MEMORIAL DAY SALE: Use Coupon Code MEM12 at checkout to save 15% on ALL BlackBerry accessories this weekend!
Join Our 3 MILLION+ Members Today! Register Here | Login
 
 
 
 
 
 
Home»BlackBerry News»News & Rumors

Setup Android player with Android Market on your PlayBook in 15 minutes or less

by HaTaX on 7 Aug 2011 12:20 AM
53
 
[ youtube video link for mobile viewing ]

[This post comes to us courtesy of CrackBerry Forums member HaTaX who has been doing some awesome things with the Android Player on the BlackBerry PlayBook despite its current limitations]

This tutorial assumes you've already installed the Android player BAR file on your PlayBook. If you haven't done so yet, go find "sys.android.bar" somewhere on the interwebs, and then check here for instructions on installing downloaded BAR files to your PlayBook

You also need to extract the contents of the "GApps-PB-rev2.zip" to your PlayBook after the Android player has started for the first time. Extract these files to the file share on your PlayBook via the network file sharing feature. You should extract the 3 folders in the ZIP file to "\\PLAYBOOK\media\misc\android" where PLAYBOOK is the IP address of your PlayBook. Get the ZIP file to be extracted to your PlayBook here.

The key to getting this working 100% correctly is to be PATIENT! Don't try to move any faster then the video or you may get some weirdness or your downloads will sit at the "Starting Download..." message. If that happens, restart the PB and try again.

*This stuff is all experimental, if you decide to go through these steps it's at your own risk.*

Questions or problems? Drop by the Crackberry forums and we should be able to get you squared away.

Filed Under: News & Rumors; Tags: BlackBerry Playbook
Send to a Friend
 
Login or Register to post comments

53 Comments

Posted by quincar Sunday, Aug 07, 2011 294 days ago

Good work HaTax well deserved post.

 
 
Posted by HaTaX Sunday, Aug 07, 2011 294 days ago

Thanks man! Hopefully some people out there can do a little more of what they'd like to on the PB with this. It's not perfect, but it's a great starting point and hopefully RIM can learn a little more about it's core customers by watching this all unfold. :)

 
 
Posted by CL8Baller Sunday, Aug 07, 2011 294 days ago

Soooooo "Does it play Doom?" I mean Angry Birds haha.

 
 
Posted by Kuttysark Sunday, Aug 07, 2011 294 days ago

nice

 
 
Posted by chinlomon1971 Sunday, Aug 07, 2011 294 days ago

пикча сильно заинтересовала, подкрутите шрифты 360ting v.1.5.0
Tank Raid
playman beachvolly5800
скaчaть java игру VOODOO
Leisure Suit Larry: Love for Sail

 
 
Posted by Thetnaung Sunday, Aug 07, 2011 294 days ago

Done. Thank Guys for making this happen. You guys turn PlayBook into real Tablet which RIM is failure to do since beginning. RIM should hired this guy with high pays seriously.

 
 
Posted by kentvd Sunday, Aug 07, 2011 294 days ago

Why are people so dumb, this video shows that the PlayBook can run QNX and Android OS at the sametime and all you care about is if you can play Angry Birds? Duh, is Angry Birds on Android OS? YES it is, he just showed you that he had the Android App MarketPlace on his PlayBook, so yes it will be able too.

 
 
Posted by luqman24 Sunday, Aug 07, 2011 294 days ago

Maybe you need to relax and quit taking this so seriously...

 
 
Posted by trsbbs Sunday, Aug 07, 2011 294 days ago

I 2nd that.....chill pill time..

Tim

 
 
Posted by CL8Baller Sunday, Aug 07, 2011 294 days ago

Oh my "Why so serious? Let's put a smile on that face!" :D

 
 
Posted by ekua91 Sunday, Aug 07, 2011 294 days ago

angry birds actually doesn't work..

 
 
Posted by 60228 Sunday, Aug 07, 2011 293 days ago

Hi,

There is a "angry.bar" file and you can run directly on playbook.

 
 
Posted by kevin.mcca Sunday, Aug 07, 2011 294 days ago

I won't download this until it's official, but I thing you made an EXCELLENT job man, you detailed every step. Very nice work.

 
 
Posted by ekua91 Sunday, Aug 07, 2011 294 days ago

This is great, thanks a lot man.. this is one big step forward for playbook users!
netflix doesn't seem to work though other than that its perfect.

 
 
Posted by NinjaBread Sunday, Aug 07, 2011 294 days ago

Kudos to you HaTaX, followed your tutorial and it's working perfectly so far. Legendary work.

 
 
Posted by snowfree52 Sunday, Aug 07, 2011 294 days ago

can't start the market, each time it says " an error has occured, please try later"

 
 
Posted by Takeo Sunday, Aug 07, 2011 294 days ago

I suggest you try again later. :p

 
 
Posted by jrsc109 Sunday, Aug 07, 2011 294 days ago

Hi

Installed without an issue, the player works fine and I can access the Market.

BUT - nothing downloads. They just show in My Apps as Downloading, but nothing happens.

Any ideas please

Thanks

 
 
Posted by irsan Sunday, Aug 07, 2011 294 days ago

Same with me They just show in My Apps as Downloading, but nothing happens. Installing always error, "insufficient storage available", my space 32 gb free

 
 
Posted by HazAnwar Sunday, Aug 07, 2011 294 days ago

Same problem for me, I followed step by step but when it gets to installation is says "insufficient storage available", any fixes for this?

 
 
Posted by HaTaX Sunday, Aug 07, 2011 294 days ago

Take a look at the thread in the forum as this issue has been encountered by a few people and there is a workaround posted. Look at the bottom of the OP for known issues and resolutions.

http://tinyurl.com/PBMarketForum

 
 
Posted by Kiddo2050 Sunday, Aug 07, 2011 294 days ago

meh, I love my PB the way it is. All I got from this video is Android UI sucks and the Android keyboard sucks.

Nice job on the video but I'm waiting for RIM. Thanks for making me want to wait :)

 
 
Posted by sashas Sunday, Aug 07, 2011 294 days ago

Very cool. Got everything up and running but when I try to download an app the applications never does download. Instead it's stuck at "Starting download..."

Never mind. It just took something like 5 minutes. Everything's installed. Thanks!

App update: Darn! WSJ application does not work. Ditto on the Google Reader application--it froze and restarted the playbook.

 
 
Posted by naila_nc Sunday, Aug 07, 2011 294 days ago

I've tried it twice now, deleted the app player and reinstalled and still can't get an app installed. When I hit install, it downloads and like others I get insufficient storage message. I will play around with it and figure it out. I have 46 gb free on my playbook. :(

 
 
Posted by HaTaX Sunday, Aug 07, 2011 294 days ago

Take a look at the bottom of the OP for a workaround for this issue: http://tinyurl.com/PBMarketForum

 
 
Posted by garm Sunday, Aug 07, 2011 294 days ago

Perfect - thank you very much, works great. Easy instructions.

 
 
Posted by mrismail Sunday, Aug 07, 2011 294 days ago

I hate to be the douche that points this out but theres a typo. "...move any faster then the video or you may get some weirdness..." it should read "....move any faster *thAn* the video or you may get some weirdness..."

 
 
Posted by HaTaX Sunday, Aug 07, 2011 294 days ago

That's what you get when you're working on the video at 2AM and have had beer keeping you company. :)

If that's the only one you found, I think I can live with that. Not worth a re-render and repost, even my AR has it's limits.

 
 
Posted by mrismail Sunday, Aug 07, 2011 293 days ago

In that case A+. I have a hard time stayin' up past 11pm.

 
 
Posted by addictz Sunday, Aug 07, 2011 294 days ago

how to fix the storage problem when im istalling the apps

 
 
Posted by IvanAMANation Sunday, Aug 07, 2011 294 days ago

Can anyone provide a link for the Amazon Kindle .apk?

 
 
Posted by HaTaX Sunday, Aug 07, 2011 293 days ago

It's in the market if you search for "Kindle", this is one of the first applications I downloaded when I got Market working. Kindle works great in the player!

 
 
Posted by chiefbroski Sunday, Aug 07, 2011 294 days ago

Thanks for the walkthrough, but none of the apps actually download. Any solution?

EDIT: It is working now after I opened gmail and set up my mail and got messages.

 
 
Posted by sf49ers Sunday, Aug 07, 2011 293 days ago

Great job HaTax

 
 
Posted by BrokenSaint Sunday, Aug 07, 2011 293 days ago

Dude!!!!! YOU ROCK!!!!!! I followed your lead by the book and everything is working... AWESOME!!!

 
 
Posted by craig.macfadyen Sunday, Aug 07, 2011 293 days ago

All done and installed... Impressive but not as nice as the playbook UI. If this was a honeycomb build, I would use it more.

Can a sys.honeycomb.bar be made???

 
 
Posted by irsan Sunday, Aug 07, 2011 293 days ago

SOLUTION FOR "Insufficient Storage Available" ->
1. Instal AIR Browser
2. Go to ...\misc\android
3. Rename folder download with anythink
4. Create new folder and give it name download
5. try again....tadaaa....

 
 
Posted by freya09 Sunday, Aug 07, 2011 293 days ago

Hoping to see Angry Birds run on this.

 
 
Posted by DaNomadicOne Monday, Aug 08, 2011 293 days ago

I have tried three of the angry birds with no luck. If its internet connected it have an issue from what i have noticed...

 
 
Posted by DaNomadicOne Monday, Aug 08, 2011 293 days ago

HaTax...thank you so much for all you have done. I am working to produce as much as you and others have provided to us BB folkz.

 
 
Posted by whitera1n Monday, Aug 08, 2011 293 days ago

thank you so much HaTax..
awesome

 
 
Posted by br14 Monday, Aug 08, 2011 293 days ago

For the Android OS to work it would have to have been adapted for the Playbooks device drivers.

Given RIM has pulled the download, my guess is it is far from complete. So while some hardware features may be available, I'd be very surprised if you can use the device fully in the way it was intended.

It is highly unlikely RIM will release Android in the format provided in the download. Published information suggested apps would need to be rebuilt for BlackBerry App World and would then run in an "Android Player", rather than on the Android OS.

It seems a bit odd that RIM would line the coffers of its competitors by allowing fully functioning downloads from Android Market.

So using the "leaked" Android download might not be wise if you want continued trouble free use of your device.

 
 
Posted by HaTaX Monday, Aug 08, 2011 293 days ago

Actually most of the device drivers that are managed by the QNX kernel are mounted at standard device points (ie. /dev/sensors) and the Android player probes these device points at boot and uses them if possible. Really there's no device driver interaction between the Android player and the PB's QNX OS. If it's not mapped and available to QNX, it's not available to Android player.

RIM's method of deploying these apps WILL be through App World primarily as it would be silly of them to just hand revenue off to Google with no compensation to RIM. Also it ensures that the app performs and behaves properly under a virtualized Android environment.

Best part is, if you run into trouble with the leaked player, all you need to do is delete it and move on. :) (Deleting it properly requires a delete, reboot, and then delete the "ghost" icon once more) I've done some serious hacking with this player and the worst thing I've encountered was a lock up that required a "hold the power button" reset. Never once has it caused any of my native apps any problems.

Still, that being said, it's all at your own risk and choosing. Personally I like digging in and seeing what limits I can push my device to, others like to play it safe and wait for the final release. Whatever floats your boat!

 
 
Posted by Jonathank Monday, Aug 08, 2011 293 days ago

Mr. K GOOGLE+ great got it working...i just hope that the player is faster at loading when it comes out....bbc news works .....alot of things dont work still. but pretty cool 2 c the apps running....cant wait for the real thing

 
 
Posted by chmb1 Monday, Aug 08, 2011 292 days ago

Great job!

Got Kindle, eBay, Wiki (but not Wiki Plus), Dropbox, and Jewels to all work.

No luck with Netflix, SlingPlayer, and Angrybirds and/Rio - all installed but would not play.

 
 
Posted by BlackRob Thursday, Aug 18, 2011 283 days ago

Anyone else having trouble getting the clock to display the correct time/timezone? Minor I know, but it really bugs me. I've gotten it to the correct time once by unchecking the Automatic box at the top of the Date & Time settings, closing the android player and rebooting. Doesn't always take.

 
 
Posted by BlackRob Friday, Aug 19, 2011 281 days ago

I cannot thank you enough Hatax. Excellent work.

 
 
Posted by ryork272 Sunday, Sep 11, 2011 259 days ago

Android player no longer works with latest OS update. Dang!

 
 
Posted by shawnvic71 Tuesday, Oct 04, 2011 235 days ago

So I've loaded the Android Player but when I launch the app it closes. Let me know what I can do to fix this.

 
 
Posted by Farokh Tuesday, Oct 18, 2011 221 days ago

The leaked version does not work on the new Playbook OS 2.0 either :(

 
 
Posted by stewegg Sunday, Nov 20, 2011 188 days ago

Hi,

I have follow all the steps as shown.
However, for some reason, I can not load the Android Player.
The window load up and closed itself after a few second.
Is there anyway to solve this problem?

Thank you very much.

 
 
Posted by dwiniarz Friday, Nov 25, 2011 183 days ago

Had that issue had to do a security wipe and reinstall everything. If you are running the new beta OS then no need to side load the player just the apps

 
 
Posted by dwiniarz Friday, Nov 25, 2011 183 days ago

Had that issue had to do a security wipe and reinstall everything. If you are running the new beta OS then no need to side load the player just the apps