See BBX run Android apps on a BlackBerry PlayBook

[Larry-G]

RIM announced its new operating system, BBX, last week, saying it'd work on smart phones as well as tablets. Not only that, it'll let Android apps run on a BlackBerry device as well.

It wasn't telling porkies -- BGR has a video of a demo in action, showing Android apps up and running right there on a BlackBerry PlayBook. At least that's some solace after all the troubles BlackBerry owners have been experiencing of late.

The video shows a collection of Android apps gathered in a folder, including IM+ Pro, IMDb, Amazon Kindle, Winamp and TweetCaster Pro. IMDb runs just like it would on a regular Android tablet, with no slowdown, no compatibility issues, no bugs whatsoever. Winamp too runs like it would on Android, despite the truly shocking euro trance being played by whoever is demoing. Kindle looks like it would work fine, but the demo person doesn't log in, so all we see is the start page.

The slickness is especially impressive given the software is a beta version, and therefore not yet fit for public consumption.

The video comes from a developer who's been presented with the beta of BBX 2.0, which was released last week. Seeing as it's only just gone out to developers, it may be some time before us lowly members of the public get our hands on it.

BBX promises to combine the best of the BlackBerry and QNX platforms to "connect people, devices, content and services," according to RIM. It'll work on both BlackBerry smartphones and tablets (of which the PlayBook is currently the only one), just like Android Honeycomb does with Android phones and tablets. This came a week after BlackBerry made global headlines for all the wrong reasons, when its worldwide infrastructure went kaput, cutting off customers from the internet, email and its BBM messaging service.

 http://crave.cnet.co.uk/laptops/see-bbx-run-android-apps-on-a-blackberry-playbook-50005760/