra-simple to add to company networks and make video conferencing easy and secure to set up.
“Though the iTunes App Store has a huge lead over Blackberry App World (225,000 vs less than 10,000), RIM should target the makers of the most popular tablet apps and encourage them to develop for the Blackpad.”
It should also make the most of its addictive BlackBerry Messenger software says Mic.
“Another smart move for RIM would be to harness the incredible popularity of Blackberry Messenger and bring the same kind of always-on IM smarts to the Blackpad.”
Can a BlackBerry Tablet really challenge the iPad by encouraging developers to build more apps for it, and by harnessing the popularity of its BlackBerry Messenger service to whip up a must-have tablet? Let us know in the comments section below.
Ben isn’t wowed by BlackBerry 6
Reviews editor Ben Sillis got the chance to play with Blackberry 6 on the BlackBerry Torch 9800. It’s all well and good, but it could be a lot better he says.
He was pleased with the prospect of tabbed web browsing but went on to say that it all feels a little too familiar it all felt.
“I was struck by how similar it felt to BlackBerry OS on the nearly a year old Storm 2. The iconography, the general navigation, and sadly the resolution – you’ll be right at home with BlackBerry 6 if you’ve ever used one of the Canadian company’s phones before. But I was hoping to be left a bit more shocked, confused by it even, given RIM’s decision to change the nomenclature of its operating system.”
So what’s wrong with it exactly? According to Ben it’s missing that killer feature that will make it stand out from the crowd.
The end of the week has arrived. That means it’s once again time to round up what our team of teach writers have been mouthing off about in their opinion pieces this week. We can’t guarantee you’ll agree with them but that’s where the fun is, right?
“Look at every other smartphone platform in favour right now. Every one now has something that helps it stand out from the crowd. iOS for the iPhone has a stunning amount of apps, and by far the best games catalogue of any platform. Android 2.2 has all sorts of goodies like Wi-Fi hotspot skills natively built in and Flash support. Even Symbian S60 on Nokia phones now comes with free satnav out of the box. BlackBerry 6 is missing that one core, cutting edge feature (No, BlackBerry Messenger is not cutting edge) that helps it stand out.”
Agree with Ben? Let us know. But not before hitting the link above to see even more of what he had to say.
Jennifer Allen gets into a zombie rage
Reporter Jennifer Allan got in the mood for some Virgin Train inspired zombie action earlier this week with a viral game that has payers attempting to send zombies to their train seats by slapping them with their train tickets.
The Virgin Trains game might be a little light-hearted fun, but it got Jennifer Allan wondering whether the zombies were really being saved from a fate worse than an eternity of zombiedom.
“I can’t shake the feeling that every time I send a zombie up to their train seat heaven, I’m sending them to a worse hell, a Virgin Pendolino stopped at train traffic lights in the middle of nowhere for no reason, with old ladies repeatedly being exposed because they don’t understand how to use the complicated lock buttons on the enormous door that’s leaking the smell of the toilets into the whole carriage, and revealing the old women to the crush of passengers crouched on bags in the vestibule after being chucked off a cancelled service at Crewe.”
Had a similar experience? Let us know in the comments section below.
