No mobile worth its salts would get anywhere without a text messaging application. For many users, Texting — not phoning - is the very reason for having a mobile in their pocket all day.
Messaging works a little differently on the iPhone to the way it does on a regular cell phone. In the first instance, that's because it uses the iPhone's on-screen keyboard, with intelligent error correction, rather than the poky hardware-based keyboards of most mobile phones.
As such, the iPhone does away with one key feature of modern mobile phones: T9, better known as predictive text. Standing for Text on 9 keys, T9 was invented as a way to speed up texting, allowing mobile phone users to press just 4663 4663 when they wanted to say we have 'gone home' (the letters g-o-n-e and h-o-m-e are found on the keys 4, 6, 6 and 3) and then scroll through all the possible words that combination makes. For those who have got used to it, it is a massive time-saver.
Before T9, though, there was so-called Txt spk, or text speak, where
abbreviations like 'm8' 'lol' and 'cu l8r' would be used as substitutes for the more cumbersome 'mate', 'laugh out loud' and 'see you later'.
And now we have the iPhone, which has once again revolutionised the way text messaging works. It does understand some text speak, capitalising lol to LOL as appropriate, but in all other ways it throws out the rulebook. This can be a boon, allowing you to quickly construct coherent, well put together messages without tapping each button several times, or scrolling through suggested options for each key combination. This can be a blessing or a curse, depending on your point of view, if you're the recipient, it's probably a good thing as it means you won't have to decode obscure abbreviations and unnatural capitalisations. If you're the sender, though, you might not be so keen, as it means you have to type your notes in full, and may not be able to get all that you want to say in a single message. Fortunately most iPhone tariffs come with a very generous number of messages included as part of the deal.
However, the most radical difference between Texting on a regular phone and an iPhone is the way that the iPhone handles message conversations.
Most mobile phones have a separate inbox and sent messages folder, which means that you can only track one half of a conversation at a time. If you want to follow the thread, you need to skip back and forth between the two. The iPhone overcomes this annoyance by interleaving the two sets of messages (left) so that they appear within speech bubbles, such as exchanges in iChat and some other computer-based instant messaging applications.
As well as making it possible to quickly track back exactly who said what and when, this means that your messaging screens are kept tidy, and you only ever need to visit one thread to sec all of the exchanges between yourself and each contact.
Messages are organised through the SMS entry on the Home screen, with a menu showing you a list of all the contacts with whom you have had SMS contact. Tap one and it will bring up a conversation-style record of those contacts over time, with each part time and date stamped. Any messages to or from someone who is not yet in your inbox will be filed under their number, with a button to add them to your contacts.
Sending a text message
New messages are composed by tapping the square button with the pen inside it at the top of the menu scrccn, which will open a new blank message and position your cursor in the To: box, ready for your contact's number. If you want to send a message to someone already stored in your address book, press the blue + button to the right of this box and select your contact. Alternatively, just start typing your contact's name and, if they are in your address book, the application will attempt to complete the entry for you. You can add several contacts by pressing the + button again for each additional person, and the iPhone will send identical messages to each one in turn.
Once your contacts have been added, tap in the oval entry box just above the keyboard and type your message, and tap Send when you arc done. Be sure you have checked your spelling before you do this and that the iPhone's built-in spelling checker has not introduced any words you did not expect, as it is sent immediately.
If you only want to send a message to one single contact, you can do so by tapping the Text Message button below their entry in the Address Book. This will drop you into the SMS application and pre-populate their details in the To field.
Your sent messages will be archived under the contact's name or, if they're not in your address book, their number, with replies added below it as they arrive.
Requesting receipts
One feature that is missing from the iPhone's default messaging tools is delivery reception, which informs you when )'our message has arrived at the recipient's inbox. This is a surprising omission, from both the application itself and its entry in the centralised Settings application.
However, there is a work-around, which is to use your network's reception report short code. In the UK, on 02, this is *0#. To request a receipt, add the short code to the start of your message like this:
*0# What time will you arrive?
When you send this message it may take a few seconds more to arrive on your recipient's phone, but when it does the *0# will be stripped out, and the\- will only see what follows. The network will then bounce back a report to your iPhone telling you that the message was received, and your contact will never know that you were checking up on them.
The receipt will appear in your Messaging inbox, as part of the thread of messages you are having with your contact, and take the form:
Message [message ID] to [recipient phone number] was delivered at 13:56 on 18/08/10. Text: What time will you arrive?
Picture messaging
Picture messaging - so-called MMS or Multimedia Messaging Service - was introduced with the iPhone 3.0 software update. However, as with GPS functionality and the integrated compass, it is also hardware reliant, so if you bought an original iPhone and haven't yet upgraded to an iPhone 3G or 3GS, you won't be able to either send or receive picture messages — simply upgrading your operating system isn't enough.
If you are still using the first generation iPhone (with the brushed aluminium back), picture messaging is off the cards, in both directions. There will be no option to activate the feature in the Settings, no option to attach a photo to a text message, and no way to receive a picture message on the phone itself. Instead you'll receive a message asking you to visit your network provider's site and enter your phone number and a pin code to view the image online, (see left).
If you have one of the more up to date models, however, incoming images will appear in the conversation exchange as an image within a speech bubble.
To send a multimedia message, tap the camera icon on the bottom bar and pick either Take Photo or Video, or Choose Existing, to insert it in the conversation stream.
Original iPhone users will not see this button, and neither will anyone with a 3G or 3GS who has disabled MMS through the iPhone Settings dialogue to prevent running up high roaming charges.
If you don't have an iPhone 3G or 3GS, you will have to log on to your network provider's site with your number and code to access incoming picture messages.
Organising your messages
Over time you will want to start culling some of your messages. For one thing, they all take up space, and for another, your texting conversations can start to look quite long. It also makes sense to periodically cull more sensitive exchanges, such as those containing phone numbers that you might not want to become public knowledge for anyone who happens to pick up your phone.
Fortunately organising your messages is just as easy as organising your emails in the Mail application. Start by opening the conversation thread you want to moderate and tap the Edit button at the top of the screen. Each entry will shift slightly to the right to reveal a check button on the left. Select the messages you want to manipulate by tapping on the buttons beside each one, and then select either Forward or Delete, depending on what you want to do.
Forwarding a message will send it on as though it originally came from you. Deleting it will wipe it from the conversation thread. Be wary of doing this without careful thought: as there is no Recycle or Trash bin on the iPhone, you won't get the message back, and there is no confirmation step.
You can also delete whole conversation threads by returning to the message index screen, tapping Edit and then the delete buttons to the left of each thread. This time around there is a confirmation step, as you must press the Delete button that appears to remove the message.
Delete text messages or even whole threads by tapping the Edit button and then selecting the relevant entries in your inbox list.
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