Early beta units for RIM's highly anticipated PlayBook tablet have hit a few lucky hands recently, and it looks like the biggest gripe seems to be about battery life. While RIM advertises the tablet to have "comparable" battery life to competitors such as the claimed 10 hours for the iPad, testers like Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu are stating that the battery is lasting only "a few hours."

RIM has been quick to dismiss these claims, stating that the early test units do not come with any sort of power management. A statement from the company said that "any testing or observation of battery life to date by anyone outside of RIM would have been performed using pre-beta units that were built without power management implemented. RIM is on track with its schedule to optimize the BlackBerry PlayBook's battery life and looks forward to providing customers with a professional grade tablet that offers superior performance with comparable battery life." Looks like we'll have to wait for the final version to know for sure in May 2011.