RIMs Tips for Animated BBM Avatars & BlackBerry Traffic Voice Guidance

This week RIM rolled out a new version 6.1 of BlackBerry Messenger along with an update to BlackBerry Traffic anytime now. One of the nice improvements to BBM was animated avatars but RIM did not give much guidance on what the optimal settings are for BBM at launch. They have thankfully followed up with a knowledge base article that does just that:

When attempting to use animated avatars in BlackBerry® Messenger, please keep the following requirements in mind:

• Animated Avatars are supported only by BlackBerry Messenger 6.1
• Maximum file size: 32KB
• Supported file types: GIF
• Image must be in dimensions of a square, for example 30px x 30px, 40px x 40px, etc.
• 30px x 30px minimum
• 333px x 333px maximum
• 100px is optimal

RIM has also posted up some tips for those using BlackBerry Traffic who are having trouble hearing the new voice guidance directions on BlackBerry 7 devices. Here is the tip RIM gives:

When using BlackBerry Traffic 3.0 on a BlackBerry smartphone running BlackBerry Device Software 7.0, one may experience issues where the volume is too low, making it difficult to hear turn-by-turn directions.

There are several methods of improving the sound in BlackBerry Traffic 3.0. Some of these include:

1. Make sure the BlackBerry smartphone volume is at its maximum level.
2. In the BlackBerry Traffic application, go to Options > Guidance Options and ensure theEnhanced Audio radio button is selected.
3. In the BlackBerry Traffic application, go to Options > Guidance Options and ensure the Level of Assistance is set to High.
4. Use the 3.5mm headphone jack to connect the BlackBerry smartphone to the car radio.
5. Use a Bluetooth visor mount which can assist by means of a more powerful speaker.
6. Use a Bluetooth headset.