[Dragoljub073]

Why there isn't ANY Android emulator for BB10?
BB10 apps are OK, but now they all are dying with powerful hardware devices
It would be fair to provide some freedom for BB10 users to pick specific (or all Android apps and games, even with reduced system speed.
I have Passport, and it's shame to see good phone fading...

[thurask]

There's the Android runtime already, i.e. Android 4.3 with quite a bit of it stripped out for licensing issues. BB10 users are free to experiment with old and/or monkeypatched versions of APKs for apps they want to see if they work on the runtime.

[Dragoljub073]

Ok, but are there any links to those experiments?
P. S. How difficult is it to make Android emulator with newer version - Android 7 Nougat, or Oreo (8)
There are lot of BB10 users, and they would be grateful for it...
Everybody would give 5-10$ for something like that x number of users = lots of income

[conite]

Ok, but are there any links to those experiments?
P. S. How difficult is it to make Android emulator with newer version - Android 7 Nougat, or Oreo (8)
There are lot of BB10 users, and they would be grateful for it...
Everybody would give 5-10$ for something like that x number of users = lots of income

Development of the Android Runtime is not permitted by the OHA - unless they want to give up Google apps on BlackBerry Android.

No one is left to develop for BB10 anyways - even if they were allowed to (which they aren't), and wanted to (which they don't).

No third party can make an updated Runtime either because only software signed by BlackBerry can be installed on a BB10 device.

$10 x a tiny number = still a tiny number

[thurask]

Ok, but are there any links to those experiments?
P. S. How difficult is it to make Android emulator with newer version - Android 7 Nougat, or Oreo (8)
There are lot of BB10 users, and they would be grateful for it...
Everybody would give 5-10$ for something like that x number of users = lots of income

If there were a lot of BB10 users we wouldn't need to have this discussion.

[Dragoljub073]

Correct me if I am wrong, but situation is something like this:
-BB10 invested and made damn good devices (Passport), put Android as an option, then for no reason banned it (or part of it), and immediately after that abandon whole thing, and focused on pure Android devices. Did someone sued them for that, so they had to remove it, or it was really "security" option?

[thurask]

Correct me if I am wrong, but situation is something like this:
-BB10 invested and made damn good devices (Passport), put Android as an option, then for no reason banned it (or part of it), and immediately after that abandon whole thing, and focused on pure Android devices. Did someone sued them for that, so they had to remove it, or it was really "security" option?

BB made the Android runtime for PlayBook OS 2.0 in 2011, carrying it over into BB10. At no point were the PlayBook or BB10 devices running actual Android, merely having this side thing intended for facilitating porting from Android to PB/BB10 to try and close the app gap. Irrelevancy of the platform aside, once BB became a Google-certified Android OEM themselves with the Priv in 2015, this precludes work on forks of Android like the runtime; the same reason Amazon Android tablets can't ship with Google apps by default.

[Dragoljub073]

TNX!
Such shame for downgrading Passport with new update... The only thing that remains is to experiment, and I hate that

[conite]

TNX!
Such shame for downgrading Passport with new update... The only thing that remains is to experiment, and I hate that

Downgrade in what way?

[Dean Laxer]

Excuse me but, what do you mean by "for no reason?" android emulation was an option they experimented upon to keep customers interested. If that plan failed, then they would have to jump on Android completely. It makes no sense to keep investing in a project, that is bound to fail.

[anon(2313227)]

Think you need to search a bit more.. Type BB10 and ART (Android Runtime)... there is no downgraded. BB made PlayBook with Runtime (older), with BB10 and at the time when the world was on 5.0.... BB was able to last release 4.3 ART. Works perfectly for what it is designed for but in this day and age, people are now on Android 8...
BlackBerry did not downgrade anything nor can they update anything relating to ART.

[butterbean1983]

The OHA, or Open Handset Alliance, is comprised of Google and the manufacturers that develop and distribute full Android on the handsets they make, and possibly also the original developers of Android (a few of those being some of the guys who worked for danger, makers of the sidekick). The OHA prohibits its members from being involved in the development or distribution of forked Android or devices that run it. BB10 runs a forked version of Android. Blackberry and TCL/BBMO are now members of the OHA, so legally they can't update the runtime in BB10. Whatever users of BB10 have now is all they're going to get. There won't be any new BB10 devices and there won't be an updated Android runtime in BB10, ever. I doubt there will ever be another update to BB10 at all, because it's going to cost money that simply can't be made back.

[DrEd14]

Ok, but are there any links to those experiments?
P. S. How difficult is it to make Android emulator with newer version - Android 7 Nougat, or Oreo (8)
There are lot of BB10 users, and they would be grateful for it...
Everybody would give 5-10$ for something like that x number of users = lots of income

Check out https://apkpure.com/ for apk apps that runtime will run on BB10. There are probably a lot more sites to check into as well.

Posted via CB10

[johnb_xp]

After Priv and DTEKs lose support, I think they could back out of OHA and update runtime if they wanted to. BB Mobile/TCL handles Android BBs now!

[DrEd14]

After Priv and DTEKs lose support, I think they could back out of OHA and update runtime if they wanted to. BB Mobile/TCL handles Android BBs now!

Interesting idea, but BlackBerry still runstheir software on the BlackBerry Mobile phones, so would they still be locked in? Interesting angle to look into though.

Posted via CB10

[conite]

Interesting idea, but BlackBerry still runstheir software on the BlackBerry Mobile phones, so would they still be locked in? Interesting angle to look into though.

Posted via CB10

He's just joking.

The other issue is, of course, that no one at BlackBerry is around to do anything about it anyway.

[johnb_xp]

He's just joking.

The other issue is, of course, that no one at BlackBerry is around to do anything about it anyway.

I dunno, I think they seriously could if they really wanted to. Don't have to be in OHA to make Android software.

[DrEd14]

He's just joking.

The other issue is, of course, that no one at BlackBerry is around to do anything about it anyway.

Ha, ha!!! True. BlackBerry is a bit of a shadow of its former self staff wise. Too bad. BB10 is a great OS. And Runtime was a great idea. Too bad it did not all pan out.

Posted via CB10

[conite]

I dunno, I think they seriously could if they really wanted to. Don't have to be in OHA to make Android software.

The handset business is over. Gone. Bye bye. The developers are gone. The managers are gone. The infrastructure is gone. The tools are deprecated and obsolete. The buildings are sold. BlackBerry is done with BB10 forever and for always.

Every second you spend thinking about a future for BB10, is a second of your life wasted.

[Invictus0]

The handset business is over. Gone. Bye bye. The developers are gone. The managers are gone. The infrastructure is gone. The tools are deprecated and obsolete. The buildings are sold. BlackBerry is done with BB10 forever and for always.

Every second you spend thinking about a future for BB10, is a second of your life wasted.

There are still BB10 developers at BlackBerry, they post on the developer support forums. That being said, I'm sure they're just handling maintenance at this point among other things.

[joeldf]

Yeah. Maintainence is very different from active development.

Even so, the last update to BB10 that we got was compiled last summer.

[Dragoljub073]

Downgrade definition:
"When something has less options then before"

[Dragoljub073]

Ok, so you are telling me that point of it is to give some options (android emulation), and then pull them off - just because that project is abandoned? Why not "Enjoy it till end?"
Some logic please?

[conite]

Ok, so you are telling me that point of it is to give some options (android emulation), and then pull them off - just because that project is abandoned? Why not "Enjoy it till end?"
Some logic please?

You seem confused.

BB10 has a VM that runs many apps compatible with Android 4.3 and below. That won't go away, but won't be updated either.

[thurask]

Ok, so you are telling me that point of it is to give some options (android emulation), and then pull them off - just because that project is abandoned? Why not "Enjoy it till end?"
Some logic please?

Again (and again, and again), nothing was ever removed from BB10, just left unmaintained with the rest of the platform. If you want apps that badly then make like several billion other people and move to a supported platform.