Research In Motion today announced the availability of BlackBerry Messenger 6.1 beta in the Beta Zone. Key new features of the software include animated avatars, 12 new emoticons, colored chat bubbles, and the ability to update the BBM avatar by using the camera from within BBM. BBM 6.1 beta also doubles the amount of message space from 80 characters to 160 characters. The beta software is free for Beta Zone members to download and use.