Got the 3G iPhone, but can't get MMS messaging to work properly...

The iPhone does not have regular MMS. Your wife needs to send the picture to the email address you use on the iPhone. She would enter your email address in the TO field of her MMS client.

It should not incur data charges, but check with your provider.

Your scenario is a little off, here in Texas air conditioning is a necessity. On a different phone I used MMS 4 times in about 3 years so I wouldn't exactly call that a necessity. A better one would have been, "Can you imagine if BMW introduced a new care and didn't put HD Radio on it?" They don't, it is an option though. Perhaps someone will write an app that will make it an option on the iPhone.

It was well know that both generations of the iPhone did not have MMS.

cagecko wrote:
I wouldn't say it's 'well known' that they didn't have MMS...

no? i mean, now that you're on these discussion, had you spent just ONE day here, before you bought it, there is no doubt in my mind that you would have known.

I never really looked into the first gen iPhone due to the ridiculous pricing...

but you do realize you are paying MORE for the phone over the life of the plan with the 3G iphone? an additional $10 for data, and $5 fo the lowest texting plan?

What was Apple's reasoning for excluding this basic cell phone function/feature from such a great device???

Here's the way i look at it and am willing to say that this is apple's take. SMS/MMS is basically a simple version of e-mail. now, if you have a phone that has FULL email capabilities, why would you need MMS? or even SMS? MMS can be accomplished via email as easily as it can a traditional text message. its like saying you want mobile internet browser over the full thing (safari) on your iphone.

i'm willing to bet there will come a day where ALL phones will have email, and eventually, MMS will be something of the past.

It doesn't incur data charges. All she does is puts an email address in the TO field of her MMS.

Apple tends to be ahead of the curve in many ways. Years ago, they came out with a computer with no floppy drive (just a cd drive) and people were ranting how could Apple have overlooked such an obvious thing as a floppy drive.

E-mail works just as well and doesn't cost extra (mms plan,etc.)

Have your wife send the pic to e-mail - type in your e-mail address instead of phone number in the "To:" field. She should incur only the normal MMS fee.
You will recieve the pic in your e-mail.
Save the address that it came from and use it to e-mail a pic back.
You will incur no MMS charges as you did not use MMS. She will incur normal MMS charges.

The lack of MMS has been discussed in this forum thousands of times and since day one. I would consider it well known. It doesn't matter either way because e-mail is just as easy and is more versatile. For example, when you get an e-mail pic form someone's cell phone, it is also on your home computers e-mail so you can easily save it or view it from home.

I for one think this is great.

MMS is really a simple push email for mobile devices. The reason there is no MMS is that apple have push email services on the phone. MMS is realistically OLD technology. It was for when mobile phones could display a colour picture, but could not be connected to gprs constantly, and few people had an email address.

To push the message, the carrier sends an invisible sms to the phone, secretly telling it to connect and download the MM. Now that technology has advanced, anyone can send that sneaky SMS to your phone (certified of course) and ask it to connect to a service, like email. MMS is dead, and not required, the word just need to go out that you could ALWAYS enter the email address into the TO field in MMS, and there will be a revolution im mobile device use.

I couldn't agree more, and "mms" between iPhones couldn't be easier than it already is: oh wait they just added mobileMe which happens to make it even easier and faster. MMS is dead and we need to catch on so our carriers will lower prices to keep us happy.

Well unfortunately not every one has an iPhone or access to internet/email when away from home. Also the argument that Apple uses for not to including MMS feature with its so called iPhone, just because there is no need to when it can be email or because it is an old technology does not stand as all the phone on the Market today apart from the iPhone support MMS.

I know that the Moto of Apple is "Think Different", but in my opinion, by omitting to incorporate MMS and other features than most of us will take for granted and that you will found in very basic mobile such as the Nokia 6300, with the iPhone apple as just created a very expensive ipod/internet/game machine with a phone option.

lostintranslation is absolutely right. the problem is not so much iphone users sending mms but other phone users sending mms to us. i know very few people who know how to use email accounts on a mobile phone let alone send picture files using emails from a phone (especially girls).

And for the user who chastised another for not checking whether iphone's supported mms - why would he? no other phone on earth doesn't support it what possible reason can there be for such a basic feature not to be on the iphone? it would be like checking to see if it has vibrate 1st!

It's like Bluetooth. why have the function on the phone and then restrict it to use with a earpiece only?!! it doesn't make sense. Apple is supposed to be known for it's innovation but if someone sends a picture to my phone I have to turn on my computer, go to the website, enter my number and some arbitrary PIN, download the pic to my hard drive. then, because i cant just bluetooth it to my phone I have to connect it via USB to my computer, sync, and then drag the picture file from the hard drive to the iphone.

The method before this was just to by a stamp and post it! it's ridiculous. it's not like including sat nav capabilities, these are just basic universal phone functions you would actively have to choose not to include - like vibrate.

the question is why? it's so frustrating not to have these simple functions.

You don't need email on other cell phones to send or receive an MMS via email. In the To: field of an MMS client on a regular cell phone, the person just enters your email address instead of your phone number. The email the iPhone receives will have that person's "MMS email address" that you can send a picture to.

Well said, mrdynamite and lostintranslation. I am a huge Apple fan, have and use Mac computers at home and work, and have for years, as well as pretty much every other Apple product. No way I can defend Apple for leaving off MMS-its not like it's an unnecessary feature. You could argue why have SMS at all if you follow the argument that some of you are making--I mean, after all, you can email, right, so why offer that other option? The fact is, the iPhone has the ability to text AND the ability to email, and leaving off MMS (and cut and paste) are basics that consumers need and want.

Like I said, I love Apple, and I WANT to love my iPhone 3G, and I've been patient with the challenges for the last 2 months, but I am starting to feel as though I am paying Apple for the "privilege" of being a beta tester for it.

Tamara you are missing the point here, what we are disputing is that Apple iPhone, lack in most features that you can find in the most basic mobile for example. My current mobile is a Nokia 6300 this phone has for starter MMS, POP Email, Internet browsing, Video recording, MP3 player, Video Player, Bluetooth, option to add other 3rd parties applications. On the top of this it is fully compatible with iSync so I can synchronise iCal and my address book, I can also transfer video, pictures, 3rd parties application via bluetooth. Yet the iPhone which is supposed to be this great device that is at the cutting age of the mobile phone technology cannot handle any of this function unless connected to iTunes or to the internet. In fact I feel that more and more the iPod touch is a better alternative to the iPhone especially now that its price has dropped.

It's funny to here people say that MMS will soon be a thing of the past when peeps were saying that SMS will never get off the ground. why SMS when you can e-mail why SMS when you can call the person. yup heard it all. Now look SMS makes the world go round, and if you don't like don't use it- too easy. MMS is in the same boat it's the same thing as SMS but with pics,sound,or video. i miss the heck out of MMS. i'm a military man and i see all kinds of cool stuff that i want to snap a pic of and send it to my buds quick fast and in a hurry not access my e-mail and download and wait for them to get to a comp and access their e-mail- you get the idea e-mail is slow and stupid. i like things fast in my face with no delays and i want it now. what can i say i'm American, like the BK motto says my way right away.(mmm now i'm hungry)