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by ryukafalz 2042 days ago
>Is Linux a viable option as mobile OS?

As someone in the US, I would have to say no, for one reason:

None of the mobile Linux distros yet support group texts (reliably, anyway). If someone sends you a group text, you won't see it. (The only distro that seems to have partial support for it is Ubuntu Touch, and there it seems incomplete; sometimes I would receive group messages and sometimes not. I missed a few important ones this way.)

This is probably only relevant to those in the US as I understand MMS is not as prevalent elsewhere.
1 comments
ptx 2042 days ago
> This is probably only relevant to those in the US as I understand MMS is not as prevalent elsewhere.

I've heard this a few times in connection with the Pinephone, but we certainly do use MMS in Europe.

I seem to recall, assuming my memory is at all reliable, that when the iPhone first launched, Europeans were complaining about the lack of MMS and Americans were saying it wasn't a problem because everyone should just use e-mail.

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ryukafalz 2042 days ago
2007 was a different time. (A time when almost nobody had smartphones - how foreign is that from today's perspective?) Have a look at the plan available in the US for the iPhone at the time: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2007/06/26AT-T-and-Apple-Anno...

200 SMS messages (MMS counts here too), unlimited data. Now look at today's: https://www.att.com/plans/wireless/

Even the cheapest plan has unlimited SMS and effectively unlimited MMS as a result. Whether it's used more because it's included or whether it's included because it's used more (probably a bit of both)... I don't think 2007 is a useful reference point for what people expect from their phones today.

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ptx 2041 days ago
The cheapest plan on that page is $30. I get unlimited MMS on my $17 plan in Europe, so I don't see how the pricing would make MMS more prevalent in the US than in Europe.

Do you have a reference supporting the idea that MMS is mostly relevant to the US and not the rest of the world? It doesn't match up with my experience, but maybe my family and friends are atypical.

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