BBM Beta For Windows Phone Is Finally Here

Good news for Windows Phone users, BBM is now live for download on the Windows Phone store, but only for those who signed up to become beta testers.

I have BBM installed right now on the Lumia 630. I will do a complete review at a later time. In the meantime, Blackberry has made a list of key features available that require beta testing:

• BBID Setup and Log-in (for Whitelisted BBIDs)
• Create BBM Profile
• Invite a contact and suggested contacts (people you know)
• 1-to-1 & Multi-person Chat
• Contact Categories
• Manage Settings
• BBM Groups
• Pin to Start
• Notifications and in-app “splats” for new content. See them in Feeds, Contacts when they’ve sent you a message, etc.

Blackberry has also been nice enough to list some of the known issues with the current build:

• Invites and acceptances don’t send when Windows Phone goes out of WiFi coverage
• A few newer emoticons are not rendering properly (i.e *brrrr*, and *flex* and @-@)
• Windows Phone shows as available for BBM Voice call although feature is not supported (seen on Android and iOS, not BlackBerry 10)
• Error popup appears when using “Find Friends” and the “OK” button is selected
• Suggested Contacts tab only shows users already using BBM, but lists them as potential contacts when BBM is initially launched

Blackberry is yet to make a statement on the official public launch date for BBM for Windows. However, it is looking like less likely that it will go public this July.

Muyiwa Matuluko Author

• @muyosan