One of the main reasons behind the push for RCS adoption is that it can send high-quality images, much better than what MMS can do. Soon, the most popular RCS app on Android, Google Messages, will gain the ability to send photos in original quality.
This is a new setting in the Photo Chooser, a toggle that indicates HD or HD+. Not the most informative of names, but once you tap on them you get more descriptive options: one reduces the image size (and quality), the other sends the photo in original quality (at the cost of using more data). This was discovered by the Android Authority team as you tear down a beta APK for Messages.
Okay, while “HD or HD+” is a bit vague, they should at least be familiar to users – this is the exact same switch WhatsApp uses.
New image quality for sending photos via Google Messages
Last year, Google Messages gained support for sending Ultra HDR images via RCS. Ultra HDR, introduced with Android 14, combines a standard JPEG with additional metadata. Software that does not support this will only see a JPEG. Software that does support this uses the metadata to recreate the wider dynamic range of the original HDR image (more details here).
Again, this toggle is available in the beta version of Google Messages, but should make its way to the stable release soon.