I had been hearing since quite sometime about BBM releasing its version for us Android lovers and the iphone users too. I had tried using Blackberry on two occasions but failed to warm up to it because of keypad. My large fingers never got used to the tiny keys and once I went through the Android experience, the OS had gained a loyal fan.
However, BB Messenger was really interesting with its water-tight privacy and yet you could send messages in real time inspite of the patchy network that Airtel makes us go through in Mumbai. Hence when the BBM for Android was released, I was quick to download it.
BBM unlike other messengers (I have tried everything from Whatsapp, Tango, Kik, WeChat, Line, XMS, Viber and a number of other ones) doesn't require too much data connection and this was my first observation. Although its a large file with 33.08 MB on your internal memory and cant be moved to SD, it comes with immense privacy. The PIN sharing works for users like me who would not be interested in chatting and being sent messages from every person on the phonebook, which is the real reason for saying goodbye to Whatsapp. I also did not appreciate people to notice at what time I was last seen online or offline, especially the pesky ones. Thankfully, BBM offers me a complete privacy.
BBM's new look is very sleek and quite handy. It has the usual features of photo-sharing, voice notes and group chat. I would like to see a voice chat feature soon. The interesting bit about BBM has been its ability to support GIF images as its display picture. Though I have not tried it in my android phone but I used to enjoy using cute animated images as my display picture.
The cons lately have been a laggy invitation process. In a number of cases I have sent an invite and the other person has not received it. Guess with a lot of people migrating to BBM, the servers are facing some problem and I hope to see it sorted soon. I have also seen a delay in uploading updates. If someone updates their image or status, the notifications are extremely delayed , sometimes as late as 30 minutes.
I hope BB servers sort these lags out immediately, otherwise so far BBM's experience on Android has been as enjoyable as it was on BB. Should I say its time for Whatsapp to re-look its privacy issues?
Below are some screen shots from Google Play Store of the look and feel of BBM on android phones.
Do let me know how has been your experience with BBM!
