PLEASE FIX in the next OTA

[Dejavoo]

Can you please fix this in the next OTA. The droid will not play any animated or video text messages. I have personally contacted Motorola and they told me that as of now the Droid does not support video or animated messages. I have also tried saving the animations and they won't even play once saved to the SD card. What happened my Motorola Razr had no problem playing video or animated messages. Please Fix this issue.

 

[BlairAllenVT]

Posting that info here probably isn't going to do any good towards getting this in the next OTA update. I seriously doubt Motorola, VZW, or even Google troll these boards looking for suggestions. You're better off trying to find support forums for the individual companies if you want your voice heard by them.

 

[Dejavoo]

I set up an account on Motorola's customer services and sent them an email with this technical issue. At the end I wrote if I have sent this to the wrong dept or person can you please direct me to whom I should send this to. Hopefully with persistence our voices will be heard.

 

[dezymond]

Good job bringing up the problem to Motorola. I'm sure they'll fix it in their next update, due next month I believe. Might want to send the problem to Google, since they are in charge of software. Be patient, they'll solve the problem.

 

[jaysonstaurt]

I was going to say, sounds more like a Google issue than a Motorola issue.

 

[JayMonster]

I can say with absolutely no authority what-so-ever that I would fully expect to NEVER see the video messages as you describe appearing on Android. Why? Because they are typically done with Quicktime... Apple Quicktime. What are the chances that Apple is going to allow that to be ported to Android?

Though personally, I have absolutely no use for the animated gif support and feel it is very retro, I understand that people still like to play games in this space like that, and so I would get behind any effort to bring that functionality to Android, even if it is through a 3rd party app like Handcent.

 

[J-Buck]

I can say with absolutely no authority what-so-ever that I would fully expect to NEVER see the video messages as you describe appearing on Android. Why? Because they are typically done with Quicktime... Apple Quicktime. What are the chances that Apple is going to allow that to be ported to Android?

Though personally, I have absolutely no use for the animated gif support and feel it is very retro, I understand that people still like to play games in this space like that, and so I would get behind any effort to bring that functionality to Android, even if it is through a 3rd party app like Handcent.

quicktime is on windows, and thats apples biggest competitor...

And video messaging should be a standard on any phone now days. my first clamshell phone could do that lol. never new cell phones used quicktime... u sure?

 

[JayMonster]

It is a different game on the desktop. As Microsoft has 90% marketshare, Apple needs Windows more than Windows needs QuickTime.

I am oversimplifying this a bit (as I said, I am no authority on this), and yes it is "standardized" in the 3gp spec. Quicktime is what Verizon recommends as a player (if you send a MMS to your e-mail you will get notification of this along with the e-mail, but there are probably other players that handle it as well. (a quick guess would be VLC). Since 3gp is based (at least in part) on MPG, those sort of movies probably can be incorporated (if they haven't been already), but GIF support is a whole other matter altogether.

GIF uses LZW compression, and that is patented (or was) owned by somebody (I want to say Sperry or Wang, but I am not sure). Thus it is not an "open" standard, it has to be licensed, and that brings with it a whole myriad of issues. That, and the fact that it caps out at 256 colors makes it a dinosaur and the reason far less people use it now.

 

[Sex Cells]

I can say with absolutely no authority what-so-ever that I would fully expect to NEVER see the video messages as you describe appearing on Android. Why? Because they are typically done with Quicktime... Apple Quicktime. What are the chances that Apple is going to allow that to be ported to Android?

Though personally, I have absolutely no use for the animated gif support and feel it is very retro, I understand that people still like to play games in this space like that, and so I would get behind any effort to bring that functionality to Android, even if it is through a 3rd party app like Handcent.

you honestly think the reason the droid cant take video is because it uses a quick time format?

besides, this is not a bug. its part of a strategy. the phone wouldve never been released with that kind of glaring functionality bug.

 

[medicTHREE]

Blackberry can do it and they are much more of a competitor to apple than the droid. BB has THE market share.

 

[Corinacakes]

I can say with absolutely no authority what-so-ever that I would fully expect to NEVER see the video messages as you describe appearing on Android. Why? Because they are typically done with Quicktime... Apple Quicktime. What are the chances that Apple is going to allow that to be ported to Android?

Though personally, I have absolutely no use for the animated gif support and feel it is very retro, I understand that people still like to play games in this space like that, and so I would get behind any effort to bring that functionality to Android, even if it is through a 3rd party app like Handcent.

maybe i'm even stupidier than i thought :icon_eek:but i've always got video on every other phone i've ever had except DROID. and NO i've never owned an iphone. does apple control the LG Dare? This is so annoying!! i miss my video mms'>O i thought it was some setting i couldn't figure out!! crap!

 

[RW-1]

And video messaging should be a standard on any phone now days. my first clamshell phone could do that lol. never new cell phones used quicktime... u sure?

Fact for anyone complaining about "my previous phone did ...: You no longer have a CELL PHONE...

So anything considered standard for a cell phone may or may not be applicable to android or other smartphone OS's.

 

[JayMonster]

you honestly think the reason the droid cant take video is because it uses a quick time format?

besides, this is not a bug. its part of a strategy. the phone wouldve never been released with that kind of glaring functionality bug.

No, I am providing another alternative "theory" since the stampede of "but my old cell phone could do that."

What most of the people that say this don't understand is those stupid little porn/joke mms messages they are forwarding each other are designed for that 1"x 1-1/2" screen and would ultimately look horrible on a smartphone.

They do not wish to accept that things worked this way on "my old Razr" because that was the only technology that was available to work in that environment.

They delude themselves into believing phones like they LG Dare, because they had a slightly larger screen actually was a Smart Phone (pretty impressive marketing Verizon... I guess you did loop in a few with that BS claim).

They do not wish to acknowledge and/or understand that GIF is antiquated and has been replaced everywhere else on the web by XML, AJAX, Flash and other things. That nobody uses GIF any longer.

But honestly, I am starting to realize that it is a futile attempt as those that want it, just want it... reasons and logic be damned... so, maybe somebody will write an app to appease them. (Though I doubt it since parts will have to be licensed, it almost certainly won't be free which will inevitably piss off some of them).

I give up.

 

[J-Buck]

And video messaging should be a standard on any phone now days. my first clamshell phone could do that lol. never new cell phones used quicktime... u sure?

Fact for anyone complaining about "my previous phone did ...: You no longer have a CELL PHONE...

So anything considered standard for a cell phone may or may not be applicable to android or other smartphone OS's.

Don't know where u been hiding all these years but video messaging is a standard. all phones should have that... Here's a history of my phones which all had it.

 

[BlairAllenVT]

you honestly think the reason the droid cant take video is because it uses a quick time format?

besides, this is not a bug. its part of a strategy. the phone wouldve never been released with that kind of glaring functionality bug.

No, I am providing another alternative "theory" since the stampede of "but my old cell phone could do that."

What most of the people that say this don't understand is those stupid little porn/joke mms messages they are forwarding each other are designed for that 1"x 1-1/2" screen and would ultimately look horrible on a smartphone.

They do not wish to accept that things worked this way on "my old Razr" because that was the only technology that was available to work in that environment.

They delude themselves into believing phones like they LG Dare, because they had a slightly larger screen actually was a Smart Phone (pretty impressive marketing Verizon... I guess you did loop in a few with that BS claim).

They do not wish to acknowledge and/or understand that GIF is antiquated and has been replaced everywhere else on the web by XML, AJAX, Flash and other things. That nobody uses GIF any longer.

But honestly, I am starting to realize that it is a futile attempt as those that want it, just want it... reasons and logic be damned... so, maybe somebody will write an app to appease them. (Though I doubt it since parts will have to be licensed, it almost certainly won't be free which will inevitably piss off some of them).

I give up.

Just because the technologies are antiquated still doesn't mean the Droid can't support it. And a few people (namely you) saying that it's not worth incorporating into a mobile OS doesn't outweigh the millions of cell phone customers out there that are capable of creating and sharing animated/video content.

This issue very much resembles the mind-boggling absence of MMS capabilities on the iPhone for AT&T customers (which, thank your personal god, it is fixed). I think the push needs to come from customer complaints to Verizon, who can then push Google to make it supported in the code of Android. Motorola, I don't believe, has anything to do with it since they've pretty much only made the hardware for Android OS to run on.