July 21, 2011

BlackBerry PlayBook: Leaked Android App Player brings Android apps

Posted at 7:39 PM by admin
Research in Motion has been promising to launch an app soon that would allow anyone with the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet to run Android apps as well as native apps designed for the BlackBerry Tablet operating system. The company has yet to release the Android App Player to the public… but that hasn’t stopped someone from digging around the RIM servers and finding a download link.

Right now the Android App Player is still clearly a work in progress. There’s no “back” button, for instance, which is a big problem since many Android apps rely on this button for key functions. The folks at n4bb also report that performance is still rather slow as well.

Update: You can swipe left on the bezel on the bottom of the tablet to simulate a tap on the back button. You can also use the Android menu function by swiping down from the top. The App Player doesn’t just let you install Android apps on your tablet — it also provides an emulated Android environment. You an use the Android web browser, calendar, contact manager, and other built-in apps as well as any third party apps you install.

Since this is pre-release software there’s always a chance you could break something by trying it out. And don’t expect any support from Research in Motion if something goes wrong. But if you’ve been staring at your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet for the last few months wishing you could run Words With Friends on it, this may be the answer.

Or you know, maybe you should just wait until the Android App Player is officially released.

You can download the Android App Player directly from RIM’s servers and then side-load it on your tablet. If that link stops working you can also try these mirrors.

The folks at IntoMobile have posted a video showing how the Android App Player beta works on the tablet. You can check it out below:

Update: RIM has removed the original download link and advised people to wait for the official App Player to be released this later this summer. [Source: mobiputing.com]


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