How to install Android apps on your BB10 phone

 

No matter how slick the new hardware is or how hard BlackBerry strives to convince us that its new BB10 handsets are the cat's meow, there's still one massive stumbling block -- quality apps. Apparently even the BlackBerry faithful agree and intrepid tweakers have stepped in to fix the situation themselves.
Read on to learn how you can quickly take advantage of free BlackBerry 10 apps that others have kindly ported from Android. Best of all, the entire process takes minutes and loading apps to your Z10 or Q10 just a matter of seconds.
Gather your tools
So here's what you'll need to get started: a BlackBerry 10 smartphone, either the Z10 or the Q10, a Windows or Mac computer with Google's Chrome browser installed, and a Wi-Fi network that both can connect to.

Put your BlackBerry 10 device into Development Mode.

Prepare your BlackBerry
The first step is to flip your BlackBerry 10 phone into developer mode. Within the BlackBerry Hub or any home screen grab the pull-down menu from the top of the display. Click Settings, Security and Privacy, then tap Development Mode. From there switch on Development Mode by hitting the software switch next to "Use Development Mode."
A word of caution here. You will be prompted to choose and enter a Development Mode password before the setting kicks into effect. Make sure to create one that's easy to remember or write it down somewhere.
PlayBook App Manager to the rescue
Now you'll want to fire up your computer's Google Chrome browser and download the main software tool you'll be using. Head over to the Chrome app store, search for an app called the PlayBook App Manager, then download and install it. This works for Chrome on both Macs and PCs, by the way.