Cheap SMS on the move – new TextMagic app for iPad

Increasing numbers of people are using Apple’s popular iPad as a convenient device for working on the move – or even just working, checking emails and browsing from the comfort of the sofa.

If you’re a TextMagic user, you can use the iPad’s built-in browser to visit TextMagic.com and use the web interface to manage your SMS messages. However, to make texting from your iPad even easier, we’re pleased to announce SMS Magic for iPad, a simple, elegant, easy-to-use app which operates in conjunction with your existing TextMagic account. With SMS Magic for iPad, you can send texts from your iPad wherever you have a web connection!

Why is this useful?

Apart from the issue of convenience, more and more people are using iPads as mobile productivity devices when they are on the move. Smaller, lighter and will a longer battery life than most laptops, iPads are fantastic for working on the train, in planes and in hotels – especially if used with the separate lightweight keyboard Apple offers as an accessory.

Using SMS Magic on your iPad means its easy to stay on top of your text messages while you’re out and about with your iPad. Everything – including personal messages and business-related bulk SMS – can be handled from the device. Apart from a one-off low cost for SMS Magic in the Apple app store, you only pay regular TextMagic fees for SMS messages that you send – which are often much better value than regular carrier rates, especially if you’re texting while travelling abroad, or sending SMS to people in other countries.

You don’t need an iPad 3G to use SMS Magic. All you need is basic internet access, for which a standard WiFi connection on a non-3G model will work just as well.

How does it work?

It’s easy to use SMS Magic for iPad. All you need to do is sign up for a TextMagic account and buy some credits so you can send cheap text messages through the TextMagic system.

When you first launch SMS Magic for iPad, you’ll see a dialogue screen that looks like this (image taken from iPod touch edition):

At this stage, it can be useful to leave the “reply #” field blank. By doing this, you tell the app to pick up your default settings for sending replies to your phone, email or your TextMagic inbox. You can change these easily by visiting your account area at TextMagic.com.

Sending and receiving messages using SMS Magic for iPad is easy. The only slight difference is that you need to remember to add a “+” sign when entering international numbers. If you send sent to numbers that doesn’t have an international code, SMS Magic will try to send it to that number in your home country.

So, for example, say you have a friend in the UK whose number is 07777 111222, and you are also using a UK-registered TextMagic account. You can contact your friend using SMS Magic for iPad using either:

07777 111222

or

+447777 111222

One of the beauties of SMS Magic for iPad is that you can directly access your iPad’s contacts, which you can sync with your master contacts list on your PC or Mac. As such, you don’t have to laboriously add contacts every time you want to send a message – SMS Magic joins seamlessly with your existing communications data.

The SMS Magic toolbar

It’s easy to navigate your way around the app using the toolbar at the bottom:

The left hand button checks for new messages on the TextMagic server (assuming replies are being sent to the server – if you have your central TextMagic account set up to deliver replies to your phone, that’s where they’ll go). SMS Magic does this every 15 minutes anyway, but the button gives you a good way of staying up-to-date if you’re expecting messages to come in.

The next button to the right is the reading control – press this to read all the replies you have received via the TextMagic server.

In the middle of the toolbar is a contacts button: hit this to access your list of contacts quickly when you wish to send an SMS.

To the right of the contacts button is the “delete” button, which you can use to delete stored messages to minimise memory usage on your iPad.

On the far right hand side is the is the “sent messages” button – tap this to re-read and check the messages that you have sent using SMS Magic for iPad.

…and that’s pretty much all there is to it! SMS Magic for iPad further extends the power of TextMagic, allowing you to use it in mobile work environments or informal situations away from your main PC, Mac or laptop.