I’ve been waiting for BBM 5 to come officially so it’ll work on OS 5.0….ugh…FINALLY!!! TWO MORE DAYS!!!

Dang. Apparently I’ll have to eat my own words on this one. So for the longest time both me and most members of the BlackBerry community have referred to the “new BlackBerry messenger” as BBM 5.0. Then, after hearing from so many RIM-connected peeps that internally “it’s not BBM 5, but more like BBM 2 or BBM 2.5 depending on the device” then today we receive this email on the tipline with following update and overview:

BlackBerry® Messenger 5.0

Launch Date: Global – October 7, 2009

BlackBerry® Messenger is an instant messaging application that allows BlackBerry Smartphone users to send and receive instant messages with other BlackBerry Smartphone users.

BlackBerry Messenger 5.0 is the latest release.

Features:

• Enhanced SMS -Allows for a conversational chat-like user experience with a single contact list for the most personal mobile-to-mobile communications
  • Note: BlackBerry® Device Software 5.0 and later is required for the SMS functionality.
• Avatars - Users can choose a picture from the BlackBerry Smartphone gallery and save it as their personal avatar, which will be seen by their contacts. They can also view other avatars in the contact list and zoom in on the avatars of contacts participating in a conversation by selecting “View participants.”
• Large Media File Transfer - Users can send/receive large file transfers up to 6 megabytes for pictures, files and audio.
  • Note: BlackBerry Device Software 5.0 is required to receive large media files.
• Enhanced Group Functionality - Allows for the ability to update, share & communicate with a subset community.
• Bar-code Identity - A user can add a contact to the BlackBerry Messenger contact list by displaying a 2-dimensional bar code that invitees can capture with their device cameras.
• Reliable Contact Backup and Restore - Contacts are backed-up on a server and do not require the need for BlackBerry® Desktop Manager.

So apparently RIM’s market brand team decided to skip BBM 2, 3 and 4 and call it BlackBerry Messenger 5.0 to bring it in alignment with the OS 5.0 rollout that’ll be taking place soon. Although hopefully even older devices that won’t get OS 5.0 will be able to get BBM 5.0. But I doubt many in this case really care about the name game. What matters here is the expected launch date… October 7th! The BBM 5.0 support email went out to partners from BlackBerry Universe (RIM’s partner
portal) so the info should hold legit, though of course we all know
launch dates can change. But the 7th is only two sleeps away so we shall soon see if the info holds true. Excited much?!

[Source: Crackberry]

I sure hope so, if it has OS 5.0 compatibility…that’s the one thing that made me go back to 5.0…well that and a number of other applications not working….

Ahh, FaceBook. The RIM built application users love … and hate. Word is that FaceBook version 1.7 is coming soon and this time around the release (or leak?) will cover one major problem that all leaked OS users have been seeing for a while – OS 5.0 compatability Ever since OS 5.0 started leaking, some users have upgraded it to it, only to revert back to a lower OS based on the fact FaceBook simply just does not work on 5.0. From the information available, it seems this will no longer be the case as 5.0 and FaceBook 1.7 will work together.

This indicates a few things, of course first being obvious that FaceBook 1.7 is coming soon and that OS 5.0 is just that much closer to being completed if RIM is putting more effort into their own secondary applications working on it. Other details on FaceBook 1.7 are slim, but we’ll keep you posted.

[Source: Crackberry]

dunno how this is gonna work out, but should be interesting to see…

Update: July 14th, 11am CST – Just got word that MyBlackBerry will launch at midnight tonight. *

MySpace, Facebook, Flickr, Linkedin, Twitter – we have more social networks than we can handle. Anyone can join these networks (and most of us have) and each has their own flavor. It’s not as often that we see product manufacturers enter the social network game and actually be as successful as pure social networks or independent product-driven community websites, but Research in Motion is going to give it a try, apparently tomorrow according to TechCrunch.

RIM is dubbing My BlackBerry the “official community for all things BlackBerry” and it features a number of social network type features: you receive a profile which you can customize to your liking; you can add friends and send private messages; you can learn about top apps and browse accessory reviews. The root of it all is multiple discussion forums for applications, accessories, devices and tips and tricks.

Over the past year we’ve really seen RIM try and grow their web presence – they launched their own support forums, blogs, their own social network and they already had the Owner’s lounge (it’s a little confusing having so many disconnected properties). Some would argue RIM should be investing their time and resources into building a new OS to ensure BlackBerry stays king of the smartphone mountain instead of persuing endeavors like this, but we always like to see RIM embracing the web. It seems the more BlackBerry users RIM can attract to their online web offerings, the more likely those same people are to stumble onto CrackBerry.com, which official or unofficial I think most of you reading will agree is the #1 website for BlackBerry users. As you can see from the screen captures, CrackBerry Kevin has been a member for a few weeks now. Any bets as to whether or not RIM will leave up photos of upcoming BlackBerry device members post to their own site?

Check out the MyBlackberry site

[Source: Crackberry.com]

So, everyone with a Blackberry Storm has been waiting for Plazmic 4.7 to be released so themes could finally be created. Well, it’s been leaked. You can check out the Plazmic Leak thread on Crackberry. Here’s what the boys over at CB had to say about it:

* Update from Kevin: WARNING – Got word that the version of the 4.7 CDK floating around is actually a fairly early beta compared to what will ultimately get released, which means the themes created off this version could have some very unfriendly impact on the devices installed to. In you wind up with a bricked Berry, remember these instructions. *

Yup! That’s right, it’s time to get your theme skills sharpened up so you can start making some slick new themes for the BlackBerry Storm, 8900 and heck, even the Curve 8350i. The Plazmic Content Developers Kit has started showing up in some areas of the net and I can confirm after having installed it all the previous mentioned device are built into the CDK just nicely. How well it will work in the long run remains yet to be seen. Now while it’s making its appearance we’ll hold off on posting any direct links for now and just simply leave you with the recommendation to search the forums and see what you may find, clicking on the links and downloading. I’ll leave that decision up to you all!

So get to building you Crackberry-heads…

[Source: Crackberry]