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RIM is vague on Blackberry Playbook battery life
SMARTPHONE MAKER Research in Motion (RIM) has yet to confirm a battery life figure for its imminent Blackberry Playbook tablet, despite the device being due to ship in early 2011.
While demoing the tablet to The INQUIRER at IBM's Lotusphere event in Orlando this week, RIM blamed its vague figures on the lack of agreed industry standards.
"There isn't a standard yet for measuring tablet battery life, so I can't quote some sort of specification for that," David Heit, a director of software product strategy at RIM, told The INQUIRER.
"But essentially, if you design a device and only get about two hours of battery life, you're not going to make the park. You've got to be in that eight to 10 hours minimum range."
Heit went on to explain that many factors could affect the battery life, including how long the screen is on for, how much data is being sent, and multitasking of apps - all of which sound like the norm for any self-respecting tablet. However, he conceded that whatever the use it should achieve the eight to 10 hours pinnacle, that is, a full working day, a given really considering RIM is going after the business market.
RIM might want to take a bet on a quoted battery life though, as Apple is quite happy to state that the Ipad offers up to 10 hours for web browsing over wireless or watching video, although this drops to nine hours for 3G connections.
Here at The INQUIRER, we're still unclear on when the Playbook will actually appear, so we can't make any promises about getting hold of the device to properly test the battery life.
At the start of the year, RIM and US carrier Sprint unveiled plans for a new model with 4G network capability, expected to be available in the summer. But we're not sure whether this will be the first Playbook to appear, or whether RIM is sticking to its timetable of an early 2011 release date for the original Playbook model, with a Q2 global rollout.
According to Heit, the US release date is now the end of March, pushed back from the original timeframe of early 2011, which we'd consider as January or February, so it's possible the schedule will slip further.
You can view the full Playbook demo in the video below. µ
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Why are there Best Buy ad on the inquirer?
For once, enough already!
Why you so concern about playbook battery??? When they released, people will know!
Even if it only last 1 hour, what's that got to do with you? If people want to buy it, they will buy it.
If they don't like it, then don't buy it!!
Sigh! You talking about un-released product, and you want to know small detail for sure!
There is a thing call "WAIT". Learn about that.
What a helpful article!
Except of course, for the fact that you fail to mention that their VP has stated that the battery life "will be equal or greater to the iPad".
But I guess it's more fun to ignore that?
Oh come on, instead of telling the truth that it won't last even the 10hours it deviates from the question by pointing that it depends on usage, bla,bla... We don't expect exact number of hours and minutes and seconds, but I expect them to say: ok it lasts an average 8 or 9 or even 10 hours on normal use. (mail, web, etc). Or even longer, they must have tested it, right.? Or they are like Apple with Antennagate, releasing a product untested...
I guess it would help if you understood standards and specifications. They aren't being vague, they are being truthful. What would you like them to base the number on? You can't answer that question because there is no standard, which is why they can't answer it either. Maybe you could do an inquiry as to why there isn't an industry standard so that everyone can be measured against it. But don't say they are being vague because a standard doesn't exist. Good mud slinging though.