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Short ’n’ shiny
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Vibrant and colourful SMS2.0 is here
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Photo: K. Ananthan
Colour coding More fun
The life of a mobile phone is getting shorter by the day. Doesn’t matter which latest model you purchase, an upgrade version is bound to hit the market before you tire of its fancy options. As technology advances, old features are replaced or u
pdated, new software installed and the memory space increased.
The common feature
But there is one element that has remained common to all cell phones and across brands over the years. And that’s your good old, or rather unexciting, Short Messaging Service (SMS).
This is one aspect that hasn’t changed its form, pattern or even colour. The eternal black and white format has remained constant.
There must have been times when you wanted to give your SMS a different colour to match your mood, or send that naughty emoticon to your friend. But the limited feature gave you few options.
Finally, there’s some change. Launched in December last year, SMS2.0 encompasses the attributes of a web chat in a SMS set up. The service offers icons, colours and even the latest news on your window, at no cost to the user. However, there’s a catch here, as only those using a Nokia handset (with GPRS feature) and an Airtel connection can use the facility.
“The issue is that currently only Nokia handsets have the Symbian operating system, which is needed for SMS2.0 to function. We are in talks with other companies to be able to make SMS2.0 the default setting at the manufacturing level itself,” says Anuj Kumar, Executive Director (South Asia) for Affle, the company which created the technology. Since its launch, more than one lakh mobile users have switched over to this service, says the company.
All you need to do is send an SMS with the message SMS2 to 54321. This will get you the web link to download the software. The GPRS connection will automatically be activated to allow download. Follow the instructions to make it the default service on your phone. Every time you send or read an SMS, you will see the latest headline from well-known websites such as Indiatimes and Cricinfo scrolling across the bottom of the window. What you will also see are ads that pop up every time an SMS is sent, which is where the economics comes in. “This allows us to provide free service to the users,” he adds.
MANGALA RAMAMOORTHY
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