What about iMessage is better than regular texting, exactly?

[SGMD1]

I have unlimited data and texts on my plan. Does iMessage provide any advantages over texting?

[mgipe]

Do your recipients have free texting?

[Kilamite]

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

[lsvtecjohn3]

You can message iPad and iPod touches

[Julien]

Blue bubble instead of green.

[verwon]

No charge to use it with someone in a different country.

[saving107]

Originally Posted by mgipe

Do your recipients have free texting?

Originally Posted by lsvtecjohn3

You can message iPad and iPod touches

Originally Posted by Kilamite

- 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]

Originally Posted by saving107

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]

Originally Posted by Primejimbo

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]

Originally Posted by verwon

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]

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]

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]

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.

[Kilamite]

Originally Posted by urkel

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]

Originally Posted by urkel

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.

[DerekTS]

Almost 2 months later and we are still getting these threads? Really?

[Yodawg]

iPod touch and iPad. Duh

[Kadman]

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.

[touchmonkey]

What about texting is better than emailing?
(Other than somewhat faster)

[PhoneI]

Originally Posted by Kadman

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.]

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]

Originally Posted by touchmonkey

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]

Originally Posted by SGMD1

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]

Originally Posted by saving107

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]

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.