North America BIS 2.5 Upgrade Complete: Say Hello to Native HTML Email Viewing (OS 4.5 Required)!

RIM completed their upgrades to BIS 2.5 in North America this weekend. If you're not running OS 4.5 on your BlackBerry much of this won't benefit you just yet (have patience, the widespread 4.5 rollout is coming!), but for those of you that are, a whole bunch of new features have just come your way, including HTML Email Viewing!

The image above tells the tale. On your left you have the latest CrackBerry.com Newsletter when viewed on a non-4.5 equipped BlackBerry (keep in mind we've always had designed it for full html viewing from your PC - full newsletter archive here). On the right we have the newsletter when viewed on a BlackBerry equipped with OS4.5 (beta) now that BIS 2.5 is turned on. As you can see, it's a LOT better. A hugely welcome change and big improvement. Although it does still irk me that the CrackBerry Newsletter looks better when viewed on an iPhone over a BlackBerry (see image). More pixels should solve a lot of this problem... I can't wait for the BlackBerry Bold!

Other BIS 2.5 feature improvements include the ability to download and save audio and video attachments and a whole bunch of other file types as well: .doc, .xls, .ppt, .wpd, .pdf, .zip, .txt, .html. Push email for Hotmail/MSN and AOL accounts is also included in the upgrade. Overall, it's darn sweet. As Bla1ze just mentioned to me in an email, overall email is a lot smoother and it's REALLY nice to be able to receive a video attachment in an email, save it and view it right on the BlackBerry.