i will start by saying that i have been a BB user since the 8330 curve was released. i am now on an S2, but i have still never used BBM! shocking, i know, but lately i have been trying to convince my 20+ BB friends to make the switch. however, none of them understand why BBM should be used instead of SMS. in fact, half of them don't even know what BBM is! we are all on VZW and have unlimited text so there is no cost to using SMS. i know BBM has no character limit and that you can attach files to messages but what other advantages are there? or should i just stick to texting?
You could see when not only a contact receives a message, but also when it's opened and read. It's good to know if they're unavailable or trying to avoid a hard question. You could tell by looking at the little letters next to the messages. "D" means delivered, and "R" means read.
It's also great for travelling, especially if your phone has wifi. Hook up to a hotel and enjoy free* international texting.
*Subject to fees charged by the wireless internet provider
I'm also guessing not all your friends have OS5. It's far easier to use BBM to send messages than to use unthreaded SMS.
Then of course you have your custom status messages, groups and picture sharing, features I personality don't use often, but are popular nonetheless.
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As with all the above if you have 5.0 you have the Groups option. "Any message you send to the group will go out to all members. This is helpful for lists for work, friends etc. and allows quick, instant communication. In the group area you can also send pictures, lists or calendars."
i have also read somewhere that BBM is also a secure messaging system where only the sender and recipients can read the message. Supposedly the encryption is very hard to break.
If you have unlimited SMS you are lucky. I pay a bit extra every month to have 250 or 500 SMS a month without an exorbitant fee.
However, for conversing with friends with Blackberries, there is nothing better for all the reasons listed above. Sending files is fast, there's no limit to message size or file size and you can send voice recordings as well.
Totally agree with everyone above. BBM is really IMing. It's like being on AIM or Google Talk or something like that, but just between bb users. I use it all the time - between work people and friends, it's quite convienent.
but with it being secure - that's definitely something I've never heard of or thought of before. But here's the kicker - are the message on BBM secure from even your own IT department if you are on BES?
Totally agree with everyone above. BBM is really IMing. It's like being on AIM or Google Talk or something like that, but just between bb users. I use it all the time - between work people and friends, it's quite convienent.
but with it being secure - that's definitely something I've never heard of or thought of before. But here's the kicker - are the message on BBM secure from even your own IT department if you are on BES?
I believe on BES, IT can indeed log your messages.
Some things that a group of my friends and I do with BBM. We have a BBM Group set up.
We can add events to the calendar, so if there is someplace we all want to meet up, its in the calendar. For a Christmas party, we had a list set up so everyone knew what to bring to the party (so everyone wouldn't show up with the same thing). We post pics to share with the group, and have group chats where we can all see what others are writing and everyone is in the conversation.
SMS would be just between two people. A BBM group would be including everyone at the same time.
You could see when not only a contact receives a message, but also when it's opened and read. It's good to know if they're unavailable or trying to avoid a hard question. You could tell by looking at the little letters next to the messages. "D" means delivered, and "R" means read.
It's also great for travelling, especially if your phone has wifi. Hook up to a hotel and enjoy free* international texting.
*Subject to fees charged by the wireless internet provider
I'm also guessing not all your friends have OS5. It's far easier to use BBM to send messages than to use unthreaded SMS.
Then of course you have your custom status messages, groups and picture sharing, features I personality don't use often, but are popular nonetheless.
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
I think this isn't correct, since BIS doesn't work over WiFi. Correct me if I'm wrong
I use yahoo, msn, and aim primarily bc I chat from my BB to contacts who are on their computers. However, I AM excited by the encryption of bbm mentioned above ... I wish bbm was also an IM client my contacts could download to their computers and use it to communicate with me when I'm on my BlackBerry.
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