We’ve already seen the Android App Player leak out, and now the BlackBerry PlayBook has taken one more (unofficial) step towards being a full-fledged, psuedo-Android tablet. While it’s described as a “proof of concept,” the video above from CrackBerry forum member Lawguyman shows that the tablet is at least capable of running the Android Market and downloading apps, albeit with a few PlayBook-induced obstacles — check out the furious swiping around the 1:30 mark. Here’s hoping for a slightly more official solution before long.
A leaked version of RIM's Android app player running on a BlackBerry PlayBook. Photo: N4BB.com
RIM can’t seem to get its act together. First, it rushed the release of the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, a product that many agreed felt unfinished. And this morning, the company accidentally released an incomplete version of its app player for running Android software.
PlayBook makers Research in Motion posted the Android application player to its website, allowing eager BlackBerry fans to download the app before its official release. The player was quickly taken down shortly thereafter, but not before a number of users downloaded the application. The N4BB website first reported the app player’s appearance.
A RIM spokesperson confirmed to Wired.com that the app player was posted in error, and that the version available isn’t what we’re going to see after its official release.
“We recommend that users refrain from downloading and installing this software since it is outdated and non-functional in many respects,” a RIM spokesperson said in a statement provided to Wired.com.
The BlackBerry PlayBook needs a Hail Mary to survive in today’s crowded tablet market. Dozens of newAndroid-poweredtablets have debuted this year, all of which are competing for customers who want an alternative to Apple’s tablet device. HP’s recent release of the TouchPad touts webOS, an underdog operating system still espoused by Palm evangelists. The iPad 2, of course, continues to dominate the industry, representing approximately 83 percent of all tablets shipped in 2010, according to research firm IDC.
The PlayBook also faces challenges on the application front. The PlayBook launched with over 3,000 apps, far more than Google’s current number of tablet-optimized apps (around 250), as well as HP’s (about 300). Apple’s tablet app selection remains far ahead of the pack at around 100,000.
So instead of putting all its eggs in bolstering BlackBerry App World — RIM’s app download store — RIM expects to boost its user base by attracting Android lovers with the Android app player.
Today’s accidental leak is the first we’ve seen of the Android app player since the company demoed a version at its BlackBerry App World in May. RIM recommended against downloading the Android app player.
Despite RIM’s pleas, many have already uploaded copies of the leaked application to file sharing web sites, allowing those who missed out to test the early version.
“I think they realize that their app store hasn’t really taken off,” said BlackBerry app developer Gurbir Sidhu in an interview with Wired.com. ”More developers are interested in Android apps, and there is more effort being put into Android development.”
Some say, however, that the Android application player may not be enough to save the PlayBook.
“Even with the Android app player, it does not support every app out there, and most apps still need to be ported over to work well,” Gartner mobile analyst Phillip Redman told Wired.com. “So though the intent is to open up [the PlayBook] to a wider variety of mobile apps, it will still be limited.”
Redman speaks to a larger issue in application development: Native versus ported apps. When an application is written in a native language — or a coding language created specifically for a particular operating system — the programs generally run smoother, faster and with less system hiccups. When an application is ported over to a non-native environment, reliability and performance isn’t always up to par.
“In the end, native apps work best on each device and I think this will have limited impact overall,” said Redman. “There are very nice Android tablets out there if a user wants to go that direction and get the best performance and choice.
Of course, the PlayBook has other issues to deal with in its uphill battle. The device still doesn’t have native e-mail, calendar and contacts applications — three items we’ve been promised would be coming since the PlayBook’s debut three months ago.
Whether or not the Android player attracts more users for RIM is a lingering question for after the program’s official release.
Hope, however, remains. Some who have downloaded the program early seem to enjoy the Android app player experience on the PlayBook, even using the early version.
“It’s a little early to make a judgement based on an early beta but it’s not bad,” wrote one early user on a BlackBerry enthusiast forum. “I’m actually surprised that any apps worked, pleasantly surprised too as it bodes well for sideloading apps in the future,” the user wrote.
The official beta release of the Android App Player for the BlackBerry PlayBook is scheduled for release later this summer, according to RIM.
Check out the video below for a demo of the Android app player running on the PlayBook.
If it’s going to try and compete in the tablet world, whether or not it wants to be known as the enterprise-friendly slate, RIM will have to step up its multimedia game. The company clearly understands this, that’s why it’s snatched up the online video-editing service JayCut. It’s obvious the startup’s expertise will be used to create a video editing app for the BlackBerry platform, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see some sort of sharing and cloud storage service built on top of it as well. Obviously we’re just speculating for now. Check out the brief announcement posts at the two source links.
Back in April, when we put the PlayBook through its paces, we were disappointed to find it lacked the previously promised, and eventually teased, Android Player. Well, the time has finally come — at least for those of you, who don’t mind getting your hands, and tablet, dirty with leaked software. The folks over at n4bb snatched up a beta version of the program, which brings nearly 250,000 little-green-monster apps to the BB slab, but point out that it’s got its drawbacks. Aside from altogether lacking a back button, this build apparently has some lagging issues. If you’re the adventurous type, however, you can download and sideload the appropriate file by clicking on the source link below. But if your PlayBook gets covered in all sorts of leaky beta goo, don’t come running to us — it is unofficial after all.
The BlackBerry PlayBook may not have exactly won over consumers en masse, but it looks like RIM can now at least put a feather in its cap when it comes to one of its key customer bases: government agencies. The company announced today that the PlayBook is the first tablet to receive the so-called FIPS 140-2 certification which, according to RIM, means that the US federal government can “buy with confidence knowing that the PlayBook meets their computing policy requirements for protecting sensitive information.” Of course, those agencies will still need to make sure to supply a BlackBerry smartphone as well so folks can access some of that information — although this may be one instance where that’s considered to be more of a feature than an omission.
RIM sure is working fast to bring its 500,000-strongBlackBerry Playbooks up to functional par. The tablet’s been on the market for three short months and is already set to receive its fourth softwareupdate. This go ’round, RIM added the ability to save attachments to a removable SD card or your phone’s internal storage, extract zip files from email (although you’ll have to use Bridge and port from your BlackBerry smartphone), a pinch-to-zoom feature for video viewing and — winner of the duh award — portrait viewing for photos. Also, the software now supports 15 additional languages — great news if you speak Galician. If you’re planning on picking up this QNX tab, you’ll receive the v1.0.7 update as part of the setup process. Current owners can wait for an update notification, or just pull it manually. So, what are you waiting for? Get downloading.
Update: And it’s gone. Seems some folks who downloaded the update were having connectivity issues using BlackBerry Bridge. RIM posted on Twitter saying users should expect a fix later this week.
Look, there’s no question that Canada looks out for its own, but if you reckoned that it also let everything slide… well, think again. One D&R Electronics has apparently thrown a BlackBerry PlayBook into a Canadian Dodge Charger, signified by a red maple leaf and the oh-so-distinct use of the word “ayeouuut.” Put simply, the 7-inch slate has been coded up to flip on the overhead / side lights, search police databases for names and faces, accept commands wirelessly from an in-car keyboard, and even be fully detachable for those times with mobility is of the utmost importance. You know, like playing Angry Birds while waiting in line to cross the border. Head on past the break to have a look, won’t you?
Most tablets function just fine on their own, but RIM’s BlackBerry Playbook introduced a unique, yet restrictive interface that limits Bluetooth tethering to a similarly-branded handset. This feature, called BlackBerry Bridge, lets your tablet piggyback on a handset’s 3G data connection, also enabling access to productivity apps like email and calendar, which are still otherwise unavailable on the PlayBook. Unfortunately, this option hasn’t been made available for AT&T users, but that’s about to change, as the feature will be added to App World today. While the Bridge suite is totally gratis, enabling the AT&T 3G data connection requires a monthly tethering plan of $45, which means anyone grandfathered into the unlimited data feature will need to decide if it’s worth the jump. Bridge not sounding like your cup of tea? Don’t worry — at least you can take comfort in knowing that the days of pining for native email are numbered.
In today’s crowded market, looking for a tablet is like buying a new car. Everything looks great when it’s slick, polished and sitting on the lot. The hard part is keeping track of what’s under the hood.
Wired.com took some of the front-runners from the current tablet field — the brand-new HP TouchPad, Apple’s iPad, Samsung’s Galaxy Tab and others — and stacked up their features side by side in the chart below.
In the wake of Apple’s iPad, which released April 2010, technology manufacturers are quickly churning out competing slates in hopes of luring customers into the new product category with fancy hardware and flashy apps. The tablet market is quickly gaining momentum with a new slate hitting stores every month.
(Speaking of apps, don’t miss our breakdown of software ecosystems, explaining the pros and cons of the app stores on each mobile operating system.)
Device
Hardware
Software/Connectivity
Performance
HP TouchPad $500-$600
Processor: 1.2-GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon Storage: 16 or 32 GB RAM: 1GB Cameras: 1.3-megapixel front-facing, no rear camera Dimensions: 9.45 by 7.48 by 0.54 inches Weight: 1.6 pounds
OS: webOS 3.0 DLNA: No Wi-Fi/3G/4G: Wi-Fi only, AT&T version coming soon Bluetooth: Yes Ports: micro USB, no SD card slot
Battery Life: Approximately 8 hours under heavy use; closer to 9 or 10 hours under casual use conditions. Javascript Test Results Average: 4128.47 ms
Motorola Xoom $600-$800
Processor: 1-GHz dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 Storage: 32GB RAM: 1GB Cameras: 2-megapixel front-facing; 5-megapixel back-facing camera Dimensions: 9.8 by 6.61 by 0.51 inches Weight: 1.56 to 1.6 pounds (depending on version)
Battery Life: Approx. 10 hours Javascript Test Results Average: 3305.9 ms
Apple iPad 2 $500-$830
Processor: 1-GHz dual-core Apple A5 custom-designed Storage: 16, 32 and 64GB RAM: 512MB RAM Cameras: front and back-facing Dimensions: 9.5 by 7.34 by 0.34 inches Weight: 1.33 to 1.35 pounds (depending on model)
OS: iOS 4.3 (iOS 5 coming fall 2011) DLNA: No Wi-Fi/3G/4G: Wi-Fi, 3G (AT&T or Verizon) Bluetooth: Yes Ports: Proprietary
Battery Life: Approx. 10 hours Javascript Test Results Average: 2163.3 ms
RIM BlackBerry PlayBook $500-$700
Processor: 1-GHz dual-core Texas Instruments OMAP Storage: 16, 32 or 64GB RAM: 1GB Cameras: 3-megapixel front-facing, 5-megapixel back-facing Dimensions: 7.6 by 5.1 by 0.4 inches Weight: 0.9 pounds
OS: PlayBook OS (QNX) DLNA: No (RIM claims it’s coming soon) Wi-Fi/3G/4G: Wi-Fi, 4G versions to come (though some carriers are backpedaling) Bluetooth: Yes Ports: micro USB, HDMI
Battery Life: Approx 7.5 to 8 hours Javascript Test Results Average: 2362.6 ms
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 $500-$600
Processor: 1-GHz dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 Storage: 16, 32 and 64GB RAM: 1GB Cameras: 2-megapixel front-facing, 3-megapixel back-facing; Dimensions: 10.1 by 6.9 by 0.338 inches Weight: 1.25 lbs
Battery Life: Approx. 9-10 hours Javascript Test Results Average: 2188.9 ms
That’s a lot of info to digest, right? Fret not, tablet shoppers: Here’s some of that info broken down across seven categories.
Body
Essentially, choosing a piece of hardware that works for you boils down to taste and utility. Want something light and airy that won’t wear your arm out while e-reading? Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 has everyone beat; It’s the thinnest, lightest 10-inch tablet out to date, even besting the super-svelte iPad 2.
Maybe you want something smaller, or with a rubberized backing to combat your butterfingers. Almost the size of a trade paperback, BlackBerry’s seven-inch PlayBook would best suit your needs.
Tablets like the TouchPad, Xoom and first-gen iPad all weigh and measure in at approximately the same range, but with some of the recent slimmer releases, they’re starting to look positively bulky.
Power
In this generation of tablets, you aren’t going to see any chips backed by less than 1 GHz of processing power. Our two Android tablets run on Nvidia’s powerful Tegra 2 processor, while Apple’s iPads are powered by the custom-made A4 and A5 series chips. RIM decided to go with a Texas Instruments OMAP, which Palm used in its Pre smartphones. Only the TouchPad clocks in at 1.2 GHz, running on a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ 8060 CPU.
Most of these tablets come with 1GB of RAM to keep things running smoothly, save Apple’s offerings — the iPad 1 comes with a paltry 256MB, while its successor doubles that amount.
It’s difficult to run a consistent processing benchmark across three different platforms, so we’re not going to give the edge to any one tablet quite yet. Still, Qualcomm’s next generation Snapdragon chip ran smooth as silk in the TouchPad — especially while multitasking — so we’re inclined to give it props.
Frontrunner: HP TouchPad
Cameras
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Shooting photos on a tablet is just weird. Like, “defending yourself in a food fight with a cafeteria tray” weird. Still, we’re all about choice here at Wired.com, and if you want to shoot photos on your tablet, some of these slates can accommodate.
Except for the first-gen iPad, which lacks any cameras at all. Similarly, the TouchPad comes with a front-facing camera for the Skype-loving crowd, but no rear camera for the shutterbugs.
All the rest come with front and back-facing cameras of variable quality, the iPad 2’s being the poorest of them all. The PlayBook has the highest resolutions on both front and back cameras, but you’ll lose viewfinder real estate with the device’s smaller screen. Conversely, the Xoom dips a touch in front-facing camera resolution while bumping up your screen size considerably.
BlackBerry PlayBook enthusiasts will want to cuddle up with their favorite blanket and a carton of ice cream, as the 10-inch version of RIM’s tablet may have been given the axe. N4BB reports that its development was recently cancelled to focus on an upcoming QNX-based “superphone,” said to feature a 1.2GHz single-core processor (same as on the Bold Touch 9900) and a 4.3-inch HD-quality display. It’s no secret that phones powered by this platform are on the roadmap, but scrapping a PlayBook project in its behalf could indicate the company’s elevated desire to get it to market even sooner than originally planned. Anything less than two cores, however, will be an unpleasant surprise; company reps have stated that a QNX-powered handset won’t hit the market without a dual-core CPU inside. The motive behind this change of heart appears to be battery life concerns with the existing PlayBook’s chip. The report doesn’t completely rule out the possibility of an extra core getting thrown in, but we’re not holding our breath. While tragic, the scrapped product will make room for other projects — the already-announced 7-inch LTE variant is reportedly targeted for an October launch — but since this is all hearsay, let’s hold off on the eulogy for now.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
