[ProfessorDre]

From the amazing resources here on CB, I have found and installed about 80 repackaged Android apps on my PB. I've gone through them all and I've kept 54 including Skype, the Dolphin browser I'm typing this on, Twitter, Angry Birds and Native Android E-mail to name a few. If I had Rdio and Netflix I would be totally satisfied till the official Os 2 release. Bottom line, RIM has gotten some love back from me with this beta.

End rant.

UPDATE: GOOGLE NAVIGATION!!! http://forums.crackberry.com/blackbe...os-2-a-664189/

Well I wasn't expecting such feedback, I just felt like rambling. But if you guys don't know already, there are some big threads with big lists and great links to already converted Android apps along with the instructions for sideloading (installing them) on your PB with OS 2 Beta. The tools are also available for the ambitious to convert their own files.

These are the only two threads I needed to consult:

http://forums.crackberry.com/playboo...erting-662497/ ---> links to https://accounts.google.com/ServiceL...heets&hl=en_US



http://forums.crackberry.com/playboo...ng-os2-661898/












This thing is FINALLY getting some of the functionality that people have been expecting.

[M.Rizk]

Glad to know this, hope all are feeling the same

[donjunto]

Angry Birds???? which version?

[easydoesit99]

You know what all us general users would like; a list of the 80(ish) Android apps you were able to utilize. Please.

If no list, any chance that Slingmedia was one of the apps you had working?

[M.Rizk]

Angry Birds???? which version?

I think he means the strange language one, which is not really Android.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[mapsonburt]

I haven't seen more than 5 applications I'd even bother to download (Skype, Kindle, RDP, and I'm already running out of ideas). I think RIM would have been far better off to pay Amazon, Skype, NetFlix, and 3-5 more ISV's to port their applications to the PlayBook before last April. This Android Player will be a distraction to developers and I believe will dilute rather than help bolster the native applications on PlayBook. I hope I'm wrong, but I well remember OS/2 and Windows and nobody even knows what OS/2 is anymore (Until Windows NT, it was always at least 2 versions ahead of Windows but didn't have native apps either... because IBM stupidly relied upon Microsoft to create the Laserjet printer drivers and MS turned out a driver that turned your $4K HP Laserjet into a $200 Epson dot matrix printer). Everyone who spent any time on OS/2 (Lotus, Adobe, Word Perfect, etc.) found their legs cut out from under them as MS introduced Office on Windows and the rest is history.

[Angelo_Campher]

I haven't seen more than 5 applications I'd even bother to download (Skype, Kindle, RDP, and I'm already running out of ideas). I think RIM would have been far better off to pay Amazon, Skype, NetFlix, and 3-5 more ISV's to port their applications to the PlayBook before last April. This Android Player will be a distraction to developers and I believe will dilute rather than help bolster the native applications on PlayBook. I hope I'm wrong, but I well remember OS/2 and Windows and nobody even knows what OS/2 is anymore (Until Windows NT, it was always at least 2 versions ahead of Windows but didn't have native apps either... because IBM stupidly relied upon Microsoft to create the Laserjet printer drivers and MS turned out a driver that turned your $4K HP Laserjet into a $200 Epson dot matrix printer). Everyone who spent any time on OS/2 (Lotus, Adobe, Word Perfect, etc.) found their legs cut out from under them as MS introduced Office on Windows and the rest is history.

I agree with you on the Android player. I have OS2 on my PlayBook which I will be downgrading shortly. I couldn't be bothered with installing Android apps and I, too, feel that RIM has bent over backwards with regard to this Android nonsense instead of luring developers over to develop apps natively. I am not to interested in all this and just want some decent productivity apps to run natively and all the features that have made BlackBerry famous over the years.

[ilker-uk]

PULSE is great

[ProfessorDre]

Pulse is great!! Might take the spot of BlackBerry News for me.

[jwn66]

You know what all us general users would like; a list of the 80(ish) Android apps you were able to utilize. Please.

If no list, any chance that Slingmedia was one of the apps you had working?

If we can get a droid slingplayer, it would make up for everything, for me at least it would.

[methodz]

I agree with you on the Android player. I have OS2 on my PlayBook which I will be downgrading shortly. I couldn't be bothered with installing Android apps and I, too, feel that RIM has bent over backwards with regard to this Android nonsense instead of luring developers over to develop apps natively. I am not to interested in all this and just want some decent productivity apps to run natively and all the features that have made BlackBerry famous over the years.

maybe rim should have tried to lure developers, that would have been the right thing to do... maybe. that would probably take a lot of resources for big players to take time out of their android/ios cash machines developers to take time out to make native apps for the sliver of a percentage of playbook owners. probably not worth their time at this point.

i know this much, the average consumer identifies the blackberry brand as successful brand(im talking about the millions of people not on this site) it is very easy for rim at this point, and i cant blame them, to have a sale $100-200 off for a blackberry tablet that also runs android apps. the consumer thinks they are getting added value on this tablet because it runs "android"(that is what they will say at the store but they really mean android apps) as well as the new and improved os2 so it looks like a good deal and i think it is a good deal. they will make more money this way if marketed correctly when it happens than what is has thus far on the playbook. it is a good move by rim financially even though the native app quality might suffer. but what else do you want them to do given their current situation?

[mapsonburt]

what else do you want them to do given their current situation?

We have to remember (but don't have to like) that the PlayBook generates next to no Revenue for RIM and probably sucks up a bunch of their profit. They could quadrupple sales of the PlayBook and it wouldn't make much of an impact on their bottom line.... so this isn't about making THIS device more attractive. That boat has already sailed and if this wasn't the foundation for the new QNX phones, they would have pulled an HP and dumped it months ago.

I agree that they'll get SOME advantage from having "Android" support although not a heck of a lot as, again, anyone that really wants Android will just go buy an Android phone anyway. What they are really missing is key features, functions and ISV support that make the device (whether its the PlayBook or the new BBX based phones) compelling in the first place! It is inconceivable to me that any current BB owner will buy a BB phone without the ability to autocorrect/spellcheck or have a built in PIM/Email system. It is similarly inconceivable that they would want a device that isn't supported by at least the top 20 applications.

I really believe RIM is at a crossroads here and success or failure will be self evident within 3-6 months. They have to either fully commit to being a consumer driven organization and go full on against Apple (and to a lesser extent Android) which will mean that they'll need to have a retail support channel where today they have NOTHING - they are pitiful in their support of end users, OR, they need to brand themselves as a BUSINESS phone and concentrate on the Corporate/Government/Telco markets although I really believe that Apple is disintermediating them from this market by having their users put pressure on IT departments to support their devices - and corporations faced with expense challenges are more than happy not to have to subsidize their employees handsets in exchange. This would be a very tricky road for RIM to follow.

Android will do OK as it is really the only other ecosystem out there (unless you somehow think MS is going to finally snap out of it and act faster than Google - and if so, I've got a bridge I'd like to sell you) but no particular HW maker will dominate and now that Google has bought Motorola's phone division, I suspect it'll be the prime beneficiary.

I don't think Apple is invincible. There are lots of holes in their current products but give them credit... they aren't focusing on technically elegant crap like Android VM's... they are focusing on making their end user's lives EASIER - and isn't that the whole point to a smartphone/tablet in the first place? RIM was the number one Smartphone brand exactly BECAUSE they did this better than anyone else... but they've lost the thread. As Smartphones became more powerful and tablets became ubiquitous, they went for technical brilliance (Multitasking, Flash Support, Android VM, even Cascades) instead of focusing on HOW TO MAKE OUR LIVES SIMPLER.

If they can get back to making this the most PRODUCTIVE device (and that means supporting things like email better than anyone else, having aids for users like autocorrect/replace/suggest/spell check, more cloud services like BBM and a better, even more compatible web experience) then they'll have a shot.

This Android VM experiment while technically interesting, will not help us become more productive... at best I think it'll convince some Android developers that perhaps it wouldn't be so hard to also support BlackBerry as they'll have to when they start getting calls from us anyway saying their Android device doesn't work as we expect it to.

Don't get me wrong, I love my PlayBook and haven't found another device out there that does what I want it to do better but at current course and speed, it won't be long before I do... and when they lose the die hard BlackBerry folks like me, there will be an awful lot of unhappy people in Waterloo and Ottawa (home of QNX).

[Angelo_Campher]

^^ I understand their reasons for going the Android route but I just feel they have bent over backwards to make it happen. Not to long ago RIM were paying for conferences with regard to Android developers but I have heard nothing about luring big name developers natively. I mean come on... Reward those who actually want to develop for your platform. Also, this Android thing stands a 50% chance of failing too because if consumers want to run Android apps they are far better off purchasing an Android tablet instead of a PlayBook. This has to be marketed to perfection or else it will be seen as another failure.

Furthermore, luring developers now will be far more beneficial for the platform when the BBX handsets finally arrive, which will see far more widespread adoption, because their will be some kind of native ecosystem instead of running sandboxed versions of Android apps. Right now it seems RIM is just meandering along instead of being proactive with regard to their core business which is phones and readying the platform for its release.

[abedauhajre]

I will like to know if any of has had any luck using the bridge data to access the Andorid Apps. As far as now I've been only able to use them via Wi-Fi.

[world traveler and former ceo]

From the amazing resources here on CB, I have found and installed about 80 repackaged Android apps on my PB. I've gone through them all and I've kept 54 including Skype, the Dolphin browser I'm typing this on, Twitter, Angry Birds and Native Android E-mail to name a few. If I had Rdio and Netflix I would be totally satisfied till the official Os 2 release. Bottom line, RIM has gotten some love back from me with this beta.

End rant.

UPDATE:

Well I wasn't expecting such feedback, I just felt like rambling. But if you guys don't know already, there are some big threads with big lists and great links to already converted Android apps along with the instructions for sideloading (installing them) on your PB with OS 2 Beta. The tools are also available for the ambitious to convert their own files.

These are the only two threads I needed to consult:

http://forums.crackberry.com/playboo...erting-662497/ ---> links to https://accounts.google.com/ServiceL...heets&hl=en_US



http://forums.crackberry.com/playboo...ng-os2-661898/


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This thing is FINALLY getting some of the functionality that people have been expecting.

Great work!!! ... Brilliant!

[AceStreaming]

LauncherPro!? Does this mean PB has GO launcher and adw

[tymateusz]

could you share the dolphin HD .bar - the linked stuff on spreadsheet is apk. Thx

[alexnaoumi]

does video chat work on skype??