Picture Texts

[georgeb85]

I have a Galaxy S3 4.4.2

It is a Verizon smart phone, but I use it on the AT&T network via Straighttalk.

I have 2 questions regarding picture text messages, that I am hoping someone can help me with, if possible.

1. Whenever I sent a picture text message, it will send it within the same conversation to the person, I am speaking with. However, if they send me a picture, it opens a brand new conversation window, and prompts me to download the picture. Is there a setting, or an app that will make the picture they send to me, come into the conversation that is already open, without doing a new one? Also, is there a way for the image to just appear, and not an option to download it?

2. I know I have all the settings correct on my phone to send and receive pictures, but when I send them, it sometimes takes several minutes (like 3 to 4) for it to actually send. Is there any way to speed that up? I normally always have full signal, or atleast 3 to 4 bars, so not understanding, why it takes so long sometimes. I recently switched back to this phone, because I had switched over to an MPIE by XGODY smart phone, but there was an issue with the SD card, so until a new one arrives, I am using this phone again. With the MPIE phone, it would send the picture within seconds, not minutes.

Thanks for any possible help.

 

[Rukbat]

1. No. It depends on how your app is set AND how their app is set. (And which apps you're using. And whether they're using an iPhone.)

2. That's up to both Straight Talk and AT&T. It has nothing to do with your signal strength - a weak signal might take half a second longer to send a text with an attachment, but a circuit with a lot of traffic could delay it for hours. Texting was never designed to be used as chat. We've grown accustomed to using it that way (I do all the time), but that's like hammering in a screw. If you want to chat with someone, use a chat (IRC) app. Unless something catastrophic happens, a 2 second delay is considered a reason to move the slow server to get things going again. (Although around Christmas 1996, I did measure a 30 minute ping time on one network - if that were a physical object it would be in a museum somewhere - it makes live Dodo birds common by comparison.) Chat is designed to work like a phone call - rapid exchange. Text is designed to get there when it gets there. We also expect emails to be delivered immediately, and to be able to chat using email. The original design was "eventually" - which could be weeks, or even a month or 3. (Originally, an email server only communicated with the server "above it" and "below it" once a day, so the normal email "send and get a reply" time was 3-4 days if the person on the other end sent a reply as soon as he got your email.)

BTW, just so you don't confuse us old folks who were there when this stuff was being thought of, a "picture text" is ASCII art - using keyboard characters to draw a picture. (You may have seen the IBM "nude on a stool" - it's kind of the standard computer art, made of Xs.) Pictures sent using a text app are referred to as MMS (Multimedia Message Service - texts are SMS, Small Message Service). "Text" can refer to email too. (Even the HTML in emails is text.)