[BDLIVE4463]

Spotify is one of those apps that I need to be able to use on my mobile platform. And I'm very disappointed with how it performs on BlackBerry. The Z10 just doesn't seem to have enough power to run Android apps well at all. Audio is constantly cutting out and my phone is getting HOT! Clearly this phone is struggling to keep up and it just can't.

Is anyone else experiencing this or is it just something with my device? I may have to ditch BlackBerry and go back to android.

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[kbz1960]

I don't use the app but what in the world is so intensive about it? I would say it's more a bad job by them porting it.

[Sergiu1337]

No, it's not you.
In general, the android apps perform poor, another good example is imdb. Poor load times, poor in-app performance.

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[FF22]

I have found some Android apps work just fine. I guess it may just depend on the programming skills behind it.

[Beakman]

I find most Android ports do behave badly, regardless of how well they perform.

[vader42]

I have no problem with android apps. I use several that need good performance including vlc (for old codecs support). As a rule, android apps are slower - they are interpretted rather than native. One that you really need is taskmanager. You can kill android apps that haven't closed nicely. That will speed up your phone. As for starting speed, you are starting an emulation layer. It will be slow. I don't notice the extra few seconds once the app has started.

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[smertz]

Spotify is one of those apps that I need to be able to use on my mobile platform. And I'm very disappointed with how it performs on BlackBerry. The Z10 just doesn't seem to have enough power to run Android apps well at all. Audio is constantly cutting out and my phone is getting HOT! Clearly this phone is struggling to keep up and it just can't.

Is anyone else experiencing this or is it just something with my device? I may have to ditch BlackBerry and go back to android.

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I find that the android apps start slower than what you would find on a standard android phone. That being said once you are in them they seem to work decently. I personally use Spotify and have no issues other than the slow start up times. Same thing with imdb, use it often and no real issue other than start up.

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[Raestloz]

Spotify is one of those apps that I need to be able to use on my mobile platform. And I'm very disappointed with how it performs on BlackBerry. The Z10 just doesn't seem to have enough power to run Android apps well at all. Audio is constantly cutting out and my phone is getting HOT! Clearly this phone is struggling to keep up and it just can't.

Is anyone else experiencing this or is it just something with my device? I may have to ditch BlackBerry and go back to android.

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What OS are you on?

Z10 STL100-1/10.2.1.2102

[Omnitech]

The Android runtime in BlackBerry 10 is a virtual machine running underneath an existing OS. It is NEVER going to be possible to run apps in that environment as fast as a native app on a native Android of equivalent hardware, as it has to share resources with another complete operating system running on the same hardware at the same time.

That said, the performance can be quite decent, but it depends on the type of app and how it is coded.

There are some I/O performance issues with the BB10 Android runtime that could stand a significant improvement, but I run a lot of Android apps that work perfectly well. Others can be sluggish.

If you really need to have native performance with all Android apps at all times, then you should just use an Android device.

[Pete The Penguin]

The Android runtime in BlackBerry 10 is a virtual machine running underneath an existing OS. It is NEVER going to be possible to run apps in that environment as fast as a native app on a native Android of equivalent hardware, as it has to share resources with another complete operating system running on the same hardware at the same time.

That said, the performance can be quite decent, but it depends on the type of app and how it is coded.

There are some I/O performance issues with the BB10 Android runtime that could stand a significant improvement, but I run a lot of Android apps that work perfectly well. Others can be sluggish.

If you really need to have native performance with all Android apps at all times, then you should just use an Android device.

Most Android apps on an Android phone don't run natively either, they also run in the Dalvik VM (http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7...-are-concerned).

Remember, the way BlackBerry got the Dalvik VM to work on BB10 is a hack.

[Omnitech]

Most Android apps on an Android phone don't run natively either, they also run in the Dalvik VM (android ndk vs sdk - if features are concerned - Stack Overflow).

The POINT is, they are not sharing hardware resources with another OS on the same hardware at the same time, and they do not have to go through multiple levels of resource redirection the way the Android runtime on BB10 necessarily works.

Remember, the way BlackBerry got the Dalvik VM to work on BB10 is a hack.

You should define what you mean by "hack".

There are positive ways to use that term in the technology context, and negative ways to use that term.

[Pete The Penguin]

The POINT is, they are not sharing hardware resources with another OS on the same hardware at the same time, and they do not have to go through multiple levels of resource redirection the way the Android runtime on BB10 necessarily works.




You should define what you mean by "hack".

There are positive ways to use that term in the technology context, and negative ways to use that term.

Doesn't matter what I mean by hack, it is what it is.
The Register call it 'ambitious', and while impressive, it won't take much for Google to break it.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/11..._than_android/

You said it yourself:

If you really need to have native performance with all Android apps at all times, then you should just use an Android device.

[Septembersrain]

This is why I tend to argue with people who say that Android performs better than a BlackBerry with less specs. It most certainly does not. These apps are not native to either Android or BlackBerry. They've got the potential to eat RAM, have leaks, and crash. They are created open sourced and are not device specific. There are so many variants of devices out there, you couldn't possibly cover all bases. It's why the Play Store has it set up to show apps that can function on your device. They'll hide any that can't/won't.

Since we've got a BlackBerry, we can potentially install ANY .apk. That means that the app might have compatibility issues or be too resource heavy. It doesn't mean something is wrong with our phones. It just means big brother Google isn't deciding that for us in a market.

Some apps haven't worked out for me. I move on and find a different one. It's fun exploring all these apps... just my feelings anyways.

�Sent from a larger than life device. Using Tapatalk�

[Jman056]

Obviously these apps won't run as smooth as BB10 native apps.

I'm just glad most android apps I use work well for me.... can't expect perfection

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[Pete The Penguin]

This is why I tend to argue with people who say that Android performs better than a BlackBerry with less specs. It most certainly does not. These apps are not native to either Android or BlackBerry. They've got the potential to eat RAM, have leaks, and crash. They are created open sourced and are not device specific. There are so many variants of devices out there, you couldn't possibly cover all bases. It's why the Play Store has it set up to show apps that can function on your device. They'll hide any that can't/won't.

Since we've got a BlackBerry, we can potentially install ANY .apk. That means that the app might have compatibility issues or be too resource heavy. It doesn't mean something is wrong with our phones. It just means big brother Google isn't deciding that for us in a market.

Some apps haven't worked out for me. I move on and find a different one. It's fun exploring all these apps... just my feelings anyways.

�Sent from a larger than life device. Using Tapatalk�

Do you know why Android performs so badly?
It's not purely down to specs.
Before Android 4.3 there wasn't support for TRIM.
However, many low-end devices don't ship with 4.3 or higher so don't have TRIM enabled.

It is possible to enable TRIM by rooting the device.

[BDLIVE4463]

What OS are you on?

Z10 STL100-1/10.2.1.2102

10.2.1.2228

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[Raestloz]

10.2.1.2228

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Hmmm, then I guess it's the app being not effective with BlackBerry's Android runtime. I experienced huge performance boost when BlackBerry improved the Android Runtime, I think it was a while after they upgraded the runtime to 4.2.

I have never used Spotify and I don't know just in what way it could demand such resources, so I guess it's just one of the apps not running well on BlackBerry

Z10 STL100-1/10.2.1.2102

[duboisstephane0]

Netflix and Global Go work as well as the versions on Android, for me anyways on the Z10.
Yet CTV Go on both Z10 and Z30 will not stream.
Not sure what is required in the back end....
Is it Android Runtime ??
Maybe 10.3 will improve and stabilize the ported apps.

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[Djlatino]

What blackberry should do is stop dicking around and actually get it so that the runtime uses both the cpu cores instead of one

[prplhze2000]

My netflix, drudge, Kindle, and tune in work fine. The problem one is Pandora. Takes forever to load and lags alot.

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[mnc76]

I find that apps made for Android 2.2 run terribly.

But apps made for Android 4 and above run very well. For example, Netflix runs crazy fast on my Z10.

Maybe the Z10 needs apps to make use of hardware acceleration to smoothly, and I don't believe Android 2.2 apps do that.

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[mnc76]

The Android runtime in BlackBerry 10 is a virtual machine running underneath an existing OS. It is NEVER going to be possible to run apps in that environment as fast as a native app on a native Android of equivalent hardware, as it has to share resources with another complete operating system running on the same hardware at the same time.

That said, the performance can be quite decent, but it depends on the type of app and how it is coded.

There are some I/O performance issues with the BB10 Android runtime that could stand a significant improvement, but I run a lot of Android apps that work perfectly well. Others can be sluggish.

If you really need to have native performance with all Android apps at all times, then you should just use an Android device.

What we refer to as "Android" is primarily composed of a modified Linux kernel and a virtual machine (called Dalvik) that runs on this underlying kernel.

All Android apps on all Android phones (prior to ART) run on this virtual machine (Dalvik) which in turn runs on the underlying Linux OS. So YES, Android apps on native Android phones are ALSO sharing resources with an underlying OS, except the underlying OS is simply Linux and not QNX.

However Linux and QNX have *enourmous* similarities in APIs and behavior since they are both Unix derivatives: this is why the "native code hack" CJ talks about is even possible.

And note: The "hack" CJ points out ONLY comes into play if an Android app needs to make use of native ARM CPU binaries in the underlying Linux kernel or libraries, otherwise Android apps on BB10 are like any other Android app on any Android phone (save for a lack of proprietary Google APIs and specific restrictions BB10 has placed on Android apps).

To summarize: The Dalvik virtual machine on which Android application bytecode runs on is an *application itself*. Dalvik is an app that runs other apps (just like your Web browser is an app that can run javascript apps -- it doesn't matter if your browser is Safari for Mac, IE on Windows, or Firefox on Linux). Dalvik requires an underlying OS to host it. Whether the underlying OS that Dalvik runs on is QNX or a modified Linux kernel is *irrelevant* to the Android app, UNLESS it needs to access native code (which -- only then -- requires making direct access to the host OS).

The (very close) analogy is a follows:

1. An APK is like a javascript app.

2. Dalvik is like a Web browser.

3. Linux / QNX are like the OS (e.g.: Windows or Mac OS) your browser runs on.

The use of native code is only needed if, for example, a javascript app wanted to make direct use of native Windows or Mac OS functions.

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[mnc76]

Double post

[Pete The Penguin]

What we refer to as "Android" is primarily composed of a modified Linux kernel and a virtual machine (called Dalvik) that runs on this underlying kernel.

All Android apps on all Android phones (prior to ART) run on this virtual machine (Dalvik) which in turn runs on the underlying Linux OS. So YES, Android apps on native Android phones are ALSO sharing resources with an underlying OS, except the underlying OS is simply Linux and not QNX.

However Linux and QNX have *enourmous* similarities in APIs and behavior since they are both Unix derivatives: this is why the "native code hack" CJ talks about is even possible.

And note: The "hack" CJ points out ONLY comes into play if an Android app needs to make use of native ARM CPU binaries in the underlying Linux kernel or libraries, otherwise Android apps on BB10 are like any other Android app on any Android phone (save for a lack of proprietary Google APIs and specific restrictions BB10 has placed on Android apps).

To summarize: The Dalvik virtual machine on which Android application bytecode runs on is an *application itself*. Dalvik is an app that runs other apps (just like your Web browser is an app that can run javascript apps -- it doesn't matter if your browser is Safari for Mac, IE on Windows, or Firefox on Linux). Dalvik requires an underlying OS to host it. Whether the underlying OS that Dalvik runs on is QNX or a modified Linux kernel is *irrelevant* to the Android app, UNLESS it needs to access native code (which -- only then -- requires making direct access to the host OS).

The (very close) analogy is a follows:

1. An APK is like a javascript app.

2. Dalvik is like a Web browser.

3. Linux / QNX are like the OS (e.g.: Windows or Mac OS) your browser runs on.

The use of native code is only needed if, for example, a javascript app wanted to make direct use of native Windows or Mac OS functions.

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Linux and QNX are not "Unix derivatives", they are POSIX compliant operating systems.

Dalvik is not an 'app', it's a virtual machine.

You (mostly) had your facts correct.

[mnc76]

Linux and QNX are not "Unix derivatives", they are POSIX compliant operating systems.

Dalvik is not an 'app', it's a virtual machine.

You (mostly) had your facts correct.

Sure -- I used the term "derived" incorrectly. The point is that the genesis of POSIX itself stemmed from Unix, and they are very similar to Unix (as compared to being similar to other non "Unix-like" OSs). Also, the modified Linux kernel in Android isn't actually fully POSIX compliant. BUT in any case, if all the details were fully spelled out than it would have been a 10 page post.

I just wanted to get the gist across.

To your second point: Dalvik is an app for the Android kernel just like a Java VM is an app on Windows or Mac. A JVM runs just like MS Word or Outlook. A virtual machine isn't any more special than any other application -- but you're right that it's not an "app" in the sense that an APK is an "app".

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