Text messaging has been around forever and is one of the most
popular forms of cellphone communication, despite the rapid growth of other
messages services such as Line, WhatsApp, Apple’s iMessage and Facebook
Messenger. Sadly, the standard SMS messaging comes with a bunch of limitations
such as small file size, no picture or audio/video attachment and slow response.
The major disadvantage it has is that there’s no way of knowing if the message
has been received or not. T-Mobile has recently announced a new feature for their
clients that addresses the former SMS limitations while preserving the comfort,
ubiquity and ease of the standard text message.
Built on the Rich Communication Service (RCS) standard,
T-Mobile’s new Advanced Messaging service adds real-time chatting for
individual or group messages. Additional features include read notifications,
typing indicators and photo/video sending abilities up to 10MB. No other app is
required to get these features. The carrier said that it built this service in
order to work “across all devices, makers and operating systems, as well as
wireless operators”. As of now, it is the only carrier in the US supporting
RCS.
Advanced messaging will work on every platform and device
though a few existing devices may need software updates to enable it. T-Mobile
also said that those are coming for Samsung Galaxy S5 and S6 with “nearly a
dozen more” devices are expected this year. Officially, the first device that
supports this feature is the new Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime. For advanced
features to work, a Wi-Fi or LTE connection is a must.
To T-Mobile customers, this new service doesn’t cost extra.
According to the carrier, it is just the first of many features that are lined
up for release. So, it will be interesting to watch how other carriers react to
this advanced messaging experience.
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