The BlackBerry Playbook is probably the smallest high-profile tablet to come out in 2011. Measuring 5 inches tall, 7.5 inches wide, and a slim 0.4 inch thick, the Playbook’s design has more in common with the Galaxy Tab of 2010 than the 10-inch tablets making headlines this year.
To RAM’s credit, the Playbook is the most powerful 7-inch tablet we’ve tested, and the lightweight design comes in under a pound .Another aspect of the Playbook’s OS that has us smiling is the onscreen keyboard. The virtual keys are well-spaced and responsive.
The overall tablet dimension and bezel size make it easy to reach your fingers across the screen. And in a design twist we think is pretty smart, RIM groups its numeric keyboard all on the left side, making number entry a little more natural .The Playbook’s new e-mail app gives you a unified inbox for all of your accounts, including social networks such as LinkedIn and Twitter. In spite of the Playbook’s relatively small 7-inch screen, RAM has made it possible to juggle between inbox views and e-mails using a collapsible multi-panel interface.