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| SMS / MMS / EMS |
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SMS (Short Message Service) :
Stands for "Short Message Service." SMS is used to send text messages to mobile phones. The messages can typically be up to 160 characters in length, though some services use 5-bit mode, which supports 224 characters. SMS was originally created for phones that use GSM (Global System for Mobile) communication, but now all the major cell phone systems support it.
While SMS is most commonly used for text messaging between friends or co-workers, it has several other uses as well. For example, subscription SMS services can transmit weather, news, sports updates, and stock quotes to users' phones. SMS can also notify employees of sales inquiries, service stops, and other information pertinent to their business. Doctors can receive SMS messages regarding patient emergencies.
Fortunately, text messages sent via SMS do not require the recipient's phone to be on in order for the message to be successfully transmitted. The SMS service will hold the message until the recipient turns on his or her phone, at which point the message will be be sent to the recipient's phone. Most cell phone companies allow you to send a certain number of text messages every month for no charge. Though it would be a good idea to find out what that number is before you go text message crazy.
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MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service):
Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) is a new standard in mobile messaging. Like SMS (Short Messaging Service), MMS is a way to send a message from one mobile to another. The difference is that MMS can include not just text, but also sound, images and video. It is also possible to send MMS messages from a mobile phone to an email address.
Formats that can be embedded within MMS include:
Text (formatted with fonts, colours, etc)
Images (JPEG, GIF format)
Audio (MP3, MIDI)
Video (MPEG)
Images could be downloaded from WAP sites, selected from a menu within the phone, or could even be photos taken using a built-in camera if the phone has one (e.g. the Nokia 7650, Sony Ericsson T300, etc).
MMS is an extension of the SMS protocol, making its usage familiar to existing SMS users. An MMS message is a single entity, not a collection of attachments. One of the main practical differences between MMS and SMS is that whilst SMS messages are limited to 160 bytes, an MMS message has no size limit and could be many Kbytes in size, or even larger. MMS requires a third generation (3G) network to enable such large messages to be delivered, although smaller messages can be sent even with second generation networks using GPRS.
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EMS (Enhanced Messaging Service) :
Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS) adds new powerful functionality to the well-known SMS
standard. With it, mobile phone users can add life to SMS text messaging in the form of pictures,
animations, sound and formatted text. This gives the users new ways to express feelings,
moods and personality in SMS messages. As well as messaging, users will enjoy collecting and
swapping pictures and ring signals and other melodies, downloading them from the Internet or
editing them directly on the phone.
The beauty with EMS is that it uses existing SMS infrastructure and industry standards, keeping
investments to a minimum for operators and providing a familiar user interface and compatibility
with existing phones and with other manufacturers. EMS will be a standard feature in Ericsson
mobile phones in the future.
In the future, messaging can be even further enhanced by new standards and technologies supportedby Ericsson, such as Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS).
Nokia Picture Messaging is a similar but proprietary technology supported on Nokia and some Samsung phones. EMS is an industry standard.
EMS is older and less capable than MMS, which can handle true photos and larger multimedia files.
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