Symbian-Guru - Latest Comments in Gmail On S60 – What’s The Best Way?

Re: Gmail On S60 – What’s The Best Way?

brunitou — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 07:25:57 -0000

For me, best solution is :

1/ a real automatic access point which connect for ex. to 3G when no wifi : SmartConnect (http://www.birdstep.com/Pro... (free)

2/ eventually an intelligent automatic wifi finder: WeFi (http://www.wefi.com/downloa... (free)

3/ a real intelligent mail client (means able to connect automatically AND disconnect after checking mail) : Profimail (http://www.lonelycatgames.c... (28$)

Now my Nokia Symbian connects every 15min to my IMAP Gmail, in wifi when I'm home or somewhere with open hotspot, in 3G when outside. It downloads mail content (not only header, up to 25Kb: you can set as you wish) automatically as well (in order to not re-connect to read mail). I can download later html content and/or attachments. I also set it to play a sound when new mail arrives.
This also means that Profimail has to run in background 24/7 (no problem with that) and that battery life last less longer (wifi or 3G connection every 15min between 7am and 9pm).

Pitty Symbian has no smart access point feature (ask everytime or always the same connection) neither smart email client (stay connected after checking new mails and only download headers).

PS: I also have Exchange synchro for company mail: I use the Nokia Exchange client + solutions 1 & 2 above. But it doesn't play sound (haven't found how to set it but well, with 80% spam, I really don't mind), only displays an "@" on the desktop screen, and I set it to once per hour only!;)

Re: Gmail On S60 – What’s The Best Way?

jaffa99 — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 12:06:51 -0000

I know this is an old thread but I have a broblem that I can't find an answer to in these comments. On my E71x using the ATT xpress mail client everything works fine except if I delete a mail on the phone it is deleted (not archived - it ends up in the trash) in my gmail account, If I resore it from the trash it is re-sent to my phone.

This leaves me with no ability to clean up the inbox on my phone which is a real issue. Any ideas?

Re: Gmail On S60 – What’s The Best Way?

Justine — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:45:34 -0000

I have largely defected to the other side, sorry!

I used the Java client on N95 a lot and loved it.
On N97, the keyboard shortcuts require for the most part to type in the key followed by the number, which is 2 key strokes versus 1.
Unless Google offers a different client for the N97, I cannot use the keyboard letters like 'D' to Delete.

Have a BB for work and have reverted to this device for Gmail by installing its dedicated client. The keyboard shortcuts are much better. I've configured the active BB profile to alert me with a distinct tone of new mails. I think the alert comes in around 15mins after the mail has actually arrived.

On both Nokia's, if by some wrong manipulation or other unwanted input, I lose my composed message, it is lost. On the BB, when I mess up, the message is stored in the (mobile?) drafts automatically.

For my part, I dont use attachments a lot but I wish there was a built-in method to send photos.

I have not tried IMAP connection on the Nokia for sending attachments such as images. I will surely give it that a try in the future and perhaps adapt my already segmented use.

Seems we are all toying with all the various methods and adjusting each to our personal use.

Thank you for the comparison, it is very useful!

Re: Gmail On S60 – What’s The Best Way?

Mike L. — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 14:10:26 -0000

I was using the mobile Gmail website, because the Gmail app took an agonizingly long time to load. However, I just found that there is a version 2 of the java app. I installed it, and this one loads right away, so I'm back to using the Gmail for mobile app.

Re: Gmail On S60 – What’s The Best Way?

Bionic Fresh — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 06:52:02 -0000

I'm with the first commenter, emoze works great. System Seven has a great push service as well; even tho it slows my N82 down noticeably. But i can access my hotmail account with it,unlike emoze (at the moment). But emoze pushes multiple facebook messages as well, which is a superb and sensible feature.

Re: Gmail On S60 – What’s The Best Way?

Brian — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 03:41:00 -0000

Any comments on how these compare now with Google's mobile java client 2.0 released in October?

Re: Gmail On S60 – What’s The Best Way?

Brian — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 03:39:03 -0000

Hey, I am deciding which way to access my google apps email and in reading up I discovered that there is a new Google mobile 2.0 app. How does it compare with the above methods (mobile web/native email client) now with updates? Comments appreciated.

Re: Gmail On S60 – What’s The Best Way?

BA — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 08:10:31 -0000

Well,

I dont know why nokia does'nt listen to this. I have been using Nokia mobile email for years now. For at least 3 years I've used my N72 with the setup but I stopped using the built in Nokia client. Reason? Auto-retrieval gets disabled when in low signal area. I dont know what benefit it gives by disabling the option. If my phone keeps trying, let it be so, its my headache that I set it up that way. I'm extremely unhappy that even the newest client does the same nonsense.

Re: Gmail On S60 – What’s The Best Way?

Guy — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:30:24 -0000

I agree with your article. The built in client works best for Gmail. I, too, hate how it disables auto-retrieve after a retrieval failure. pretty annoying. and the java client is slooow on my EDGE connection. Good article. Thanks.

Re: Gmail On S60 – What’s The Best Way?

Sergey Ryzhov — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:58:38 -0000

I Would like download Gmail S60 to my nokia N73. My Gmail mobile can't attach files. Are Guru know how do upload ? Or just with defauld browser or opera? Thank's. GBU.

Re: Gmail On S60 – What’s The Best Way?

Carlos Le Mare — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 11:12:34 -0000

You can access your gmail account from POP/SMTP and configure your S60 Phone to automatically connect and download mails every hour or so (it's configurable). That is a good alternative to IMAP, however is less secure (I heard that IMAP is more secure than POP/SMTP; I don't know why).

The other problem (and IMAP alternative have the same problem) is that you cannot mark an email as spam.

clemare

Re: Gmail On S60 – What’s The Best Way?

Nick — Sat, 17 May 2008 13:53:22 -0000

Razor1973,

What you've indicated about the "IMAP Bug" in the N95 / E61 phones really makes sense in that they are both Symbian 9.1. Its good to know that the N82 (Symbian 9.2) does NOT have the bug. I wonder if the Symbian 9.2 phones got rid of the call log showing only "mobile" type icons?

Hmm.....

Re: Gmail On S60 – What’s The Best Way?

Mr. Gunn — Fri, 09 May 2008 13:11:51 -0000

The disabling of automatic checks after a check with no signal is what caused me to stop using the built-in client. It was also annoying that the application would occasionally freeze after replying to an email.

After my institution started offering Exchange, I switched to Mail for Exchange, and I think this is by far the best solution. You set it up just like your desktop version, there's a variety of options for periodic checking, and as a bonus, your calendar and contacts are synced too.

If you don't have Exchange through your employer, there are some companies which will provide hosted exchange. It's an extra level of setup, but it only has to be done once, and makes things far more useable.

Re: Gmail On S60 – What’s The Best Way?

Ricky Cadden — Wed, 07 May 2008 12:51:51 -0000

@Eek - correct, I used the built-in messaging setup wizard. It barely asks you anything. There's no reason that Nokia can't implement a wizard that connects and downloads the CORRECT settings, in their entirety. I've reviewed several handsets recently for MobileBurn, and most of them offer this functionality.

Re: Gmail On S60 – What’s The Best Way?

Eek — Wed, 07 May 2008 12:39:28 -0000

For option #3 you said "The setup wizard is completely useless, but..." which wizard you used the email own one... I agree, try (path valid in N958GB) menu-tools-utilities-Sett.Wizard and it just asks your email address and the username + password... its pop3 settings, but easy :-) Nokia guys should add the imap4 settings there too.

Re: Gmail On S60 – What’s The Best Way?

Razor1973 — Wed, 07 May 2008 08:15:54 -0000

@Steve: It's good to learn some S60 phones don't have this problem which has plagued all of my S60 3rd Ed. phones so far. It's not a phone specific issue per se. Apparently, it's an O/S version specific problem. Your N82 has Symbian 9.2, whereas your N95 as well as my E61 and E61i all feature Symbian 9.1. At first, I thought it was the lack of Feature Pack 1 in me ESeries phones, but it's not that either, since the N96 has it and still has the problem. Again, I'm glad Nokia has finally nipped the problem on the newer O/S version.

Re: Gmail On S60 – What’s The Best Way?

Steve Rowlands — Wed, 07 May 2008 05:29:34 -0000

As I live in a somewhat patchy coverage area, the bug that turns the auto-retrieve off, had always meant that using the built-in S60 app was a chore.

However, that was on my N95. Since reading this article, I decided to give it a go on my N82, and the bug does not seem to be present.

I have lost my signal on a number of occasions, and the auto-retrieve is still active.

So looks like it may be a handset issue, rather than, what I expected it to be, an S60 wide issue.

Re: Gmail On S60 – What’s The Best Way?

Vitaly — Wed, 07 May 2008 01:41:06 -0000

@Razor1973: As much as I know about the labels with IMAP, they are accessible is a read-only way: in email setting you can choose to retrieve mail only from a specific folder/label, but you can't label or remove label from messages.

Re: Gmail On S60 – What’s The Best Way?

eric — Tue, 06 May 2008 19:47:52 -0000

Razor,

I understand what you are doing now. Yes, I regularly archive almost all my mail to keep the inbox clean. It is still searchable and indexed by label, so for me it is no big deal. I could see how the inbox on your phone would become a big mass of old mail if you kept everything in the inbox.

Before the last software update, somehow I had all the folders under gmail on my phone, but it didn't happen after I updated the firmware. Since I didn't use that feature on the phone, I didn't think anything of it, but now that you mention it, I remember it being there. When I open the messaging app, I have and inbox and a gmail box on the phone. The new messages go into the inbox, so I just ignore the gmail box. Since I'm on a PC often, I usually just read/post a quick reply on my phone and archive at the PC later. That's why I like IMAP so much... keeping everything in sync is almost as real-time as my old windows mobile/outlook/exchange system years ago.

Now if the N800 guys can figure out why Google IMAP is so darn slow on OS2008...

Re: Gmail On S60 – What’s The Best Way?

Razor1973 — Tue, 06 May 2008 16:54:38 -0000

@eric: You didn't say it, but are you implying you can set up the Gmail IMAP account on the S60 mail client and it will give you access to all Gmail labels as folders where you can move your messages just like you do in Evolution? If that's it, sounds like a great solution for those who archive all of their mail. I don't. I delete 1% of my mail and archive 10%, leaving the rest in my inbox. My solution allows me to do this and still keep my "mobile inbox" clean with only the messages I still need to deal with (read, reply, forward, etc.)

Re: Gmail On S60 – What’s The Best Way?

mike — Tue, 06 May 2008 15:18:25 -0000

great article. i think the built in s60 client with imap is the best solution for gmail. keeps your mail perfectly in sync. you can't label new emails, but you can view labels by going into the folder subscriptions settings.

to archive an email from your phone delete it from "phone and server". it won't be deleted from gmail, just simply archived.

Re: Gmail On S60 – What’s The Best Way?

eric — Tue, 06 May 2008 15:12:33 -0000

@Razor

I use Gmail with Evolution client (linux), and prior to that with Thunderbird. After you set up imap for google, they both create a folder marked Gmail with all the gmail labels as folders. I just send the messages to specific folders I want, or if I don't have a label, just throw it in the "all mail" folder, which archives it. With IMAP, it even cleans up the inbox on my phone as well.

It sounds like you are going to LA via Omaha to accomplish the same thing.

Re: Gmail On S60 – What’s The Best Way?

Razor1973 — Tue, 06 May 2008 15:02:30 -0000

@Janptr: ProfiMail is by far the best client I've ever seen for S60, but the lack of IMAP IDLE support is a definite killer for me. The Lonely Cat Games team has been getting requests to add this for years. Sadly, they've never implemented it, so I only use ProfiMail as a second/backup e-mail client.

@Vitaly: In a way, it is almost like POP3. You do work disconnected from your Gmail account (which is not necessarily a bad thing for the reasons I mentioned above). But what this setup gives you is IMAP IDLE (where the server and client support it; AOL and the native S60 mail client both do). Like I said before, instant notifications are paramount for me. This setup achieves just that.

Re: Gmail On S60 – What’s The Best Way?

Vitaly Polonetsky — Tue, 06 May 2008 14:57:40 -0000

@The Guru: At least on my device it will put it in trash. Sorry to disappoint.

BTW Full Gmail allows attachments for composed emails. A big plus!

Re: Gmail On S60 – What’s The Best Way?

Ricky Cadden — Tue, 06 May 2008 14:52:50 -0000

I *believe* that deleting on the S60 mail app simply archives your mail. Don't quote me on that though.