Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

b24pgg

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 28, 2009
1,108
0
CA
I have unlimited data and texts on my plan. Does iMessage provide any advantages over texting?
 

kolax

macrumors G3
Mar 20, 2007
9,181
115
- Group texts/conversations
- Will work over WiFi when you have no reception
- May day be able to reply to iMessages via your Mac
.
 

saving107

macrumors 603
Oct 14, 2007
6,384
33
San Jose, Ca
Do your recipients have free texting?

You can message iPad and iPod touches

- Group texts/conversations
- Will work over WiFi when you have no reception
- May day be able to reply to iMessages via your Mac
.

All of these are good reasons and is why I canceled my text plan.

First, paying for text is absurd and is a total profit for cellular providers (I'll save this discussion for another day).

Second, other than having the Read/Delivered status it is identical to Text Messages, but the fact that its free and that I can save $20 a month is reason enough for me to say that iMessage is better.

iMessage works for me because 95% of the people in my family/friend circle that I communicate with all have an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch with iOS 5, so when i canceled my text plan I didn't feel at all disconnected.
 

Primejimbo

macrumors 68040
Aug 10, 2008
3,295
131
Around
All of these are good reasons and is why I canceled my text plan.

First, paying for text is absurd and is a total profit for cellular providers (I'll save this discussion for another day).

Second, other than having the Read/Delivered status it is identical to Text Messages, but the fact that its free and that I can save $20 a month is reason enough for me to say that iMessage is better.

iMessage works for me because 95% of the people in my family/friend circle that I communicate with all have an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch with iOS 5, so when i canceled my text plan I didn't feel at all disconnected.

How do you text people who don't have an iPhone? So you just don't text that 5%? How do you text an iPod Touch not on wifi?
 

saving107

macrumors 603
Oct 14, 2007
6,384
33
San Jose, Ca
How do you text people who don't have an iPhone? So you just don't text that 5%? How do you text an iPod Touch not on wifi?

How do I communicate with the 5% of people who don't have an iPhone or are not on WiFi (iPod touch), the old fashion way, I call them via the Phone.app

I don't carry conversations via Text Messages and I have a rule that if I reply more than 3 times and know the conversation is not over, I call the person to speak to them directly. Text Messages for me are simple "Hey, come outside I'm in front" or "Did you want pickles on your sandwich?"
 

acfusion29

macrumors 68040
Nov 8, 2007
3,128
1
Toronto
No charge to use it with someone in a different country.

this..

i like being able to communicate with people in the US without paying $0.50 a text message.

and right now i'm talkin to some friends i met while in Europe this past summer.
 

dave420

macrumors 65816
Jun 15, 2010
1,426
276
One of the benefits of iMessage I have noticed is that it is much faster than regular texting. I have never thought of SMS as being slow, but iMessages are noticeably faster.
Also iMessages allows us to send pictures and videos at a much higher quality than regular SMS, especially on wifi.
I also like getting messages on multiple devices. It is convenient to be able to respond to a text message from my other phone or iPad, instead of the phone that would have traditionally received the text message.
 

rasputinj

macrumors regular
Sep 25, 2007
127
7
iMessage is faster, blue in color, and can send pictures at higher resolution. Also I was able to drop down in my text plan since most of the people I text with use iPhones.
 

urkel

macrumors 68030
Nov 3, 2008
2,795
917
Here's a major problem I had with iMessage on a CDMA (sprint) device. With CDMA then iMessages dont come through if you're on the phone. The other day I was on a long call and missed a few important iMessages from my wife and they didnt come through until I hung up. I was very happy with iMessage for a while but after this then I'm going back to straight texting until Apple figures out a way to redirect iMessages to carrier text if it detects you're offline.

EDIT: Also, I have a question about video MMS to ATT. I sent a friend a video and when I saw it on her phone the quality was ridiculously poor and pixelated. Is that an ATT limitation because it doesnt happen when I send an MMS video to a sprint phone.
 

kolax

macrumors G3
Mar 20, 2007
9,181
115
I was very happy with iMessage for a while but after this then I'm going back to straight texting until Apple figures out a way to redirect iMessages to carrier text if it detects you're offline.

It's meant to.

But if your wife thought it was a good idea to send you urgent messages rather than actually calling you, then I guess it couldn't have been life threatening..
 

dave420

macrumors 65816
Jun 15, 2010
1,426
276
Here's a major problem I had with iMessage on a CDMA (sprint) device. With CDMA then iMessages dont come through if you're on the phone. The other day I was on a long call and missed a few important iMessages from my wife and they didnt come through until I hung up. I was very happy with iMessage for a while but after this then I'm going back to straight texting until Apple figures out a way to redirect iMessages to carrier text if it detects you're offline.

EDIT: Also, I have a question about video MMS to ATT. I sent a friend a video and when I saw it on her phone the quality was ridiculously poor and pixelated. Is that an ATT limitation because it doesnt happen when I send an MMS video to a sprint phone.

The iMessages should have reverted to regular text messages after five minutes. So if the call was over five minutes you should have gotten them while in the call. I have always found video quality to be poor in AT&T when sending videos over MMS. I don't really have anything to compare it to though. iMessage videos work great though.
 

Kadman

macrumors 65816
Sep 22, 2007
1,216
0
Threads like this will continue because it's still a half-baked offering. It's FAR from seamless functionality as a replacement for SMS. I'm interested in seeing what Apple does with it, and it works fine for some, but it really causes a lot of confusion for others.
 

PhoneI

macrumors 68000
Mar 7, 2008
1,629
619
Threads like this will continue because it's still a half-baked offering. It's FAR from seamless functionality as a replacement for SMS. I'm interested in seeing what Apple does with it, and it works fine for some, but it really causes a lot of confusion for others.

say what? I fail to see how anybody can be confused over iMessage. Whats the problem here?
 

D.T.

macrumors G4
Sep 15, 2011
11,050
12,467
Vilano Beach, FL
It's been outstanding when I send messages to the wife (when she's out and about) from my iPad. Receipt notification, activity indicator (when she's replying), improved image quality. I really dig on it, and so far, it's been pretty seamless for her (iMessage vs. standard SMS).

Looking forward to a desktop client!
 

Rodimus Prime

macrumors G4
Oct 9, 2006
10,136
4
What about texting is better than emailing?
(Other than somewhat faster)


Different form of communication.
The format is very different. Sms is much less formal and convocation based.

The grammar rules in Sms are much looser and often times words get shortened for example lol, brb, luv up ect are acceptable. They are completely unacceptable for an email and I for one hate getting emails that use Sms speak.
 

The Phazer

macrumors 68040
Oct 31, 2007
3,008
977
London, UK
I have unlimited data and texts on my plan. Does iMessage provide any advantages over texting?

Depends on your network, but if it is a good one (no bizarre US style reception charges, allows delivery receipts etc) then the only single advantage is cheap international messages.

There are just too many downsides. In particular reliability and this crappy bug where people are still getting iMessages even if they no longer own an iPhone.
 

JustLeft

macrumors 6502
Sep 20, 2007
286
0
How do I communicate with the 5% of people who don't have an iPhone or are not on WiFi (iPod touch), the old fashion way, I call them via the Phone.app

I don't carry conversations via Text Messages and I have a rule that if I reply more than 3 times and know the conversation is not over, I call the person to speak to them directly. Text Messages for me are simple "Hey, come outside I'm in front" or "Did you want pickles on your sandwich?"

Great rule!
 

tmagman

macrumors 6502
Nov 7, 2010
413
1
Calgary AB
i concur. if i cant fit it in 145 characters of real words, they get a phone call.

for iOS users who want to cancel their texting plan, just get the textplus app which is fantastic because it allows for free texting to any number (and gives you a number that other people can text you on). I used it when i was traveling to the states from canada to be able to text my friends from wifi hotspots instead of having to pay roaming texting which is an arm and a leg.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.