Rich Communication Services
Joyn (proper spelling " joyn ", also "Rich Communications Suite enhanced", abbreviated RCS -e ) is a technical standard for communication services of the industry association of international mobile operators. The standard allows, among other things, the transmission of short messages, files, voice and video telephony. The cost of Joyn are analogous to SMS, MMS and telephony depends on the tariff structure of the provider. Joyn to particular mobile instant messenger services like WhatsApp, Google Hangouts, LINE; Apple iMessage and Facebook Messenger compete that are unlukrativ for the wireless service provider.
Availability and Support in Germany
The launch was planned by Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone and O2 for the end of 2011 and shifted several times since then. Vodafone offers the service to since June 2012. The Telekom Germany, offers the service to since March 5, 2013, however, Joyn until March 2014 [ deprecated] are still in the beta stage. Joyn is so far available only for direct telecom customers. Customers of the subsidiary Congstar and other providers can not currently use Joyn.
When O2 is Joyn an O2 forums presenter to result expected in March 2013 [ deprecated] start, the press office confirmed a date in the first half of 2014. E-Plus is not participating at the moment and wait for the development.
A total of ten handset manufacturers have announced support Joyn or extradite devices on which Joyn is preinstalled: Sony, Samsung, LG, RIM, Nokia, Motorola, HTC, Alcatel OneTouch, ZTE, Huawei. Apps for Android and iOS are already offered by several software development companies, including WIT and Summit Tech. For the end customer offer in Germany, Telekom and Vodafone Germany to an app for iOS and Android. In addition, an application for Windows Phone, which is, however, distributed exclusively by Nokia exists.
Development
The development started in 2008 on the initiative of Nokia and is driven by international trade association of GSM provider (GSMA ) to compensate crumbling revenue from the decline of the SMS service with a new, multimedia-enabled service.
RCS -e is on the Microsoft operating systems (Windows Mobile, Windows Phone 8, Windows NT line from Windows XP ), Apple (iOS ) and Google (Android) run.
The official premiere took place at the GSMA Mobile World Congress 2012.
Technical Features
The integration into Android smartphones already occurred from version 2.3 and iOS version 4.3, currently on an app. Later, the technology should be integrated into the operating systems.
RCS -e uses existing standards of 3GPP and Open Mobile Alliance ( OMA). He should take advantage of the strength of the GSM standard, the simple and intuitive handling, and the planned additional features (see below ) expand. This release focuses on an improved telephone book in which converge the functions. This is to show the future, what kind of contact is possible. Has the on Contacting a bad internet connection, should not even be offered a video call.
Planned features and functions of RCS -e:
- Possibilities of accessibility
- Advanced telephony ( traditional mobile voice telephony with simultaneous IP-based video transmission, instant messaging or transferring files )
- Text messages with one or more participants
- Exchange of image and video files ( even during a call or delayed- delivery, if the recipient is not available ) and contact information ( vCards)
- Location of the contact ( with the permission of the places to ends )
- SMS
- MMS
- Easy customization of the user interface, for example, by the manufacturer or supplier
- Supported audio codecs: AMR -NB, AMR -WB, G.711 a-law, G.711 u-law, Speex, iLBC
- Supported video codecs: H.263, H.264, WebM
At launch, according to the manufacturer following functions will be available:
- Chat
- File transfer
- Video telephony
At the network level RCSe is based on the following protocols:
- SIP (S )
- (S ) RTP
- MSRP (S )
- HTTP ( S)
Comparison with other providers
In contrast to centralized services like WhatsApp, it is up to each mobile operator to set up its own infrastructure. About so-called " interconnects " ensures that provider across all communication is possible.
Whatsapp sends, depending on the platform, if necessary, without the need for user confirmation, all the phone numbers stored locally on the phone to the central Whatsapp server to determine which phone book entry already Whatsapp users. In contrast, the terminal RCSe SIP messages sent to contacts in the phone book and waits for a response from the requested device. It is stored on a central server, no phone book entries. This and the decentralized structure make Joyn of data protection point of view much safer than alternatives such as Whatsapp.