I declared previously that the 2007 holiday season would be the year of the MMS taking over. We’re all familiar with the generic, corny SMS messages that get sent about during the Holidays, and I was hoping that this year, we’d go multimedia and add pics or short video clips to the fun.

I tried, I really did. It *could* have been my phone, I’ll admit. Using my N95, I created a very simple MMS with an image of me and my fiance, with a short message. Nothing too fancy. I then proceeded to add everyone in my address book (~235, thanks to a recent cleaning) and press send, like I do with SMS. Not so fast, says the phone. I can’t send to that many recipients at once. However, I wasn’t informed as to how many I *could* send to. By trial and error, I found that I could do 5 at a time. No thanks, so I switched back to the trusty SMS to get my holiday cheer across.

I found this really disturbing, though. Why can’t I send an MMS to more than 5 people? To this point, I can understand why the iPhone doesn’t have MMS. It’s such a limited way to share media. MMS is capped at 300KB, and apparently can only be sent to a limited number of people at one time. The only reason it’s preferred over email is because the carriers count it as a message, rather than data, and thus, it’s typically cheaper for consumers.

Were you able to send MMS greetings this holiday? Did you receive any in response?

Verizon Wireless wants your old useless handset this holiday season. They’re calling out to anyone who found a new mobile in their stocking this year to bring their old stuff up to any Verizon Wireless location to donate it. Verizon will use the phones in their HopeLine Phone Recycling Program, which uses handsets and funds to help survivors of domestic violence.

If the phone is still usable, it can be used as an emergency handset for victims. A federal requirement is that all cellphones be able to make a 9-1-1 emergency call, regardless of whether they are active or not. You can also take your handset to any battered woman’s shelter in your area for them to use for the same purpose.

Please remember, if you’re going to donate your handset, to delete all of your personal information from the memory, such as contacts, pictures, and anything else.

Some interesting statistics on the HopeLine program, it has kept more than 200 tons of handsets out of landfills. They’ve collected nearly 4.2 million wireless phones and properly disposed of 1 million of them (it doesn’t say what happened to the other 3.2 million handsets. Hmmmm.) Verizon’s HopeLine has also, since 1999, given more than $4 million in cash grants and over 45,000 phones with airtime to domestic violence prevention organizations.

I spent this past weekend in Abilene, TX, at my fiance’s grandparent’s house. They live slightly out of town, on the lake. I was warned on the way out there that I would be without service, as they live out of town, but I shook that off, since Christina previously had a Sprint cellphone, and hadn’t been out to their house with her new AT&T phone yet.

She was right, somewhat. I didn’t have signal *in* their home, though walking outside I was able to get 3 bars on my N95 8GB. It became interesting to me how my usage changed without a signal. First off, I could care less about having a voice signal. I was overly concerned about not having data. We spent 3 days with them, and not being able to check email or read RSS was nerve-racking for me. It should be clear that I wouldn’t have simply sat the whole weekend glued to my phone. Afterall, that would be rude when visiting someone else. However, it would have been nice to be able to check email/RSS before bed and when I woke up.

I noticed that I lost all interest in my handset entirely. I even kept it powered off on the 3rd day. On the first day, I was mostly concerned with waving it around the house, desperately seeking at least one bar to calm my nerves.

I’ve always been one to say that technology should enrich and enable your real life, and I firmly believe that. Spending 3 days with no cell signal (unless we went ‘into town’, that is, at which point I certainly was glued) really tested that. At one point, NOT having technology (specifically, cellphone) inhibited real life. After a short period of time, however, I was actually (gasp) able to function without even having my phone ON, much less having signal.

How does this affect the way that I use my phone in other situations with full service? Were you subjected to any withdrawals on your holidays?

Zed Group has created a special app for the holidays, dubbed ‘XmasMaker’. It’s simple, really. Instead of writing a “Merry Christmas” SMS and then sending it to everyone in your phonebook, the Zed XmasMaker allows you to send an MMS. Not just any ordinary MMS, mind you, but a photo - taken with your phone - and then customised with Christmas-y graphics.

Cool, right? I thought so, too, except for that you need to be a Zed premium member, for 3 GBP/week. If you’re game, sign up here. If not, send an MMS anyways. SMS aren’t greeting cards!

Thanks to the Orange Shop, I am able to tell you — without looking in my diary — that there are 15 shopping days left until Christmas!

Just to make sure we’re right up there in the spirit of things here at SMS Text News, here’s the Coca Cola ad from years ago - ‘Holidays are Coming’ -

And, of course, I’ve swapped my ringtone to this.

Link: BBC NEWS | England | London | ‘Excuse text’ for boring parties

Bailing out of a dull Christmas office party has been made easier with the launch of a new texting service.

The “excuse text” is part of a free service launched by Westminster City Council, which includes a list of travel numbers and mobile phone alerts.

It’s a smart promotion, I reckon. If you visit the Westminster Online site you can find a form that allows you to sign up to be reminded a) to book a cab for your party and b) you can choose when you want an excuse text to be sent to you.

Thus, when you’re sat in the Christmas Party from Hell, you’ll know that at 8.25pm you’re going to get a text that will enable you to make a swift, plausible exit…

I was planning a wickedly good Christmas season of excitement here at SMS Text News. I was thinking something along the lines of an advent calendar for you all to virtually open every morning — and inside you’d find a mobile service, a download or something that you could go and sign-up and use. e.g. behind door number one might be Zyb, for example. Then, if you post a comment on that particular advent calendar blog post, you’ll be automatically entered to win a Nokia N93 that day. GET IN! So if only 5 people comment, you’re quids in. Especially if only 5 people comment the next day, … across the week that’s a pretty good ratio.

Anyway I then sat down and checked out Expansys. Errr. A N93 is £469.95. Each.25 Nokia N93s would cost me just under twelve grand. Now, while I like you all a lot, I’ve got a ROI issue with that versus a blowing £12k toward a new Range Rover.

I doubt there’s scope to engage a sponsor to cover the cost of the concept so I think, instead, I will go ahead with an advent calendar thing (e.g. “What’s behind door number 2?”) but instead, I will award a Mars Bar to a person who contributes a comment beneath each advent calendar post. I’ll select randomly. I’ll post the Mars Bar to you. As long as you don’t live in America or anywhere else that won’t allow food to be sent by post.

Now I need your help. I need 25 companies, mobile services, downloads, or similar, to feature behind the SMS Text News advent calendar. Please can you email me your nominations for the best services, mobile applications, anything like that, to me at ewan@smstextnews.com. If you run a service or are the creator of an application, don’t be bashful, send in your recommendation.

Ideally I’d like to feature services or applications that you can *DO* something with upon opening the virtual advent calendar door each morning. e.g. If it was Zyb, you could obviously go and sign-up and backup your phone contacts. If it was BuddyPing, you could go and get yourself a BuddyPing account and have a play with it.

Every day in December (from the 1st to the 25th), I’m going to then post an advent calendar entry. Post a comment on the entry and you’re in with a chance to win either a Nokia N93 or a Mars Bar, each day. Most probably it’ll be a Mars Bar, right?