T-Mobile delivers iMessage-style texting, starting with Samsung phones
What if the default texting app on your phone offered some of the same handy features as iMessage or Hangouts? Well, if you're a T-Mobile customer, you'll soon be privy to more tools. The Uncarrier announced its Advanced Messaging tech today, delivering options like near real-time chat, larger images and more. Like iMessage, BBM and the like, you'll be able to see when a message has been delivered, read and when the person you're chatting with is tapping out a response. Those larger images? The size limit is bumped to 10MB for photos and videos, giving you more space to futz with if needed.
As you might expect, Advanced Messaging is only available on T-Mobile and Samsung's Galaxy Grand Prime will be the first device to arrive with it on board. Galaxy S5 and S6 users can expect to nab via a software update and the company says "nearly a dozen more hot devices" will be included before the end of the year. As you might recall, T-Mo also offers VoLTE and WiFi calling, so it has a bit of a knack for developing new features. In fact, Advanced Messaging is built on the Rich Communication Services (RCS) standard that the company touted back when rolled out VoLTE. The new texting features are said "to work across all devices, makers and operating systems." so we'll be interested to see what other phones are on that list. T-Mobile is planning hopes to make this a standard option on all new phones, so we may not have to wait long to find out.
[Image credit: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images]
