Port your Android app from BlackBerry PlayBook OS to BlackBerry 10 OS

Overview

The process for porting your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet app to BlackBerry 10 devices is relatively straightforward. In many cases, the only change that you need to make is to resize your app icon before you submit your app to BlackBerry World. The following sections outline the main differences that you need to consider to bring your Android application from BlackBerry PlayBook OS to BlackBerry 10 OS.

Icon sizes and orientation

One of the main differences to consider when you port your app from BlackBerry PlayBook OS to BlackBerry 10 OS is the recommended icon size. Update your app’s icon to take advantage of the higher resolution on BlackBerry 10 device screens. The design guidelines for application icons are as follows:
  • BlackBerry PlayBook tablet: 86 x 86 pixels
  • All-touch BlackBerry smartphone: 114 x 114 pixels
  • BlackBerry smartphone with a physical keyboard: 114 x 114 pixels

Note: For PlayBook apps the icon is referenced from the drawable-mdpi folder. For BlackBerry 10 apps the icon is referenced from the drawable-xhdpi folder.

BlackBerry 10 devices support portrait orientation and landscape orientation. By default, the orientation is portrait, but you can use the accelerometer to detect orientation changes and rotate the display accordingly.

Screen resolution

If your app draws UI elements directly, you need to consider the difference in screen resolution between the all-touch smartphones, and smartphones with a physical keyboard. Although the BlackBerry Runtime for Android apps scales your app to fit the screen, you might want to create separate UIs that are optimized for the specific device resolutions.
  • BlackBerry PlayBook tablet: 1024 x 600
  • All-touch BlackBerry smartphone: 1280 x 768 (16:9)
  • BlackBerry smartphone with a physical keyboard: 720 x 720 (1:1)

Supported APIs

The BlackBerry PlayBook tablet APIs are a subset of the BlackBerry 10 APIs. The APIs that are supported on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet are supported on BlackBerry 10 devices. If your app runs on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, it will also work on BlackBerry 10 devices. For more information on APIs, see the API support page and the Android apps roadmap.

Vendor portal

BlackBerry World is accepting app submissions for all-touch BlackBerry 10 devices. When you submit a new release to the BlackBerry App World vendor portal, you will see a new Family called "BlackBerry 10" and a new device called "All touch".

If you want to submit your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet app as a BlackBerry 10 app, you need to submit the app as a new release.

For more information about submitting your apps to BlackBerry World, see the App World site as well as How to submit your apps for BlackBerry 10 devices.