I wanted to do a hands-on review of the Blackberry Playbook tablet that I recently purchased. To sum it up: I love it.

I’ll start out by saying that I have been an iPad owner for the past 5 months, and the Playbook has now completely replaced by iPad and I use it much, much more. I’ve owned and used the Playbook for about one month now, and I wanted to make sure I had time to properly use it and experience it before writing my review.

The Blackberry Playbook is a really beautiful device. It is the perfect size, small enough to hold and read comfortably with one hand, but still with a large screen to enjoy videos, browsing, photos and more.

I have read many criticisms of the screen because it does not go all the way to the side of the screen, but after using it for a month and comparing it to the iPad… I actually like it better. When holding the iPad, you tend to accidentally click things on the screen or cover up text by holding the device. The Playbook has a nice “safe” border where you can hold it.

The borders themselves are actually touch-sensitive, so you use them for navigating around the device. For example, to turn on the device or go to the home page, simply swipe with your finger upwards from the bottom border. To multitask, swipe left or right to change programs. You can see in this image that I have the camera on (live!), a game open, and Facebook. I can toggle seamlessly between them just by swiping the left or right border. I love being able to pull down a menu at any time either in a program, or to view settings when on the home screen. I can quickly lock the orientation or access important functions of a program (very similar to the “menu” button on a Blackberry phone). I really prefer this system to the iPad and find it much more intuitive.

By far, my FAVOURITE thing about the Blackberry Playbook is the ease of typing. You can comfortably hold this in your hands and type with both fingers, rather than typing with one finger on the larger screen of an iPad. I took a picture of Allan typing on the Playbook (it’s hard to take a picture of yourself typing!) but you can see he can comfortable reach any letter on the screen with his thumbs. I find my typing speed on the Playbook has almost tripled compared to the iPad.

Of course, being able to view any web page with Flash is a huge bonus. I sorely missed this on the iPad and found I was constantly running to the computer to view certain web pages when I couldn’t see them on the iPad. No longer! Flash is fully functional and awesome in its full glory on the Playbook.

I am a Blackberry phone owner, so for me, this tablet is ideal. It’s less useful if you don’t have a Blackberry phone, but you can still enjoy the many features on the tablet. If you don’t have a Blackberry phone you can’t access the email or calendar functions, although I heard this is coming in an update soon. However, for Blackberry owners, being able to view all your messages and BBMs on the tablet is amazing. I just leave my phone in my purse for the most part now and do a lot of my email reading and writing from the Playbook on the couch.

One of the raddest features is using the Blackberry Bridge Browser. YES! Recently on a trip, Allan and I were frustrated because we couldn’t use the iPad for internet since there was no WiFi and we only had a WiFi iPad. Using the Blackberry Bridge Browser, you can tether it to your Blackberry phone and surf to your heart’s delight… FOR FREE. NO DATA PLAN!

The camera and video are excellent. Crisp images, and 1080p high def video. It also has cameras on both sides so you can easily video chat or take photos of yourself.

It’s thin and I love the rubber backing on the device. It feels bomb proof.

You can see that the Playbook and my phone both fit comfortable inside my very small purse (most of my friends make fun of how small my purse is)… the size is perfect for me. I bring it everywhere!

Summary: Overall, I really love the Blackberry Playbook and I find it is perfect for what I use it for: e-mailing, using social media, browsing the internet, taking photos, traveling, and talking to friends. Although it is light on the apps side of things, I find that for myself, I am not missing any apps as that’s not what I use this tablet for. The size is great, the navigation is extremely intuitive and smart, the device is fast, great form factor and fantastic for typing on. It’s a keeper for me, and I’d highly recommend it, especially for Blackberry phone owners.

Note: I was not paid or asked to do this review in any way. I purchased the Playbook with my own money and wrote the review of my own accord.

I know it’s a bit late, but I just couldn’t miss putting up what is always my favourite post of the year… a recap of 2010 in photos, and then looking forward to what’s coming in 2011.

First of all, thank you to all my awesome blog visitors in 2010! We had just over 1.1 million unique visitors in 2010 and about 2.8 million unique visitors since the birth of this blog a couple years ago! Woohoo!

2010 was an amazing year… I’m so thankful for my friends, family, and of course Allan… my amazing boyfriend-turned-fiancé in 2010! Here is the recap in photos:

JANUARY

We completed our apartment makeover by the beginning of 2010! It was great to start the year with a fresh design and a cozy home to come back to.

FEBRUARY

February was truly one of the best months of my life. The 2010 Winter Olympics came to Vancouver and we partied hard and cheered our hearts out for Canada. We went to the men’s Canada vs. Russia hockey game, women’s Canada vs. Sweden hockey, and Canada-USA curling semi finals. We attended the exclusive invite-only Club Bud parties, saw Canada win the Gold Medal in men’s hockey at the Molson Hockey House, and checked out all the venues around town. I will never forget those moments.

MARCH

In March I bought the Amazon Kindle which is the gadget/technology that has made the MOST impact on my life since the invention of the cellphone. I read almost every day and I can’t tell you what a pleasure it is to read using my Kindle. I use it at the gym, on trips, before bed at night… it’s made a big difference in my life. Speaking of cellphones, I also bought a new Blackbery Bold 9700 which I still have, and love immensely!

APRIL

In April we went on the best snowboard trip of our lives doing catskiing / catboarding at Mustang Powder… it was absolutely incredible! Fresh powder lines every day. We also started cooking a lot more and learning to make fresh pasta and more.

MAY

In May, Allan got down on one knee and proposed to me. It was the happiest day of my life! A complete shock and surprise. I’m so happy to marry the most amazing man in the world in September. I love him with all my heart and couldn’t ask for a better person to spend every free moment with and never get tired of it!

JUNE

In June, I learned to downhill mountain bike at Mt. Fromme and we also booked our awesome wedding venue at Black Rock Resort in Tofino/Ucluelet area. Woohoo!

JULY

In July we went on a few awesome surfing and camping trips with friends, and booked our freaking amazing wedding photographers, JONETSU. We now consider Chadwick and Camille our good friends and can’t wait to create magic with them.

AUGUST

In August, we attended the annual horse races event that our friends’ throw which is always a blast, and we threw our engagement party in my parent’s backyard for our close family and friends.

SEPTEMBER

In September we started playing dodgeball (which is SUPER fun), and went on an annual trip with friends to Hornby Island!

OCTOBER

In October I started playing ice hockey more regularly and we started hanging out more with our now close friends Liv and Rob. I’m so happy that we met in 2010 and became good friends so quickly! So thankful to have them in our lives.

NOVEMBER

In November I had my birthday party and Allan and I went with my best friend and maid of honour Kim and her fiancé Greg to New York for a trip of a lifetime! Kleinfeld’s Bridal, Lion King, Mesa Grill, Mario Batali’s Del Posto, Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant, Serendipity, Times Square, and lots more eating, shopping and sightseeing.

DECEMBER

And December was filled with some more fun and sentimental memories with family and friends.

WHAT’S TO COME IN 2011

I’m so excited for 2011 to get rolling! Our wedding is in September this year and it’s hard to believe how fast time has gone past. There’s so much planning to do. We’ve also got a bunch of great ski trips planned to Big White and Apex, and maybe a few more places. A couple surf trips in the summer (cutting back due to wedding costs!) and maybe a couple mountain biking days too. I’m also hoping to finally start working out more and losing the weight I’ve been trying to lose over the past year and a half. And lastly… be better with my money! We really have to crack down now that the wedding costs are starting to add up.

And that’s it for me!

How was your 2010? What are you most looking forward to in 2011?