BlackBerry Messenger 5.0 to be Pushed Out October 7th

In a past post, Stay Away from the BlackBerry Messenger 5.0 Beta, I griped and complained about the leaked release of the newest version of the beloved BlackBerry Messenger. Well, in 2 days, it seems RIM is pushing out the official release of the app. Hopefully every kink and bug that was in the leaked version has been corrected in the new official version.

According to CrackBerry.com, the new release will have these 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.

I wonder whether or not this will be a forced OTA download. We'll see what will happen on October 7th. What do you think?

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UberTwitter: Your End May Be Near

Today, rumors have been swarming that RIM, BlackBerry's parent company, could be developing their own Twitter client for BlackBerry users. Indeed, this is a smart idea. While BlackBerry has been able to capitalize in the Instant Messaging world and even social media apps like Facebook and Myspace, RIM were missing out on a key demographic that they could've easily targeted earlier: CrackBerry addicts who tweet. If the rumors deem to be true, RIM could loosen the strangle that UberTwitter has on other BlackBerry tweeting clients.

Earlier this summer, UberTwitter was able to gain attention from Orangatame's TwitterBerry with great reviews. While TwitterBerry seemed like a great solution for users to tweet, at the time, they were lacking great features that UberTwitter had plus, it was a memory hog. BlackBerry users quickly jumped ship to UberTwitter, an app that didn't use up as much memory, that had excellent GPS features, notifcation features, followers and following count, intergration with Google Maps, a list of the Trending Topics and on top of all of that, the refresh rate was exceptionally remarkable. Although the app had its tiny flaws that were fixed with many updates, users were willing to ignore them.

Then came the DDOS attack this past summer that had Twitter on its knees. UberTwitter's API issues came where the refresh rate to receive and send out Tweets lagged. Since then, the UberTwitter experience changed and unfortunately for UberTwitter, with possibly no fault of their own (according to them,) they jumped the shark. But still even, UberTwitter happened to be the best temporary solution for BlackBerry users. You were either forced to stick with UberTwitter or just wait until you logged on to the web or desktop client.

Now we wait for the war to begin. Will UberTwitter become diligent and begin to improve on the issues that users complain to them about and fight head on with RIM or will they become less popular like TwitterBerry and let RIM become the premier client for BlackBerry? At any rate, this should make UberTwitter sweat and have the looming concern over their heads that their end could possibly be near.

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Will users pay for an Ad-Free ÜberTwitter?

Last week, the famed Twitter client for BlackBerrys, ÜberTwitter, rolled out its latest update to the liking and dismay of BlackBerry and Twitter users alike. While an update was definitely needed, ÜberTwitter, faced much scrutiny for rolling out their ads feature with their Beta-4 release. While this shouldn't have came as a surprise, the TwitterBerry crusher never explained how they would roll out the ads and "bam" just like that, they showed up. However, after many complaints, ÜberTwitter heard the call and got rid of the annoying ads, that showed up at the of the tweet timeline.

Today, ÜberTwitter releases this announcement:

While the idea may be understandable, it may not be a smart one? Since Twitter's DDOS a couple of weeks, ÜberTwitter has been encountering many API issues with no fault of their own. Tweets ingoing and outgoing have been delayed despite user settings. Not to mention, there are still a few bugs that the developers have to fix before they consider a paid option.

My 2 cents to ÜberTwitter
Let's not jump the gun too soon yet. You may be jumping the shark here and I would advice you to hold off a while before you make a decision that may cost you down the line.

What are your thoughts? Would you pay money for an Ads Free ÜberTwitter, would you remain loyal to ÜberTwitter and go with the Ads, or will you find another client? I would love to hear from you.

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Stay away from the BlackBerry Messenger 5.0 Beta

RIM (Research In Motion, LTD.) needs to be proactive and fire the person that "leaked" their product that's still in development. Never have I seen so many BlackBerry fanatics excite themselves by downloading the latest "leak" that hit the OTA (I'm also speaking about myself). But with the issues that I have seen and read about, this app, if it was a leak at all, has more issues than Orangatame's TwitterBerry. The fact that in the applications list the alias for the program is "BBM 5.0" is a bit suspect, but I digress. There are some awesome features that BBM 5.0 has that will put them ahead of the game, but a very sincere warning for you: STAY AWAY FROM BLACKBERRY MESSENGER 5.0 (BETA)!

When I first ran across BlackBerry Messenger (4.5) for the first time, I fell in love with it's professional features. Very simple and easy to use, I wanted everyone, that I knew that possessed a BlackBerry, to give me their PIN so I can stay in contact with them via Messenger. Yes, the version probably needed some upgrading, but I would've been content with keeping it the same, with it's simple layout. (Compare with the pic above.) The new version, 5.0 has a totally different look to it; perhaps to appeal more to people who own the BlackBerry Storm or even the newly released Tour that are both only available to Verizon customers. Not a very bad look, but maybe I'm just old fashioned.

While the features on the proposed release are astonishing, there are a lot of issues and risks that you may go through messing with this leaked beta release.

The Positives

• You can add contacts by scanning your friend's Barcode with your device.
• You're able to Broadcast a message to multiple contacts.
• Avatars are now enabled
• Backing up your contact list is now made possible by saving them on to your media card. So, if you switch devices or have to wipe it clean, you wouldn't have to worry about re-adding all of your messenger contacts
  
• Friends can have access to your GPS location
• Stored on your Media Card, chat history can be accessed.

The Negatives

• Although it gives you the option to enable it, when Pinged, the device doesn't vibrate
• The smileys do not look at all 3 Dimensional as it did in the previous release. Pretty cheesy.
• Messages are not delivered at times or there is a long delay. Usually this is solved by restarting your device by battery pull or LShift+RShift+Del. This gets rather annoying.
• Careful, it was brought to my attention that some of your messages will be sent to someone else rather than your intended recipient
• It has the tendency of showing some friends as "unreachable" but they really aren't

(More will be added later)

When RIM finishes with his software, it will have the potential of beating the leading mobile versions of Yahoo and Google Talk into being a top notch mobile messenger. But who knows when they'll be done developing, testing and fixing bugs. If you're stuck with this app like me, the only way to restore the previous version is to reinstall your OS on your device. For those that are thinking about installing the app, don't risk it. The bugs are way too tremendous and you'll be crying with agonizing pain. Maybe I was a bit too harsh in calling for the termination of the RIM employed App Leaker, however, fix the bugs!

There are all sorts of snapshots of this app on the web. Check out BlackBerryRocks for examples.

Ciao...

P.S. What do you think about this app? Love it? Hate it? I would love to hear from you.

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