Android App Player on PlayBook OS 2.0, Detailed Review

March 10, 2012 John Reyvaldi Review

Android App Player is one of the most anticipated feature that packed inside the new PlayBook OS 2.0. The possibility of running an android app on a PlayBook tablet was surfaced on the web since mid-2011 and the PlayBook OS 2.0 is finally available for public download. But, the Android App Player on PlayBook OS 2.0 is not work quite as good as we hope.

Here’s the situation, just because the PlayBook OS 2.0 contain Android App Player, that doesn’t mean that PlayBook users will see a separate Android store/Google Play in their tablet. In fact, they’re all now merged into BlackBerry PlayBook app store. The Android app will run with the assistance of an Android App Player called as QNXAppLauncher. This special app will pop out immediately when you try to initiate an Android app. This Android App Player offer up to six slot for Android apps. It might not the most stable App Launcher we’ve ever try, but at least the Android App Player on PlayBook OS 2.0 works pretty well at the moment.

There’s a grey bars on the top side of the Android App Player. Swiping it down will lead you to the list of recently opened apps. Swipe downwards from the top bezel will be translated as pressing the menu button on Android device. Diagonal swipe upwards to the left is currently act like a back button. Simply swipe upwards to minimize or close the apps, so there’s no need to emulate the home button here.

But here’s the down side, the PlayBook OS 2.0 App World doesn’t contain as many Android apps as you expected. In fact, there’s only few of them. That’s because there’s lot of Android’s API that is not supported by PlayBook OS 2.0. So, instead of using the Android App Player, you can install a special app named DDPB and download the unofficial Android app for PlayBook OS 2.0 from the playbookbars.com.

By using DDPB method, you can grab install some goodies like Google Maps, Android 3.2 Honeycomb UI, Android 3D Gallery, Android Calendar, Android browser, and many more Android apps. If you curious how’s this possible, that’s because all of them have already converted using the RIM’s android app conversion tool. They’re currently not available in the BlackBerry App World for some business-related issues off course.

PlayBook App World is only contain up to 10,000 android apps at the moment. It might be not as much as Google Play or App Store offers, but you must admit that the store is growing.

Now, here’s where it goes interesting. RIM said that the PlayBook OS 2.0 will be able to run Android apps. But the fact is that the Android apps must be converted first in order to run on the tablet. Plus, it still require a special Android App Player, although the app is already converted to PlayBook OS 2.0 format. This is completely different from most people perception, that hope for a dedicated Android app store in their PlayBook, instead of Android App Player.

So what do you think about Android App Player on PlayBook OS 2.0? Does it mean that RIM already kept their promise? Or you expect something more from them? Write your opinion on the comment box below and we will have a great discussion about it.

This article is helpful for our readers when they're searching about qnxapplauncher, google play playbook, how to install google play on playbook, qnx app launcher for playbook, installer play store sur playbook

Android App Player, PlayBook OS 2.0, Review,