BlackBerry is struggling to keep up with all smartphone devices that are being released nowadays. However, when it comes to their BlackBerry Messenger, we can clearly see that this messaging service has remained quite popular even if it’s in a direct competition with some good applications such as Viber or WhatsApp.
BBM is currently available for iOS, Android and Windows Phone and because of this, it seems that there are a lot of users who are still using this messaging application. It’s been a while since BBM became available for the mobile operating systems that we’ve mentioned above, but that doesn’t mean that the company can relax. Let’s face it, Viber and WhatsApp are getting more popular nowadays and BlackBerry had to do something in order to “refresh” their messaging application.
BBM BETA features a new Material Design on Android
It seems that BlackBerry has updated a new beta version of BBM for Android. This new BBM BETA version can be downloaded from the BlackBerry Beta Zone portal and as soon as you’ll install it on your Android device, you will see that the application comes with a new material design.
Along with the new aesthetical overhaul, the new BBM BETA for Android also comes with some new features. You will notice a Private Chat function, which seems to be inspired by Snapchat. Using this new feature, the contact’s name will not be displayed and you will not get any notifications when you receive new messages. The chat has a limited “lifespan” and all the messages inside it will be deleted after the time expires (or if you end the chat by yourself).
At the same time BlackBerry has “revived” a feature that was available on older versions of BBM. This new feature will allow you to edit a message that was already sent. This feature is not so important, but it is good to know that it was also spotted on other mobile instant messaging applications. Using the latest BBM BETA for Android, you will also be able to post status updates directly from the BBM feed.
In order to install the latest BBM BETA version, you will need to sign up via the BlackBerry website. However, if you don’t want to test it out, don’t worry, because we’re pretty sure that this BBM version will soon be released as a STABLE version on the Google Play Store.
will you be downloading BBM for your phone. What messaging app do you use?
