Android Runtime for BlackBerry 10 Beta 4 now available
In this release, the arrival of Push support for the BlackBerry Runtime for Android Apps have been added.
Additionally, RIM have added support for the ambient light and proximity sensors for BlackBerry 10.
If your application uses either of these sensors, no code changes are required, just grab the latest BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha update or BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha Simulator and get testing.
Let’s get back to Push support. If your Android app uses Cloud to Device Messaging (C2DM), when you repackage your app, you can use the Push technology on the BlackBerry 10 platform to provide a similar functionality.
To create a push-enabled Android app, you will need to do the following:
1. Register with the BlackBerry Push Service.
2. Create a configuration file for your Android app.
3. Specify Push as a required permission in BAR file’s manifest file.
4. On the push-initiator server side, format the data to be sent to BlackBerry application servers.
For all the details, check out the Android Runtime API Support Page for extended Push API Support.
How do you start using these great new features?
Jump to the Runtime for Android Apps microsite. There is an updated 1.4 Beta release for the BlackBerry Eclipse™ Plug-in for Android Development Tools and Command-line tools to help get you using all these new Android Runtime features for the BlackBerry 10 Beta.
For the Eclipse users, make sure to point your update site to:
https://bdsc.webapps.blackberry.com/android/downloads/eclipseplugin/beta/
