The Fragmented View of Windows Mobile Always-On Email

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/micro_stories.pl?ACCT=088644&TICK=CINGUL1&STORY=/www/story/05-31-2005/0003766403&EDATE=May+31,+2005' target='_blank'>http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/m...TE=May+31,+2005</a><br /><br /></div>On Tuesday, Cingular announced they're adopting Good's GoodLink technology to provide always-on email on their PDA devices, including the Treo 650 and the Siemens SX66. While this is interesting in its own regard, since Good has been competing with RIM with mixed success up until this point, it also brings up another point: an increasing number of carriers are offering <i>different</i> always-on email solutions with Windows Mobile devices. <!><br /><br />For instance, I've had the Samsung i600 Smartphone and the i700 Pocket PC Phone from Verizon Wireless, and they have deployed what they call <a href="https://www.wirelesssync.vzw.com/">Wireless Sync</a>, and bundle it with both of those devices as well as other PDAs and Smartphones they sell; it's rumored the i730 will come with it as well. Both of them use what is called "CDMA Dormant Mode", which allows phone calls to come in even when a network connection is maintained. The battery drain in this mode is about 10-15% more than if no network connection is active. The Wireless Sync server is then capable of "paging" the device, which then initiates the sync session. I've used it, and found that the implementation on the i700 was decent. GPRS always-on works similarly as well.<br /><br />Then there's products like <a href="http://www.smartner.com/index.html">Smartner's</a> Duality. In fact, Geekzone <a href="http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?contentid=2898">reviewed</a> IntelliSync (which is the underlying technology for Verizon Wireless's solution), Smartner, and a couple of other approaches, so I won't dwell on their mechanics much further.<br /><br />This is different from the built-in Windows Mobile Server Activesync in several ways -- most notably, these solutions don't use SMS "paging" to wake up the Windows Mobile device to pull email... and this is attractive to people who have to pay for SMS "buckets" of messages. However, by not having integrated Exchange support as Server Activesync does, it's a bit of a pain to deploy... and if a organization has people using devices from different carriers, watch out. 8O Client redirectors are a workaround, but a hassle in their own right. Hopefully, Windows Mobile 5 will live up to its promise and provide a true, standardized push email system via Server Activesync that works, provides good battery life, and makes it easier for both server admins and users. In the meantime, we'll continue to see different solutions deployed by different carriers. If any of you have deployed always-on email, what solution have you used, and are you happy with it?

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Our IS department is going through this same dilemma. We'd been using JPMobile but are considering a switch to Good as well. Windows Mobile 5 is eagerly anticipated here along with the true push support from Exchange SP2.

It appears everything is due to hit around the end-of-the-year, which may partially explain why even HP (if my sources are correct) have decided to push back their hw65/6700 Messenger device to November. My source had originally told me that the device would come prepacked with the Goodlink client, but if we have a true push solution with Exchange and WM5 at that time, perhaps the device won't need Good after all.

The Good and JPMobile solutions are nice, but you're right, they're not seamless. The good news is that MS really seems focused on delivering a solution here, so it's only a matter of time.

[Birdman]

The prospects of true push is one of the few things that is keeping from jumping to a BB. I have waited this long using "pull" tech. with my local Rogers carrier that hopefully by the end of the year, I will be able to keep the PPC platform yet adopt a true push system akin to the BB.

[Yahdie]

Windows Mobile 5 will live up to its promise and provide a true, standardized push email system via Server Activesync

The carriers seem to be trying to make push email possible for customers who don't have/need Microsoft server products, and who are usually choosing and purchasing their own devices.

[Janak Parekh]

The carriers seem to be trying to make push email possible for customers who don't have/need Microsoft server products, and who are usually choosing and purchasing their own devices.
Maybe.. but most of these work best with Exchange Server. Some of them do offer POP as an alternative, though.

--janak

[csterns]

Question? I get my email through my ISP using my Pocket PC Phone. I thought the majority of other people did too? I get my messages as if they're real time so what advantage is there to this versus what I do?

A friend of mine is using the Verizon product mentioned earlier in this thread and when I saw I was intrigued by it, then thought about it and realized nothing really would be gained over what I currently doing. The one thing I wasn't thrilled about was the computer had to be on (at least that was my impression) and that it was dependent on the building's server.

So, am I missing something by not considering this? I get and return my messages on a timely basis as real time as I want or need it with these services. Thanks.

[tekhound]

For people like me who have a dedicated Microsoft Exchange server behind their firewall, opening up ports in the firewall to allow active sync or POP access from the net is verrrrry scary. Good Technology employs the same kind of push technology as RIM who makes the Blackberry. The Good Server sits behind the firewall and pushes out email to a Good client on the PDA.

The messages are encyrpted and can only be decrypted by the good client on the PDA that has the decryption key by way of the paring process during setup. If critical pieces of the PDA that make up what the decryption key has been generated by change (you change devices or SIM cards say on a PPC Phone) the server will not deliver to the client until you re-setup the client on the PPC or Treo. Your client will only ever accept messages from the one server that it was setup from. Security and reliability are the keys with this kind of technology. I swear by Good and would never go back to RIM or any other product.

[Janak Parekh]

Question? I get my email through my ISP using my Pocket PC Phone. I thought the majority of other people did too? I get my messages as if they're real time so what advantage is there to this versus what I do?
What's your current setup? Do you have the Inbox applet check for email every X minutes? Or do you check when you want it? The difference with push is that it will only make your Pocket PC wake up and check for new email when it's actually there, so that when you pull the Pocket PC out of your pocket it always has the latest email, down to the last few seconds.

--janak

[csterns]

Yeah I have it set to check every few minutes. I have a website that generates leads and I like to receive them within a few minutes of arrival so I have it set to check every 5 minutes.

[csterns]

Another question - what do you do when you have two POP email accounts you want to check? I would assume one you would set to check automatically while the other you would have to do manually?

[Janak Parekh]

Yeah I have it set to check every few minutes. I have a website that generates leads and I like to receive them within a few minutes of arrival so I have it set to check every 5 minutes.
So, the big difference with push is that it won't drain battery unless you get email... and if you do get another email in between those 5 minute intervals, you will get them immediately.

If you're happy with the 5-minute-checking setup, then by all means, leave it -- it'll probably be adequate for you. However, I personally believe push is the future. :)

--janak

[Janak Parekh]

Another question - what do you do when you have two POP email accounts you want to check? I would assume one you would set to check automatically while the other you would have to do manually?
... or forward all the email into your push account.

--janak