All Articles Tagged mms

TiPb is constantly receiving the big question regarding AT&T and MMS - will there be an extra charge for it? The answer is a simple no. The better question would be - when will we actually see it?

Later this summer, as part of the 3.0 software, AT&T will make multimedia messaging (MMS) available at no extra cost to customers with a text messaging bundle.

Now “later this summer” can literally mean June 19th for all we know. TiPb thinks AT&T faithful will see MMS sooner than you may think.

More AT&T related questions can be answered via this AT&T FAQ.

We’ll just pass then the mic and let you tell us what you think in the comments!

Regarding MMS:

We absolutely will offer MMS on iPhone 3G S in late summer once we complete some system upgrades that will ensure our customers have the best experience with MMS.  These upgrades are unrelated to our 3G network.  When MMS is ready, we will let customers know.

Regarding offering a tethering plan:

We plan to offer one but we don’t have an announcement to make at this time.

Joe Chandler
Executive Director
AT&T Corporate Communications

[Thanks to Phil for bringing this one home!]

Although humorous for the crowd attending the WWDC Keynote today, when Apple VP of iPhone Software, Scott Forestall, announced MMS and Tethering, AT&T being deferred until later this summer on the first count, and totally glossed over on the second count, likely won’t be as amusing for US iPhone 3G and iPhone 3G S owners who will miss out on fairly standard functionality other carriers and regions may get on 3.0 launch come June 17.

To learn more about iPhone tethering, visit Apple’s iPhone feature page. To learn more about AT&T’s support for these features–

Apple why must you hurt us like this? Ever since the announcement of the iPhone OS 3.0 software you’ve left first generation iPhone owners with a bad taste in their mouths by claiming MMS — Multimedia Messaging Service — would not work on their devices due to “hardware limitations”. Well MacLife went on a mission to find the truth:

We decided to get to the root of the problem by calling up the makers of the chip–Infineon. We contacted an Infineon representative in Milpitas, CA to uncover the details. The gentleman that answered the phone kindly explained that there is no way the Infineon chip inside the original iPhone is incapable of receiving MMS since that function relies on software rather than hardware.

None of the above should shock any of you, in fact TiPb thought this was the case from the moment it was announced during the 3.0 keynote. If developers of Jailbreak apps, such as Swirly MMS, can figure out a way to send a picture via MMS then there must be a genius at Apple who can surely do it, if not better!

MacLife also went ahead and contacted Apple to see what they had to say about this and we are sure all of you can pretty much guess what their response was. If not, here you go:

“Now the hardware has changed enough between these two devices that not all the features will be available on the original iPhone. For instance, MMS and stereo Bluetooth will not be available on the original iPhone.”

If you own a first generation iPhone and don’t plan on upgrading it anytime soon, how do you feel about this? TiPb is curious…

[Via Maclife]

Along with iPhone 3.0 Beta 5, which appears to hide away MMS functionality for AT&T, Apple also seeded the second pre-release version of iTunes 8.2, which looks like it blocks editing of the iPhone carrier file. In previous beta releases, developers were able to use the carrier file to enable tethering, something built into iPhone 3.0 by Apple but entirely dependent on as-yet-not-given carrier approval.

Did AT&T ask for the new lockdown? Perhaps the MMS stripping as well? Nothing but speculation so far…

(Thanks Andrew for the tip!)

UPDATE 3: Pretty much confirmed now. No more MMS for AT&T. Also, iTunes 8.2 Pre-Release 2 blocks editing of the carrier file. No more tethering.

UPDATE 2: Received this: “eems as if they stopped people from being able to tether and get mms by altering the carrier settings… people who changed theirs at the start can no longer access it..” Let us know what you’re experiencing with MMS on Beta 5.

UPDATE 1: This may only happen for those doing clean installs (not restoring from a previous backup) so if MMS is vital to your iPhone 3.0 dev work, that may be the route you want to go for now.

We’re getting some early reports that iPhone 3.0 Beta 5 now hides MMS functionality from AT&T users (see Beta 4 and 5 comparison pics, above). Previously, buttons and settings for MMS were present, though not enabled by default, though hacks allowed MMS to be turned on for AT&). Now, however, all visible signs appear to be gone, and it’s too early to tell if hacks may still re-surface and re-enable them.

Anyone else seeing this?

Note: iPhone 3.0, MMS was never surfaced on some carriers like Rogers (Canada).

No sooner has iPhone 3.0 Beta 4 been released, then our tip-lines have been filling up with finds. So far the big news looks to be that that mysterious “Store” tap, icon-less and empty in previous betas, now sports user info.

Also, the camera is now polite enough to ask if you like the photo you just took and want to save it, or if you don’t and want a chance to re-take it. Note: we’re not sure about this change yet, it may only be implemented for MMS, and may have been around in previous betas (lots of maybes, we know, we’re trying to sort through everything as efficiently as possible.) If it is system wide, some of us will lament the loss of our ability to rapidly snap photo after photo without the interruption of requesters…

(Thanks Andrew and anons!)

BGR, prompted by a forum post on MacRumors, has tested out some iPhone 3.0 functionality and…:

We’re happy to report that you can receive and play videos over MMS just fine

Sure to be a hit with the MMS lovers, though also likely to once again inflame the “no-video-recording-on-iPhone” frustraterati!

[Thanks to Gabriel for the tip!]

Whew! The feature announcements in the iPhone 3.0 event came fast and furious. One of the most-wanted features, MMS, will be supported when 3.0 is released to consumer this summer. That’s the good news. The bad news: Apple claims that the radio on the original iPhone 2G can’t support MMS, so that feature will not make it to 1st gen iPhones.

MMS on the iPhone 3G looks to be almost full-featured. You will be able to send and receive photos, audio, vCard (contact cards), and ‘location.’ One thing that won’t be supported on MMS: Video. The iPhone 3G still can’t record video and therefore, one assumes, receiving video MMS will be difficult.

Still - it’s lovely to see the iPhone finally support a feature that’s common not only on other smartphones, but on nearly every feature phone made. iPhone 3.0 can’t come soon enough!

Prior to Macworld 2009, Daring Fireball mused openly about how neat it would be for the iPod Shuffle to get voice functionality, and on Wednesday last it did. Now Gruber is reminding us that his “wish-list” for iPhone OS 3.0 includes:

a new home screen app (a.k.a. SpringBoard), designed from the ground up for a system where users have a few dozen or more extra apps installed. Managing dozens of apps on the iPhone today is simply a pain in the ass. Second, maybe an answer to the question of where the background notification API is — you know, the one we were told at WWDC to expect a few months ago, but which we haven’t heard a word about since. And maybe — pretty please, Mr. Forstall, with sugar on top — copy and paste.

But is this really a wish-list, or a (somewhat disingenuous?) way of passing along actual, leaked information on the new OS? MacRumors seems to think the latter, saying they have reason to believe a new SpringBoard, Push Notification (or Background Tasks), and Cut/Copy and Paste will indeed be on the iPhone OS 3.0 feature list. For good measure, they’re also tossing in magnetometer support (i.e. compass functionality like the Android G1 enjoys).

Added to yesterday’s rumors from Boy Genius about MMS and Tethering, however, and we’re afraid things are lining up just a little too much like a 3.0 panacea for iPhone’s previous OS “greatest misses”. And if that’s the case, it might be expectations — rather than notifications — that get “pushed” for next Tuesday’s iPhone OS 3.0 Sneak Peak. (We’re nothing if not fickle audiences, after all).

So, are these really inside information on what we’ll be seeing come March 17? Or are these truly more wish-lists than feature-lists?

(And are we waiting on Kevin Rose to add Mobile iChat to the 3.0 mix?)