14 DAY TRIAL // Texting on a Windows 10 Mobile device could soon receive a major overhaul, as Microsoft is working to add support for Rich Communication Services.
The feature, which has recently been spotted running on Lumia devices connected to Vodafone UK, allows two contacts to chat with each other using rich notifications, such as the ones displayed when the recipient is typing or they have just read your message.
The text indicators are displayed in real time, GMR Tec reports, and are very similar to those provided by WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, for instance, but will soon be available for SMS messages too.
Still carrier-dependent
While Rich Communication Services will indeed be supported on Windows 10 Mobile devices, it’s still up to carriers to offer it to customers in their networks. A number of companies are already supporting this technology, including AT&T and T-Mobile, but under different names (AT&T, for instance, calls it Advanced Messages).
In Windows 10 Mobile, when Rich Communications Services is enabled, the text mode is changed from the standard SMS text to SMS Chat, so you should be able to see when your contact is typing or when they receive your message.
In a FAQ on the Windows 10 page, Microsoft confirms the feature and says that carriers need to support it for a Windows 10 Mobile device to allow SMS chat:
“If your mobile operator offers a chat service, your messages to certain contacts may be sent using that service, and you’ll see chat instead of text in your Messaging app. If you expect to see chat but don’t, try going to Messaging settings to turn it on.”
Most likely, in order to get this new feature, Windows 10 Mobile devices will also require a firmware update, which will be shipped by each carrier when they enable Rich Communications Services. It remains to be seen how many W10M customers will actually get to experience it.
