Aldiko Reader for Playbook

I purchased a Blackberry Playbook roughly 3 weeks ago and have enjoyed the experience. My intention is to write a review for the product in the coming days however I noticed that a number of people have asked on line about getting better ereader support for the device. Currently it only ships with Kobo Reader which does not allow importing of books bought from other stores and the ereaders on the App Market are either lack functionality or incur a cost.

Coming from an Android smartphone I was less than impressed that I would need to pay for an ereader app to read my collection of ebooks. So I searched the internet for solutions to the problem and came across the ability for the Developer Beta OS2.0 for the Playbook to install Android apps. This update will be made available to all owners in February.  I decide to “upgrade” to OS2.0 and install Aldiko below is the “How to”, along with getting Aldiko to recognise the books saved on the device.

Start:

First we need to get that Playbook updated to OS2.0 which can be done by going to the following RIM website and registering for the update to be pushed over the air to your device:

https://bdsc.webapps.blackberry.com/android/beta/bbtablet20/register/

Once the registration has been done it takes from a few minutes to a few hours before the update will become available. Once you get the notification install as you would any other update. The Playbook will restart and you are ready to install some android apps but there is one more hurdle before we do that. The .apk files that android uses cannot be installed as is to the Playbook they must be converted to .bar files. Luckily for us this has been done for a number of apps already and so the process for converting will be held over for a later date. Below is a link to a spreadsheet containing a number of apps that have already been tested and converted (and some that have not!):

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AgxpYlYAxOVMdEJRZkZaa0ZrQzVEQjVMVmNFNGV1Z0E&hl=en_US#gid=0

Download the relevant Aldiko .bar file, along with any others you might be interested in Angry Birds anyone! The process for installing them is the same. Now we prepare the Playbook for installation:

First we need to download and install the appropriate Java Development Kit or JDK below

·         Download:  32bit;

·         Download:  64bit.

Note: The correct one needs to be used for the version of Windows installed on your computer otherwise installer will fail.

Next we need to download the DDPB software that will install the .bar files to the playbook for us:

·         Download: DDPB Installer 1.0.7.msi  (slightly older version which works better imo).

Right so now to turn on dev mode in Playbook, swipe down from the top bezel to get system options. From her go to Security and turn Dev mode on and lastly enter a password of your choice :

Now plug your Playbook into your PC and start up DDPB software and the below screen should pop up:

Dont worry the IP and Password as easy to find, just go to the icon of the man in the previous picture (Playbook Status bar next to Wifi/Battery) and the Password if the one you set for Development Mode.

Next click on “Add” and navigate to the folder where you saved the .bar files from previously. Select one or all of them and then “Check All”. Press the Install button and wait for DDPB to load them to your playbook.

Now it should be done you have Aldiko installed to your Playbook!

One last step is to move you ebooks to the right folder on the Playbook.

·         Open BlackBerry Desktop Software and select files tab on the left hand column:

·         Next Navigate to Misc/Android and once inside this directory create a folder called “eBooks” with a subfolder called”imports”. These are case sensitive as far as I can remember. Now copy you ePub books along with cover art if applicable (or other format) into the imports folder;

·         Once transfer is finished disconnect Playbook from  PC;

·         Lastly go to the Aldiko app in the app drawer and start it up;

·         Once it has loaded and you can see the bookshelf just pull down from the top to get the options menu;

·         Select import and wait;

·         Now all your books should be on the shelf.

I do hope that this helps anyone who had issues with importing books and those that were looking for an alternative ebook reader. And remember once the Playbook is setup to install apps it mearly takes minutes to install them from here on out. So enjoy and stay tuned for a Playbook review and hopefully a guide to getting turn by turn navigation working on the Playbook (currently I have a temporary work around that doesn’t work all the time!).