Blackberry 10.2 OS is making a huge leap with Android OS and the next update will now allow users to download Android Jelly Bean applications right on their Blackberry device. The Blackberry 10.2 OS has the power to download, install and run Android applications which is something Windows Phone OS and iOS haven't tried before.

Blackberry Strategic Boost

The Blackberry app store is currently holding around 90,000 apps which cannot be compared to hundreds of thousands found in the Google Play Store. The ability of the Blackberry 10.2 OS update is a great strategic point to allow Blackberry device users to get their favourite applications running Android Jelly Bean.

As of now, the Blackberry 10 OS can only run Android apps developed from the 2.3 Gingerbread release or earlier, which does not include some key apps such as Instagram, Vine and more. Blackberry 10.2 OS update is expected to be released on September 2013.

Blackberry 10.2 OS Testing on Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean

There is a beta release of the BlackBerry Runtime for Android Apps and Plug-in for the Android Development Tools for the BlackBerry 10.2 OS. It is the first beta release of Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and includes features such as Android 2.3 Gingerbread support, Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean OS Fragments, embedded fragments, animation framework and hardware acceleration.

However, the first beta release may contain bugs which normally happen. No matter, it means BlackBerry 10.2 OS update will give more as the release becomes stable eventually.

Notable Support Features:

  • Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean OS support
  • Android applications with API level 10 or higher are supported
  • Eclipse version 22.0 of Android Development Tools
  • Android Runtime upgrade from Gingerbread to Jelly Bean
  • Hardware acceleration support for build API level 14
  • Improved performance and smoothness of an application

If you're techie enough to try it, go the Runtime for Android Apps Web site and start using their new tools. For details regarding the release, support and bug fixes, check out the BlackBerry Plug-in Support and the BlackBerry Runtime Documentation.