Droid X: The Missing Manual

Text Messaging

What! You say you use your Droid X to talk on? That’s so early twenty-first century! By 2008, as reported by the Nielsen Mobile research group, the average mobile phone user sent and received more text messages than phone calls—357 text messages a month compared with 204 calls. Fittingly, the Droid X is a messaging monster. Not only can you send and receive plain old text messages, but you can send and receive pictures and videos along with them as well.

When you send text messages, you use the SMS (Short Message Service), which limits you to 160 characters (including spaces and punctuation), which comes out to a sentence or two. That may sound short, but in a world where Twitter limits you to messages of 140 characters, 160 characters can suddenly seem like a lot of space.

Text messaging doesn’t come free. With Verizon, you have a choice of paying per message (typically 20 cents per text message and 25 cents per video or picture message), or from among a variety of monthly plans that range from $5 per month for 250 text, picture, and video messages, up to $20 per month for unlimited messaging.

Note

The charges for text messaging are for messages you receive as well as those you send.

Receiving a Text Message

When you get a text message, the Droid X plays the familiar robot-like “Droid!” notification sound. What happens next depends upon whether the phone is active or asleep.

• If you’re using the phone, a text message icon appears in the Notification area, along with the ...