[PedroBorgas]

Replying to the title:

Of course

It keeps a lot of users hooked.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9800 using Tapatalk

[BBplaybookJS]

The Android Player was the worst decision RIM have made!!!

You can can't just add another OS to a year old hardware and expect it to improve performance... you can't break the rule of Physics. I wonder how much memory and storage i would save if they removed the android player. Most likely about 200mb of RAM.


This also allows Devs port their android apps so easy that they just submit their app and no updates or news are later received; most of them are half-baked as well. Android apps will never be as good as the Native ones. Moreover, two UI's in one device is FUGLY. Android UI is just terrible (period)

I agree, it was a terrible decision, an android player would have been acceptable as an option for those who wanted it, but it was extremely unfair of RIM to clumsily and arbitraily graft this on to the QNX operating system without giving us a way of uninstalling this useless bloatware that I have no use for.

[Bla1ze]

I hate the Android app player and I will gladly applaud its eventual demise. It was a mistake that RIM couldn't go back on after the information was already out there. Sure, I get why it happened.. and I do believe it has helped some people adopt the PlayBook but overall, I think it's terrible and opened the doors for a lot of crap. At the time it was conceived, RIM didn't have their native tools in order and alas, we're stuck with it until people wisen up and go native. That's not to say Android apps are bad. I use a lot of Android apps...... on my Android devices, as they should be.

Most of the Android apps in BlackBerry App World equate to nothing more than abandonware.

[Darlaten]

Unlike a lot of people on here, I think the Android app player was, hands-down, one of the worst decisions ever made by RIM regarding the Playbook. It only served to muddy the waters in terms of the public as to what the Playbook actually was. Is it it an Android player? Is it a Blackberry device? Is it some device that is a "jack of all trades - master of none?". The latter turned out to be true. In terms of apps, with very few exceptions, the Android player has been nothing but a magnet for utter garbage. Worse, my impression from developers is that it was used as an excuse to not truly invest resources in supporting the Playbook. Instead, all we got our some half-as*ed, jury-rigged, hand-me-down barely functional Android apps whose only purpose was to allow unscrupulous developers to say, without actually lying, that they supported the Playbook and Blackberry. In short, the Android Player has prevented people from learning how to code natively, choosing the easier, but less functional, way of releasing their applications. From a consumer perspective, I also hate the way that I can not tell, within App World, which applications are Android and as a result, I am substantially more cautious when purchasing applications and no longer "impulse buy" any of my apps on a whim. I find it suspect that Blackberry refuses to indicate this. I sincerely hope that an Android Player is not coming to BB10 phones.

Note, I realize that some of my comments are strongly worded; this is not intended to be offensive to the developers who have gone out of their way to release quality Android apps onto the Playbook - some of them are members of Crackberry - to these, I do appreciate your passion and your willingness to support the Playbook. Sadly, your in the minority.

[rupam95]

I agree, it was a terrible decision, an android player would have been acceptable as an option for those who wanted it, but it was extremely unfair of RIM to clumsily and arbitraily graft this on to the QNX operating system without giving us a way of uninstalling this useless bloatware that I have no use for.

I agree. RIM should at least give people the ability to download PB OS's without the android player from their PlayBook homepage and we can load it by using the BB Desktop Manager. I would save a lot of RAM and Storage, thus increasing the overall experience.

[GreyGhostRos]

IMO it was a good decision.. At that time PB didn't have enough userbase to get devs interested in native development.. While the users who were there were really short of apps (No.. Not Skype.. for me example chm reader) A few months into BB10 I don't think there will need for the Android player..

You can can't just add another OS to a year old hardware and expect it to improve performance... you can't break the rule of Physics. I wonder how much memory and storage i would save if they removed the android player. Most likely about 200mb of RAM.

You would save 70mbs (extracted) in storage and about 77 mbs in RAM.. [Atleast from my basic test]

[rupam95]

IMO it was a good decision.. At that time PB didn't have enough userbase to get devs interested in native development.. While the users who were there were really short of apps (No.. Not Skype.. for me example chm reader) A few months into BB10 I don't think there will need for the Android player..



You would save 70mbs (extracted) in storage and about 77 mbs in RAM.. [Atleast from my basic test]

I like the idea of PlayBook being able to run Android apps but what RIM put into the PlayBook is just terrible. It is more than just half-baked. If you want Android apps on the PlayBook, please put in the whole package. Not just a player that can run a few android apps. For instance, when ever i find a good android app to sideload into the PlayBook, almost all of them crash and if there are some that do work, they have limited functionality or lags.

[pacoman03]

My android apps, as seen within Quick App Manager, an android launcher. My answer should be obvious. And to those who say that these apps are mostly crap, give me a break.

[omniusovermind]

No the apps aren't crap. The fact that the apps aren't kept as up to date as the same app on an android device is certainly crap. I agree with bla1ze's label of "abandonware". The Android player is pretty ugly too. Furthermore, all of those sideloaded apps you have must be installed with a procedure which while not difficult, still requires more work than just using app world. And you can't just update them either. You have to convert the android app every single time the developer updates the original android version and then sideload it all over again.

One of my pet peeves is some of these popular sideload android app websites. They list these apps as 'tested and working' but many of them just aren't. A lot, and I mean a LOT of their listed "working" apps have a ton of broken functionality, rendering them barely usable. I've had discussions with some of them and was informed their "tested and working" standards consist of whether or not the app will successfully load on the Playbook, but NOT whether or not the app actually does most of the things it's supposed to do, or even if it does any of them well.

I can understand their viewpoint, they will not sit there and thoroughly use every one of the converted apps to find out. Nobody has time for that, and they are converting these files for free. But most of the apps are still borked nevertheless. Why is it when I click a link inside an android runtime app it wants to open it in the crappy old dumbed down android runtime browser? Why is it I can't use the Playbook predictive keyboard with the Android Tapatalk and other apps?

I don't think the Android app player was either a good or a bad idea. I think it was a desperate idea.

[pacoman03]

Why is it when I click a link inside an android runtime app it wants to open it in the crappy old dumbed down android runtime browser?

Because you don't have Maxthon or Dolphin installed. If you did, the android player would give you the option to use one of these browsers.

Why is it I can't use the Playbook predictive keyboard with the Android Tapatalk and other apps?

Predictive text only works on some native apps, not on others. Plus, how well does it work on the native Tapatalk?

[omniusovermind]

those questions were rhetorical
My point being that both scenarios suck. As for the keyboard, some is still better than none.

[pacoman03]

those questions were rhetorical
My point being that both scenarios suck. As for the keyboard, some is still better than none.

Well, when you get rid of tapatalk and any other android apps you have installed, maybe then I'll take you seriously.

[Bla1ze]

My android apps, as seen within Quick App Manager, an android launcher. My answer should be obvious. And to those who say that these apps are mostly crap, give me a break.

How many of those did you have to sideload in order to get what you wanted? Looks like quite a few to me. IMO, the apps that have been filtered into App World are, for the most part, crap.

Sure, if you sideload the apps you REALLY want then you obviously you have better choice but the ones available through App World are less then stellar, nevermind the fact most are out of date and likely will never be updated.

Heck, most of them -- the developers don't even know they are there due to the fact they weren't submitted with their authorization but instead, converted by Handster (or in some cases, just random folks) and tossed in there w/o even testing compatibility.

[JeepBB]

How many of those did you have to sideload in order to get what you wanted? Looks like quite a few to me. IMO, the apps that have been filtered into App World are, for the most part, crap.

As someone above mentioned, sideloading is no more difficult than using Calibre to put a book onto the PB and the technical difficulty is often over-stated. Though I will concede that the "official" Android Apps available through AppWorld are mostly a pretty poor bunch... but it's hardly in RIM's interest to highlight how the Android equivalent of PB's browsers, office tools, remote desktops, file managers, book readers, etc, etc, is so much better than those you can get officially through the AppWorld store.

I hate to guess how many extra PBs the availability of the Kindle App has sold, but I'm sure it's lots!

[FoxxBerry]

Personally the Android apps suck...but I see the apeal. I would gladly like my OS free of the android app player. I wouldgladly welcome more native apps. But until BB10 get all developers on board I will continue to use Beweather on the player and thats all....

[omniusovermind]

Well, when you get rid of tapatalk and any other android apps you have installed, maybe then I'll take you seriously.

That made no sense at all. I was giving but 2 examples of the limited fuctionality of android apps (ie. not being able to use the predictive keyboard). Your first reply made it sound like you thought those limitations were ok, but now you're saying to get rid of the android apps. As for taking me seriously, what does that have to do with... anything?

[NoraMelua]

The Android Player was the worst decision RIM have made!!!

You can can't just add another OS to a year old hardware and expect it to improve performance... you can't break the rule of Physics. I wonder how much memory and storage i would save if they removed the android player. Most likely about 200mb of RAM.

It's not a fully featured OS they added, RIM simply ported the Dalvik Java VM over to the Playbook. (That's why native code apps won't work in the player.) Moreover, Dalvik is known to have a very small memory footprint. It is designed this way, because every Android app runs in its own process, with its own instance of the Dalvik virtual machine.

In a nutshell: As long as you don't run Android stuff in the background there is nothing in this approach that could degrade the performance of your Playbook.

[tharrison4815]

As of OS 2.1 I finally agree that it was a good idea. At this point, if an app is built well enough then you can't even tell. There are plenty of bad ports but if we can get developers to make enough quality apps then it will eventually cloud out the poor ones.

The best example of a good port to me is Tiny Bird (and Tiny Bird Free). It's an addictive simple game but it runs very smoothly.

[SifJar]

Yes, it was a good idea, but somewhat poorly implemented IMO. They based it on Android 2.3.3, which was their first mistake. By the time it launched, 4.0 was available (of course, it wasn't when they started developing it, and updating it would probably have meant a delay in it's release, but for OS 2.1 they should have had time to update it to at least 4.0, if not 4.1). Next, they didn't include a wrapper for the native code, severely limiting what apps could and couldn't run. Only allowing purely Java apps to function correctly was a silly mistake. Next, not all APIs are available. Apps which use those APIs won't work. Finally, they left the UI looking completely stock Android. Android can easily be themed, they could definitely have made it a lot more in keeping with the PB OS UI, which would bridge the gap somewhat between the two UIs.

A handful of suggestions (most of which would admittedly be a lot of work) to make the Android player much, much better.

[rkennedy01]

overall it was good for instant app suppport...BUT i really think it has hindered better native app development which is what i really wanted to see. I have android phones and tablets if i want to run android apps/games. I bought the playook to see what the future holds for native QNX/BB10 development and so far that seems still quite behind of where I would like to see it.

You're forgetting that we're just now starting to receive decent tools and API support for QNX. Prior to the "Jam" campaign, developers were stuck building clunky AIR apps that were slow, bloated and buggy as heck.

There's a reason why some of us run mostly Android apps on our PBs: Up until now, the native alternatives have all pretty much sucked. However, I'm hoping that will change once BB10 is released and we finally get some developer love.

Fingers crossed...

RCK

[Sonic-NKT]

I have to admit that most android apps on the appworld a crap, sure there are a few that are great and get updated but i think many werent even ported (or more likely converted) by the original Devs. What really made a difference to me is the android sideloading and converting your own apps that are notavailable.

I have to admit that the native playbooks app is use are mostly games or other hardware intensive stuff that wont work as android app because of the lack of native code support. But i use android apps for almost everything else because they are no native version of the app or the native version dont work es well or look just ugly.
I have tried several native counter parts of android apps and in most cases i just deleted them again even if i had bought them, the android version is superior most times.
I dont want to blame the Devs of the playbook but if i just look at the appworld updates its just new games and almost none new worth it app.

For example we still dont have any native browser alternative, i know there are one or two available on the appworld but as they use the same rendering engine as the native one it isnt the replacement i need. There is also only one office replacement, and that one is imo even worse than d2g, im using a android apps apps for office and pdf because of that right now.

Before someone suggest i just like free apps and dont want to pay anything, i bought many of the android apps i have on the pb (unless free anyway) in the googleplay store (on another android device) and then converted the app with the online converter. And when u ask why i have a playbook even tho i mostly use android apps? well i bought it when the n7 wasnt announced yet, maybe that would have changed my decision. BUT i also love the playbooks hardware and even the os (multitasking, gestures). What i dont like is the limitation of the native or system apps, the android apps work much better in many ways (selecting files in a program, customization, gesture control (backswipe) and so on)


Well to wrap this up, i respect everyone who dont want use android apps on their device, even tho i think its a bit closed minded, but well if it works for them why not. I couldnt do it and would have sold my playbook if it werent for sideloading and android support.

PS: About those people who dont want the android runtime to eat resources... it seems to me that the runtime only starts with the first android app you launch (until reboot), so if you dont use any android app it shouldnt run. Yes it will take some diskspace, but we are talking about 150-200MB, i think that is acceptable even on the 16GB unit...

[texazzpete]

I think most of you are missing a very important point.

The Android app player has served a larger purpose...a GIANT, MASSIVE beta testing of how the App player would work in the wild on QNX.
All those crashes, bugs, memory leaks etc, all are steadily being improved and fixed by RIM. By BB10, I predict a much much more stable implementation, capable of running Jellybean era apps with most features enabled. Do you realize how crappy it would have been if BB10 was the first time RIM woulda shipped this functionality and it was a buggy as the original playbook implementation?

I, for one, cannot wait for BB10 to roll over. There are too many mobile OSes out there...if the best of Android can be pushed to BB10 in a short while, why I could ditch my S3 and use a BB - iOS combo or even a BB - WP8 combo.

[trsbbs]

Without it I would not have three of my most used apps.

No its not perfect, but that's "coming soon".

Tim


Sent from my BlackBerry 9850

[wafa510]

IMO, since I am a Playbook noobie (still am after 2 months of having it), the other day I finally took the plunge and figured out how to sideload. I chose a few apps that would make the Playbook a better experience for me. The best app is Kindle, because there are more choices and the prices seem better than Kobo. I sideloaded a few games as well and a few other apps. These are the apps that I have on my cell so I am familiar with them. Although I definitely could live without them, it did bring some more enjoyment to the Playbook experience. So far the apps run and look great, I have had no problems. I do like the native apps better especially with the games in App World, but I learn to be satisfied with what it is. I cannot get into the technical aspects of how it will affect the future of the Playbook but for now I do enjoy the choices and the few apps I sideloaded is definitely making it a more well-rounded experience.

[NoraMelua]

One of the Android apps I outright LOVE is Songza. I'm a big music buff and it really helps me discover more of the stuff I like. The app is also very well made and has a beautiful interface that reminds me a bit of BB10. And best of all: The Songza service is usually not available in my country, yet this app simply works without me jumping through various hoops (using a proxy server etc.)