We've had good success merging MMS contributions recently, which tells
me that the code structure hasn't changed significantly between the
AOSP master and Google's internal tree.
Based on that, it's reasonable to start working on MMS improvements in
the current AOSP code. That way, after the next Android version gets
released in AOSP, you'll have a good head start, and you'll be able to
quickly rebase your work there, and get it reviewed while the gap
between AOSP and Google's internal tree is minimal.
JBQ
On Wed, Jun 6, 2012 at 3:57 PM, Robert Nye <
rober...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Android needs Group MMS support added to AOSP very badly. IPhone,
> Blackberry, and Windows Phone all support this functionality natively, and
> when Android users encounters these messages it is handled very poorly.
>
> Currently, when a Group MMS is received, it shows up in an individual
> contact's thread and not in a group thread. If the user replies to the
> message, a single SMS is sent only to the specific contact that the MMS came
> from. You can access the info of the message and see that it was sent to
> mutliple numbers, yet Android does not currently sort it into a group
> thread. Also, when sending a message to multiple contacts, multiple SMS
> messages are sent out, one to each contact, instead of one group MMS.
>
> The result from poorly handled group MMS is a jumble of multiple threads,
> and no clear way of communication. This is frustrating for many users,
> especially when group MMS is relied upon as a way to communicate. I believe
> this can and needs to be solved and integrated into AOSP. OEM's such as
> Motorola add this functionality to their custom versions of Android, so it
> is possible. Verizon Messages is the only 3rd party app that currently
> handles Group MMS reliably, but it does not work on all handsets and ROMS,
> and has a terrible UI.
>
> So, what we need is Group MMS to be correctly sorted into threads, and a
> Reply to All setting. I suggest adding a setting in the stock messaging
> application that the user can check to "Reply to All" with a group MMS,
> which means all messages sent to multiple users will be sent out as Group
> MMS and all incoming Group MMS will be kept in the same thread. This way the
> user can turn on and off the functionality based on their needs or
> capabilities.
>
> There are a great number of Android users, mostly Nexus and AOSP ROM users,
> that have been looking for a solution for this for a while. I created an
> issue over at
code.google.com (here) which got an amazing amount of traction
> but hasn't received any official response. Thanks to Jean-Baptiste Queru for
> pointing me here, and I hope this can be solved ASAP!
>
> Thanks,
> Robert
>
--
Jean-Baptiste M. "JBQ" Queru
Software Engineer, Android Open-Source Project, Google.
Questions sent directly to me that have no reason for being private
will likely get ignored or forwarded to a public forum with no further
warning.