Sunday 8 February 2015

The mobile phone emoticons that could wipe the smile off your face :-(

Title: The mobile phone emoticons that could wipe the smile off your face :-(


Summary:
This article is about how Users of some older smartphones including those from Samsung and reportedly Apple and HTC are finding that when they send a text message that includes a smiley face or other emoticon, the handset converts the SMS to a picture message.

Facts/Phrases:
Ø  “The problem is that MMS is stuck in a time warp,” said Ernest Doku, a telecoms expert at uswitch.com. “You have now got lots of data-driven services, such as WhatsApp, where people can send messages that are as long as they like with low charges.
Ø  Britain’s biggest network, EE, charges 40p for an MMS, compared with 12p for a standard text. Three charges 31p for an MMS and 2p for an SMS on its pay-as-you-go tariff.
Ø  The case of a woman who racked up a £1,200 bill over four months through the use of emoticons in texts.
Ø  In a recent survey into unexpectedly high bills the watchdog found that 4% of the 5,700 people surveyed said they had received a high bill caused by unexpected charges for emoticons.

Opinion:

In conclusion, this a very intriguing article as it shows how even new and digital media can backfire, and fall flat on its face causing issues with sending simple emoji’s on an SMS. That fact that phones can rack up $1,200 bill just by doing something simple. 

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