There are many applications for text messaging - instant messengers. And yet, SMS is still used as the standard tool for text messages in Google's Android operating system. Already quite soon, a new standard of text communication developed by the search giant may appear. How can it become and what is the difference from iMessage for iPhone?
Google makes significant changes in how the Android operating system works with text messages. And this is viewed on the Web as an effort by the search giant in the direction of direct competition with iMessage from Apple. More details on the new message were considered on the pages of the resource in a note by Hollis Johnson (Hollis Johnson).
RCS instead of SMS. What are the differences?
The Messages application from Google, which is the standard application for text communication in the most popular mobile operating system Android, as reported with a link to , will be called "Chat". As part of the software update, you will be able to send better photos, longer text messages and a number of other features that increase the interactivity between users of the most widely used OS for smartphones.
To date, the Android operating system uses standard SMS text messages. This format is characterized by a number of restrictions - on the number of letters in the message and multimedia (photo, video), which are very tightly compressed and look less impressive than would be desirable for users.
With the advent of Chat, the text communication of users of the Android operating system will become more similar to that characteristic of iMessage from Apple, an application that many users like very much.
New functions designed for text messages in the Android operating system will become available to users through the use of a new standard of text messages - RCS ("rich communications services", "communication services with broad capabilities"), or, more accurately, "Universal Profile for Rich Communication Services »(« a universal profile for communication services with wide opportunities »). If you describe the principle of the new standard briefly, it will suffice to say that RCS will, like iMessage from Apple, work with data networks, rather than with telephone networks that are used for traditional SMS text messages. This means that RCS messages will be sent within the amount of data transfer provided by the user's tariff plan, rather than the amount of SMS.
Chat will not become a new standard application for text communication in Android OS, but rather a set of additional functions. At the same time, an important feature is noted - Chat will be an operator service, not a Google service. The search giant, thus, creates not just a new messenger, but a new standard for text messages.
RCS will be sent only to devices that support the new standard
Moreover, as reported in addition, Google is working on the implementation of RCS with a number of notable vendors in the market for smartphones. Among them, Samsung, LG, Huawei and HTC.
What does this mean? If, for example, the user of Pixel starts sending a message to the user of Samsung Galaxy S9, then an RCS message with all the advantages of the new format will be transmitted. If the message is sent from Pixel to the device user who is not supported by RCS, the message will be sent as a standard SMS. Similarly, iMessage works by sending normal SMS messages to Android users.
RCS support in iPhone is not expected yet
It is also noted that Apple today is not included in the number of vendors of mobile devices that support the RCS format. And this means that the iPhone may not support RCS. Additionally, it is reported that RCS messages will not be as secure as iMessage messages - they will not use "end to end" encryption, which is an obstacle to reading the message by those to whom it was not intended.
Will Android devices become more attractive with RCS?
It should be noted that this is not a technology that will be implemented in the very near future. According to the message under consideration, the new format of text messages will appear in the Android operating system only next year.
To date, top-end smartphones running Android OS are quite expensive devices, and sometimes they cost more than a thousand dollars. A modern Android phone can have a great screen, enthralled by the camera and a capacious built-in drive, but it still uses the format of text messages, the basis of which was formed in the era of button phones.
And many users have always considered this as a flaw in the most popular OS for mobile devices. After all, in the meantime, iPhone users have long enjoyed the advanced text communication capabilities specific to the iMessage application. Google spent nearly a decade trying to find a solution and offer its alternative to third-party messengers.
Discuss the prospects for a new standard for text messages for Android readers can .
The article is based on materials .
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