Research In Motion (RIM) has launched an enhanced version of BlackBerry Messenger and it features a new user interface together with a variety of expanded capabilities.

Enhanced features of BlackBerry Messenger 5.0 include:

1. New Group Functionality - You can easily create or join a group of people in order to stay connected and share experiences in real-time. You can chat and share location updates, address books, calendars, photos, lists and more. A single group can contain up to 30 members.
2. Bar-code Identity – Automatically invite a new contact to join your BlackBerry Messenger contact list by scanning a special bar code on the BlackBerry Messenger screen of their BlackBerry smartphone (ie you scan their bar code identity using the camera on your BlackBerry smartphone).
3. Avatar – Users can set up a display picture as their personal avatar, which will automatically be seen by their contacts. BlackBerry Messenger 5.0 also populates avatars for contacts from BlackBerry Contacts
4. Large Media File Transfer – With BlackBerry Messenger 5.0, users can share large media files of up to 6MB in size, including higher resolution pictures and longer voice notes.

Screenshots and a feature overview with tutorials are also attached for your reference.

The new BlackBerry Messenger app can now be downloaded from www.blackberry.com/blackberrymessenger.