With the upcoming (and much anticipated) release of the BlackBerry Q10, Android developers can now target the first qwerty-keyboard device to be released on the BlackBerry 10 mobile computing platform. The even better news for developers is that they can also port their existing BlackBerry 10 Android apps running on the BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry PlayBook tablet to also include support for the BlackBerry Q10 within the same release build.

While the BlackBerry Runtime for Android Apps has a built-in screen manager which will scale the application to the screen size of the device, it’s always best to build your app specific to the device you are targeting to ensure it looks presentable to end-users.

BlackBerry Z10

For developers, the key difference between the BlackBerry PlayBook, BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10 would be in regard to screen sizes. The all-touch BlackBerry Z10 features a resolution of 1280 x 768 (15:9) on a 4.2-inch, 356 PPI screen. Android resources are pulled in from the res/drawable-xhdpi project folder.

BlackBerry Z10 screenshot: 1280×768 background image from res/drawable-xhdpi/device.png

BlackBerry Q10

The BlackBerry Q10 boasts a 330 PPI screen but with a resolution of 720 x 720 on a 3.1” screen (1:1 aspect ratio). When targeting the BlackBerry Q10, Android developers can leverage the res/drawable-small-square project folder.

BlackBerry Q10 screenshot: 720×720 background image from res/drawable-small-square/device.png

BlackBerry PlayBook

In addition to the BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10 models above, the BlackBerry PlayBook also supports Android apps. With a 7” screen resolution of 1024 x 600, this qualifies the BlackBerry PlayBook as an mdpi device pulling in resources from the res/drawable-mdpi project folder.

BlackBerry PlayBook screenshot: 1024 x 600 background image from res/drawable-mdpi/device.png

ADT Project Structure

Both the BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10 support icons with a size of 114 x 114 pixels (BlackBerry PlayBook: 86 x 86 pixels) which should be placed within their respective res/drawable project folders as well. Within the same Android project you can target both of the BlackBerry 10 form factors within the same release build by following these standard Android best practices.

Single Android project structure for BlackBerry Z10, BlackBerry Q10 & BlackBerry PlayBook

You can repackage your Android APK to the BlackBerry BAR file format using the new v1.5.2 SDK, and test/debug using device simulators for the BlackBerry Z10 (BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha B), BlackBerry Q10 (BlackBerry Dev Alpha C) and BlackBerry PlayBook  tablet available within our Android tooling page. Other pages which you should find useful would be our documentation page for the BlackBerry Plug-in for ADT and the Android API Support page.

BlackBerry World Submission

After testing your Android application and repackaging it into the BAR file format, you can submit your app to the BlackBerry World storefront via the following steps:

1. Log into the vendor portal
2. Select Manage products
3. Add a new release
4. Set ‘supported devices’ appropriately based on BlackBerry Q10, BlackBerry Z10 and/or BlackBerry PlayBook support for your app. If the app supports more than one device you can choose to select multiple devices for the same release build (BAR file). On the contrary, you can also upload specific file bundles (BARs) for each BlackBerry 10 device.

Supported BlackBerry 10 devices within the BlackBerry World vendor portal

The BlackBerry® Developer Relations will be at the Sprint Open Solutions Conference to help you with porting your existing Android™ or HTML5 application for the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet and our upcoming BlackBerry® 10 platform. The Sprint Open Solution Conference runs on Wednesday, October 24th and Thursday, October 25th at the San Jose Convention Center in beautiful downtown San Jose.

Are you ready for #SprintOSC12?Have you registered?It’s not too late! Reg NOW! ow.ly/eBVv6

— Sprint Dev Program (@SprintDeveloper) October 21, 2012

Stop by our booth to port your HTML5 and Android apps to the BlackBerry 10 platform and the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet with few or no required code modifications. We’ll have porting experts on hand to help, and the first ten developers to get their app running on a BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha testing device and submitted to the BlackBerry App World™ storefront will be given a BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha testing device on site. Plus, if you get it running on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, you could receive 1 of 100 free BlackBerry PlayBook tablets — and once your app is on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, it can be easily ported to BlackBerry 10!

Want to get a head start?

1. Register for BlackBerry App World – Become an official BlackBerry developer.
2. Request signature keys – Ensure you select for BlackBerry PlayBook OS and BlackBerry 10 and higher. Downloading in advance is strongly recommended as the time involved to do so on site could prevent you from competing for Alphas.
3. Get the BlackBerry Tools and Plug-ins – Get your laptop set up with the right tools so you can begin creating apps for BlackBerry 10.

In addition to our Porting Booth, our own Larry McDonough is presenting the session “Mobile Monetization with BlackBerry – What Developers Need to Know” on Thursday, October 25th at 2:30pm PST in room 210G. This presentation will cover the different methods for monetizing mobile applications on BlackBerry devices. Larry will cover NFC, in-app payments, advertising, “freemium” apps, and carrier billing. This discussion will also consider how to prepare and market your app through a mobile app marketplace like BlackBerry App World.

See you in San Jose!

One of the great things about the Android developer ecosystem is the success of mobile app aggregators. These aggregators help developers expand their app distribution to a larger audience. In anticipation for the launch of the BlackBerry® Runtime for Android apps in early 2012, mobile application aggregators will be able to submit the apps from their Android app catalogues to the BlackBerry App World™ storefront. If you are a developer who has submitted an Android application to an aggregator in the past, the aggregator should be in contact with you in the very near future to explain the process.

If you were planning to submit your application directly to BlackBerry App World yourself, take note that your direct submission will take precedence over, and the place of, the aggregator’s submission of your app. Direct submission of your app gives you direct control of your app’s meta data, including screen shots, application descriptions, and pricing.

Feel free to use our tool for packaging Android apps to convert your app to run on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet within your browser, or our BlackBerry Plug-in for Android Development Tools if you would like to make some changes in your code. To get all the latest info, tips, and news, visit our BlackBerry® Runtime for Android apps microsite.

Beyond all you can learn at BlackBerry® DevCon Americas 2011 and the many great people you can meet, there is another real draw at the show: Your web or Android™ app can be ported over to the BlackBerry platform and be made distribution-ready for submission to the BlackBerry® App World™ storefront.

App Express kiosks are a show feature this year. Walk up to any kiosk in the Golden Gate Foyer, plug in your laptop and you can begin to port your existing Android app to the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet. You’ll also be able to transform your existing web application into a ready-to-go app for both the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet and BlackBerry smartphones.

You can do all this quickly and then get your app submitted to BlackBerry App World right then and there – no kidding! Just keep in mind, submission to BlackBerry App World still requires your application to be signed with BlackBerry Code Signing keys. Get them here for free before coming on site to BlackBerry DevCon Americas (keys can take up to two hours to be generated). You’ll also want to check out this handy checklist for a list of other items to have ready to facilitate your BlackBerry App World submission.

App Express is free, and it opens on Monday, October 17 and runs through Thursday, October 20. It’s also a great place to meet experts from the development team at Research In Motion® (RIM®) and the BlackBerry App World team.

If you’re not registered for BlackBerry DevCon Americas 2011 yet, don’t worry. Come by and try out App Express on us. And then think about registering for the rest of the conference – there’s a lot to see and experience this year at BlackBerry DevCon 2011.