BlackBerry Messenger beta for Windows Phone now available

[Transcendence]

 

 

BlackBerry announced that the BBM app would make its way to Windows phone devices as far back as February of this year, but this announcement was followed by months of nothing. As of today, however, the waiting period is over. Windows Phone users who love BlackBerry’s Messenger app can now get their hands on the BBM app on their Windows Phone.

The BBM for Windows Phone brings a few important factors to the text messaging experience, such as “chats,†“feeds,†and “contacts.†BBM’s “chats†page allows you to start individual or group messaging; “feeds†lets you stay up to date with what’s going on with your contacts, and “contacts†allows you to maintain information about your contacts or add new ones as you meet new people and make new friends.

The new “pin†feature allows you to “pin†an interesting IM conversation you’re having to your main screen. You can press the “pin†symbol at the bottom of the chat page, and go to your home screen to find that the chat you just pinned to the start screen is now a Live Tile – that can also be moved around like other Live Tiles on the start screen. This allows you to maintain easy access to a chat that you’re involved with often, and keep up with a friend that’s truly close to you without having to make your way through an app or two to find where you left off in the conversation.

While BlackBerry says that this feature is something unique to Windows Phone users that can’t be done on any other platform, the “pin†feature is unique in how it works – but the concept is the same. It’s true that Android and iOS users can’t “pin†a conversation in a text message to their home page for example, but Android widgets allow you to access your favorite contacts and conversations with just the tap of an icon.