Research In Motion (RIM) is currently trying to build some early pre-release hype for its PlayBook tablet, which won’t be out until Spring. This isn’t stopping the maker of the BlackBerry from throwing down though. They produced a new video in which they say shows the PlayBook beating the iPad at web browsing. There isn’t any way to know if the video is rigged and it is worth noting that it isn’t entirely fair to compare a 2011 PlayBook to an iPad which was release in 2010. It does show that RIM is trying to compete in the tablet market, in which Apple has a big head-start on.

The PlayBook is not supposed to be available until March of 2011, almost a year after the iPad started shipping. The company is eager to make their tablet the “iPad killer.” They have already strongly suggested that the PlayBook will be priced lower than the base $499 iPad. The next phase of their plan seems to be the supposed performance improvements of the PlayBook. In this video, Matthew from RIM’s web browser group put a PlayBook against an iPad running iOS 3.2.2, loading various pages over WiFi. In addition to the Acid3 standards-based rendering test and a Javascript performance test, the engineer loads the UEFA soccer league’s website, and CBS.com, which was clearly chosen because it is a Flash-based website that makes the iPad look sub-par. The PlayBook’s OS is based on Adobe’s Flash and Air technologies, so it’s understandable that they would want to put emphasis on that.

Doing a head-to-head comparison is difficult between the two devices. RIM’s PlayBook has a physically smaller display at seven inches compared to the iPad’s 9.6-inch screen as well as being a lower resolution (1024×600 compared to iPad’s 1024×768). The PlayBook’s 1GHz dual-core Cortex-A9 processor also has a leg up on the iPad’s single-core A4 chip. Speculation says that a new model iPad is expected by the time the PlayBook is ready to ship, which should have at least 512MB of RAM like the iPhone 4, if not a dual-core chip.

It seems to be an effective way to market their new upcoming product but it is unlikely to sway anyone who is already planning on buying an iPad. Things might also change if the faster iPad 2 comes out in spring, near the time of the PlayBook’s release. What do you think of the whole ordeal? Let us know in the comments below! As usual, stay tuned for more news and info on the topic by following us on Twitter and/or subscribing to our RSS feed.

[Source Engadget]

Authors: TechHead

to know more click here