Hotxt and Emoze: Cheap texts and easy emails
Tags: mobile phone, account, java, sms
Communication over GPRS and other mobile data connections is quickly becoming a popular and cheap alternative to SMS and BlackBerry's push-email service. Two companies leading the way in the fight for cheaper text and email services are Hotxt and Emblaze.
Hotxt, a company managed by Doug Richard, a former member of the Dragon's Den, lets you send and receive text messages for less than 1p. All you have to do is download a Java application to your mobile phone and subscribe to the Hotxt service for £1 a month.
It works via the Internet, through GPRS or 3G, and you read and write your messages in the Hotxt Java app. The catch is, it's only considerably cheaper if both the sender and the receiver have Hotxt installed on their phones. Plus, instead of getting a normal text notification, you get a missed call, and then you have to access the Hotxt program to read your text. All in all a lot of work, so steer clear if you're not a text maniac.
As long as the person you're sending the message to also has a Hotxt account, then you only pay for the amount of data you send or receive, which according to Hotxt is much cheaper than a normal SMS. You can also send messages that are two and a half times larger than SMS messages -- so texting your housemates at 3 a.m. about why you forgot your keys can become much more creative. If the person you're messaging doesn't have a Hotxt account then you can buy credit and use Hotxt Out, which sends messages via the Hotxt service, but as an SMS, and which the company claims is still cheaper than a normal SMS.
If texting isn't your thing and you yearn for a more refined way of chatting to your buddies, then Embalze's Emoze may tickle your fancy. It's a similar concept to Hotxt, but instead of transferring text messages this program uses the Internet to push emails straight from your email server to your mobile phone.
The Emoze push-email software is free to download, but alas only works on Windows Mobile and Symbian Series 6.0 phones. Emblaze says that it's constantly updating the number of devices and platforms supported by Emoze, but we've had our hearts broken too many times. Check that your phone is supported before you get out your party hat. -AL
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moneysavingexpertandallroundgoodguyTue 31 October, 2006 3:57pm
There are currently loads of interesting ways to communicate via GPRS, now that most handsets in the Western World are being slowly exchanged for Midp2 phones. Hence the increase in GPRS communication solutions for mobile phones. I checked all of the above products mentioned here and the most integrated program that is not part of a mobile network I've found so far is '10pText' (bad name) http://www.10ptext.co.uk. The different functions allow you to send text to people who don't have the application installed and it is free of charge (at the moment) to those who have it installed. A little like Skype in that respect. Furthermore users can send emails from their phones at no cost (again, only for the time being). Accoriding to the grapevine on several mobile forums they are adding the sending of image and voice to the service; but hey the big gun companies have failed at VOIP. I think they should change on their name as it is misleading and gives the impression as if 10p per message is charged, whereas most functions on the app are free.
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AndyTue 11 April, 2006 8:46am
hotxt is expensive to send out of it's own network, and unless you have a whole circle of friends using it is a pain - smsbug.com offers SMS's @ about 2 pence a message.. no special software required on the other end either. The person receiving would think you'd texted from your phone as usual - fantastic service.