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takyon writes:

Android will implement new texting features:

As promised earlier this year, Google is bringing RCS – Rich Communications Service, an upgrade to the SMS standard – to Android devices. Its first carrier partner on the initiative is Sprint, which is rolling out RCS messaging to its customers with Android devices, starting today. Once enabled, RCS will offer Android users an enhanced messaging experience over SMS, with features like better group chats, high-resolution photo sharing, read receipts and typing indicators.

[...] For consumers who gain access to the new messaging experience on Sprint Android phones, they'll be able to take advantage of features that rival Apple's iMessage or other third-party messaging apps. For example, though MMS today supports group messaging, you can't do some of the things people now expect – like naming the group, adding new members, or leaving an existing group. That will change with RCS. [...] RCS, as a technology, has been around since 2007, but it has only been launched by 49 carriers worldwide, according to the GSMA. However, the organization says that Sprint is the first to launch the new RCS profile initiative – the other launches involved older iterations on the standard.

Google announcement.

Rich Communication Services

Original Submission