T-Mobile Announces New Advanced Messaging Feature

T-Mobile has just souped up its text messaging service. The carrier just recently announced Advanced Messaging, a new feature that provides enhanced texting functionalities for T-Mobile subscribers. The new feature lets users participate in group text messaging, and even allows people to have almost real time chat with another user via text. On top of these, T-Mobile subscribers can also share high resolution images and short videos, and even grant users the capability of knowing when their text message has been delivered and read. But wait -- T-Mobile is only making the Advanced Messaging feature available on only one smartphone model for now -- the Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime.

Based on the enhanced texting functionalities mentioned in the preceding paragraph, T-Mobile’s Advanced Messaging feature appears to be a cross between a text messaging service and an instant messaging platform, such as Facebook’s WhatsApp or Apple’s iMessage. Those interested in using the feature may be a bit bummed that the service is only available to the Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime device for now. Sorry, Apple fans, the feature is not supported in the iPhone 6 yet (but more on that later).

T-Mobile was quick to pledge, however, that it will surely be adding more smartphone models that will be supported with the Advanced Messaging feature. The carrier further added that the feature will be brought to other Samsung devices such as the Galaxy S5 and the Galaxy S6 by way of a software update. 

The Advanced Messaging feature by T-Mobile runs on an industry standard called Rich Communications Services (RCS). By announcing this new feature, the carrier becomes the first to introduced enhanced texting functionalities on RCS. Moreover, this latest move by T-Mobile may also encourage other wireless carriers in the United States to also try to introduce their RCS based services. As explained by Neville Ray, chief technology officer at T-Mobile, via a blog post, mobile users everywhere can finally start to appreciate next generation wireless services that run on RCS.

As for T-Mobile subscribers who are also owners of iPhone devices, know that the carrier has not officially released any statement regarding if and when the feature will be brought to iPhones, preferring instead to defer to Apple for any word. A T-Mobile spokesperson had stated though that since Advanced Messaging was built off of the RCS, an industry standard, one can reasonably expect the feature to become standard on new handsets sold.

Interested to know more about other T-Mobile services? You can browse plans and phones from T-Mobile at Wirefly now.