Text Messaging question for Kin Two-m

[may2011]

Hello. I have been looking into purchasing the Kin Two-m (or possibly the kin one-m, but the question would apply for either phone.) I heard that when you receive a text message on this phone it displays a preview of it instead of just having a name come up (right now I have an Envy Touch, just the name comes up, then view now/view later.) My husbands iphone was the same way when he first got it but I changed it from preview to name. I have asked multiple places if this can be changed on the Kin and I've had many people on the internet tell me no. When I emailed verizon wireless about it their reply was yes you can change it. Here is what she said:

 "After carefully reviewing the User Manual for the device, I have learned you will receive a notification when you receive a text message and you will have to tap the notification to open conversation and read the message. I noticed you can choose to have MMS messages download automatically, or only when you open the message. That setting is on by default (MMS messages will download automatically). To change this setting, go to Apps > Settings > Phone"

Now anytime I have asked this question I have been sure to include the m onto the end, but in the email from verizon wireless she kept calling it the Kin Two. I'm not sure if you could change it on the first generation and not the second, or vice versa, but I'm trying to get a definitive answer about the m generation of the Kins, as I want free wifi but I will not purchase the phone if my text messages will be displayed on the screen before I even open them. Plus I hate to buy it then find out I cant change the settings and lose $35 to return it. So if somone could clear up all this confusion for me that would be wonderful!! Thank you. 

[Daveman80]

With the Kin two-m, when you receive a text message, a small bubble will appear on your screen(and a small picture of your contact if you upload pics)  telling you a small amount of the message sent or the entire message if its short. You can X the bubble to get rid of it or you can touch the bubble and it will open the text application to respond(see full message). IMO, its one of the phones best features! Love it!

[ceridwen13]

You can indeed turn off MMS auto download. When it is off, a bubble pops up on your screen with the name/picture of the sender and the subject of the MMS only. When you tap the bubble you then have the option to download the message. When auto download is on, the bubble pops up and displays the name/picture of the sender and the subject of the message, and when you tap the bubble it takes you to the already-downloaded message.

When you receive a SMS message, the bubble displays the name/pic of the sender and a small portion of the message.

There is no way to turn off the pop up bubble entirely.

[ceridwen13]

Correction: if you enable the pin security on your screen lock you can then disable the SMS ans MMS notification/preview bubble appearing on the locked screen. So if you phone screen is in "sleep" mode (I guess that's what it is) and you get a text message you will have to unlock your phone with a pin # before you can see any info about the message.

[ceridwen13]

Forgot to say that the bubble will still pop up on the lock screen but it will only say "1 new message".

[ceridwen13]

Sorry for all the replies, I can't find a way to edit my  previous posts.

Anyway, just found out that if you don't like having to enter a pin every time you want to unlock the phone, you can do this:

- Go to Settings and choose Screen Lock.

- Choose Pin & Security and turn Pin Lock on (default pin is the last four digits of your cell phone number - you can change it if you want once you enter the Pin Lock menu).

- Turn Message Display off (will only show  "# New Messages" on the lock screen).

- Turn Pin Lock back off.

- Exit out to main screen.

The next time you get a SMS or MMS message and your phone is in lock mode, you will only see the bubble with "# New Message(s)" on the lock screen. Once you unlock the phone you will then be able to go to the full message.

If you like the security of having to enter you pin every time you want to unlock the phone, just leave Pin Lock on.

Hope this helps. 

[fisharefriends]

What ceridwen said is correct (beat me to it! i was gonna link a post i made elsewhere on these forums regarding the same issue). The setting itself to display/not display the message can only be accessed when you turn the pin-lock on, but after you change it, to turn message previews off or on, it will retain that setting even if you turn pin-lock off. Then new messages will appear in a similar fashion you are accustomed to, with the name of the sender, and '# new messages', with no display of the actual content. I personally am a fan of the message preview, especially when you're in a hurry or so on, you don't have to fiddle around and actually open the message to read the beginning of it (it'll display around 50 characters is my guess), but that's just a personal preference.

MMS auto-download regards whether the phone will automatically download pics/videos/sounds that are sent with MMS messages, or whether it will prompt you if you want to download it or not.

[rich215]

ceridwen13  

Great tip!  Thanks much for your post.