SMS vs iChat - Revisited

[bbplayer5]

I see some people are saying the lack of ichat on the iphone, isnt a big deal. Well I am sorry to say, you are wrong.

*Costs*

SMS - 10cents per message sent AND received. Yes thats right, you get charged when you actually GET a message also. This not only means that you MUST have a text plan, the person you are talking to must also. iChat would use your data plan, which is something you MUST purchase with your iphone. This is AT&Ts way of saying, "We are extremely greedy". I have a blackberry pearl currently, and it has full AIM capability, and uses my data plan for all of its bandwidth.

*Convenience*

It is MUCH easier to have an AIM conversation with someone, than it is to text back and forth. If they are logged into AIM on their computer, you talk in real time. You can talk as long as you want, and hold multiple conversations at the same time with different people. And again, this is using DATA, not 10 cents per message. Plus, you get the status of your buddies to see if they are available or unavailable.

*Common sense*

You have a mobile device that is closely related to a PC/Mac, you include the basic features. These would include email, web browsing, and chatting. Nearly everyone that uses the internet has an AIM screen name for communicating with friends. This was either a complete brain fart at Apple, or they are trying to get EVERY penny out of you. Pouge has said there is no ichat on the phone.

Will this stop me from buying the phone? Probably not... and this is the reason Apple probably doesnt care about this complaint. The Apple fanboys will still buy the phone, and attempt to use AIM Express. My blackberry is unable to run AIM express, and I wouldnt be surprised if the iPhone is unable to run it too. They seem to be wanting to force your hand of purchasing a text message plan, which honestly, is incredibly greedy.

 

[DeaconGraves]

I see some people are saying the lack of ichat on the iphone, isnt a big deal. Well I am sorry to say, you are wrong.

What you really mean to say is "I disagree with you" because I sure couldn't care less about AIM, having hardly used it in over a year.

All your points are valid but only if you really use AIM and/or texting. And as you say, you're still buying the phone, so why should they change?

 

[bbplayer5]

What you really mean to say is "I disagree with you" because I sure couldn't care less about AIM, having hardly used it in over a year.

All your points are valid but only if you really use AIM and/or texting. And as you say, you're still buying the phone, so why should they change?

Because they are marketing this phone as 5 years ahead of its time, yet, most phones now have the same functionality or more. No AIM... the most basic form of internet communication, and its not on it.

 

[neven]

This was either a complete brain fart at Apple, or they are trying to get EVERY penny out of you.

Or they haven't demoed it yet. Or AT&T doesn't want us getting around their SMS plans (which hardly translates to Apple squeezing every penny out of us).

I'd love to have both SMS and iChat on iPhone, since many of my real-life friends and contacts don't use IM, and I don't have the phone numbers of many of my online friends and contacts. But it won't stop me from buying an iPhone - IM is entertaining and all, but it's hardly a necessity (for me).

 

[Ubuntu]

You've got a point there. I didn't know they charged you for receiving messages in the US... ouch!

So how much does chat cost?

 

[neven]

So how much does chat cost?

It's part of your data plan. IM messages are just about the smallest meaningful data you can send and receive. iPhone plans will most likely include unlimited data transfer (otherwise browsing the web using a desktop-class browser would eat through your limited data plan in a snap).

 

[wyatt23]

having both sounds good to me. and we still have no idea what is or isn't true bc the iPhone isn't released yet.

plus TV just added iTunes due to popular demand. someone will either hack the iPhone for it [see youtube hack for TV] or apple may release it.

let's not get our panties in a knot yet.



yet.

 

[JonHimself]

There's no way that one is better than the other. You can't make that claim for everyone. iChat might be better for you, but iChat is useless for me, not only because I live in Canada and very few people use AIM but also because very few of my friends are always online - at their computer or on their phone - but they do generally ALWAYS have their cell phone - and like I said most of them don't have data plans/access to IM on their phone.

 

[generationxwing]

SMS - 10cents per message sent AND received. Yes thats right, you get charged when you actually GET a message also.

Or you could not be an idiot and make such grand generalizations. My incoming texts are free. I don't pay a dime for a text message received from another phone, regardless of the carrier.

Your whole post is pretty much nonsense. Not everyone uses AIM but, like someone above me said, almost everyone has a cell phone. I talk to more of my friends on SMS than on IM any day. I guess it's a shame that all of your friends exist only online, but for real-world use, SMS is going to work great for a huge majority of people.

 

[MisterMe]

I see some people are saying the lack of ichat on the iphone, isnt a big deal. Well I am sorry to say, you are wrong.

...

I have to agree with you, especially because both AIM and SMS are available on AT&T now. Because iChat is the AIM client for MacOS X, I would certainly expect it to be a feature of the iPhone.

 

[jdechko]

Why can't we have - - both. <cue scary music>duh duh duhhhhh</scary music>

 

[neven]

Or you could not be an idiot (...)

like someone above me said, almost everyone has a cell phone. I talk to more of my friends on SMS than on IM any day. I guess it's a shame that all of your friends exist only online

Or you could not be a dick. And did you realize that you're laughing at someone for IM-ing their friends when you SMS them? L-O-L, buddy.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

I have a blackberry pearl currently, and it has full AIM capability, and uses my data plan for all of its bandwidth.

Well, my wife's Motorola phone on T-Mobile has an AIM client, and a micro web browser. We have a data plan on it for the micro web browser; and for 'tethered' connections via Bluetooth to a notebook computer. AIM messages count as text messages! (Meaning it doesn't go on the data plan, it counts each IM back and forth the same price as a text message.)

 

[/dev/toaster]

I get my alerts for work via SMS, and I end up getting quite a bit each month. That is why I got an unlimited plan, so I don't have to worry about how many I use.

SMS works fine for communication when I can't make a call, or its a simple question I want to ask. Using IM on phones just never works well, regardless of the phone or service.

Not to mention, you end up spending money on those messages just like text messages anyway.

 

[bbplayer5]

"Using IM on phones just never works well, regardless of the phone or service.

Not to mention, you end up spending money on those messages just like text messages anyway."

100% ********. Not even worth a response, but what the hell. My AIM client on my blackberry never disconnects and is ALWAYS reliable. All of my messages are DATA, and NOT SMS..

JiveTalk on blackberry.. Look it up sometime.

iphone is missing the boat here, case closed.

 

[OnlyMarcusCannn]

"Using IM on phones just never works well, regardless of the phone or service.

Not to mention, you end up spending money on those messages just like text messages anyway."

100% ********. Not even worth a response, but what the hell. My AIM client on my blackberry never disconnects and is ALWAYS reliable. All of my messages are DATA, and NOT SMS..

JiveTalk on blackberry.. Look it up sometime.

iphone is missing the boat here, case closed.

I'd have to agree with you, bbplayer.
My sidekick, which is a pretty outdated (strecth the word outdated) phone when it comes to features, uses AIM capabillity better than AIM 6.0 (exageration, people!)!

I think it would be a bit of a benefit to the iPhone and the people who use iChat, since it is a popular mac app.

Heck, even an "Adium Mobile" would be kick-@ss!

You know what would be even more great???

Rev. B iPhone with isight built-in and ichat av for video calls...
but then again, we're no Asia..

 

[blueflame]

I just wanted video chat on the phone. talk about a revolutionary phone. even if it only works over wifi. also. if they were to add another camera, why not make the home button a camera as well? doesnt even have to be as good for video chat.. 2 in 1 kinda thing
A

 

[/dev/toaster]

"Using IM on phones just never works well, regardless of the phone or service.

Not to mention, you end up spending money on those messages just like text messages anyway."

100% ********. Not even worth a response, but what the hell. My AIM client on my blackberry never disconnects and is ALWAYS reliable. All of my messages are DATA, and NOT SMS..

JiveTalk on blackberry.. Look it up sometime.

iphone is missing the boat here, case closed.

If you are going to say something is 100% BS, then you might wanna do some research first.

T-Mobile, I had 3 different phones from them. Samsung, Motorola (dunno model number) and a Motorola A630. All 3 of them disconnected non-stop and I got billed a text message each direction. IM received and sent. T-Mobile had a different plan for sidekicks. Due to the nature of the device, it was NOT billed the same for texts and data like a standard phone, or PDA / smartphone. Additionally, T-Mobile didn't bill you for text rates when you used the webbased version of the IM clients. However, you got billed data rates.

Nextel, the 3 or 4 phones I had with them, same thing. Numerous disconnects and billed text messages both directions. On top of that, Nextel billed for data usage.

Verizon, current phone ... treo 700p, I tried a few different clients, same crap disconnected like crazy. No idea on how the texts were billed, it was so unusable I gave up before any real numbers could be seen.

Believe me, over the years I have searched for a reliable means of using IM over a cell phone. I haver never owned a blackberry, because they feel like a terrible phone. (Too wide for me to use) I might as well hold a shoebox to my ear.

 

[ravenvii]

Believe me, over the years I have searched for a reliable means of using IM over a cell phone. I haver never owned a blackberry, because they feel like a terrible phone. (Too wide for me to use) I might as well hold a shoebox to my ear.

Have you checked out the Blackberry Pearl (8100)? It may be exactly what you are looking for.

 

[/dev/toaster]

Have you checked out the Blackberry Pearl (8100)? It may be exactly what you are looking for.

Typing is very awkward on it. Few people at work have them. They need to create a blackberry that is the size of the Pearl, with a keyboard like the Treo.

I am thinking the iPhone is exactly what I am looking for I gave up on IM, SMS works just fine for me. Besides, 80% of my messages are inbound nagios alerts.

 

[JonHimself]

Typing is very awkward on it. Few people at work have them. They need to create a blackberry that is the size of the Pearl, with a keyboard like the Treo.

I am thinking the iPhone is exactly what I am looking for I gave up on IM, SMS works just fine for me. Besides, 80% of my messages are inbound nagios alerts.

Blackberry Curve! You need to purchase the Blackberry Curve if you want a Pearl with a full-sized keypad.. because that's exactly what it is. It's a full-size blackberry but with media, camera and micro SD slot. My friend has one and I love using it. I don't know whenit's coming out (or if it is out already) but that seems to be what you're getting at. I've got the 8700 and I'm going to wait and see what iPhone is really like in person (which will be a while... thanks to living north of the 49th) but if I don't like it then the 8300 will be replacing my 8700 I have now.

 

[notsofatjames]

I see some people are saying the lack of ichat on the iphone, isnt a big deal. Well I am sorry to say, you are wrong.

We are not wrong, it is just an opinion, neither right or wrong. Saying that it is wrong is wrong!

*Costs*

SMS - 10cents per message sent AND received. Yes thats right, you get charged when you actually GET a message also. This not only means that you MUST have a text plan, the person you are talking to must also. iChat would use your data plan, which is something you MUST purchase with your iphone. This is AT&Ts way of saying, "We are extremely greedy". I have a blackberry pearl currently, and it has full AIM capability, and uses my data plan for all of its bandwidth.

I cant say about the charge for recieving SMS. Here in the UK theres no charge. And it wouldnt be AT&T being greedy. I would have thought that more people have a text plan than a data plan anyways.

*Convenience*

It is MUCH easier to have an AIM conversation with someone, than it is to text back and forth. If they are logged into AIM on their computer, you talk in real time. You can talk as long as you want, and hold multiple conversations at the same time with different people. And again, this is using DATA, not 10 cents per message. Plus, you get the status of your buddies to see if they are available or unavailable.

Having multiple converstations on a PC/Mac using IM is inherently easier than multiple SMSing, but only because of window management on the computer. No phone based IM client is going to have multiple windows which you can control the same way as you can on a computer. And the SMS interface appears to be the same as the iChat interface last time i looked at the online demo. So maybe it will be easy to SMS messages the same way you iChat messages!
I must agree that the online offline status is useful though. And more than one person in a coversation would be better than SMS too.

*Common sense*

You have a mobile device that is closely related to a PC/Mac, you include the basic features. These would include email, web browsing, and chatting. Nearly everyone that uses the internet has an AIM screen name for communicating with friends. This was either a complete brain fart at Apple, or they are trying to get EVERY penny out of you. Pouge has said there is no ichat on the phone.

Not every internet user has an AIM name. Heck, I dont have an AIM screen name.(I know you said nearly every user, but none of my friends use AIM) But everyone who has a phone has a phone number.

Will this stop me from buying the phone? Probably not... and this is the reason Apple probably doesnt care about this complaint. The Apple fanboys will still buy the phone, and attempt to use AIM Express. My blackberry is unable to run AIM express, and I wouldnt be surprised if the iPhone is unable to run it too. They seem to be wanting to force your hand of purchasing a text message plan, which honestly, is incredibly greedy.

Its not greed, its business. Every company is out to make money. If apple didnt make money, they wouldnt exist for you to criticise today. And maybe its difficult (maybe even too costly) for apple to develop a browser to run AIM express. If they made the iPhone perfect for every single person in the world, it would cost a fortune, and everyone would complain about that! And I doubt AT&T would force you to have a SMS plan. They would just say you need one if you want to IM. And its your choice if you want to IM on your phone or not.

And we havent even seen the final product yet, so who's to say that its not coming. In all honesty I would have thought that its something apple would have included, and lots of people want it. But we shouldnt criticise apple for producing the best quality products in the technology market.
I have IM (MSN Messenger) on my current phone (Nokia 6280, rubbish phone btw) and i never use it. But mabye thats becuase the interface is so useless. I know if Apple made iChat on the iPhone, it would be a dream to use, and may change the whole perception of IMing on phones. But Apple make products to change peoples perception. Thats what they do best.

 

[netdog]

Am I correct in assuming from the tone of many of the phone threads here that Americans haven't embraced SMS texting like we have here in the UK?

Everyone I know here, regardless of their age or level of technical savvy, uses SMS with some frequency, and most of us use it all the time.

 

[notsofatjames]

Am I correct in assuming from the tone of many of the phone threads here that Americans haven't embraced SMS texting like we have here in the UK?

Everyone I know here, regardless of their age or level of technical savvy, uses SMS with some frequency, and most of us use it all the time.

from general tones and comments etc, US users tend to use more data services than my experience with people in the UK. I never browse the web on my phone, nor get my email. None of that sort of thing. Business users would probably. SMS is the easiest way to pass a message in the UK IMO. Though i still prefer to talk more than text.

 

[ravenvii]

Blackberry Curve! You need to purchase the Blackberry Curve if you want a Pearl with a full-sized keypad.. because that's exactly what it is. It's a full-size blackberry but with media, camera and micro SD slot. My friend has one and I love using it. I don't know whenit's coming out (or if it is out already) but that seems to be what you're getting at. I've got the 8700 and I'm going to wait and see what iPhone is really like in person (which will be a while... thanks to living north of the 49th) but if I don't like it then the 8300 will be replacing my 8700 I have now.

Same here, except I'm upgrading from an aging Blackberry 7230. The Curve is already out as of two days ago. It's exclusive with AT&T for 90 days.