First, in my opinion, the Blackberry Playbook was the very best tablet ever created in terms of construction quality. Second, the operating system (QNX) is the best multi-tasking platform I have ever found. The Apple iOS cannot compare with QNX when it comes to multi-tasking. Android OS is not even in the same league with Apple's mobile platform, let alone Blackberry's chosen operating system.
Regarding power management, the Blackberry will give you ten hours of performance on a single charge. The iOS quite a bit less. The Android OS, depending on what things are trying to run continually, more or less. My Lenovo A10-70 gives me close to twelve hours working on spreadsheets and databases with wireless disabled. The Blackberry is better in that respect. Its charge lasts longer when I am using wireless. Either one, you are wise to use "airplane mode" when you want maximum battery endurance.
The Lenovo came with a fantastic keyboard. I wish the one on my laptop had the tactile feel of that keyboard. It has a nice authoritative click and the key spacing and size makes it genuinely functional. Thank you, Lenovo.
Why do I want a seven inch Blackberry when I already have a Lenovo ten inch tablet? Because, I can take the Blackberry with me on cycling trips and use it to catalog all of the maps in PDF format to keep me navigating right.
The Palm Tungsten E2 is the King of Palm devices. A single battery charge gives me a month of use (yes, a month, really!) and it is the best organizer and daily planner ever invented. It is an address book, to do list, time-clock, an okay book reader, and you can even fill it with mindless games if you'd like.
The Kindle Paperwhite is the best e-book reader made, bar none. It is the easiest on the eyes and it looks like a printed book when you read on it. I can take lots of books with me in that one device (over a thousand). I have switched to reading almost all books in electronic format. I know a lot of you might really prefer the feel of a real book in hand. I understand that, believe me, but I love the fact that I don't need book cases that mostly attract dust and store books I have not read in years.
The smart phone? It's a phone. It is not a laptop. It is not efficient for e-mail. It is not a good book reader or web browser. If you use it for entertainment, you run the risk of having to make a call in an emergency and having no power. I prefer stupid phones anyway. So, my smart phone is a basic model because, as much as I hate smart phones, I cannot stand flip phones.
By the way, I paid cash for my phone (new with no contract). I rooted it, meaning I took total control of it and removed all the extraneous crap applets that I did not want and disabled those that I did not want running continually but might need at some point. I only use it for making calls. That's it.
All that to say that for me to love a gadget, it has to work well and make me more productive, sufficiently entertain me should I want that, and help me communicate when I am on the road-- even on a bicycle if need be.
Why have I not fallen for the idea of getting a phone that can do it all? Because, they do not exist and likely never will.
Oh, by the way, I love cameras.... real cameras... professional quality cameras. All of those smart phone pix you see all over the 'net, well, compared to what a good digital SLR can do, they suck. It's a phone, after all.
