MMS Tips on the iPhone 3G and 3GS

There are several things included in the iPhone 3.0 MMS release that users may not be aware of until they start flexing the application. The key here is that you can send much more than photos. Information from your Contacts can be sent via MMS by touching the Share Contact button when viewing entry details.

Similarly, touching the share button in Voice Memos will give the option to send via MMS or email. The iPhone 3GS will send video using MMS, although it will severely degrade the size and quality. This helps to insure the video will play on smaller and older phones.

The maximum length of a video sent this way will be limited by the iPhone to around one minute. If the video you intend to send is too long you will be prompted to trim the clip down. iPhone users who are sending video to other iPhone users should send by email to preserve quality.

Photos look better than video in MMS, but they are still degraded (1024x768) compared to original images (2048x1536). In fact, it's possible to send full-resolution photos by cutting and pasting from the Camera Roll directly into email.

The convenience of sending photos and text using MMS makes it a good option when sending an email is too much work. When selecting the camera icon in the Messaging app, the option to choose an existing photo or take a photo is presented.

Note that if you take a new photo directly in the Messaging app and send it via MMS, the photo will only appear in that conversation. The photo can be saved to the Camera Roll if you tap the image in the conversation, tap the share icon in the lower left hand corner and select Save Image.

Getting too many boring photos from all of your friends? You can even turn off MMS by touching Settings -> Messages -> MMS Messaging -> OFF.