[conix67]

There are apps that appear to not behave well and there are occasions any apps would have trouble, but just running some apps I know works (side loaded or not) usually provides stable performance.

That said, in general the android player seems to be exactly where it used to be in 2.0 beta. I was assured back then it was all because I was running development beta. I sure hope RIM improves the Android player if they intend to keep it as a solution. Right now it is helping with app selection issue but quality of experience is not there.

[kbz1960]

OK I installed the dolphin browser and have been using it for a little while. Other than it being a little laggy and the predictive keyboard not working I haven't had a lockup yet. But it is also the only android thing I have so running all by itself.

[Barredbard]

I am glad that I am not alone. And the freezes occur both with sideloaded apps and apps that are officially available in the app world. I am still keeping my fingers crossed that an official Kindle app will be released.

[kbz1960]

OK does everyone have both from app world and some sideloaded?

Just wondering if anyone only has ones from app world and has never been on a beta or rooted or did anything with earlier android stuff if they still have the same issues.

[drajeev123]

OK does everyone have both from app world and some sideloaded?

Just wondering if anyone only has ones from app world and has never been on a beta or rooted or did anything with earlier android stuff if they still have the same issues.

My only source for Android apps has been the official blackberry app world. Never ran any beta version nor did I ever sideload an android app from a source other than the RIM app world
Yes, I'm having the freeze problem on android player quite often. It's the player which seems to freeze on the whole. So when the player is stuck, I'm not able to run any of the apps (officially available thru app world) which would need the baked in android player to run them. I was very happy with the os 2.0 update, till I discovered this horrible bug, if u will
I've taptu bord and timetable android apps all of which I downloaded from blackberry app world.

[kbz1960]

My only source for Android apps has been the official blackberry app world. Never ran any beta version nor did I ever sideload an android app from a source other than the RIM app world
Yes, I'm having the freeze problem on android player quite often. It's the player which seems to freeze on the whole. So when the player is stuck, I'm not able to run any of the apps (officially available thru app world) which would need the baked in android player to run them. I was very happy with the os 2.0 update, till I discovered this horrible bug, if u will
I've taptu bord and timetable android apps all of which I downloaded from blackberry app world.

Thank you. Does it act this way if only using one android app or only when running more than 1? Asking because I'm not sure if there is even anything I want from it but if there is in would lime to know what to expect. I've seen some say that some games Games run better in the player than they do on android.

[squirrelpie0]

Freeze same here. First noticed after 2.0 update and app loaded from App site. Only affected a couple of solitaire players but not other apps. Side loaded Kindle from goodereader.com and it seemed to be working great and then did the failure to load after I had exited from the Kindle app, did other things, and then had attempted to restart Kindle showing only recent downloads as others have described. As my battery was pretty low at that point, I shut down and put it on charger. Today, it seems to me working fine having started and stopped Kindle several times, without rebooting. Could it be something as simple as a low battery level causing the android app player to crash?

Sure like some useful info beyond 'piece of cr**'

[kbz1960]

Freeze same here. First noticed after 2.0 update and app loaded from App site. Only affected a couple of solitaire players but not other apps. Side loaded Kindle from goodereader.com and it seemed to be working great and then did the failure to load after I had exited from the Kindle app, did other things, and then had attempted to restart Kindle showing only recent downloads as others have described. As my battery was pretty low at that point, I shut down and put it on charger. Today, it seems to me working fine having started and stopped Kindle several times, without rebooting. Could it be something as simple as a low battery level causing the android app player to crash?

Sure like some useful info beyond 'piece of cr**'

Will have to have more people to say their battery was getting low and then you might be on to something.

[drajeev123]

Thank you. Does it act this way if only using one android app or only when running more than 1? Asking because I'm not sure if there is even anything I want from it but if there is in would lime to know what to expect. I've seen some say that some games Games run better in the player than they do on android.

Truly speaking you can not run two android apps on the playbook simultaneously anyway. When you switch back and forth between two apps, the one you believe is in background does not resume from the point you left it at. It rather restarts when you open it again. Also you can not open two instances of android player. That means for example if you are running dolphin browser and you minimize the window using a vertical upward swipe from lower bezel, when you open another android app from your main menu, it'll replace your already opened dolphin browser in the android player rather than opening in a new Window.
On the other hand if you stay within the android player and open a second android app using the 'recent applications functionality' of the android player the first application would actually close to be replaced by second. Recent Applications is more like a history feature and does not actually keep the applications running simultaneously. It even does not pause them in their present state from where you could resume later when coming back to it like what they do on an apple iphone. So practically there is no possibility of multitasking within the android apps.

[kbz1960]

Truly speaking you can not run two android apps on the playbook simultaneously anyway. When you switch back and forth between two apps, the one you believe is in background does not resume from the point you left it at. It rather restarts when you open it again. Also you can not open two instances of android player. That means for example if you are running dolphin browser and you minimize the window using a vertical upward swipe from lower bezel, when you open another android app from your main menu, it'll replace your already opened dolphin browser in the android player rather than opening in a new Window.
On the other hand if you stay within the android player and open a second android app using the 'recent applications functionality' of the android player the first application would actually close to be replaced by second. Recent Applications is more like a history feature and does not actually keep the applications running simultaneously. It even does not pause them in their present state from where you could resume later when coming back to it like what they do on an apple iphone. So practically there is no possibility of multitasking within the android apps.

People are talking like you need task killers because they are still taking resources even when closed or paused so I was wondering if you only open one how it works.

[drajeev123]

Will have to have more people to say their battery was getting low and then you might be on to something.

Battery charge doesn't seem to be the issue. Had the player freeze with full charge on playbook. Incidentally since 21st Feb, I've hardly let the playbook drain down to below 20% but still had the android player freeze several times. It freezes suddenly and unexpectedly when using an android app. Then the entire functionality of android player is lost. You can just close it. And when you open another android app it shows the same frozen screen of the previous app.

[drajeev123]

People are talking like you need task killers because they are still taking resources even when closed or paused so I was wondering if you only open one how it works.

Picture this
I got up in the morning. Opened taptu application (an android app that's an rss feed aggregator available in app world). While I'm using it suddenly I realize that I can not move back by using that diagonal swipe from the lower bezel. I wait for few anxious moments, then I try to bring up the menu bar by doing a downward swipe from the top bezel and to my dismay I realize that the pathetic thing is stuck.

On a lighter note though, I do realize that I could have written a simple sentence 'yes it happens while I'm using just one android application.'

[kbz1960]

LOL thanks. Now I know.

[mrbkkt1]

Hard to explain, but having GC, to force close apps has left my android player working flawlessly. I have sideloaded, and appworld android apps as well.


Edit: I just opened every one of my android apps in order, while I was streaming pandora. Through the player. I think that opening ghost commander first, then using android player by backing out to start apps works way better than starting apps from the pb home shortcuts.

[FF22]

People are talking like you need task killers because they are still taking resources even when closed or paused so I was wondering if you only open one how it works.

That the issue that has me somewhat baffled. If ONLY ONE app is running, what else needs closing. And when running A-task-killer, it seems like it would be the only one running so what is it intended to do.

BUT.... I have been slowing playing Words-w/friends against "someone" out there for the last day. I have had Android closed or doing something else and I've gotten a notification of the other person's move so I can reopen the game. So some process is possibly running somewhere????

edited to add: I did have my first complete lockup of Android Player this afternoon. I got a screen of app icons but I could not do anything. I could close the player and reopen it but nothing within it would respond. Tried a few times and tried loading something not showing in those icons. Nada. So I rebooted the entire pb and all was well on the next go around. Maybe it did not like that I had downloaded 500mb of mapdroid maps. I've now downloaded more maps to the computer for just wifi loading.

[conix67]

That the issue that has me somewhat baffled. If ONLY ONE app is running, what else needs closing. And when running A-task-killer, it seems like it would be the only one running so what is it intended to do.

BUT.... I have been slowing playing Words-w/friends against "someone" out there for the last day. I have had Android closed or doing something else and I've gotten a notification of the other person's move so I can reopen the game. So some process is possibly running somewhere????

edited to add: I did have my first complete lockup of Android Player this afternoon. I got a screen of app icons but I could not do anything. I could close the player and reopen it but nothing within it would respond. Tried a few times and tried loading something not showing in those icons. Nada. So I rebooted the entire pb and all was well on the next go around. Maybe it did not like that I had downloaded 500mb of mapdroid maps. I've now downloaded more maps to the computer for just wifi loading.

It does appear the Android player runs few things in the background, not multitasking but some sort of notification services for more than one applications simultaneously. I was running Kaiten and Touchdown on OS 2 beta and I would receive notifications from both apps all the time.

[FF22]

It does appear the Android player runs few things in the background, not multitasking but some sort of notification services for more than one applications simultaneously. I was running Kaiten and Touchdown on OS 2 beta and I would receive notifications from both apps all the time.

I guess too many of us have no idea what Android is or how it operates. It was merely thrown at us in the form of an Android Player. Maybe I should look at the new OS2 pdf manual???? Does it address android much? There are times I do not know how to back-out of a menu on an app. Sometimes you need to use that little curving arrow at the bottom left but not too much or you might relaunch another app from the "stockpile!"

[omniusovermind]

People are talking like you need task killers because they are still taking resources even when closed or paused so I was wondering if you only open one how it works.

Do yourself a favor and ignore that advice. It usually comes from people who also "heard it somewhere" and not from any good technical sources.

This is just one of the links on this matter you'll find referred by XDA Developers. I just picked it out of a bunch they had listed, you'll have to use your search-fu if you want to learn more:

Android Task Killers Explained: What They Do and Why You Shouldn�t Use Them

[A_Veyron]

I use repligo often (side loaded), even in beta. I had not experienced this issue in beta at all! Only get this since official os 2.0. Thats upsetting.

Also, its worth noting that if this occurs, you can close the android player, open many different native apps to overload the memory, causing it to clear out the android player from its memory, then closing all the extra apps will restart your android player!

This has been my fastest way of continuing to edit my pdf by marking it up(something that no effing apps in the app world do and is much needed).

Task killers are also android apps and therefore when your android player freezes you cant open a android app to close them by logic.... And there is no native task killers for pb to my knowledge.

Its not related this thread but I really wish there was a much better pdf reader for pb. I am even willing to develop one but require a small team and offer the app for small price or free if other parties agree.

[shleppy_g]

Anyone found out any more info about ye olde freezing of the Android App Player? This is slowly driving me round the bend! I'm addicted to both Taptu & WordHero (both official appworld downloads) & find myself having to reboot all the time. It's been a while since the last post in this thread, so I'm hoping that someone has a cure to this madness!

[shleppy_g]

And one more thing...I've noticed that after a freezing, all my presets on the android apps are gone. So i have to reload all my feeds for Taptu & have to sign in all over again for WordHero. If it doesn't freeze, i can even shut down my PlayBook and when I open them next my feeds & my login info are still there. Has anyone else noticed this happening?

[drajeev123]

Anyone found out any more info about ye olde freezing of the Android App Player? This is slowly driving me round the bend! I'm addicted to both Taptu & WordHero (both official appworld downloads) & find myself having to reboot all the time. It's been a while since the last post in this thread, so I'm hoping that someone has a cure to this madness!

Taptu definitely seems to be one of the culprits. My android player started freezing after taptu. And I think after I deleted it, the player is fine. Although I must say the android apps I'm using are very simple ones like timetable and bord. These don't require Internet plugin for one. So it maybe related to the apps which require to fetch data from Internet. But the fact remains that android player implementation is pathetic. It was better before where apps, though fewer, we're developed exclusively for playbook and were generally fine

[sagec]

I've downloaded two Android apps via appworld now, and both are freezing solid on a regular basis. The freeze appears to be the player itself, as I am unable to launch any other Android apps until I restart my PlayBook.

Does anyone know of a way to force close the Android player, such that a full restart isn't necessary? Am I alone in experiencing this issue?

I see this quite a bit with Android Apps such as Kindle and Gospel Library :-(

[inolle]

One word--garbage
Two words--utterly junk

that's what the android player is.

I whole heartedly disagree, i use android player daily and love every second of it
most often i find myself using android apps more often just because they are better than some native ones, as for crashing never happened to me.

[Maxxberry]

Crash Crash CRASH!!!!!

How many OS updates for the PB and they -still- can't solve the freezing issue. Dear RIM: move this up to the top of the fix-it list.

I mean really, you make it a selling point, then make the andriod player act like crap.

I will through only one bone...... New CEO means the above CRAP will/should disappear.

RIM: Over a YEAR and the andiod player has unknown freezes? Come on.