It brings along a new Android runtime, with support for more applications

Nov 16, 2013 19:51 GMT  ·  By

Canadian mobile phone maker BlackBerry has made available for download new developer tools for those app builders interested in coming up with software for the BlackBerry 10 devices, so as to provide them with access to the recently announced new Android runtime.

The new SDK allows devs to target the upcoming BlackBerry 10.2.1 platform release, and is meant to increase the overall compatibility of the Android runtime through adding support for new features and APIs.

App builders can now start testing their Android creations with the new runtime, while taking advantage of support for Android Native, Bluetooth API, embedded MapView v1 API, Share Framework, Spellcheck, and Wi-Fi Scanning.

Devs will also need to download the BlackBerry 10.2.1 Beta SDK OS for their BlackBerry 10 devices and then update the BlackBerry Tools for Android Developers to the latest 2.0.1 beta. Specific details on the matter can be found on the BlackBerry Dev Blog.