14 DAY TRIAL // One of the most popular BlackBerry products, BBM recently picked up a major update that brings quite a few new features and improvements.
Since the application was launched on the Windows Phone platform, BBM’s usage increased exponentially especially due to WhatsApp’s poor performance on Microsoft’s operating system.
However, the competition in the instant messenger world is pretty fierce, but that should be good for consumers in the end as more and more alternatives present themselves.
Unlike a few other companies that launched their instant messaging applications on Windows Phone platform, BlackBerry is really trying to improve BBM with quite frequent updates that added lots of improvements and new features.
After spending some time in beta, the final version of BBM for Windows Phone made it to the public back in August. Since then, the application picked up quite a few updates, which improved the basic features included, but also added new ones meant to keep BBM competitive.
The newest update for BBM brings Windows Phone users a few new features and lots of bug fixes and performance enhancements. Obviously, this won’t be the last update adding new features to BBM so we’re expecting more goodies by the end of the year.
Among the most important new changes included in the latest BBM update is the improved notifications, which will allow users to view a message preview outside of BBM including the sender and chat content.
BBM gets a new PIN barcode scanner and 16 new emoticons
According to developers, the update should also add a simplified PIN barcode screen, so users can display and scan barcodes in one place.
That’s a great new feature especially that Bing Vision doesn’t always work when trying to scan a barcode. Hopefully, BBM’s in-app feature would make it easier for those in need to scan barcodes.
Next in line is the new invite screen that includes suggested BBM contacts along with invites that the user has received and sent. Some BBM Group enhancements have been included as well, so users will now be able to invite contacts to join their Groups through email and SMS.
BlackBerry also added no less than 16 new emoticons “to bring more personality to chats.” Last but not least, a fair share of big fixes and performance improvements have been included in the update as well.
You can now download BBM for Windows Phone 1.2.0.10 for free via Windows Phone Store. The application has been confirmed to work on all devices powered by Windows Phone 8 and up.