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A screenshot of BlackBerry App World in OS 2.0
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66 Comments

BlackBerry PlayBook sees App World facelift in 2.0

By Simon Sage on 21 Feb 2012 10:25 am
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Now that everyone is getting cozy with BlackBerry PlayBook 2.0, it's time to root out all of the teeniest, tiniest changes in the update. We already know about the big stuff, like remote control, and Android app support, but we didn't know about App World getting a significant user interface overhaul. Ok, we did but we didn't know how it would function.

Functionally, everything is pretty much the same, but instead of a carousel, there's now a panning grid, with a themed section taking up two squares-worth of real estate.  The tabs on the top are unchanged, but the bottom pane has been pared down to the top paid games and apps. The top free, top rated, and new arrivals are tucked into the top tier games and apps sections. 

I'm still flipping through it all myself, trying to spot Android apps among the usual suspects... Have you guys noticed anything new in the new version of App World for the BlackBerry PlayBook?

Topics: BlackBerry World BlackBerry Tablet OS BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 News & Rumors

WordPress for PlayBook now available in BlackBerry App World Previous
Setting up email, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts on BlackBerry PlayBook 2.0Next
Simon Sage Simon Sage 171 (articles) 59 (forum posts)
66 comments

kuni1987

1st woot

Dave79

Still they didnt solve the double icons problem?!?!?!?

PsyCorps

yeah, I am trying to spot those android apps too, but only with limited success....

alexkinsella

Hi PsyCorps,

Alex from RIM here. We don't differentiate apps in App World based on what type of app it is - AIR, WebWorks, Native, or Android. They're all BlackBerry PlayBook apps no matter what they're built with.

Thanks,

Alex, RIM Social Team

AdrianGabeChen

hey alex got a question about the facebook app for playbook. how come it is created by rim and not facebook and how come the ui doesnt look like other tablet/mobile apps?

Jonathank

Alex are some apps going to be like balloon Gunner 3D where u need the launcher?? Fyi Love 2.0 ....... thanks

JasunX

Where exactly are these Android apps? Or how do you tell the difference between Android apps and QNX apps?

Update: @Alex - Oh I see...I believe I read somewhere on Crackberry that RIM had a hard time approving all the Android app submissions because there were so many...but I could be wrong, maybe I was just having a good dream.

Jonathank

I got balloon Gunner 3D and it needs the Android player....so guessing this is an Android??

Brianjax

How will we know it's an Android app? Also I really like the new layout.

Adam Zeis

For the most part you won't, that's the whole point :)

SFWriter

I really don't think it matters if its a ported android app as long as its a useful app (based on my needs) and that it works.

greatness10

anyone know how to sync my contacts from bold 9900 to playbook without doing it through email? You would think there would be a simple 'sync' button that allows all of your contacts and calendar to shoot over from phone to playbook but i'm not finding it and dont want to input 400 contacts

the brother

agreed. this seems like a oversight on a fundamental requirement.

00stryder

You can already circumvent this issue by syncing your email address to your contacts/calendar on your smartphone. If you're using the same email accounts on your PlayBook, it'll import them automatically.

jhrain

Alex from RIM.. bad answer. It would be interesting if someone could get a list of the apps that have been ported from Android.

I wonder if RIM is going to post any stats on the number of apps that have been added since 2.0 rolled out?

The only app I'm missing at this point is a good magazine App. I would love to take Car and Driver, Motor Trend and .. yeah, Martha Stewart with me on my Playbook!

bitek

end user does not care how app got to the store. just that it is there.

bitek

end user does not care how app got to the store. just that it is there.

grant.palin

Zinio is reported to be on the way. I'm also looking forward to reading magazines on my PB.

obaquerizo

Great layout, a little more steps to go from one place to another, but you get some fun, loving my email account in my playbook. With this i can travel more calm

mannycs

Why can't we see bbm groups on our PlayBook? That' sucks

johnmarki

I find the re-design to be aesthetically pleasing and is moving waaay smoother for me than the previous app world. A+ RIM, A+

MattyC47

why would RIM want to differentiate between native and android apps? as for knowing if it is android or not, there are only a few that have "android" either in the title or in the description. you can search for "android" and will find those. There are a lot that have had "android" taken out of title and description and the only way you will know its an android app is when you open it and it launches in the integrated android player(again no app, runs in background)

and your mag app, Zinio reader is coming real soon apparently

BB_Bmore

I need to figure out what I have to do to my google account so the playbook stops asking for my password every 10 seconds :(

Dapper37

@Alexkinsella Thanks for the explanation, seemed clear to me but others are making an issue out of it.
Glad to see RIM getting involved. First time I've seen it.

Jerry Dee24

Why dont Crackberry start a discussion about apps and everyone can piost the new apps that they notice where we are all aware?

miroozy

we want important apps ..like skype ..msn ..yahoo ...twitter ...please !

derrickps3

you forgot oovoo also

miroozy

and it didn't support so many languages !

avsb514

Ok, where is Words With Friends!?!? :-)

mckillio

That's my biggest gripe. Could care less about skype.

merimang

only few android remake applicatons !! no possibilty for SKYPE for example...is this the future of the new Playbook ?? I'm not happy of this!!..sorry

illini2097

I noticed that if you search for "Android" in the app world, I believe you will be able to get a full list of all the Android ported apps. Not 100% sure about this though

Crackberrykills

Most of those are from Handster. No quality apps as of yet.

linuxdaemon

Yep. Between Digi-Media-Apps and Handster, there is a lot of crap :(

cut_me_own_throat_dibbler

I was really hoping to see rockplayer, moboplayer or something that handles embedded subtitles on the store as a long awaited video app.

Crackberrykills

Zinio magazine application, as well as a few others, have been listed as coming soon for a bit. I follow Zinio on the Twitter, and their reply is coming soon still. I have signed up on their site for updates when it is available. As of yet, no emails stating it has arrived. I has hoping to see a bunch of splendid apps this morning. None of those has appeared at this time. If you search for some of the Android Apps previously showcased such as IMDB, those are still not available. Wordpress is there today. However, so far, I have not seen any other new apps using the BlackBerry runtime. When the big time, new stuff comes, it will most likely be under "Featured." Mobile World Congress is coming up, no? I think most of the apps we all want will be there by then. I hope.

TheStoof

I love the look, but we need more apps (Kindle, Netflix, etc).

mckillio

I thought kindle was on there, at least I saw a screen shot of it.

wsmather

I have had very good luck accessing my Kindle apps on the Playbook browser via the Amazon Kindle Cloud Reader (google it). One bit of advice: go portrait mode. Otherwise you get a blank screen instead of seeing your books.

birdman_36

You can search under "Android" in App World. I am disappointed with the selection too. A lot of crapps in there right now.

TheStoof

We didn't exactly strike gold with the apps because there are shitty developers out there to make a quick buck.

birdman_36

And/or to get a free PlayBook :)

merimang

i cannot beleve a modern tablet cannot play normal, common application that already exit in all other o.s.! i hope it will be unlocked as soon as possible..

sk8er_tor

For whichever app you want, contact the app developer and ask for a PlayBook version! It's up to the developer to bring their app to the PlayBook.

williamsbh76

Still waiting on 2.0 download to finish. It has failed 3 times this morning after getting to about 70%. Anyone see Netflix yet?

geigerat

Has anyone downloaded an app and have had the download process go from 2MB-4MB-720MB-916MB-261MB-2MB-4MB-720MB and so on. I am downloading Modern Combat 2. .App World Is being extremely difficult to work with right now.

I just did OS2 Beta to the official OS2

sk8er_tor

I had this happen to me yesterday while I was still on OS2 Beta. I shut down App World and restarted it and it was fine.

merimang

for example skype, flytrack, th playbook is a business tablet first, isn't it ?

mark37724

Good god people, RIM has just given us a nice advance with os 2, App World redesign looks great, we're seeing lots of new apps all the time (with 2 nice freebees from Gameloft). I'd say RIM has shown some pretty decent commitment to the Playbook and expect that we will continue to see things continuously improve. I understand people want everything and they want it now but quit being so petty & entitled.

merimang

ok but in this waiting time I'm travelling with 2 tablets in my pocket..non sense ..i hope to have only one that make all..i hope that it will be th PB..

turistadred

still no BBM for playbook????

peterallcdn

RIM made it clear 4 months ago that bbm would not be present in pb OS 2.0. They don't want to release it until it's perfect and they are apparently taking it to the next level.

shaney24

has anyone's app world icon gone missing? cause mine did. :( can it be accidentally erased? is that possible, cause i was able to use it and then next thing i know its gone. still updates me though with the upgrades.

kidkamel

I'm getting an install error when trying to upgrade my apps. Error [0003-0005]

dibbis

I know that apps added by Handster Inc are all Android apps for Playbook. You will notice this by the app's name and the creator's name behind it (e.g. Advanced App Manager by eDroid Apps).

I believe Handster Inc has added a couple of thousand apps during February especially for Playbook.

Stoneraven9

Wouldn't it be nice if we could get the new Chrome browser? I like the native blackberry browser, but I hate not being able to rename and organize my bookmarks.

pozcanon

I've anxiously been awaiting for the 1000's of new apps as people were talking about, but I don't see many new ones added?
Are they on their way? Is this all we can expect?
I saw there were maybe a bunch of new one's but nothing like the tidal wave of apps people were talking about.

Anyone know when their coming???

Sarvey

As pozcanon stated, I thought there would be more as well. Perhaps there will be much more coming in the next few days/weeks. Either way, I'm pleased with the update :).

ajjuizcool

when do we get to see skype in the app world...

deanasfreddie

I have to say I bought this little gem two days ago and now am a very very happy bunny, funny thing is I have it leant against a speaker on my desktop sitting on top of my very much closed ipad 2, feel a little bit sorry for the apple - looks like the mrs is going to get it, using the vevo app - very nice indeed, love it.

I don't expect the earth with these android apps as there isnt much in their tablet apps anyway. On a side note, £5 for Angry Birds?? don't make me laugh :D

rexrim

Hopes many apps in at appworld time to time :-)

mavricxx

First thing i did on App world was look for any IM apps eg. yahoo messenger, Skype, OoVoO and nothing thn I looked for ANY new NAV apps, NONE, then I looked for Books other than Kobo..NOTHING..come on guys....

Jonathank

How come I have not seen a crazy change in app world WHERE ARE ALL THESE GREAT APPS??? Native email and contacts was not a big deal since my phone has never left my side...if you ask me it was stupid because now my phone goes off, my paybook goes off AND my BB bridge goes off. Do I really need a triple check? I was expecting a crap load of apps instead it looks like they jus switched things around a bit

mavricxx

I feel duped by RIM- the Android player everybody thought we were gonna get- we DIDN'T get and what's more...there aren't ANY decent Android apps in app world they all suck! I thought we were gonna get the Android that ACTUALLY plays ANDROID and we can open and download Android apps from the Android Market but NOPE! There isn't ANY IM Apps still- Skype, Yahoo Messenger, OoVoO or anything just the sucky video app that belongs to RIM and which I can't use cause nobody I know has a PlayBook! Then there's the books, I'm going to college and Kobo doens't have crap of the ones I need so I figured with Android we would get Amazon, Kindle, etc... NOPE! Not even a decent Navigation App... we didn't get anything, as far as I can tell we got duped...again! I've been so caught up in the bridge remote that the more I've been thinking about it the more I get pissed. Another thing the email didn't work for me either, it won't let me setup Yahoo Mail! So still, what can I use my PlayBook for...surfing the web! TOTALLY USELESS!!!

pozcanon

Tell me about it! Im really dissappointed!!! I`ve been a Blackberry supporter since day one, i bought the Playbook for $600 when it came out, and now its selling for $250... but thats another story!
WHERE ON EARTH ARE THESE 1000`S OF APPS!!!!
RIM promissed an Android app player, then it was 1000`s of apps, now we got a 100 apps MAYBE. All the ones that are useless i think... desperate developers.

What good is a great piece of hardware, if you ayn`t got great software.
RELEASE THE APPS!!!!