Yesterday I received a message via BlackBerry Messenger that BetaZone had finally posted its BBM6 Beta Program. I don’t even think I replied to that message before heading straight to BetaZone. Sure enough, there it was. A quick program sign up and I was in the program. I rapidly progressed through the download step screens to find the OTA download link. After two attempts to download I had what I was after.
The first and most noteworthy thing I noticed was drastically increased speeds. The speed at which group chats loaded on any BBM5 left much to be desired. Not anymore! BBM6 has tweaked the speeds on the whole application. Group chats now load as fast as a regular BBM message. For myself, this was a major relief as I tend to group chat often.
As for what else has been changed have a look below at the list provided in BetaZone.
—@QBall45
What’s new in BlackBerry Messenger 6.0?
You may not notice very many visible changes between BBM 5.0 and BBM 6.0 at this time, but stay tuned! For now, here are a few new things you might notice in this version:
– Updated BBM branding
– More “snappy” and responsive feel
– Visual distinction of message drafts vs. sent messages
– Any alerts set for SMS contacts are now preserved in BBM once an SMS contact is integrated with BBM
– Invite a Text Messaging Contact — it’s now easier to search contacts
– Location Search — you can now search for a location before sending, similar to the Location Search experience via SMS
– Location Sending — you can now detect your location with cell tower triangulation or GPS
– Appointment Sending — sending appointment or calendar events is now a similar experience to that of sending an appointment via SMS
QBall45
April 27, 2011 at 10:53 amIf you wish to participate in the BlackBerry Messenger 6.0 Beta Program simply follow these steps.
1. Go here: http://blackberry.com/beta
2. Register for an account
3. Now sign in & register for the Beta Programs you wish to participate in. You will receive an email as well as on screen notification if you have been accepted to the program or not. Once you have access to the program the fun begins.
4. Click the link for the program. This will give you all the details.
5. In the middle of the screen locate the “downloads” button. Click it.
6. Towards the bottom of the page you will find your PIN # verify its correct.
7. Its now time to hit that “Download” button that’s below your PIN.
8. Once you’ve started this download process you should receive an email with the required key code used to unlock the beta application after installation is complete.