[victorshikhman]

Hi Karen,

I updated my qPDF through appworld, but it doesn't open for me, it gets stuck on the black android player screen

Seems to be affecting a fair number of people:
http://forums.crackberry.com/playboo...pworld-707477/

I'll hold back before upgrading as I need to use the app today. Very excited to see what the upgrade will bring! Someone please post back when update is working.

[dusdal]

It's working for me. I needed to delete it within 'my world then reinstall and all is well.

[DanielFariasV]

Im also a medical student, and found that reading on playbook is quite good, but could be better, i was actually looking for and ipad for those kind of things, also a bigger screen would be nice, but i decided to wait for windows 8 tablets to be realeased so i can choose which is better for me.

[mkanaman]

Seems to be affecting a fair number of people:
http://forums.crackberry.com/playboo...pworld-707477/

I'll hold back before upgrading as I need to use the app today. Very excited to see what the upgrade will bring! Someone please post back when update is working.

I had to remove and reinstall it about 6 times but it worked on the last try. Its a very very marginal improvement I think (in my case anyway), both image heavy and image light documents don't render that quickly.

IMO I think Adobe reader X is still faster, but QPDF are definitely taking a step in the right direction! Its the first update ive seen on any app since I got my playbook!

[victorshikhman]

I followed the advise of others and uninstalled, then reinstalled. Works fine.

My initial loading and page flip load times are down by half. It's progress. I hope to see more improvement, and am willing to pay for perfection.

[victorshikhman]

Just to let everyone know, qPDF now has a serious competitor - Pdf Reader. It's a recent addition to Playbook and rocks.

I have a cell biology book (250mb, 1800 pages) that both Adobe and qPDF really struggle with. Pdf Reader opened it up within 2 seconds, and page turning is pretty fast (1 second or so), but I do sometimes get the "page turning" dialog box. Text, pictures, etc. render quickly and accurately (qPDF has some issues in that regard). There is a search function and the reader remembers the last page you were on.

I also tried the reader with a much smaller pdf book - 50mb - and page turning was blink-of-eye fast.

The developer is currently working to add bookmarks, annotations, etc. For $0.99 it's worth the download, in my opinion.

[goku_vegeta]

UPDATE

Hey Everyone.

Just tried out Medscape, the newest version which today stands at 2.11

Now I am running the PlayBook OS 2.1 Beta, I haven't tested this on OS 2.0.1 or earlier so let me know how it works out


I've converted .apk to a .bar, posting the link below.

In addition to the user interface enhancements, this version is actually the version for the Kindle Fire. Which is nice since the Kindle Fire and BlackBerry PlayBook have the same screen resolution. So far this has been a very stable app, you'll need some patience though and a decent internet connection because this app downloads a few reference files first, You can choose to download the full 5000+ reference files later for offline usage as well.

So without further ado

Here it is, Medscape Version 2.11

com.medscape.android_v1.0.9.0.bar


PS: The "Decompression" stage after downloading the first "set" of reference files (1/4 in the beginning) will take a while, just be patient and you'll see the progress bar to go 2/4 and so on.

[goku_vegeta]

Hey Everyone

Two more popular medical apps for you to enjoy

They are Lexicomp and Epocrates

Please note all testing has been done on PlayBook OS 2.1 Beta

Lexicomp Version 2.1.1 (Updated July 3, 2012)
com.lexi.android_v1.0.21.0.bar

Epocrates Version 1.979 (Updated June 26, 2012)
com.epocrates_v1.0.21.0.bar

As a side note, these apps are incredibly stable. I had them both download their reference files at the same time Neither crashed

My PlayBook just keeps getting "beta" every day (See what I did there )

[victorshikhman]

Thanks Goku! I'll try these out.

How are you liking 2.1? I'm waiting for the official upgrade.
Are the stability/compatibility improvements with Android apps real?

[goku_vegeta]

Thanks Goku! I'll try these out.

How are you liking 2.1? I'm waiting for the official upgrade.
Are the stability/compatibility improvements with Android apps real?

Anytime

Oh for sure, Lexicomp and Epocrates were unusable at best in OS 2.0.1, Now with PlayBook OS 2.1 Beta I got the benefit of testing out my apps, and trying out these popular medical apps to see how they work.

I think previously either Lexicomp or Epocrates refused to work after a certain point during setup, with OS 2.1 Beta that's all been resolved. Medscape didn't work past version 1.3, now we are at 2.11 and that's been working.

We shouldn't be too far off .

We had gotten an email this morning about new developer tools, I know the Dev Alpha is getting an update pretty soon but these tools are used for PlayBook app developement as well

[dusdal]

Skyscape showed up in the new arrivals section of App World today.

For the purists, it is an android port, but it seems to run just fine. An android player, better than android.

Even if you are a purist, it's free so give it a go.

[goku_vegeta]

Skyscape showed up in the new arrivals section of App World today.

For the purists, it is an android port, but it seems to run just fine. An android player, better than android.

Even if you are a purist, it's free so give it a go.

Awesome

Skyscape worked decently, I know sometimes the developers switch things up. Like WordPress for PlayBook, Its an Android Port but it does have some things that really make it feel like it was developed for the PlayBook.

[victorshikhman]

Hey all you medical students and health professionals! It's been a while.
Has anyone been able to sideload the Kaplan USMLE Step prep app?
I have a subscription to Qbank, but the mobile app is presently only available for android/ios.
If anyone has managed to sideload it to PBOS or BB10, please let me know.

The availability of this app for BB10, either in native or sideload mode, will likely have a serious impact on my upgrade decision to a new BB.

Update: I didn't see this right away, but someone has managed to sideload the Qbank to PlaybookOS: http://forums.crackberry.com/android...tested-759838/

I'll try it tonight and see how well it works. What about BB10? Anyone?

[goku_vegeta]

Hey all you medical students and health professionals! It's been a while.
Has anyone been able to sideload the Kaplan USMLE Step prep app?
I have a subscription to Qbank, but the mobile app is presently only available for android/ios.
If anyone has managed to sideload it to PBOS or BB10, please let me know.

The availability of this app for BB10, either in native or sideload mode, will likely have a serious impact on my upgrade decision to a new BB.

Update: I didn't see this right away, but someone has managed to sideload the Qbank to PlaybookOS: http://forums.crackberry.com/android...tested-759838/

I'll try it tonight and see how well it works. What about BB10? Anyone?

I'll try it over the weekend. My BlackBerry Z10 is running the Development Beta 10.2 OS with Android 4.2.2 support and hardware acceleration so if the app works it should perform fairly reasonably. I should be able to report back by Monday at the latest.

[Aehmed]

I'm a medical student too but actually I don't read larg full text books on the device anyway it could harm your eyes even with the ipad ..
but in general I may advice you with a paid native app in app world called Pdfreader for $0.99, it's really good, I didn't try it with text book but I do tried a ~32 mb 196 p book and it was just fine althogh the book was full of pictures
it support favoriting and highlightng etc.

Also there is the epub, mobi, etc. readers which can play text book good I have "playepub.." but as I heard it's not the best, the best one is called "book reader" unless you like the shelf in your screen use it to open many text Ebook if can manage to get your books in these format .
I've used "kobo" to read "kumar, pathologic basis of disease" and it was as the real book same photos and alignment and every thing but the disadvantage with kobo is that books cost more on it , more than kindle as I know anyway, and thereyou goes ..
cheers