RIM shows off PlayBook with faster web rendering than the iPad

Wed, Nov 17, 2010

News

Providing a sneak peak at the forthcoming 7-inch BlackBerry Playbook, RIM takes on the iPad head on in a browser speed test and performs quite well actually. On a number of sites, content appears to load much more quickly than it does on the iPad. The video also showcases how the Playbook can handle Flash content just fine while Apple’s iPad continues to lack support for the popular Adobe plugin.

The Playbook is expected to go on sale in early 2011, with RIM executives maintaining that it’s pricepoint will below that of the base model iPad. Keep in mind, though, that Apple will most likely announce and release iPad 2.0 sometime in early 2011 and the current iPad may very well see a significant price reduction, all but canceling out any price umbrella RIM was hoping to operate under.

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7 Comments For This Post

  1. Reynaldo Dellagatta Says:

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  2. Metryq Says:

    I can’t wait for the first “PlayBook security exploit via Flash” story.

  3. Gregory Says:

    How does screen almost 50% smaller equal fair comparison of web browsing speed?!?

  4. Jbelkin Says:

    Virtually meaningless. 3 programmers could’ve worked all night to enlarge the cache and preload the sites they went to … What’s the battery life in the real world? Their plan is to dismiss apps and say the web is where it’s at … RIM doesn’t get it … So then why even get a rim when you can have web surfing AND apps … How fast can their web surfing be – isit faster to tap on my a dress book or go to http://www.address book.com or http://www.googledocs.com and then sign in? They totally do nit get it.

  5. Peter Says:

    “How does screen almost 50% smaller equal fair comparison of web browsing speed?!?”

    First, 7″ is not 50% of 9″. Time to go back to math class.

    Second, the screen size doesn’t make any difference. If you look at the video, you’ll see that they are both showing the same amount of information. If anything, the BlackBerry may doing more work to shrink everything down to size.

    If it offends your little Apple-loving soul, though, keep in mind that PlayBook is probably using a WebKit-based browser (RIM bought a company that makes a WebKit-based browser for Blackberries) and are using a newer build of WebKit which is faster. Also, the iPad browser will probably receive an update to the latest WebKit when iOS 4.2 eventually comes out and afterwards, I’m sure, the speed difference will certainly not be so pronounced.

  6. Peter Says:

    “How fast can their web surfing be – isit faster to tap on my address book or go to http://www.addressbook.com or http://www.googledocs.com and then sign in?”

    I can’t speak for RIM, but my iPhone has this really cool feature called a “Bookmark.” In Safari, you go to a particular web page and then you hit the little plus button at the bottom of the screen. Something will pop up giving you the option to “Add to Home Screen.” After that, all you have to do is tap on an icon and it will take you to address book.

    I know. What will they think of next, huh?

  7. meh Says:

    This is not a surprise at all and frankly I think most of us DON’T CARE. iPad came out MONTHS ago and so of course it is expected that a newer device should be able to beat it in browser speed tests. DUH!

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