Yeah, it's quite frustrating. I knew it going in, but I didn't expect to miss the functionality as much as I do. As xtort statedan you just need to let your contacts know to send media messages to your email address instead of your phone number. Most of them won't remember though, haha.
You can go to vzwpix.com (after registering from a PC) and view them, but it's still a pain.
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