Re: 3G iPhone for Europe in May 2008 apparently...

Mike Edwards <mike.edwards@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

The rationale for using MMS over email is the same as the rationale
for using SMS over email - I want to send a message that's going to be
instantly received by someone via the phone they're carrying around,
not possibly looked at next time they're sat at a computer.

OK, there might be situations where this is nice to have -- if you have
no email on the other phone, for example. And if you have free MMS
included in your plan. I have seen these things used only rarely,
though. Maybe I'm a bit old-fashioned here...

I still don't see how emailing a phone when you already know its phone
number is anything other than adding a layer of complexity to the
process though. I don't use an email address when I want someone's
phone to ring - what's different about wanting a picture to appear on
the same phone?

Erm, you are emailing their home/main email address that they can then
view on the phone.

You have tried a phone with email on it before?

I work in IT, where you expect people to have lots of gadgets. I know
very few people with a phone that would handle email attachments. I
don't know any who would think to check their email if I sent them a
picture.

I'll admit that I don't see much utility in MMS - I've had MMS-capable
phones since MMS came out, pretty much, but have still only ever sent
one and received two [1]. But in the cases where people actually use it
[2] rather than just play with it, I can't see how emailing an image
offers anywhere near the same utility. The recipient doesn't even now
they got sent anything - to get the same effect you'd have to SMS or
call them to say "check your email, I've sent you a picture", whereas
with MMS they just get the image there and then.

I *do* think that the argument that you can MMS someone a photo and know
that they'll recieve it is flawed though. Sure, more people have
MMS-capable phones than have email-capable phones, but it's still a long
way from *all* phone users having MMS. In fact, if you look at Hannah's
friends instead of mine (ie not gadget-minded) probably only about three
quarters of them can get MMS (using old phones etc), and even fewer know
how to send one.

-zoara-



[1] One I received was an in-joke with a corresponding picture, the
other was of a work colleague taken with those 'comedy' frames that make
people look like Santa or like they have glasses and a beard or
whatever. So nothing I couldn't have lived without. The one I sent was a
test message, and all that happened was the person I sent it to got an
SMS saying "Please log on to http://dahdahdah to read your picture
message"

[2] I can imagine, for instance, MMSing a mate with a picture of a
restaurant or something and saying "This is the one I was talking about
last night". Or sending photos of something to the missus to ask whether
it' aesthetically acceptable; funnily enough I had to do this when I was
shopping for a barbecue, and had to email it because her phone couldn't
handle MMS.


--
No 3G. Fewer megapixels than an N95. Lame.
.

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