Speaker 1: Android devices finally get their own I message I'm rich
Speaker 1: jamiro this is rich on tech. Daily texting on an
Speaker 1: iPhone is a complete joy. You can see when messages
Speaker 1: are delivered, when they're read, and you can even send
Speaker 1: large pictures and videos with ease. Now, I might not
Speaker 1: agree with how I message hijacks your phone number to
Speaker 1: do all this, but it works for millions of people
Speaker 1: and they love it. I'm like Android, where texting is
Speaker 1: a total mess case in point, you have no idea
Speaker 1: if your messages are ever delivered or seen. Pictures are
Speaker 1: sent as tiny attachments, and don't even start with videos.
Speaker 1: They look so bad on the other end, you might
Speaker 1: as well have taken them on a phone in the nineties. Now,
Speaker 1: Google says it has finally figured things out with a
Speaker 1: new service called Chat. And before you say no way,
Speaker 1: I am not signing up for yet another Google messaging
Speaker 1: app or a new service, the good news is you
Speaker 1: don't have to. That's because Chat is not a new app.
Speaker 1: It's a new set of texting standards that carriers around
Speaker 1: the world are now finally agreeing to think of it
Speaker 1: as texting two point zero. Chat is the friendly consumer
Speaker 1: facing household name but on the back end, it's really
Speaker 1: OURCS or rich Communication services. Google has been talking it
Speaker 1: up for years, but it seems like they finally got
Speaker 1: the support of major carriers here in the US, including
Speaker 1: AT and T, Verizon, Sprint, and T Mobile, plus dozens
Speaker 1: around the world. Now The Verge has the full, long
Speaker 1: and exclusive story, but basically, Google is going to pause
Speaker 1: work on its other chat app called Alo to go
Speaker 1: all in on support for Chat on Android phones, specifically
Speaker 1: with an app called Android Messages. Chat is going to
Speaker 1: let you see when people read your texts and when
Speaker 1: they're typing back. Plus you can group text with ease
Speaker 1: and send full resolution pictures and videos. There is one
Speaker 1: big change. All of your messages will now be sent
Speaker 1: using data instead of your text messaging allowance, So if
Speaker 1: you send a giant video, it's going to use up
Speaker 1: your data. Hopefully apps will have resolution options for when
Speaker 1: it comes to sending pictures and videos, and if someone
Speaker 1: on the other end does not have support yet for Chat,
Speaker 1: your message will just default back to the typical SMS.
Speaker 1: One thing Chat will not have is end to end encryption.
Speaker 1: A lot of people are talking about this online. This
Speaker 1: means that someone could theoretically intercept your messages and see
Speaker 1: what you're sending or receiving. But today's SMS doesn't offer
Speaker 1: that protection either. I Message does. That's why people are
Speaker 1: talking about it, but again that's a proprietary system. Chat
Speaker 1: will be available to any wireless carrier around the world,
Speaker 1: and I have a feeling once this ball gets rolling,
Speaker 1: it's going to be a pretty quick pickup because terrible
Speaker 1: texting is one of the big disadvantages of Android versus iPhone.
Speaker 1: And think about it. These carriers and these networks, they
Speaker 1: want to sell phones, and they don't want to just
Speaker 1: sell iPhones, they want to sell all phones. So the
Speaker 1: question remains, will Chat work with iPhones? So far, Apple
Speaker 1: is not saying but there's really no technical reason why
Speaker 1: they couldn't add the functionality to their phones. But there
Speaker 1: are a lot of reasons why Apple might not want
Speaker 1: to get on board I Message, which is a major
Speaker 1: lock in feature for iPhone users. Once they get used
Speaker 1: to it, it works everywhere on their iPad, on their iPhone,
Speaker 1: on their Mac computer, it's really tough for them to
Speaker 1: give this service up. So when is this magic gonna happen?
Speaker 1: Google says hopefully this year. Keep in mind. Google has
Speaker 1: been talking about RCS for a while now, but now
Speaker 1: that all these agreements are in place and they did
Speaker 1: this big interview with the Verge, it's just a matter
Speaker 1: of time before the switches are flipped. Sprint already has
Speaker 1: support for the service between two compatible Android phones. T
Speaker 1: Mobile promises support in the second quarter of this year,
Speaker 1: but Verizon and AT and T haven't really given a
Speaker 1: solid timeline at first. The main app to support all
Speaker 1: this rich texting functionality will be Android Messages, but apparently
Speaker 1: Samsung's messaging app will also have support, and there will
Speaker 1: be a desktop version of the apps. You can finally
Speaker 1: send and receive text from your computer without a lot
Speaker 1: of workarounds. It is unclear if third party apps like
Speaker 1: my current favorite, which is called Pulse SMS, will be
Speaker 1: able to handle the new rich functionality. But finally, it
Speaker 1: is about time an modern texting experience gets in the
Speaker 1: hands of all cell phone users, not just iPhone folks.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening. If you like the show,
Speaker 1: please leave a review. I'm Rich Jamiy. You can find
Speaker 1: links to everything I mentioned here. Just go to richon
Speaker 1: tech dot tv. I'll talk to you real soon.