Arrive - Texting 160 Char Limit bugged in Mango?

[mock19]

Just noticed you can type more than 160 charcters and then you get a warning that it's too long and you need to manually delete text. Is this working as intended with mango or a bug?

 

[tiny]

I would say that is still very much a Sprint specific firmware level bug. This also existed in my unbranded Mango version.

 

[Baka]

Sprint is so dumb.

We can write more than 160 characters now. BUT, a message appears beneath the text, saying "Message is too long 209/160" ( or the # of characters you are using/160. ) It greys out the send option.

C'mon Sprint. Fix this!!!!

 

[itsall4tay]

Go into messaging, there is a setting called group text. Turn it on. It says is groups larger text as MMS. This should help.

 

[Baka]

nope. Group Text is on, but I still get the "Message is too long 181/160 characters" error.

Very aggravating.

 

[comwom]

Sprint Palm Pre- automatically split long texts into multiple SMS. I don't think it's a Sprint thing since they make you basically buy unlimited text with a smartphone anyway, right? I think this is a WP7 problem unless someone else knows of a WP7 phone that does automatically split up long texts.

 

[theman60099]

I've gotten into the habit of just hitting send then keep typing as this way the recipient is more likely to get the message and in the right order. I also use Facebook chat more and more too

 

[johnmcd348]

I was wondering myself if there was a hack or even a legit program that would do the same as my older TP2 did where it would automatically split the text and send it as 2(or more) messages if you went over the 160 character limit. I was hoping this was simply an oversight or bug with the original OS that would have been worked out with the update. You would think it would have been one of those things MS got in their feedback from users over time. Oh well.

 

[kg4icg]

Thing is the 160 character limit on CDMA texting has never been a bug. Don't even know why people think it is.

 

[coasterfreak212]

Okay, I made a thread about this way back when the Arrive first came. I got my arrive day of release and it has been there.

Here's my adventure with it:

Contacted HTC, Microsoft, and Sprint. Unfortunately from all of them, I got the low level support stating it was a problem with Sprint. Sprint forwarded me to HTC. They also claimed that the autosplit was an "error on the manual" because the manual says it can do it, but it cannot.

Back in NoDo, it would just stop typing at 160. But with the first Mango beta, it now let you type past it, but didn't let you send, that's still current today.

I made a thread about it on Microsoft Answers with people still answering about it and basically reiterating the same things over and over again. But the current "answer" is from a guy who says he works for sprint and they are currently working on getting the issue fixed.

So... why is it a sprint problem? Here's the thing, Verizon also uses CDMA and can split the messages just fine (ask anyone with a trophy). While the Sprint Palm Pre (still have mine) split the text messages, you can see that it delays it and marks (1/X) for each of them, depending on how many you send. If you notice, however, this does NOT happen on the Verizon Palm Pre.

The way the networks handle SMS is different, even though they are both CDMA. CDMA does have a problem with more than 160 characters due to the nature of the network and how it handles the request. This problem is also current on the US Cellular Arrive, which is also a CDMA network.

Now my educated theory is that Sprint's and US Cellular's Network uses the CDMA 1xRTT to manage their SMS service and this doesn't handle characters past 160 very well. This is why the Sprint Palm Pre resorts to sending 2 messages in a delayed fashion.

Now why is this not current in Verizon? well Verizon's CDMA does NOT use 1xRTT. It just uses 1x which doesn't support data transfers. My theory is that they use their EV-DO networks to manage txting, and thusly, can manage more than 160 characters.

This is all just theory with what I've found over the time with the Arrive.

Now here's where I think things get funky. I believe Microsoft is not willing to implement a delayed txt message system and/or can't implement it into the current way it send txts. Thus why that employee said "Sprint's working with Microsoft to get it fixed"

So who's to blame? Neither Sprint, nor Microsoft, nor HTC. The person to blame is the situation. Microsoft's SMS system was designed with GSM in mind and Sprint's network was designed for compatibility in mind. The result is a new technology that doesn't work with something that is standardized for a network. (Before you go on about how Sprint should just implement their SMS system into their EV-DO network, their Nextel Phones, which are used by a fair majority of their customers, rely on the 1xRTT for data support. They can't just simply change it.)

So the best thing we can hope for is that Microsoft develops a delayed system to send the txt messages. Which I believe would be the easiest route, as it seems like something that can logically be scripted ("If more than 160 characters, cut by the difference, delay the 2nd message, and send")

Here are some links for your reading fancy:

160 Character limit for txt messages on HTC Arrive? - Microsoft Answers

Sprint Nextel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://forums.windowscentral.com/htc-arrive-htc-7-pro/177651.htm

 

[coasterfreak212]

Also, many people report that the Sprint Google Nexus S 4G also has the same exact problem for a similar reason. The Nexus S is Google's software child and doesn't have any Samsung software influence. Android, in it's true form, does NOT support characters over 160. Technically, no network does, not even GSM. Each carrier and phone manufacturer makes workarounds weather it be delaying the txts or sending it as an MMS instead which has support for 1000 characters. In this case, the Epic uses MMS, yet the Epic is the same base phone as the Nexus S.

For example, the Palm Pre delay, and the BlackBerries send MMS. Now the problem with MMS is that it is treated as a "picture mail" to people without data plans. This was an issue when Mango introduced group txt and used MMS to thread the convos. Whenever my friend without a data plan got a group txt from me he would reply "I don't have a data plan, so stop trying to send me pics".

My extended theory is that Microsoft is relucatant to implement a delayed message system because it makes the phone appear slow, and they've been putting so much emphasis on making a fast and sleek experience. The only thing we can hope for is that Microsoft implements a delayed system.

And unfortunately, from my insiders at Microsoft and with Sprint, they don't care about fixing the 160 character issue. Since the Arrive isn't doing so well, they aren't going to put money into fixing the issue. Sprint overall is not pleased with Windows Phone and is reluctant to obtain a new one. They feel that it'll turn out like the Palm Pre. Sprint is putting sole emphasis on Android as it is their only sellers and then they're going to rely on the iPhone to support them.

It's all sad, and I'm hopping I'm wrong, but that is what my sources tell me, and it's not hard to believe. We can only hope that things will change.

I'm personally hoping Nokia makes some crazy good WP7 device and pushes it to all carriers. They already said they want to release a CDMA phone when they release their GSM phone. The only thing we can do no is wait it out and see.

 

[t3istar]

Problem Texting to Multiple addresses

I have an HTC Arrive with Mango (7.5) installed. While I have had success sending a Text message to 3 or 4 contacts, half of the time I get an error message Cannot send message -- try again. If I send the same message one at a time all is OK -- Is there a setting that may have changed. And is there a full manual for MANGO.

After Posting this message, I tried a few settings changes and the one that worked was to turn off message settings SMS Delivery Confirmation and group text. While the latter sounds like an Oxymoron, turning off group text allowed to send a text to multiple recipients.

I welcome any comments ot alternate recommendations.

Thanks

 

[Devilstar]

I am like you coaster, I hope to see more WP on sprint. I have a friend who is an outside sales rep for HTC and I am constantly bugging him to get HTC to make a titan like phone with 4g and expandable memory for sprint... And since im sure your the one who posted on my LED thread (which is where we did a lot of talking on the 160 issue) he said he could push a ticket for the led issue up for me.. I haven't had him do it yet... Since I wanna see if we get a new phone for sprint first...

I like others have learned to just tap send and then keep typing... I wish pressing the enter button on the physical keyboard would send texts though.