In the realm of tablet computers, the rest of the tech world's still playing catch up to Apple's front running iPad.
The latest company trying to carve its slice of the tablet pie is Research In Motion, better known as RIM, the makers of Blackberry smart phones.
Their tablet offering, the Playbook, hits stores on Tuesday.
Techlicious.com's Suzanne Kantra praises the 7-inch Playbook's user interface and its media capabilities, including dual cameras.
I took this picture this morning of my son, using the camera, and you can see that the camera does a very nice job, she says.
CNET.com's Dan Ackerman gives a big thumbs up to the Playbook's web browser.
It's probably got the best implementation of flash, that's the technology that plays a lot of web video than we've seen in any other tablet so far, he says.
Still, the initial Playbook is WiFi only.
It needs a Bluetooth connection to a Blackberry smart phone to access email.
It's so tightly tied into that Blackberry eco-system, unless you're already a Blackberry user and you carry a Blackberry with you all the time, it's going to be hard to use the Playbook, Ackerman warns.
And because Blackberry's using its own operating system, there are currently only about
3,000 apps available, compared to more than 300,000 for Apple.
I don't see people moving over in droves. For people who have Blackberries, this is a fantastic choice for them, says Kantra.
The question is whether that audience is enough for success.
RIM says it'll have a 4G version of the Playbook out this summer and that more
apps are on the way, along with a native email ability that could have appeal to
Non-Blackberry smart phone owners.
