I switched recently from a palm centro to a bb tour and I have one feature I really miss. My texts used to come across more like an instant message with the palm. Kind of like on blackberry messenger or any other instant messenger, but it was still a text. My wife does not have a data plan and I hate the blackberry default sms texts but do not have another way to text her. I like them more in conversation form. Is there any way to do this?

Not currently. The native SMS functionality in the BB OS is rather rudimentary. There are some 3rd party apps that attempt it (see the grossly overpriced -$15 - SMS Viewer app in the Aftermarket Software).

Part of the issue is that RIM didn't build it into the OS, and they have the APIs for SMS locked down pretty tightly, restricting what application developers are allowed to do to improve the interface.

I wish the news was better...

I miss this from my Palm days also. It's the one thing Palm really got just right. I've been whining for years that RIM should either license this app and port it directly to the BB OS, or rip it off with a clone sms style app. The best thing is that there is only one sms in your inbox for an entire conversation. You can have a conversation with someone, save it (by simply not deleting it), and restart that same conversation the next day.

BB Messenger works like that, and with version 5.0 it's supposed to support archiving of old conversations. Too bad everyone doesn't have a BlackBerry!

I agree that the SMS Viewer app is overpriced, but it does not attempt threaded SMS. It just changes the interface of the SMS app, allowing you to change the background image/color, the text color, etc.

jsconyers, you are correct ... sorry to have misrepresented the app...