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Threaded SMS … why doesn’t it exist on S60?

Categories: Ideas and rants
By: , IntoMobile
Tuesday, January 16th, 2007 at 5:41 PM

Txtman_smartphone_1
You know what that is? That’s called simplicity. When you’re talking to someone via text message you’re having a conversation … so why not display it as such? During CES I had some time to play with my friends Treo and discovered that this was the default way SMS was handled. I look up Windows Mobile and this third party solution has been posted. What about Symbian?

I regularly churn through about 1000 text message a month, and I even hit a little over 1300 once. Had I known that such a feature existed in other operating systems I would’ve been tempted to go with another platform. I’m not lying. I got my E61 and was used to the similar layout of my previous Nokia 3220, text messages were handled in the same inbox/outbox ways of the dinosaur. After being exposed to such a powerful text messaging system on my friends near ancient Treo 650 I feel ripped off.

How could Nokia have missed this? Even the iPhone has threaded SMS!

This doesn’t look difficult to implement, but I”m not a developer so I’ll shut my mouth. I just want to know why … from the country that invented the text message … couldn’t you figure this out for your mobile phones! Take a look at this Treo 750 from Palm running Windows Mobile. See how nice that looks? After all when one is using SMS one is having a conversation. The only logical thing to do would be to present the interface as such.

750_threadedsms

About The Author

Stefan Constantinescu

Stefan Constantinescu (@WhatTheBit on Twitter) has loved technology since as far back as he can remember. It started with computers, but in the past few years his passion has turned to mobile devices. As a mobile phone enthusiast who lives and breathes devices that connect to the internet, he knows he is not alone with this radical fascination of all things wireless. He is strongly opinionated and enjoys a good debate so leave comments in his posts and he’ll get back to you! Stefan began blogging as a hobby in the fall of 2006 and joined IntoMobile in the summer of 2007. Later he got a job at Nokia in March 2008, but as of June 2009 he has rejoined the IntoMobile team. He is currently based out of Helsinki, Finland.

  • vjleon11

    Hello,

    What a very good way to read exchanged sms!!! Nokia should implement it!!!!

  • sam gonzales

    yeah this was “the feature” i loved on the palm OS other..it made their unstable OS acceptable..SMS and MMS applications are going to have to change in the next few years as it texting replaces voice more and more each day..what about an email like reply all feature for sms texts? so that you can have IM like conversations with a group of friends

  • Robb

    I’ve been using coolSMSchat for a little while and find it to do an excellent job of threaded SMS on my 6630.

    I would suggest anyone try it, for the price it’s completely worthwhile!

  • Stefan Constantinescu

    Thank you all, I hope Ehandysoft releases this for S60v3!

  • Robb

    in my chats with the developer i am under the impression he’ll be working to release it ASAP.

  • Kameron

    I have a treo and the only reason I don’t switch to a new phone or a blackberry is the threaded sms messaging. It’s the most useful feature I’ve had on any of my phones. It makes things so much simpler when you can scroll back through directions or comments or meeting notes versus inbox delete delete delete for needed room or in the blackberry case scroll/roll through 100′s of messages to find the one needed. I haven’t understood for over a year why noone has picked up on this feature as prevalent as texting has become. You would think threaded sms/ text would be in high demand…however there are few who know about it. Everytime a friend uses my phone or asks why I still love my treo the answers easy. They become immediately jealous, wondering why their phones don’t have the feature.

  • Michael Maguire

    Kameron,

    I’m not sure what you’re talking about — BlackBerries have been doing threaded SMS for years. In fact, threaded SMS was first invented for the BlackBerry. See US Patent 7,028,263.

    Michael