On some phones (all Nokias, some Siemens, Ericsson, Motorola etc..) a class 0 message will appear as a flash SMS message. These messages appear on the screen immediately upon arrival, without the need to press any buttons on the phone. If the data coding scheme is set to 16-bit unicode (ucs2), and the message starts with "0001", it will appear as a blinking flash message.
This table shows some relevant octets in a flash SMS message
The first unicode character ("00 01") enables the blinking. The maximum length of such a message will then be 69 unicode characters.
Attachment is about TP-DCS:
Data Coding Scheme (TP-DCS)
The TP-Data-Coding-Scheme field, defined in GSM 03.40, indicates the data coding scheme of the TP-UD field, and may indicate a message class. Any reserved codings shall be assumed to be the GSM default alphabet (the same as codepoint 00000000) by a receiving entity. The octet is used according to a coding group which is indicated in bits 7..4. The octet is then coded as follows:
Coding Group Bits 7..4
Use of bits 3..0
00xx
General Data Coding indication Bits 5..0 indicate the following:
Bit 5
0
Text is uncompressed
1
Text is compressed
Bit 4
0
Bits 1 and 0 are reserved and have no message class meaning
1
Bits 1 and 0 have a message class meaning
Bit 3
Bit 2
Alphabet being used
0
0
Default alphabet
0
1
8 bit data
1
0
UCS2 (16bit)
1
1
Reserved
Bit 1
Bit 0
Message class
Description
0
0
Class 0
Immediate display (alert)
0
1
Class 1
ME specific
1
0
Class 2
SIM specific
1
1
Class 3
TE specific
NOTE: The special case of bits 7..0 being 0000 0000 indicates the Default Alphabet as in Phase 2
0100..1011
Reserved coding groups
1100
Message Waiting Indication Group: Discard Message
Bits 3..0 are coded exactly the same as Group 1101, however with bits 7..4 set to 1100 the mobile may discard the contents of the message, and only present the indication to the user.
1101
Message Waiting Indication Group: Store Message
This Group allows an indication to be provided to the user about status of types of message waiting on systems connected to the GSM PLMN. The mobile may present this indication as an icon on the screen, or other MMI indication. The mobile may take note of the Origination Address for message in this group and group 1100. For each indication supported, the mobile may provide storage for the Origination Address which is to control the mobile indication. Text included in the user data is coded in the Default Alphabet. Ehere a message is received with bits 7..4 set to 1101, the mobile shall store the text of the SMS message in addition to setting the indication.
Bit 3
Description
0
Set Indication Inactive
1
Set Indication Active
Bit 2 is reserved, and set to 0
Bit 1
Bit 0
Indication Type
0
0
Voicemail Message Waiting
0
1
Fax Message Waiting
1
0
Electronic Mail Message Waiting
1
1
Other Message Waiting*
* Mobile manufacturers may implement the "Other Message Waiting" indication as an additional indication without specifying the meaning. The meaning of this indication is intended to be standardized in the future, so Operators should not make use of this indication until the standard for this indication is finalized.
1110
Message Waiting Indication Group: Store Message
The coding of bits 3..0 and functionality of this feature are the same as for the Message Waiting Indication Group above, (bits 7..4 set to 1101) with the exception that the text included in the user data is coded in the uncompressed UCS2 alphabet.