Unified and best messaging systems for communication devices

A method of operating a handheld communication device for transmission of messages to recipient devices, the handheld communication device comprising a display, the method comprising:

• presenting a unified messaging interface to a user via the display for composition of messages which can be transmitted from the handheld communication device in at least two different transmittal message types, including a Short Message Service (SMS) transmittal message type and a first non-SMS transmittal message type;
• determining, based at least in part on a recipient address associated with a message, whether the first non-SMS transmittal message type can be used to transmit the message to the recipient address;
• automatically selecting the first non-SMS transmittal message type to be used for the transmission of the message to the recipient address when it is determined that the first non-SMS transmittal message type can be used;
• and
• automatically selecting the SMS transmittal message type to be used for the transmission of the message to the recipient address when it is determined that the first non-SMS transmittal message type cannot be used.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-readable instructions thereon, the computer-readable instructions executable by a processor of a handheld communication device to perform a method for transmission of messages from the handheld communication device to recipient devices, the handheld communication device including a display, the method comprising:

• presenting a unified messaging interface to a user via the display for composition of messages which can be transmitted from the handheld communication device in at least two different transmittal message types, including a Short Message Service (SMS) transmittal message type and a first non-SMS transmittal message type;
• determining, based at least in part on a recipient address associated with a message, whether the first non-SMS transmittal message type can be used to transmit the message to the recipient address;
• automatically selecting the first non-SMS transmittal message type to be used for the transmission of the message to the recipient address when it is determined that the first non-SMS transmittal message type can be used;
• and
• automatically selecting the SMS transmittal message type to be used for the transmission of the message to the recipient address when it is determined that the first non-SMS transmittal message type cannot be used.