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Explore Web UI, Explore iPhone App and Mini2 use different max Quick Text Message lengths - 154 max practical length

6437776
over 3 years ago

When I try to send a Quick Text message sync'd to the Mini2 from the Explore app on my iPhone it is sent without a problem or complaint.

When I try to send the same Quick Text message from the Mini2 itself I get an error saying the message is too long.

If I delete a few characters from the device's UI and try again it will work.

From this:

1) One UI or the other (Mini2 device or Explorer iPhone App) is not counting the characters in the text message appropriately.

2) Because the longer message sent from the Explorer iPhone app is sent, while the Mini2 UI complains about the length of the same message, it would appear the problem is in the Mini2 UI.

This feels like a bug.  I'm running software version 3.10 (635418)

I need to send messages of maximum length.  Having the UI of the Mini2 itself incorrectly cut messages down below the max length is one problem.  The fact that the Explorer Quick Text composition tool is not in sync with the Mini2 max message length is frustrating in the extreme and simply creates a waste of time.

...Mike

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    154 characters seems to be the max Quick Text Message length that will work on iPhone Explore App and Mini2 UI.

    This is the effect of at least two bugs which could seriously impede or delay communication in an emergency.

    These should be addressed as quickly as possible by Garmin.

    Here are my full test results.  BTW, I'd appreciate some inReach credit for the work required to produce this.

    =====

    160 character Quick Text Message:

    I have a new satellite communicator used to send and receive text msgs and my location. Pls save this number and e-mail to my contact info in ur phone ...Mike

    explore.garmin.com/messages indicates "0 characters remaining"

    iPhone Explore App "160/155" - message was not sent

    Mini2 "Your message has too many characters" - message was not sent

    =========

    155 character Quick Text Message:

    I have a new satellite communicator used to send and receive text msgs and my location. Pls save this number/e-mail to my contact info in ur phone ...Mike

    explore.garmin.com/messages indicates "5 characters remaining"

    iPhone Explore App "155/155" - message was sent and received

    Mini 2 "Your message has too many characters" - message was not sent

    ==========

    154 character Quick Text Message

    I have a new satellite communicator used to send & receive text msgs and my location. Pls save this number/e-mail to my contact info in ur phone ...Mike

    explore.garmin.com/messages indicates "6 characters remaining"

    iPhone Explore App "154/155" - message was sent and received

    Mini 2 - message was sent and received

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to 6437776

    OMG, 40 years professional editing (starting with headline writing) and I have this irresistible urge to shorten your message for you, which I KNOW I KNOW I KNOW is not the point. Slight smile Garmin should definitely sync the limits. The brand really needs to bake user-centricity into its culture as much as it worships technical competence and complexity (even in its communications). I also agree that user contributions to product development and customer support should be rewarded in some small ways—beyond our self-satisfaction of being absolutely the least dysfunctional community on the Internet.

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to Steve

    Steve, I wrote the headline to make it easier for other unfortunates to find relevant information, not to increase clicks.  :-) 

    With respect, this is not something Garmin "should do"  - it is something they are expected to do.

    This is an embarrassing failure by the Garmin QA team, demonstrates the product was brought to GA before it was thoroughly tested, and as I said, has the potential to put people in an emergency situation at risk.

    My response here would be different if this were a beta or limited early release.  It is not - this is a product that has been fully released to the general public.

    Frankly, I'm a bit worried now about what other surprises might be waiting to be discovered, potentially in a stressful situation.

    Best,

    ...Mike

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to 6437776

    Mike, I wasn't critiquing your post headline—I was confessing that writing headlines at a newspaper in the 80s left me with an unhealthy compulsion to iterate texts, tweets, haiku, etc. (TMI, I know.) I stayed up most of a night obsessively composing, shortening, testing and revising my own preset messages when I first got the Mini2.

    Over the past 3 years, since I started using Garmin products, I've become equally frustrated and fascinated by how their company culture maximizes the potential of their imperfect products often at the expense of usability and customer satisfaction. Every release feels like unacknowledged betas and prototypes, and I'd mind less of they acknowledged that. I returned 3 expensive watches before they solved a high-altitude crashing problem, so I know this cultural issue hits their bottom line and reputation. But it also creates a weird loyalty among us, their users, to defend our investments. And it drives this community to wrestle ownership of issues away from a support staff overwhelmed by the technical complexity engineered into Garmin's ecosystem. Just look at the current, self-inflicted altimeter crisis in the fenix line. The inReach community is lucky to have , who does so much to make sense of this product for/with us.

    Hang in there,

    Steve

    PS, Definitely NOT suggesting this reply as an answer...

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    I don't remember exactly how this works with quick text. In general, the Iridium network imposes a limit on the total length of a single transmission. The transmission includes the message text, the recipient addresses, and overhead like the current location.

    From the perspective of the device itself, until you have specified the recipient list, the maximum length of the message text is not known. If you send to a contact, the "address" is a short code (one or two characters?). If you send to a manually entered address, the length is the actual length of the address. From the way you describe the problem, I suspect you are sending to one or two contacts - no manually entered addresses.

    I do agree that the various send mechanisms (device vs. Explore app, etc.) should AGREE on the limits. But only after the recipient list is known.

    Best to limit quick text messages to reasonable lengths to avoid this issue when trying to send. Attempting to push the theoretical limit is just going to cause problems.