texting

Chip has trouble texting to radio stations using Google Voice. It keeps getting bounced back. Leo says it's likely because the service that the radio stations use doesn't support it. Until they do, there's not much he can do.

Marty uses WhatsApp with his family, but when he gets a call from someone, it has been displaying the wrong contact. Leo says that WhatsApp looks to the phone's contacts in order to identify who's in it. Marty's personal number may have gotten added to another contact, and all he needs to do is delete his number from that specific contact and it should be fine. Leo says it's probably just a messed up database.

John is a DJ for weddings and clubs. He's looking for software that would allow clients to text him without knowing his real number. Leo says that there were some products that don't work anymore, but getting a Google Voice account would work perfectly. They could text the Google Voice number and he can set it up to forward it to his mobile phone.

Noah just got a new Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Android phone and the emoji's are "disgustingly ugly." Leo says that yes, Samsung's emoji's are ugly and the problem is that there is no standard or specification of how they are drawn. Noah can check out iEmoji.com to see how they look from platform to platform. There's also EmojiPedia.org. And everyone has their own look.

Peter has the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 but he wants to still use his iPhone as well. But because his phone number is registered with iMessages, he can't get the text messages from his Apple friends when he's using his Android phone. Leo says that it annoys him that iMessage isn't cross platform. Peter can go to this site that Apple has set up, input his number, and Apple will turn off iMessage to that number. That way, all the messages he gets will be through SMS.

Jay is complaining that he sends off a text message and it doesn't arrive until several hours later. Leo says it's a common complaint. Sometimes it's intercarrier, and that could be communication issues between the two.

Jennifer's text messages show up hours and sometimes even days late. Leo says that isn't a problem with her cell phone, but her service. He advises contacting their technical support and telling them. The chatroom says that if she goes into the Sprint store, she'll get better results. She also should try restarting her phone by powering it off and then turning it back on again.

Dennis is older and he's a bit overwhelmed by all the technology. He owns a business and he has to use an email device that texts. Leo suggests the Samsung Galaxy Note II because it's a phone with email and is large enough for reading. Leo got one for his mother and she loves it.

Pam is trying to use the iPod to text. She can't use anything other than Skype and Leo says that Skype has texting built in. Leo also says that there are plenty of other apps out there including WhatsApp, Google Voice, and TalkaTone.