Summer’s end is nearing, and AT&T’s promise to roll out support for MMS (multimedia messaging service) on the iPhone hasn’t been fulfilled. I can’t say I’m among the legions of MMS devotees—e-mail works fine for my needs (thanks for supporting multiple photo attachments with the 3.0 software, Apple!)—but MMS does have its benefits.
Quip – Send Photo Texts aims to bypass the lack of MMS by sending what it calls “photo texts.” For starters, that’s not exactly true. Messages sent through Quip only contain links, not photos, even to phones that support MMS.
I found that Quip sent texts lightning fast—once I could overcome the program’s bugs. Startup is sluggish, partly because the app starts the camera by default. After taking a photo or using a library image, you’ll select a recipient (you’ll also enter a reply number since the text comes from Quip’s service). The bugs start here: The contact list will only show shortcuts through the letter S and I had to restart the program several times before the keypad would show all the numbers.
After selecting a contact, you have the option to add text to your photo. However, most of the time the keyboard doesn’t appear complete, a serious issue. Typically, it’s just the spacebar row missing, but on one occasion the only row that popped up was QWERTY. When this happens the only solution I found was to restart the app. Annoying.
If you’re in desperate need for MMS-esque texting, Quip is an option, but I’ll personally keep waiting for AT&T’s support—it’s coming soon, right?
