Although much has been made of the iPhone’s visual voicemail system, we haven’t seen a lot of coverage of the device’s approach to texting.
Apple’s software design for SMS recognises that many/ most of us often to get into text-message conversations with our friends, which are more like instant messaging. So, just as in an IM client like MSN or Skype, the iPhone tracks your SMS exchanges in speech bubbles, allowing you to scroll back easily and see what people wrote. On top of that, multiple text chats can be stored (listed by contact name), so that you can re-start a prior chain at a later date. Text entry is done via a QWERTY virtual keyboard, which of course also supports the iPhone’s multi-point touch sensitive screen. Nice, huh?
For more on the iPhone’s capabilities as a phone, click to Apple’s page here.
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About Caspar Field
It would be so simple for Apply to add forwarding on the iPhone’s SMS, just add a drop down menu when you press on a speech bubble. I like the SMS graphic interface, but the lack of forwarding is one of the biggest flaws on the iPhone… apart from my screen being shattered into about a 100 pieces.
if you make a new message you can add as many contacts as you want
you CAN send to multiple recipients on iphone. write new msg and type in their names…easy!
Doesn’t help me run a football club. I regularly have to send group txts to anything from 5-60 people and remembering which players are on which dist. lists is a tall order. Email lists no good as the txts are frequently alerts at short notice.
Apps available to group contacts together (But not group sms). Interfaced with GMail who are beta testing sms distribution and hoping this offers a solution once live.
Until then Iphone effectively an Ipod and reverted to my E61i.
You can forward- click on Edit, and you can forward one or multiple parts of the chain. And to add multiple recipients, you click on the plus icon when writing a text. Don’t think you can set up text distribution lists though, but then again my old sony ericsson couldn’t do that either…
it’s the easiest texting maschine i’ve ever seen. The screen keyboard is easy to use in horizontal mode, but even in vertical, if you mistype a word, it tries to correct it, usually successfully too. Only snag is trying to type a text while lying down, as the screen tries to go in to horizontal mode, which is in fact the wrong wayup!
it isnt that hard really. i mean it is just an extra click between contacts…you can still send your message to as many people as you like it is just a little slow.
This is horrible. Just bought an iphone and woha, it lacks bacis functionality my 6-7 year old SE phone has.
Have designers even tried there own phone? Shameful
Taptopia app is a new Groups app for iphone.
However – though it is brilliant – you are never certain that a text has been sent to all recipients or has been received by them, unless you are lucky enough (not Orange UK – grrr!) to be able to add a code to the beginning of your text, so you get a delivery report.
How I wish I had moved to another Nokia phone and not fallen for the iphone hype – it should have been obvious that a phone which is made by a computer company, that had then expanded into ‘juke box’, was unlikely to understand phone users, especially those outside the US where we text so much more.
Forwarding an sms can be done simply by copy / paste the entire text message (tap twice on the text and copy) into a new text message (tap twice and paste), then add all the recipients you need to send it to (sending to multiple recipients was explained umpteenth times above
and send!
enjoy your iPhone!
Apple must be thinking we are freshly planted seeds?. They may not grow.