I swear, we didn’t know about this when we published the Definitive Guide to BlackBerry Messenger last week. It’s a nice coincidence, though. Boy Genius Report has the scoop that a new BBM is in the offing. It has a number of new features which make the program even better. Considering many people I know consider it already superior to text messaging and most IM clients, that’s saying a lot. So follow the jump for info and pics.
The coolest new feature I see is the ability to name your conversations. This is most useful when having a multi-party conversation. It also helps when you leave a conversation open for use later. Labeling it can help you remember not only what is contained in the conversation, but why you left it open in the first place.
You can also add an avatar to your profile, which will be displayed on your own device as well as next to your name on others’. It’s a luxury, a non-necessity, but it’s still a cool feature. It seems to be the way we’re headed. Can you think of a communication service nowadays that doesn’t include avatars?
Another cool feature is the ability to pin/sticky Messenger contacts from the Home Screen. You can see the feature in the screen shot above. Of course, I’m not exactly sure of how the function works — we’re a bit limited because no one at BBGeeks got their hands on it. It’s something we’ll definitely go into deeper detail about once the release becomes official.
Finally, there are a few location-based features, another “in” feature on many IM clients and social networks. There is an option which allows you to set your GPS visibility — whether your friends can see your location all the time, if they have to request permission, or if they can never see it. This works with a proximity sensor, which lets you know when friends are near. Obviously you’ll have to set your GPS broadcasting accordingly.
You can head over to BGR to check out more of the pictures. I can’t wait to get my hands on this. Looks like the guide will need an early update.
