The Basics

Open up your Messaging app, and if you've got SMS messages, you'll see them. Messages you've read have a gray tint, while unread messages are white with bold sender names. If the sender is in your Contacts list, you'll see their actual name, and a picture, if they've posted one through Google or you've created one for them.

SMS Inbox

Quick Contact Menu

As with the Gmail/Email apps and home screen icons, you can click on the thumbnail picture of anyone in your Messaging inbox to pull up a quick menu of contact options—calling their primary number, seeing their contact, sending a text message back, or sending a message by Gmail/Email or Facebook.

SMS Action Menu

Hit Menu on the Main messaging screen, and you'll get options to write a new message, wipe out your inbox with "Delete threads," pull off an all-message search, or check your settings. The Search option is pretty darned neat, especially if you're an inbox hoarder. You can dig through all your SMS messages to see who sent you that note about the really good burger, and pull it up in seconds. The settings we'll explain a bit further down. For now, let's look at a message itself, whether composed new or opened up for a reply.

Writing and Replying to Messages

Replying to a Message

If you press-and-hold on the message itself, you'll get a few message options: Lock message (prevent it from being deleted in "Delete threads" wiping), Call, Forward, Copy message text (for later pasting), View message details (including exact receiving time), and Delete message.

Press Menu and there are further options, including calling the sender and deleting this "thread," which includes the message and all subsequent replies. "Insert smiley" automates the process of adding punctuation in sequence to create a facial expression ("Bummer about your broken arm :-(" or "Totally ate your last cookie! ;-P", perhaps). The "More" button brings up options to show all threads in a conversation if some have been hidden for space, and add the sender to your Contacts, if they're not known to your phone.

MMS Messages

"Attach" and "Add subject" do something somewhat specific: they convert the message into an MMS, or Multimedia Messaging Service, message.

Attach MMS Options

The Attach button is where all the cool stuff is tucked away. You can attach a picture, video, or audio file you've already got on your phone, or throw in an entire photo Gallery if you're feeling like your cellphone connection couldn't be better. Or you can use "Capture picture/video" or "Record audio" options to turn on your camera or microphone for the express purpose of grabbing a shot/film/sound just to send to somebody.

One thing to note about MMS messages, and messages with attachments: your cellular carrier likely charges you extra for them, above and beyond what you pay for standard SMS messages. It might be a pittance (25 cents per message on my T-Mobile plan, for example), but getting addicted to showing your friends every moment of your new kitten's life will quickly get expensive. Consider using your very web-connected phone to send those pictures as email instead.

The HTC Messaging App

HTC's own SMS app, "Messages," is fairly similar to Google's own Messaging, and operates much the same way. The big differences are the "Quick text" offering, which lets you save snippets of text that you'd use all the time in SMS messaging ("Driving, call you later," maybe, or "See you there") for quick pasting into any message. The search function is also tucked behind the "More" menu in the composition mode, and the whole app keeps the feel of the Sense interface.

Motorola's Messaging

The Messaging app on the Droid X and other Motorola phones is, if anything, more minimalist than Google's own fairly stripped-down app. Fewer options, but you can still get the basic SMS/MMS material across.

One more note about the Messaging app itself on Motorola's Droid phones: it's more than just an SMS center—it's a way to see every message that's come your way over email, SMS, Twitter, Facebook, or other accounts.

Droid Universal Inbox

To see all your messages from across all streams, hit the icon for "Universal Inbox." You'll see Gmail messages, direct messages through Twitter and Facebook, email from your other accounts, and SMS messages. You can choose "Text Messaging" from the main menu to read and send messages, but at any point, you can also hit the "+" button in the upper-right corner to create a new message, and choose text message to start composing an SMS.

The built-in Messaging app doesn't seem all that new, different, or Google-y from a glance—and Google Voice is, in some ways, the better way to go with an Android phone—but it's all the other features of your phone that make Messaging more convenient than with a "chiclet" phone: voice input, alternative swipe-style keyboards, copy/paste between SMS and other apps, and good apps for sending and viewing pictures, audio, and video.

Onward we move, to the magic of voice commands, the awesomeness of Google Voice, and, finally, the very cool stuff you can find in the Market.

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