We’ve been eagerly anticipating the launch of BBM for Android since BlackBerry announced it back in May, but the Canadian company has done a pretty good job of keeping the app close to its chest ahead of its public launch. So aside from a few leaked screenshots, we really had no idea what it would look like or how it would perform.

But that’s no longer the case, thanks to the hands-on tour video below.

If you’ve used BBM on BlackBerry 10, then the Android version will be instantly familiar to you. It looks almost exactly the same, right down to the BlackBerry 10 navigation buttons along the bottom of the app — it even uses the same BlackBerry 10 ping notification sound.

The app delivers all of the basic features that have made BBM such a popular instant messaging service over the years — including group chat, support for emoticons, and file sharing — plus some nifty extras, such as the ability to exchange contacts via NFC.

There are some features missing from BBM on Android, such as BBM Voice, screen sharing, and BBM Channels. Some of these may be added in future updates, but we’d imagine that BlackBerry will try to save some of them as BlackBerry 10 exclusives.

As you can see from the hands-on video, BBM for Android looks ready for its debut now, so hopefully BlackBerry won’t keep us waiting for it too much longer.

• SourceBlackBerryOS