I haven't used BBM could someone please tell me the key advantages of it. how does it fare against WhatsApp ?
There's quite a bit of difference. I rarely SMS compared to Whatsapp... but according to my bill I average about ~2000 sms a month. Just to put it into perspective how attached I am to my phone... I used to have a Blackberry and used BBM/Whatsapp fairly equally, so I know what I'm talking about:
- BBM = extremely efficient and reliable compared to Whatsapp. Those milliseconds count and you notice it when you're in a spitfire conversation...
- Whatsapp tends to be glitchy and sluggish. BBM (on Blackberry) was very lightweight and very very smooth.
- You use PINS not NUMBERS. So your boss with your phone number doesn't automatically get to see your profile picture on Whatsapp just because he has your phone number. Ugh.
- You can ACCEPT people first, you have no idea how many times I've switched phone numbers and random people will be like "what? who is this? who's in your profile pic?" So annoying. More control and privacy.
- BBM transfers pictures more quickly than Whatsapp.
- "Last seen" and "online at" on Whatsapp is annoying. BBM tells the ONE person if you've read THEIR message (and visa versa) - if you want to ignore something/someone, you can just ignore that chat and be on your merry way with other people without getting those "you're ignoring me, I know you've been using Whatsapp!". You could just ignore that BBM chat until you felt like opening it (and so, sending the "read" msg).
- Seriously - last seen is the most annoying thing on the planet. "I thought you were going to bed, you were on whatsapp at 3 am according to this, what were you doing?!"
- You can play games against each other via BBM games.
- "Recent Updates" on BBM - think of MSN messenger and status updates - it also mentions if you're listening to music (you can disable this).
- Profile picture always shows in the chat (wp8 whatsapp doesn't do this)
- BBM intergrates with other apps like Twitter/Facebook, so you can update your "status" with stuff from there, if you want (and visa versa).
- Free vs. $1 (although I never paid for Whatsapp over these last 4 years... no idea why)
- A lot of people I've met refuse to download Whatsapp because it's "sketchy" - BBM is very well known and so more people will be willing to install it on their phone
- BBM Groups ! Not the same as group messaging. You can create discussion threads, share photo albums among a group of predetermined people and comment on said photos. Even have a shared "group calendar".
- You can change the colours of each person when they message you. Useful in group threads or when you're talking with multiple people, so you have an additional cue to differentiate each other so you don't smack talk your friend in the wrong window.
- Broadcast messaging. You can broadcast messages to your whole list (or subdivisions of your list, like "Close friends" or "family"). Can be very useful for inviting people out.
- I suspect - but cannot confirm - that BBM uses a little less data than Whatsapp. But due to the nature of the old BIS plans I have no idea if this is true.
Conclusion: There is 0 advantage to Whatsapp, and BBM has more features. BBM is MSN Messenger for your phone.
Pretty much everyone around my age that I know has already said they're downloading BBM at the first opportunity and I'm going to be left out
. I hope WP8 gets it soon. Nostalgia is powerful. Whatsapp has improved a lot over the last year, though. I know people will slowly start getting rid of Whatsapp because virtually everyone I know has either an Android or iOS, no one's creeping on old systems and I literally know no one who has Windows phone. They're not going to keep the app eating battery away just for one person, probably revert to sms for me. I'd really like BBM announced before the end of the year, if possible. I'm 100% certain it's going to catch on between the people I network with. Just glancing at my Facebook news feed where everyone's frustrated they haven't been able to download it and the loyal BB10 ppl are broadcasting out their pins in preparation. I really do think we'll get BBM too, just have to wait a little bit.
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