Question for Blackberry / Gmail

evil-monkey

Hi all,

I'm considering getting a Blackberry, and I've gotten a lot of different answers to the same questions from a lot of different people (many of which were reps in phones stores).

If anyone here HAS a Blackberry, and uses Gmail, I'd appreciate an answer to the following:

If I use the Gmail app - will the phone give me notifications when I receive an email (as is the case with Android). Or do I need to manually check for mails?

Basically, I want my Gmail to function on Blackberry as seamlessly as it does an Android, but I'm told it won't. I don't want to download or "push" emails to the phone (so no POP3 and I've always had problems configuring IMAP). ie. I want the phone to sync fully with the account (mails, contacts etc etc).

Anyone whose had experience with the device and Gmail, your advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

cookie1977

Gmail on a BlackBerry is excellent. Any email sent to your gmail account will be received instantly on your blackberry. You can remotely search for email on your gmail account straight from your blackberry and download it again. It's completely integrated into imap and you can use labels with catagorising email from your Blackberry.

It'll sync contacts and calendar over the air with your gmail account.

evil-monkey

cookie1977 wrote: »

Gmail on a BlackBerry is excellent. Any email sent to your gmail account will be received instantly on your blackberry. You can remotely search for email on your gmail account straight from your blackberry and download it again. It's completely integrated into imap and you can use labels with catagorising email from your Blackberry.

It'll sync contacts and calendar over the air with your gmail account.

It works fairly seamlessly so? I've heard mixed reports but mostly from non-Blackberry users.

Are you using the Gmail app or Blackberry email function?

cookie1977

No it's seamlessly integrated into the blackberry email function. I dont use the Gmail app at all.

evil-monkey

cookie1977 wrote: »

No it's seamlessly integrated into the blackberry email function. I dont use the Gmail app at all.

Ok. Two questions re syncing:

1. If I set it all up, and then add a new contact to my Gmail at a later date, will this contact be automatically synced with the Blackberry?

2. What is it using to pull down the emails from Gmail? IMAP? ie. When an email comes to the phone, what happens to the same email on Gmail?

cookie1977

1. Yes
2. Not pull. Emails are oushed automatically in the background and the way google as worked with blackberry means emails are instantly received to your blackberry when sent to your gmail account. I'm not over exaggerating instantly by the way. I have my email set up via imap as it's better then pop3.
If you view an email on your blackberry it's marked quite quickly as read on your gmail account but the reverse, while it works too, is very very slow (sometimes 3 hrs to be marked as read on your blackberry). It's marked for improvement in BIS 4 due sept/october. You can set that if you delete off your phone it deletes on gmail or if you delete off your phone it's left on your gmail. You can also assign email on your blackberry to different labels/folders if you like rather than having to go to gmail on a pc.

evil-monkey

cookie1977 wrote: »

1. Yes
2. Not pull. Emails are oushed automatically in the background and the way google as worked with blackberry means emails are instantly received to your blackberry when sent to your gmail account. I'm not over exaggerating instantly by the way. I have my email set up via imap as it's better then pop3.
If you view an email on your blackberry it's marked quite quickly as read on your gmail account but the reverse, while it works too, is very very slow (sometimes 3 hrs to be marked as read on your blackberry). It's marked for improvement in BIS 4 due sept/october. You can set that if you delete off your phone it deletes on gmail or if you delete off your phone it's left on your gmail. You can also assign email on your blackberry to different labels/folders if you like rather than having to go to gmail on a pc.

Sounds like it works pretty well then.

I'm on Android at present, which obviously works well with Gmail, but my previous phone was Nokia, and I had an awful time getting it to work with my Gmail. It kept deleting the emails from my account when I deleted them on the phone - which I don't want.

You don't happen to know if the Gmail apps works like it does on Android? I've heard that the phone doesn't give email notifications.

cookie1977

I'm not sure what mean. Email (the actual text and attachments) are sent to your phone when you receive an email to your gmail account. There's not a notification. So even here when you reply to my posts I get an email from boards to say you've replied and what it says. i dont have to go and check gmail to see what the email is. Does that make sense

evil-monkey

cookie1977 wrote: »

I'm not sure what mean. Email (the actual text and attachments) are sent to your phone when you receive an email to your gmail account. There's not a notification. So even here when you reply to my posts I get an email from boards to say you've replied and what it says. i dont have to go and check gmail to see what the email is. Does that make sense

By notification, I mean the phone gives you an alert in the way of a beep or what not - like a text message.

I've heard that doesn't happen if you use the Gmail app...

cookie1977

I dont use the gmail app. I get emails directly to the phone. Why do you think you want to use the app on a Blackberry?

evil-monkey

cookie1977 wrote: »

I dont use the gmail app. I get emails directly to the phone. Why do you think you want to use the app on a Blackberry?

I like the way you actually access your Gmail account, rather than having the emails pushed to the phone...

cookie1977

So why do you want a Blackberry? As you can do everything directly from the blackberry (quicker to be honest) that you can from entering the app.

evil-monkey

cookie1977 wrote: »

So why do you want a Blackberry? As you can do everything directly from the blackberry (quicker to be honest) that you can from entering the app.

Keys. Touchscreen is starting to annoy me. I do a lot of walking (to work, hillwalking etc etc) and as you know, it rains a lot here. Ever try using a touch screen in the rain? :eek:

cookie1977

Well thats why I like the Blackberry too. I think you'll find the gmail app ok but if you get into the abilities of the Blackberry gmail integration you'll do as much from it (if not more) then having to access the app. I cant think of any reason to use the app. Do you know of the main reason you want to.

evil-monkey

cookie1977 wrote: »

Well thats why I like the Blackberry too. I think you'll find the gmail app ok but if you get into the abilities of the Blackberry gmail integration you'll do as much from it (if not more) then having to access the app. I cant think of any reason to use the app. Do you know of the main reason you want to.

I can't see the sync working as well as you say it does :P
My experience with phones that pull and push emails from the account has not been pleasant - scared me for life

cookie1977

What you dont believe me?? I'm insulted :P

No but seriously it does. Have been using BlackBerry's since 2004 and I know them fairly well. Blackberry push email integration with Gmail really really works! It's the best experience out there short of BES or microsoft exchange.

Yahoo and hotmail have quick push email with BlackBerry but Gmail has the best. Plus you get to sync calendar events over the air with gmail unlike the others. My work email on blackberry talks 15mins to push email through. But gmail is ALWAYS instant.

evil-monkey

cookie1977 wrote: »

What you dont believe me?? I'm insulted :P

No but seriously it does. Have been using BlackBerry's since 2004 and I know them fairly well. Blackberry push email integration with Gmail really really works! It's the best experience out there short of BES or microsoft exchange.

Yahoo and hotmail have quick push email with BlackBerry but Gmail has the best. Plus you get to sync calendar events over the air with gmail unlike the others. My work email on blackberry talks 15mins to push email through. But gmail is ALWAYS instant.

Sounds good. Might go get myself one then. Thanks for all the info!

cookie1977

evil-monkey wrote: »

Sounds good. Might go get myself one then. Thanks for all the info!

If you've any more questions post back. If you can get a loan of a device and test it on pre pay first then you might see what I'm talking about. Good luck.

evil-monkey

cookie1977 wrote: »

If you've any more questions post back. If you can get a loan of a device and test it on pre pay first then you might see what I'm talking about. Good luck.

Thanks again.

imitation

I'm using the gmail app on my blackberry, it works fine, I'm actually reading emails from my pop account into gmail and then checking my gmail with the blackberry app.

Notification comes in the form of the red light blinking on my Curve. It seems to take about 5 minutes for the gmail app to pick up on a mail, although it does seem to vary. It also takes about 30-60 min for it to pick up a mail from POP3, so my setup isn't really instant.

cookie1977

imition. If you used the imap feature of gmail it would be instant.