BlackBerry entered the tablet market in the spring of 2011 with the PlayBook, a 7-inch tablet that had to compete with larger offerings from Apple and others. People who picked one up quickly noticed how portable it was, fitting easily into a bag or coat pocket for on-the-go use.

Build quality was impressive for the time, with the PlayBook coming in at just under 10mm thick and 425 grams. The clean combination of black plastic and metal felt solid and considered without trying too hard, and it showed the moment you picked it up. Many users at the time rated the physical quality above several competing tablets in the same space.

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The 7 inch display ran at 1024 by 600 pixels in a widescreen format that suited video and web browsing well, with solid brightness and color reproduction in indoor lighting. Direct sunlight was a challenge, though that was a common limitation of LCD panels at the time. The size also made it genuinely comfortable to hold and operate with one hand, which gave it a practical edge for reading and casual browsing that larger tablets struggled to match.

A 1GHz dual core Texas Instruments OMAP 4430 processor, combined with 1GB of memory, kept routine tasks running smoothly with no noticeable latency. The BlackBerry Tablet OS, which was built on a QNX platform, was actually solid and received high praise in early evaluations for its dependability. Navigation relied on edge gestures, which worked surprisingly well in practice, with swipes from the sides or top quickly bringing up menus or previously used apps. True multitasking allowed you to run multiple programs at the same time and switch between them seamlessly, and once the gesture system was activated, it seemed like a genuinely efficient method to move around the device.

Web browsing was one of the PlayBook’s real strengths. The browser handled most sites with ease and included Adobe Flash functionality, allowing you to watch films and interact with material that outperformed many rival mobile devices at the time. HTML5 performance also fared well in testing. On the entertainment front, the PlayBook handled high definition video playback with ease, the twin speakers were adequate for music, and a five megapixel rear camera and a three megapixel front camera covered both photos and video calls. A small HDMI port completed the package for anyone who wanted to project video onto a larger screen for presentations or movie nights.

At launch, connectivity included Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, with cellular possibilities added later. Depending on screen brightness and workload, the battery life was usually sufficient for a full day of mixed use. The launch software was where things became problematic. The PlayBook came without native email, calendar, or contacts apps, so users had to couple it with a BlackBerry phone using a technology called Bridge to use any of them. The connection was secure and smooth for existing BlackBerry users, who saw the tablet as a natural extension of their phone setup; however, for those without one, it was a significant drawback that was difficult to overlook.

The 16GB model debuted at $500, which is comparable to about $726 now, with higher storage options raising the price even further. Initial sales were good but fell well short of overall market forecasts, and large price cuts in late 2011 helped clear leftover inventory, particularly in Canada. By the conclusion of its run, the PlayBook had sold almost 2.5 million devices.

Based on testing, the companies behind Ike Tech claim this process has a 100 percent success rate in age verification, more or less calling the tech infallible. “The FDA told us it’s the holy grail technology they were looking for,” Wang says. “That’s word-for-word what they said when we met with them.” The FDA did not respond to WIRED’s request for comment.

But Glantz is not at all convinced these protections will work.

“The FDA is just showing their pro-industry bias,” Glantz says. “If I were running the FDA, I would prohibit these devices from having any Bluetooth capability at all, period. There are just too many ways it could go south. Every technical fix has a work-around.”

The verification features would be tied to just one person, so when the vape is on, that person could share a puff with anyone nearby without verifying their age. At that point, Wang says it comes down to personal responsibility.

“You really have to count on the responsibility of that person,” Wang says. “If it’s a 21-year-old or older person, of course, that’s fine, but if you really want to hand it to an underage person, then you are really irresponsible.”

Wang says the goal is to implement additional features in the verification process, like geo-fencing, which would force the vape to shut off while near a school or on an airplane. In the future, the plan is to license this biometric verification tech to other e-cig companies. The tech may also grow to include fingerprint readers and expand to other product categories; Wang suggests guns, which have a long history of age-verification features not quite working.

Vapor Ware

The time frame for when Ike Tech might actually be out in the world—and how much it will cost when added to vape cartridges—is still hazy. Wang says there are already partnerships with two nicotine companies, but won’t say which or when that will emerge. “In 2026, there will be a clear indication of when our solution will be approved and how many other brands will license our technology.”

Wang’s ideal version of a vape, he posits, would be a safe, clean way to inhale nicotine.

“In the industry, we have a saying: ‘Nicotine never killed a single person,’” Wang says. “To a large degree, e-cigarettes are a safer way to consume nicotine.”

Glantz rejects that notion by bringing up practices like “smoking topography,” where nicotine companies track how smokers puff the product differently, then control how much nicotine is dispersed at a time to maximize the addictive potential.

He also takes issue with the fundamental problem that e-cigarettes and vapes are cleaner than traditional cigarettes at all. While the problem with cigarettes and cheap vapes might be the other chemicals, nicotine itself is not a harmless substance.

“You can’t make a healthy e-cigarette; it’s impossible,” Glantz says. “It’s true that nicotine isn’t a carcinogen, but it has all kinds of adverse cardiovascular effects. Nicotine screws up your nervous system.”

For nicotine to be absorbed as vapor, it has to be reduced to ultrafine particles. That’s what the heating does, and those particles can have all sorts of adverse health effects.

“There are all of these other implications that are extremely serious that nobody’s really thinking about,” Glantz says. “Even if the age-verification thing worked, it’s still not worth it.”

Streaming was supposed to simplify everything. Instead, it is starting to look a lot like the cable bundles it replaced, with higher monthly costs, more fragmentation, and ads creeping back into tiers that once promised otherwise. For a growing number of viewers, that frustration is pushing them back toward something far less convenient but far more reliable: physical media.

Owning your movies and TV shows means they do not disappear when licensing deals expire or platforms reshuffle their catalogs overnight. You press play, and it works. No buffering, no logins, no surprise paywalls. It also means consistently better performance. DVD, Blu-ray, and especially 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray still deliver higher bitrates than streaming, which translates into cleaner images, more stable motion, deeper color, and lossless audio formats that actually take advantage of a proper surround sound system.

Finding discs is not as easy as it used to be. Major retailers like Best Buy and Target have scaled back or eliminated in store selections, but physical media is not disappearing. It is shifting. Walmart and Barnes & Noble still carry a solid range in store, and online options are stronger than ever. Boutique labels like The Criterion Collection, Kino Lorber, and Arrow Video continue to release restored editions, special features, and curated catalogs that streaming platforms rarely match.

This article and the three companion videos break down exactly what you get from DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray. Not just resolution numbers, but the real world differences in picture quality, HDR support, audio formats, and overall viewing experience so you can decide if going back to discs is nostalgia or just common sense in 2026.

The Bottom Line

DVD still has a place, but Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray remain the standard for anyone who actually cares about how movies look and sound. Streaming has improved, but it still cannot match the higher bitrates, consistent image quality, and lossless audio you get from a disc spinning in a dedicated player. That gap becomes obvious the moment you pair them with a modern 4K TV and a real surround sound system.

The three videos break down what matters in 2026. DVD is limited to standard definition. Blu-ray delivers full HD with excellent clarity and solid audio. 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray adds true 4K resolution, HDR formats like HDR10 and Dolby Vision, and the best available home audio formats. To take advantage of it, you need the right hardware. A 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player, a compatible TV with HDR support, and an audio system that can handle formats like Dolby Atmos or DTS:X. Get that right, and physical media is not just surviving. It is still the benchmark.

Where to buy?

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Samsung is widening the reach of its next big Android update, with One UI 8.5 beta now rolling out to a wave of older Galaxy devices. This is not just rolling out to its latest flagships.

After spending months in testing on the Galaxy S25 series, the beta programme is expanding to include last year’s premium phones, foldables and even tablets. Newly supported devices include the Galaxy S24 lineup, Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Flip 6.

In addition, the Galaxy Tab S11 range is supported as well. This is a clear sign Samsung is speeding up its software rollout strategy.