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BlackBerry PlayBook Web Browser Video Walk Through

By Kevin Michaluk on 17 Apr 2011 10:12 am
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Native Apps Preview: A quick video look at using the BlackBerry PlayBook's Web Browser on the BlackBerry Tablet OS

In addition to our BlackBerry PlayBook vs. iPad 2 Web Browser Shootout, one of the videos I whipped up for our BlackBerry PlayBook Review was a more basic walkthrough of the PlayBook's web browser. In this video I go through the general usage of the web browser on the PlayBook as well as the settings options.

From a gesture standpoint, everything is pretty much what you'd expect. On the display, pinch to zoom, dragging and tapping all work, and tapping and holding will pull up a popup menu with more options (opening links in a new tab, saving images, etc.). As for the options gesture (swiping down from the top bezel onto the display), that will pull down the browser's main status header, which will allow you to quickly jump between open tabs, start a new tab, view your downloads, and get to browser options, where you change settings including the default search engine and font size, disable/enable flash support and clear your history and cache. There's also a handy icon on top right corner of the browser that allows you to toggle the status bar in and out, helping to maximize the real estate on the 7" display. 

Overall the BlackBerry PlayBook's web browser is proving to be incredibly powerful and supports the full version of pretty much all websites, including Hulu, as Adam demonstrated in his BlackBerry PlayBook Web Browser supports Hulu video. Also great to see now is that the PlayBook is running Flash version 10.2, which is higher than the 10.1 version originally announced back at DevCon. 

Oh, and for those of you who keep bugging us wanting to know how it supports all of the major adult content websites out there... let's just say that if RIM doesn't find themselves selling enough PlayBooks using the First Professional Grade Tablet tag line, they could always switch it up to Pornfessional Grade Tablet and sales will skyrocket. Lol. [Thanks to eydts for the new tagline!] Enjoy the video!

Topics: BlackBerry Playbook News & Rumors

CrackBerry Reminder: What you may have missed this week Previous
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Kevin Michaluk Kevin Michaluk 3681 (articles) 3021 (forum posts)
19 comments

Deathcommand

So who else noticed that the video that had music was muted?

Kevin Michaluk

Good eye. I noticed that afterwards.... I think I must have watched that video on the PlayBook prior to recording this video and maybe had muted it and forgot to unmute it or something.  Not a glitch in the browser though! Just a glitch in me. :)

philchang

Looks like there is a lag when you were flipping through the address book and calendar. I might be able to live with that, however if the browser lags more than my Bold's browser, it will be a no go for me. My Blackberry is not great with internet browsing. Will the Playbook be limited to the my blackberry's performance? Or could it possible be quicker?

Kiddo2050

Gotta love these comments. Are you really that uninformed or are you just coming on here to spread crap?

This is a whole different OS. This bears no relation at all to your blackberry phone. Your questions is the same as coming on here and saying "I noticed a small lag in the browser like on my samsung phone, is this like the lag on my samsung phone because then it would be a no-go for me."

Pretty much every review including very negative ones for the Playbook all said the browser is nice.

jasperlin

tech geeks are porn freaks! no flash no porn. playbook ftw!

Smiley88

If the PB does not take off maybe RIM so push the PB at the porn conference in Vegas. I'm sure they can sell a ton.

Yakuzahi

Hey I wonder if you can please try some websites with hebrew on them
like www.ynet.co.il and see if the playbook support hebrew fonts or everything look like squares?

godfada

Hey Kevin, you think the playbook's web performance has to do with its wifi rather than its webkit? Anadtech did a test with other tablets, and the playbook wifi was tad bit slower than some of the other tablets.

danielbigham

Hi Kevin,

My biggest question is whether there is an efficient way to read through a news site and open tabs "in the background". ie. Click a link and load it in a new tab, but rather than switching immediately to that new tab, staying on the current page.

This is how I typically browse the web... I read long pages and open a bunch of links in background tabs, and when I'm done the main page, I close it and start reading the sub-pages that I had opened. There is no easy way to do this on the iPad, which drives me nutts, so I'm really hoping there is a way to do this on the PlayBook.

FoxxBerry

the news about the adult sites is the tipping point for me! Now I have a real reason to buy one!

BigR3dBri

Hey Kevin.. Have you tried using Google Video chat to see if it works? Or Skype, Yahoo etc

Also - any recommendations for the size? debating between 32 and 64. Can't decide.

Thanks. Good Job!!

HTC_Droid_EvO

Playbook sucks and everyone knows it ..CEO too

HAHAHA

Supa_Fly1

KEVIN!!! Arrgh this is there I have to thank you and once again be critical for us true CRACKBERRY addicts.

The MOST IMPORTANT feature you missed is how BlackBerry browser always had one feature (even the original browser) beyond the competion:

Save Link
View Page Address/Send Page Address
* Save Bookmark > particularly into existing/new folders!

^ how could you forget to look into this?!

All in all cool review.

pbarbaro

Hey Kevin, can you add homescreen icons for web sites like you can on OS6??
Thanks.

edyts

Woohoo, thanks, glad you liked my tag line Kevin. Thats as close as i'll get to fame, and i'll gladly take it hahahaha. Keep up the first class work, love it!

herrbremerhaven

Really enjoying all the review videos so far, because they answer many questions. However, I still have one really big question, and that is secure websites. Many banks, most on-line internet stores, and EBAY use some form of secure login to place an order, store wish lists, or even to view financial information. This is something that is possible on every laptop. While I know support from some banks and brokerage companies might be slow to come to the PlayBook, could you get into any secure websites?

Gamesdmc3

this is a message to all the other tablets out there,"NO FLASH NO CASH",i need a full web browsing experience