Research in Motion has released a new beta of their massively popular Blackberry Messenger application.

It is now available through the Blackberry Beta Zone.

New features:

Users can now use animated avatars for their own profiles.

Blackberry Messenger now has 12 new emoticons for messaging.

Users can now send personal messages with up to 160 characters.

Users can now set colored chat bubbles for individual contacts. This comes handy in conversations with multiple people.

Users can now instantly take a picture using the device’s camera and make it their profile picture.