The BlackBerry PlayBook tablet from Research In Motion is due release on the 19th of this month, but apparently early reviews of the BlackBerry device are not that flattering apparently mainly due to the lack of apps when compared to rival tablet the Apple iPad 2.

According to an article over on the Economic Times, a report on the New York Times states that the BlackBerry PlayBook is “half baked” and “it seems almost silly to try to assess it, let alone buy it.”

Although reviewers have praised the QNX OS, smart interface and Flash enabled web browser, but on the downside the BlackBerry PlayBook is only WiFi and as a result of this BlackBerry Messenger, email and contacts will only be available when the tablet is connected to a BlackBerry smartphone via BlackBerry Bridge.

Apparently the New York Times review criticised Research In Motion for failing to enable the apps on the PlayBook and said… “at the moment, BlackBerry Bridge is the only way to do e-mail, calendar, address book and BlackBerry Messenger on the PlayBook. The PlayBook does not have e-mail, calendar or address book apps of its own. You read that right. RIM has just shipped a BlackBerry product that cannot do e-mail. It must be skating season in hell. (RIM says that those missing apps will come this summer.)”

Furthermore the BlackBerry PlayBook also lacks a video chat app unlike other tablets although it does feature GPS albeit without turn-b-turn navigation, and is only good for using the Bing Maps app, and apparently no existing apps run on the new QNX OS not even BlackBerry apps.

So it would appear that the BlackBerry PlayBook fails to offer the user what rival tables such as Android and iOS tablets offer; does this make you want to keep away from the BlackBerry PlayBook?