One of the best features of the BlackBerry is BlackBerry Messenger. Unfortunately, even though there have been many official and leaked updates, there haven’t been as many BlackBerry Messenger updates. Very few actually.

Well, that’s about to change as BGR shows us with some pictures he’s posted of the new BlackBerry Messenger.

New features include:

• Avatar support — set your own avatar using the Camera or saved photo on your device (this is displayed locally as well as shown next to your Messenger name on your friend’s buddy list)
• GPS location integration — you can now set permissions so friends can always see your location, have to request it each time, or never can see it
• Proximity sensor — we’re guessing this will let you know if you’re within a certain distance of friends (pending, of course, you’re both set to share locations freely with each other)
• Set conversation subjects — this will allow you to organize your convos on the main Messenger screen and label them with subjects to keep track of all your conversations
• Homescreen support — you can pin/sticky actual Messenger contacts directly to the homescreen for easy access!

These new features rock! Can’t wait to see them in action.

BGR has a bunch of more photos so make sure you go check them out and let me know what you think.