How to install Android market & apps on BlackBerry PlayBook

Liwen Guo Jan. 5, 2012 at 16:30

How to install Android market & apps on BlackBerry PlayBook Like the HP TouchPad, the BlackBerry PlayBook never got traction in the market and is now being sold off.

However, it does have one advantage compared to the webOS-tablet: the QNX operating system the Blackberry PlayBook runs is able to emulate another operating system in real-time. In other words, it can run Android apps – you'll be able to install the Android Market and use Android apps on your Blackberry PlayBook.

RIM, the BlackBerry maker, originally intended developers to repackage their Android apps and submit then into the BlackBerry App World, but few are actually doing so. Which is, to say the least, a lot of unrealized potential, since the Android Market is now boasting over 400,000 apps.

So, what do you do? Of course, install the Android Market on your Blackberry PlayBook. First up, you'll have to root your PlayBook with DingleBerry, then sideload the Honeycomb launcher (from Android 3.0) using DDPB. When that is done, you can finally install the Cyanogen Google Apps, which include the Android Market, and after a reboot and some more tweaking you'll be finished.

The whole process is pretty complicated, and not every app will work correctly. But if you think you can manage it, why not head over to CrackBerry where they have a full guide, and give it a try?

Or you could just wait until Feb 17th when OS2.0 will be released. It will have this functionality available with zero hassle.

Or you could just wait until Feb 17th when OS2.0 will be released. It will have this functionality available with zero hassle.
The Feb update doesn't allow you to use all apps whereas this does.

"DingleBerry"? LOL
Anyhow, thanks - makes it a decent option now that the price is coming down.

Or you could just wait until Feb 17th when OS2.0 will be released. It will have this functionality available with zero hassle.
Yeah, 'cos that's often the view of the development community "f*ck this it's too much effort, I'll wait for the manufacturer to do it". On that note, expecting RIM not to mess anything up makes about as much sense as expecting the next iPhone to run Android.

Ouch, matt! RIM just don't care about the same things you care about

Nah, you got a point, they have made some really dubious decisions in 2011 - and look, almost all involved pricing and delays. Like RIM is a finnish term... While early '11 the cheapo BBM device took the teensters by storm, RIM decides to make all their new devices a) as cheap as possible or b ) as overpriced as shareholders would like in their short-term-thinkingness ???

I care about a good all round user experience (something RIM don't do well). That's the very reason I'd, for example, recommend an HTC Desire S over an LG Optimus 2x any day of the week. Despite the 2x's extra horsepower, the Desire S is a much better all round experience.

I think all RIM care about is running their own company into the ground as quickly as possible. I'll admit the 9900 was a good phone, not industry leading (apart from the keyboard, which was a dream to use), but nonetheless a very good phone.

Everything else RIM has done this year has been at best, inoffensive to the point of forgettable, and at worst downright terrible (aka drunk execs getting kicked off a flight). Btw, have you heard two of the three BB10 devices have been cancelled, only the BB London remains? Bad times...

No, hadn't heard about the BB10 device axe... Not bad.
I wonder if they share Elop's PR-advisors?

As to inoffensive? You're right. I think there is a market for "inoffensive" (me, e.g. Hahaha), but I think they should have released one stunner that is more AndriOS-ish... But instead they broke the theming sdk for OS 7.0 so you can't even change the appearance hahaha

Yeah, here's the link to the BB10 devices story, if you fancy a read:
http://www.technobuffalo.com/companies/blackberry/rim-cancels-blackberry-colt-milan-leaving-just-one-bb10-smartphone-in-development/

I do think there's a market for inoffensive (my mum, wife and daughter, for example), but when your year as an ex-leader of the smartphone market peaked at "inoffensive", you're definitely doing something wrong.

Random question for you, do you think RIM would make an Android device before they went bust? Or would they rather just destroy the company with the mess (admittedly better than OS6 though), that is OS7? Whilst they try in vain to ready BB10 before people lose all interest in RIM.

Good Question, matt, and not one I can answer in year 1 post Elop No one would have thought Nokia would make Windows phones 18 months ago. I still don't think they do...it's all so blurred

RIM would need to completely rethink BIS/BES and BBM - not just a hardware/software issue - an entirely new business model. They could, of course, release an Android phone without the BB bells and whistles, but arE they the folks to build a device to stand out?

I leave it to LC to answer these deep questions. Or Treab?!

Nokia don't make anything any more, they're a dead shell of a company. They're just M$'s wh*re nowadays, doing as they're told, when they're told for M$'s cash.

I was thinking maybe a BB branded device that ran Android but had access to all of the normal BB services. They'd seriously need to beef up the hardware if anyone was going to buy one though, a 1.2ghz single core Qualcomm chip doesn't cut it in 2012 in the world of Android. They'd need to make it a SAMOLED HD+, quad-core beast to truly re-enter the smartphone game....somehow I think it's all too late for RIM. They'll soon be known as RIP...

Treab, deep ? He got his new Sensation to day I think, hence his lack of presence. After months of wanting an S2 or RAZR he was swayed by a cheap Sensation deal haha .

git

yeah but my swaying to that cheap sensation deal (as you put it) saved me 120 quid (minimum) over 2 years... after a 32gb card at say 30 quid im still 90 quid up and 17gb more memory over the sgs2...

so

All I've got to say is; good luck learning how Apps2SD works

i dont need to... android has that feature since 2.2 but

Poor misguided Treab ...That's only if the developer enables the feature and it doesn't move the whole App to the SD card, only root and Apps2SD can do that for you. Trust me, I had a Desire. The phone which possibly gained to most publicity due to a lack of internal memory of any device, ever.

ahhh ffs.... right im stealing your phone

Another pleasant thought for you. ICS is going to take up even more of your internal memory . That's part of the reason the Galaxy S can't have ICS, not enough ROM and RAM for ICS and TouchWiz (if they dropped TW it'd be too similar to the Nexus S from Samsung's point of view).

Just Apps2SD the damn thing, HTC honour the warranties on rooted phones anyway (unless you bricked it rooting it or broke it doing something like OC'ing the processor and you fried it). If, for example, the screen broke or the memory chip failed on a rooted phone all the big Android manufacturers still honour the warranty as the reason it broke had nothing to do with the root and the bad publicity if you contacted, XDA for example, with such a story wouldn't be worth it.

Treab, don't listen to them. You won't be able to fill up 1.1GB that you have available. My DHD has around 450MB free and I don't have anything else to install on it.

Matt, ROM and user space are completely different partitions that cannot be resized. ROM is /system/ and user space is /data/ and any other mounts that you have on the phone. You can even mount /data/ on SD card, but you have to keep dalvik cache on the phone. If ICS does not fit into ROM it will not be officially released as it cannot be installed into "internal memory".

Dalvik cache has dedicated partition on DHD with it's own memory. I'm assuming Sensation is identical.

Last edited by CTPAHHIK, Jan. 6, 2012 at 07:53

Repartioning...

You can't. Wish it would be that simple.

You could repartion a Desire...Nothing used to fit on its crappy internal memory before you did some...shuffling...of the partition sizes. Though I think you needed S-Off to do it.

I never had a Desire, so I'll take your word for it. I have not seen anyone repartitioning Play. Moving Dalvik to different partition yes, but not changing actual partition sizes.

I used AlphaRev, here's their website:
http://alpharev.nl/

There are ways to manually adjust the partition sizes to your liking but I wasn't that bothered so I just stuck with what was available from AlphaRev.

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