DEVELOPER BETA for BlackBerry PlayBook is now available
The latest DEVELOPER BETA for the BlackBerry PlayBook is now available for downloading.
Version v2.1.0.560 has gone live for those developers wanting to test applications on BlackBerry PlayBook OS.
As before, you will need to whitelist your BlackBerry PlayBook in order to download this release. Remember, it is intended for BlackBerry developers and not really intended for end-users. If you are not a developer then you really don’t even want to look at this version.
This version contains support for developers to test their applications against the following runtimes:
- Runtime for Android apps
- Adobe AIR 2.x
- WebWorks
- Native API 2.x
There are three major enhancements to the Android™ Runtime in 2.1.0:
- Each Android app will now run in its own window. This greatly improves the user experience and consistency among the other application runtimes.
- Access to the Camera hardware is now supported for Android apps, allowing many more application types to work on the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet.
- In-App Payment is now supported through the BlackBerry Payment SDK, so Android applications can include virtual items for sale in their applications.
Full device encryption is now supported, so that the whole device and personal partition can be secure. If you develop an application that deals with sensitive personal information, you may want to include a suggestion to your users that they turn this feature on. There is a minor update which developers asked for and will be well received: screenshots are now saved in lossless PNG format. That should help quite a bit when you want to promote your application and add screenshots to AppWorld.
There’a few extra enhancements geared towards end users such as:
- Portrait support for Email, Calendar and Contacts
- Improved folder support including IMAP folder support
The other 2.1 features will come full steam when the new OS is commercially released. The 2.1 Android SDK will be released in beta coinciding with the OS release, and the 2.1 Native SDK will be posted next week, with an update to the Adobe® AIR® SDK to come shortly after.
As with any OS update, use this beta period to test your apps now, so that they will be in full working order when the official release comes out.
Changes:
- Improved HTML5 support
- Portrait support for Email, Calendar and Contacts
- Improved folder support including IMAP folder support
- Full device encryption is now supported, so that the whole device and personal partition can be secure.
- Screenshots are now saved in lossless PNG format.
- Each Android app will now run in its own window. This greatly improves the user experience and consistency among the other application runtimes.
- Access to the Camera hardware is now supported for Android apps, allowing many more application types to work on the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet.
- In-App Payment is now supported through the BlackBerry Payment SDK, so Android applications can include virtual items for sale in their applications.
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Register your BlackBerry PlayBook for the DEVELOPER 2.1 Beta
