Playing Nice: Playbook and Android Phone

I am considering purchusing the Playbook. Currently our company uses Android phones, so I was hoping some of you could shed some light on using a Playbook and an Android phone (take into consideration I do not have an opinion to get a Blackberry phone anymore).

The Playbook would be used both for work - emails, video chat with non BB users, calendars, work travel - games/videos/internet.

Should I take plunge and purchase the Playbook or just get an Android Tablet. I know I am asking this in a BB forum, so take into consideration that I am hoping you tell me that I should buy the PLAYBOOK! and it will play nice with Android...

I have an Android phone and just purchased the Playbook. The only "playing nice" that you are going to get between the two is if you have a tethering plan on your account and can use the Android phone as a WiFi-Hotspot, OR if you have a 'rooted' Android phone that allows side-loading of the tethering app without consent from your carrier. (I do not condone it, but lots of folks do it.)

I have an Android phone on Virgin Mobile that is "rooted", and I have installed the optional Wifi Tethering application. I often use this with a regular laptop when out and about, but now do the same with my Playbook. Works flawlessly.

Other than that, there are not a lot of use cases that I can think of where you would be hoping that the Playbook and your Android phone would be "playing nicely" together. You would be setting up email separately on each device, whether it's Gmail or and Exchange server, or simple IMAP, and each device will keep itself in sync with your email server of choice. Other than that, they are separate devices that will not or cannot rely upon each other.

(For the record, I was a launch-day iPhone 'fanboy' that recently jumped ship to Android to escape high carrier fees. Android is nice, but nothing to write home about. I knew about the upcoming Playbook update and wanted a cheap tablet, and the Playbook blew me away in the store, so I bit. And now I'm hooked. In the past, I would have rather used a rotary dial wall phone than a Blackberry. HATED every one I ever touched. And I still admit that the older model UI is STILL crap. But I can say that as soon as they put this QNX OS on a phone, I will take a VERY hard look at them on the first day it's available. It's THAT amazing to see in action, and I've never touched 2.0. There's a reason QNX is used in hard-core applications scenarios like high-speed trains and the NASA Space Shuttle. So, there's a lot to look forward to. If RIM can play this right, they might stand a chance at actually shaking things up and regaining some of their past glory. They've certainly found a new convert in me, and I was one of the vocal crowd that was sure they were about to sell-out or go bankrupt. But not any more, IF they can leverage QNX perfectly!)

there is an android app called Blueputdroid which allows some android phones to become a bluetooth mouse and keyboard. It doesn't work with my android phone though.

Originally Posted by look_alive

I have an Android phone and just purchased the Playbook. The only "playing nice" that you are going to get between the two is if you have a tethering plan on your account and can use the Android phone as a WiFi-Hotspot, OR if you have a 'rooted' Android phone that allows side-loading of the tethering app without consent from your carrier. (I do not condone it, but lots of folks do it.)

I have an Android phone on Virgin Mobile that is "rooted", and I have installed the optional Wifi Tethering application. I often use this with a regular laptop when out and about, but now do the same with my Playbook. Works flawlessly.

Other than that, there are not a lot of use cases that I can think of where you would be hoping that the Playbook and your Android phone would be "playing nicely" together. You would be setting up email separately on each device, whether it's Gmail or and Exchange server, or simple IMAP, and each device will keep itself in sync with your email server of choice. Other than that, they are separate devices that will not or cannot rely upon each other.

(For the record, I was a launch-day iPhone 'fanboy' that recently jumped ship to Android to escape high carrier fees. Android is nice, but nothing to write home about. I knew about the upcoming Playbook update and wanted a cheap tablet, and the Playbook blew me away in the store, so I bit. And now I'm hooked. In the past, I would have rather used a rotary dial wall phone than a Blackberry. HATED every one I ever touched. And I still admit that the older model UI is STILL crap. But I can say that as soon as they put this QNX OS on a phone, I will take a VERY hard look at them on the first day it's available. It's THAT amazing to see in action, and I've never touched 2.0. There's a reason QNX is used in hard-core applications scenarios like high-speed trains and the NASA Space Shuttle. So, there's a lot to look forward to. If RIM can play this right, they might stand a chance at actually shaking things up and regaining some of their past glory. They've certainly found a new convert in me, and I was one of the vocal crowd that was sure they were about to sell-out or go bankrupt. But not any more, IF they can leverage QNX perfectly!)

I rooted my aunts DROID charge so she could use it as a hotspot for her playbook only to find out playbook won't connect to ad-hoc network. How do I get around this so she ain't stuck paying for mobile hotspot?

Originally Posted by stillers2

there is an android app called Blueputdroid which allows some android phones to become a bluetooth mouse and keyboard. It doesn't work with my android phone though.

Wow. I just tried this and it works awesome on my S3. Thanks for pointing that out!