My BlackBerry PlayBook: Accessories

I received my brand new BlackBerry PlayBook 7" tablet a few days ago, and so far I couldn't be happier with my purchase.

I'm happy with the tablet itself, which for $190 is a great tool for surfing the web, playing media, and helping to keep me organized through its great email and calendar apps. But a huge part of why I'm enjoying this purchase so much has to do with the accessories I was able to get for it.

Bluetooth Keyboard Case

I'm writing this very blog post entirely on my PlayBook using this keyboard, and at under $30 I think it was a great buy. This model is not made by BlackBerry. In fact, I was not able to find anything about any brand at all on the packaging. But I was able to easily connect it with my PlayBook and it seems to be very stable and responsive.

I like the tablet sleeve. It's very easy to get the tablet in and out, but it seems to be pretty secure when it's in there. The keys are covered in a think layer of rubber. Not my ideal material for a keyboard, but it makes sense. I won't have to worry about debris getting down underneath and between the keys, and the rubber makes for a quiet typing experience, so I hopefully won't be overly annoying when using it to take notes in meetings.

I have noticed that sometimes it will type duplicate letters. I don't know what exactly is causing it, but it's easy enough to backspace, and is still much faster than typing on a touch screen keyboard.

One thing I am going to have to get used to is the placement of the apostrophe/quote key. It's to the left of the space bar, I'm assuming due to the small size of the keyboard. There probably wasn't a better place to put it. Not a huge deal to me.

Overall, it's a great little keyboard case and if I get at least a year of good use out of it, I'll be very pleased.

The PlayBook features a rapid charging port, so another great accessory that I am very glad I got is the Rapid Charging Stand.

I actually bought 2 of these - one for the night stand next to my bed at home, and one for my desk at work. It charges my PlayBook so much faster than the wall charger that came with it. I'd say you could completely charge a dead PlayBook in 2 hours using the charging stand.

I also like the fact that it's a stand so you can easily see the display from anywhere. Great for watching a movie or just being a fancy desk clock or digital picture fame while it's charging. It seems like it has a magnet built into it that helps ensure it's properly docked - another nice little feature.

At $15 apiece these were a no-brainer.

And last, but not least, I got a couple of HDMI Cables.

These should come in particularly handy when I'm traveling for work. Most hotels have HDTVs with HDMI ports, and the PlayBook supports full 1080p HD video output. Just load a couple of my favorite movies and I'm good to go. They should also be useful if I decide to run presentations off of my tablet.

These accessories really help to enhance my PlayBook experience and get some great functionality and value out of it that I didn't have when I owned my previous one.

Comments

  1. Good review. I'm coming from CrackBerry (axllebeer) and saw your post there. I've had my PlayBook for over 2 years now and about 3 weeks ago got the official RIM Keyboard Case for it. Great setup overall. Glad I found another fan. :)

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    1. Thanks, Josh. I wanted the official RIM keyboard case, but it appears to have been discontinued and I haven't been able to find a price I was comfortable with. I took a gamble with the $30 unit and it seems to have paid off thus far. Just trying to get as much out of my PlayBook as I can before it becomes so obsolete as to be unusable. I think it has another good year or two in it, at least.

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