I was just curious, is moblie phone text messaging as rife in the rest of the world as it is in the UK?
For the record, we’re talking about (depending on who you believe and when you heard it) somewhere in the region of 40 to 50 million text messages per day across a population of 60 million, of whom something like 25 to 30 million own a mobile phone.
Crikey! I didn’t realise it was THAT many!
I’m betting that Japan trumps us. I’ll see what I can dig up.
While you’re digging, perhaps you could answer another question - how does text messaging work in the Japanese language, with all those kanji to deal with? Or do they just use hiragana/katakana (or even romaji?) when texting? Doesn’t this lead to ambiguity? I thought (although I could be wrong) that the same sequence of hiragana could be taken to mean many different words.
I don’t know; in any case, it turns out to be quite difficult to compare statistics on this as Japan seems to use a more advanced version of SMS that permits messages ten times the length of ours (which must surely have a bearing on the type and frequency of messages sent).
It’s a bit tedious to input Kanji, but not as bad as you might think. There are about 50 hiragana (phonetic characters) which you input using the 10 keys. After you input one word or phrase you hit “convert” and it gives you several possible kanji which corresponds to what you just typed. You just choose the right one. My cell phone is ancient (almost 2 years old) so I have to convert every few characters, but I imagine newer phones can convert whole sentences using context to make educated guesses.
The latest craze seems to be cell phones with built-in cameras, which can record and send images. Some can handle short movie clips. Are those popular in other countries too?
Photo messaging has just been launched over here in the UK with (AFAIK) two handsets available; one from Sony/Ericsson, where the camera module is detachable, the other from Nokia, where the camera is built-in and the keypad slides out from under the body; I’m sure it will take off as soon as the handset prices come down.
The (only?) positive thing about texting now is the 'phones with word recognition that make it easier to type whole words and proper sentences rather than d0 u wan2 go 2 c pix 2nite?, or some such other derivation of shortcuts that were destroying our language. (IMHO)
It’s weird that whenever you read about “txtese”, people always say something like “Because messages are limited to 160 characters, an abbreviated language has developed”. Be honest, how often do you get anywhere near 160 characters in a text message? Very rarely (in my case anyway) - the maximum length has nothing to do with it. Its laZns pure+smpl.
Source:Statistics Finland, Mobile Phones and Computer as Parts of Everyday Life in Finland
That was two years ago, when the costs were higher and the users fewer. In 2001 it was 1,2 billion text messages per year with a population of 5 million.
160 characters isn’t that much, not at least in Finnish. English is much more effective in shorthand and when using Finnish I often find myself out of space. 160 characters hasn’t been a real limit for a long time, but as you have to pay for each unit it makes you limit the lenght.
I’m probably gonna get flamed for this, but…
Why do you want to type out words with a telephone keypad? Why not just talk?
It’s a telephone, isn’t it?
I read of a system (coming soon) whereby you could dictate your messages - the phone would recognise it and turn it into text; the phone at the other end would turn the text into speech with a sophisticated voice synthesiser.
A phone that enables people to vocally talk to each other? Oh brave new world!
For one thing, you can do it in places where cell phones are frowned upon or unusable, like public transport. It can also be a lot cheaper than a phone call. Besides that, it’s the same reasons you’d use e-mail at your desk instead of the phone: less intrusive, can be sent at any hour, less chance of confusion or ambiguities, recipient doesn’t need to write down info, etc.
By the way, if text messaging isn’t popular in your area, you should be glad. I just saw a guy reading a message on his cell phone while riding a bike. :eek:
I used to hate txt messaging until I got my Plam Pilot which can sned txt msgs via Infrared to my phone. Input is now a hell of a lot easier and I can write REAL sentences
I read an article recently that text messaging is really popular with the deaf, especially deaf college students (which makes sense, because everyone else is on a cell phone at college - why not them?) 
It’s just as common in Australia. One website reports 200 million messages per month. That’s from a population of 19 million.
BTW, I love the SMS-style title of this thread. 
Another reason is that the person doesn’t have to be there to receive the message, sort of like sending an e-mail.
And another - I get 600 free messages a month with my 'phone rental. As calls are 35p / min. it makes economic sense to text rather than call. For me anyhow.
Oh, and I have been known to write SMS messages while driving. Yeah, it’s terrible and I’ve stopped myself now.
Incidentally, all the little letters on my phone keypad have worn away. I rely on finger memory to t
… to hit the correct keys.
Stupid enter key submitting posts for me.