Blackberry playbook red light flashes but it won 't turn on

that normally means there is fault with either the battery or the charger

You need a Blackberry charger. Other chargers might fit in the slot, but won't charge your device. You have to use (buy) a fast charger if your tablet is completely discharged and won't turn on. They're about £20 but worth it to keep using your Playbook.

you can sideload the android whatsapp app via http://apps.goodereader.com/playbook/playbook-android-apps/?did=222

this happened to me, it needs charging, make sure the blackberry symbol on the lead is facing up, putting it in upside down moves the little tab inside the housing stopping you from charging properly, if it is a bit loose realign the tab with a thin nail file carefully just a touch then push the lead in symbol side up and switch on give it time it should charge..

Nope, you actually cant insert a sim card in the blackberry playbook.
That is possible only in other tablets such as the Ipad.
sorry :)

Make sure that wireless is enabled on the device.

The Playbook attempts to download the license agreement from http://csbeta.websl.eval.blackberry.com/
and it seems this URL is no longer valid, as it returns
"Sorry! Nothing could be found here."

i figured the OS on my playbook is an early release so i'll be forcing an update.

to force an update, i fired up the latest desktop manager, completely turned off the playbook by pressing/holding the power button then clicking turn off, then i plugged it in..
desktop manager then shows an error message and gives you the option to update.. click that and leave it alone for an hour++ (depending on your internet connection)

i started the updated playbook, went through the setup wizard and this time when i selected the country, i got the license agreement and was able to continue.

option 2:

If you can't get it shut down, then try leaving it on but unplugged until the battery is completely dead. Hopefully when it is plugged back in and charged for a few minutes it should restart normally. If this doesn't work, then you should contact Blackberry Tech Support for your area, they are usually quite good to deal with, but I suggest contacting them by phone as email can be cumbersome and take several days to make progress. Their phone number for your country should be on the website. Obviously your playbook is still under warranty as it wasn't released more than a year ago.

On my playbook when I scroll down the list of email messages and get to a certain point it just downloads more older messages from the phone. If this isn't happening on your playbook, then you should try rebridging the devices. Go to the bluetooth connections screens on both the phone and the playbook and delete the other device from the device list. Then go to the BB bridge app and reconnect them. Hopefully that works.

Sounds like a bad install on the new operating system. Since your question was posted in April, I'm assuming you have the problem solved by now, or returned the device, but for anyone else looking at this, I suggest either returning the device and exchanging it, or if you prefer to solve it with this device, then leave it on and let the battery run down. Once it is dead, try plugging the device in and powering it on, hopefully that gets you back in business. Blackberry Tech Support is also helpful, their phone number for your country should be on their website.