There is a BBM Video app for BlackBerry phones, but it’s not available on other platforms. It's also lacking video-calling features, which put it behind Viber, Skype, and FaceTime. Though BBM has all the classic features, it's missing many modern options that its competitors - iMessage, Hangouts, and WhatsApp - have, such as sharing your location or sending a calendar event. Additionally, the Android app gives you a full-screen menu to attach photos and voice messages to your chats, whereas the iOS app uses a smaller pop-up menu. You can turn it off in the app’s settings.
The Android app has an always-on notification bar alert that lets you know that you're connected to BBM. There are just a few design differences between the Android and iOS versions. Two menus and a bottom menu bar is overkill, and BlackBerry should have corralled all those options into one control bar and one hidden menu. Lastly, there’s a right-side menu where you’ll find the app's settings and options to invite someone to chat, start a new chat, and start a new group.
There are buttons along the bottom of the app that also show your chats, groups, and contacts. There’s a left-side menu that has shortcuts to your chats, contacts, groups, updates, and invites. The iOS app runs a bit smoother than the Android app, but the layouts are nearly identical.
Many modern messaging apps look at your phone’s contacts and automatically add those who are already using the same app, and I wish that BBM did something similar, or at least make the process more seamless. I then had to dig through the app to find his invitation before we could start chatting. In one instance, I sent a BBM message invitation to a friend and then got a notification that he invited me to chat, which threw me off. BlackBerry is billing those security and privacy features as major selling points for the app, but I found the process to add new contacts confusing and tedious.
0 kommentar(er)
