Do you know what would go nicely with a new BlackBerry 9700? Probably not, so I’ll tell you: it’s the new BlackBerry Messenger 5.0! BlackBerry Messenger (a.k.a “BBM”) 5.0 is expected to release October 7th. The guys over at CrackBerry recieved an email today from one of their tipsters giving a nice overview and expected release date for the new version.  I’m sure this will make a large amount of you BlackBerry owners (including myself) very happy.

Here are some of the new features that are equipped with the new 5.0 version:

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.

Reliable Contact Backup and Restore – Contacts are backed-up on a server and do not require the need for BlackBerry® Desktop Manager.

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.

Hopefully (fingers-crossed) the new version will be available to users with old BlackBerry devices as well. Wait…that’s only two days away! Sound off in the comments!

CrackBerry