Text Messaging (SMS) and Picture Messaging (MMS)

With Text Messaging (SMS), you can send and receive instant text messages between your wireless device and another messaging-ready phone.

In addition, Text Messaging includes a variety of preset messages, such as “I’m running late, I’m on my way,” that make composing messages fast and easy. Use your device to customize your own preset messages (up to 160 characters).

Picture messages, or MMS, can contain text and pictures, recorded voice, audio or video files, picture slideshows, contact cards (vCard), or appointments (vCalendar).

Note	See your service plan for applicable charges for Text Messaging and SMS Voice Messaging.

Composing Text Messages

1.	Press and tap > Messages.

2.	On the All messages screen, tap New message. The Compose screen opens.

3.	Fill in one or more recipients. You can:

Enter phone numbers directly in the To field. If you’re sending the message to several phone numbers, separate the phone numbers with a comma. As you enter information, any matching phone numbers from your contacts list are displayed. Tap a match to enter that number or address directly.

Tap the icon, and then select the phone numbers of the contacts to whom you want to send the message. You can also select contact groups as recipients. When you have selected all the message recipients, tap Done.

4.	Tap the “Tap to compose” text box and then start composing your message.

Note	As you near the 160-character limit, a counter will appear in the top right corner of the text box to tell you how many characters are left. Once you go over that limit, a new message is created but automatically joined into one when received.

5.	When done, tap Send to send the text message.

Preset Messages

Preset messages make it easy to compose text messages.

To add or edit preset messages:

1.	Press and tap > Messages.

2.	On the All messages screen, tap New message. The Compose screen opens.

3.	Fill in one or more recipients. You can:

Enter phone numbers directly in the To field. If you’re sending the message to several phone numbers, separate the phone numbers with a comma. As you enter information, any matching phone numbers from your contacts list are displayed. Tap a match to enter that number or address directly.

Tap the icon, and then select the phone numbers of the contacts to whom you want to send the message. You can also select contact groups as recipients. When you have selected all the message recipients, tap Done.

4.	Tap the “Tap to compose” text box, press and tap Quick text. (You will see the list of preset messages.)

5.	To add a new message, press and tap Insert. Enter your message and tap .

– or –  

To edit a preset message, press and tap Edit.
Tap the message you want to edit, edit the message, and then tap .

Sending a Picture Message (MMS)

1.	Press and tap > Messages.

2.	On the All messages screen, tap New message. The Compose screen opens.

3.	Fill in one or more recipients. You can:

Enter phone numbers or email addresses directly in the To field. If you’re sending the message to several recipients, separate the phone numbers or email addresses with a comma. As you enter information, any matching phone numbers or addresses from your contacts list are displayed. Tap a match to enter that number or address directly.

Tap the icon, and then select the contacts to whom you want to send the message. You can also select contact groups as recipients. When you have selected all the message recipients, tap Done.

Tip	You can add a subject line by pressing and then tapping Add subject.

4.	Tap the text box that contains the text “Tap to compose”, and then start composing your message.

5.	Press and then tap Attach.

6.	On the Attach window, select from the following file attachments:

Picture. Select Camera to take a photo and attach it, or Pictures to attach a photo from your storage card.

Video. Select Camcorder to capture a video and attach it, or Videos to attach a video from your storage card.

Audio. Select Voice Recorder to make a voice recording and attach it, or Music & sounds to attach a music file or voice recording from your storage card.

Location. You can attach location information. Send your current location (requires GPS to be turned on), a location stored in Footprints, or a location you pick on a map. For more information about GPS, maps, and Footprints, see “GPS Navigation”.

Contact (vCard). Select a contact from your phone, and then select which contact information you want to attach.

Appointment (vCalendar). Select the calendar event you want to attach.

Slideshow. Opens the Edit slideshow screen. Tap Add slide to create a new slide. Tap the created slide (for example, Slide 1), tap Insert picture, and then select the picture you want to add to the slide. You can also navigate to the text box and enter a caption for the picture. When finished, tap Done to attach the slideshow to your message.

Tip	When editing multiple slides, tap to edit the next slide or tap to return to the previous slide. While editing the slideshow, press to let you preview the slideshow, add music or video to a slide, remove a slide, and more.

7.	When you have finished composing the multimedia message, tap Send.

Saving and Resuming a Draft Message

While composing a text or multimedia message, press to automatically save your message as a draft.

To resume composing the message:

1.	On the All messages screen, press , and then tap Drafts.

2.	Tap the message to resume editing it.

3.	When you finish editing the message, tap Send.

New Messages Notification

Depending on your notification settings, the device will play a ring tone, vibrate, or display the message briefly in the status bar when you receive a new text or picture message. To change the notification for new text and picture messages, see “Setting Text and Picture Message Options” for details.

A new message icon ( ) also appears in the notifications area of the status bar to notify you of a new text or multimedia message. The Messages application icon (if shown on the Home screen) also displays the number of new messages .

To open the message, press and hold the status bar, and then slide the status bar down to open the Notifications panel. Tap the new message to open and read it. For information on reading and replying to messages see “Managing Message Conversations” in this chapter.

Managing Message Conversations

Text and multimedia messages that are sent to and received from a contact (or a number) are grouped into conversations or message threads in the All messages screen. Threaded text or multimedia messages let you see exchanged messages (similar to a chat program) with a contact on the screen.

To read a text message:

Do one of the following:

On the All messages screen, tap the text message or message thread to open and read it.

If you have a new message notification, press and hold the status bar, and then slide the status bar down to open the Notifications panel. Tap the new message to open and read it.

To return to the All messages screen from a text message thread, press and then tap All messages.

Note s

To view the details of a particular message, in the message thread, press and hold the message to open the options menu, and then tap View message details. If a message contains a link to a Web page, tap the message and then tap the link to open it in the web browser. If a message contains a phone number, tap the message and then tap the phone number to dial the number or add it to your contacts.

Viewing a picture message (MMS):

1.	Press and tap > Messages.

2.	On the All messages screen, tap a multimedia message or message thread to open it.

3.

Tap the attachment to open it. If the attachment is a vCard contact, it is imported to your device’s contacts list. For more information, see “People”. If the attachment is a vCalendar file, you can choose the calendar where you want to save the event. For information on using Calendar, see “Calendar”.

4.	To save the attachment to the storage card, press and hold the sender’s name or number, and then tap Save [attachment type] on the options menu.

Note s

When Auto-retrieve in MMS settings is disabled, only the message header is downloaded. To download the entire message, tap the Download button at the right side of the message. For details, see “Setting Text and Picture Message Options” later in this chapter If you are concerned about the size of your data downloads, check the multimedia message size before you download it.

To reply to a text or multimedia message:

1.	Press and tap > Messages.

2.	On the All messages screen, tap a text or multimedia message thread to open it.

3.	Tap the text box at the bottom of the screen, enter your reply message, and then tap Send.

Tip	To reply to a text message with a multimedia message, open the text message, press and then tap More > Add subject, or Attach. The text message is automatically converted into a multimedia message.

To protect a message from deletion:

You can lock a message so that it will not be deleted even if you delete the other messages in the conversation.

1.	Press and tap > Messages.

2.	On the All messages screen, tap a message thread.

3.	Press and hold the message that you want to lock

4.	Tap Lock message on the options menu. A lock icon is displayed at the right hand side of the message.

To delete a message thread:

1.	Press and tap > Messages.

2.	On the All messages screen, tap the message thread that you want to delete.

3.	Press , and then tap Delete.

4.	When prompted to confirm, tap OK. Any locked messages in the thread will not be deleted unless you select the Delete locked messages check box.

To delete several message threads:

1.	Press and tap > Messages.

2.	On the All messages screen, press , and then tap Delete.

3.	Select the message threads you want to delete.

4.	Tap Delete. Any locked messages will not be deleted.

To delete a single message:

1.	While viewing a message thread, press and hold the message that you want to delete.

2.	If the message is locked, tap Unlock message on the options menu, and then press and hold the message to display the options menu again.

3.	Tap Delete message on the options menu.

4.	When prompted to confirm, tap OK.

To view contact details and communicate with a contact:

When you have received a message from someone in your stored contacts, you can tap the contact’s photo or icon in the message thread to open a menu of options. Depending on the stored contact information, you can view the contact details, phone or send an email message to the contact, and more.

Setting Text and Picture Message Options

Press and tap > Messages. On the All messages screen, press and then tap Settings to set the text or picture message options. You can set the following:

SMS settings

Priority setting: Set the message priority of text messages sent.

MMS settings

Auto-retrieve: Select this option to automatically retrieve all your picture messages completely. When selected, the picture message header plus the message body and attachments will automatically download to your device. If you clear this check box, only the picture message header will be retrieved and shown in your All messages screen.

Priority setting: Set the message priority of text messages sent.

Maximum message size: Set the maximum file size of a picture message. The picture message will not be sent out if it exceeds the file size set here.

Connection settings: View various MMS connection settings such as the MMS connection name and server address.

Received messages

Received notification: Select this option if you want to receive a notification in the status bar when a new text or multimedia message arrives.

Play notification sound: If you want the device to ring when a new message arrives, select this option.

Notification sound: Select a ring tone that is specific to new text and picture messages. Note that the ring tone briefly plays when selected.

Vibrate: Select this option if you want the device to vibrate when a new text or picture message arrives.

Sent messages

Sent notification: Select this option if you want to receive a notification in the status bar when a message is sent successfully.

Failure notification: Select this option if you want to receive a notification in the status bar when a message is not sent successfully.

Play notification sound: If you want the device to ring when a sent or failure notification is received, select this option.

Notification sound: Select a ring tone that is specific to sent or failure notifications. Note that the ring tone briefly plays when selected.

Vibrate: Select this option if you want the device to vibrate when a new text or picture message arrives.

Adding the Messages Widget

Add the Messages widget to let you read your messages on the Home screen. To learn how to add widgets, refer to “Customizing the Home Screen”.