Guide to Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS)

Mobile phone technology is constantly evolving, and the standard 160 character text messages of SMS have developed into simple media messages, consisting of pictures, animations, melodies, and styled text. This is known as Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS).

EMS technology comes midway between SMS (Short Messaging Service) and MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service). Whilst MMS is designed for use with the new 3G networks, EMS can be used within the current GSM infrastructure. The receiving mobile must have EMS enabled; otherwise the received message will be displayed as a plain SMS text.

An EMS message can have far more impact than a plain SMS, allowing you to add personal touches to messages, or to send and receive wallpapers, screensavers and ringtones. The message may contain just one or all of these sound, picture, text or animation elements; however,if the message exceeds the length of a single SMS (160 bit), then it will be made up of a number of concatenated SMS messages.