stevenf
09-13-2005, 08:47 PM
I've had a Treo 650 for a while, which I've had some issues with, and now I also have an SX66 from Cingular and 30 days to decide if I like it better or not. I'm neither a Palm nor PocketPC apologist. I just want a device that works reliably for the things I need.
The most important thing (next to reliable performance as an actual phone) is that the phone periodically picks up email from our IMAP SSL server. Push would be fantastic, but there don't seem to be many options that don't involve an intermediate server, so I'm willing to live with a 15-20 minute poll.
I can't figure out exactly what is happening with Inbox on the SX66, but I've set it to check email every 15 minutes and... well, it doesn't always. I've posted similar threads to this before and never really got a straight answer. There is something about the way Inbox's automatic pickups work that I'm just not understanding, because they just don't seem to happen reliably.
Here's what I've noticed:
- It generally seems to work OK if I disable all wireless except GPRS. It will turn on and check mail about every 15 minutes. Unfortunately, when it turns on, the touch screen is also enabled, and I'm worried about this when it's running unattended in a pocket or case.
- I was hoping I could leave WiFi on, and it would use WiFi if available, otherwise fall back to GPRS. In fact, it even states this is what will happen if I click on the "W" icon at the top of the screen.
If I'm within range of my home WiFi, it seems to use the WiFi connection just fine. If I'm out and about, it sometimes locks on to random secured access points, and I try to dismiss them (since I don't know the password), but it just keeps prompting me repeatedly for the password, instead of giving up and rolling to GPRS. Is this as-designed? Because it sure isn't what I expected.
Worse, if it's in my pocket, it will just keep doing this, never falling back to GPRS, and never picking up my mail until I'm in range of an access point that I can connect to. This is why I ended up turning off the WiFi radio, but I was really hoping I wouldn't end up "micro-managing" my wireless radios all day long.
In fact, sometimes I would turn on the SX66 and see some sort of connection error balloon that quickly disappeared before I had time to read it. I assume this has some bearing on why email pickups aren't happening, but it makes it kind of hard to debug.
- Neither Inbox nor WebIS seem to support IMAP message flags (neither displaying nor setting). This has become an important part of my workflow. Is there any IMAP SSL client for PocketPC that does? (SnapperMail for the Treo does.)
- I left the SX66 cradled overnight, and it didn't seem to do any email checking at all until I un-cradled it the next morning. I have no idea why not. The GPRS radio was enabled. I get the impression that being cradled somehow overrides the PocketPC's internet connection, but why?!
- Inbox seems very slooow when dealing with IMAP. Even after getting the new mail, it enters this "Receiving Folders..." phase that takes forever to complete, and I've not seen in any other IMAP client.
The ability of the PocketPC to multitask is a god-send compared to the Treo, and Pocket IE (especially with PocketPlus installed) is light years ahead of Palm's Blazer, and of course there's no WiFi in the Treo.... I want to use the SX66 but I need these email doo-dads to work the way I'm used to.
I get the impression from reading the forums that PocketPC IMAP support is just kind of weak in general. Any PPCPE power users have any suggestions?
The most important thing (next to reliable performance as an actual phone) is that the phone periodically picks up email from our IMAP SSL server. Push would be fantastic, but there don't seem to be many options that don't involve an intermediate server, so I'm willing to live with a 15-20 minute poll.
I can't figure out exactly what is happening with Inbox on the SX66, but I've set it to check email every 15 minutes and... well, it doesn't always. I've posted similar threads to this before and never really got a straight answer. There is something about the way Inbox's automatic pickups work that I'm just not understanding, because they just don't seem to happen reliably.
Here's what I've noticed:
- It generally seems to work OK if I disable all wireless except GPRS. It will turn on and check mail about every 15 minutes. Unfortunately, when it turns on, the touch screen is also enabled, and I'm worried about this when it's running unattended in a pocket or case.
- I was hoping I could leave WiFi on, and it would use WiFi if available, otherwise fall back to GPRS. In fact, it even states this is what will happen if I click on the "W" icon at the top of the screen.
If I'm within range of my home WiFi, it seems to use the WiFi connection just fine. If I'm out and about, it sometimes locks on to random secured access points, and I try to dismiss them (since I don't know the password), but it just keeps prompting me repeatedly for the password, instead of giving up and rolling to GPRS. Is this as-designed? Because it sure isn't what I expected.
Worse, if it's in my pocket, it will just keep doing this, never falling back to GPRS, and never picking up my mail until I'm in range of an access point that I can connect to. This is why I ended up turning off the WiFi radio, but I was really hoping I wouldn't end up "micro-managing" my wireless radios all day long.
In fact, sometimes I would turn on the SX66 and see some sort of connection error balloon that quickly disappeared before I had time to read it. I assume this has some bearing on why email pickups aren't happening, but it makes it kind of hard to debug.
- Neither Inbox nor WebIS seem to support IMAP message flags (neither displaying nor setting). This has become an important part of my workflow. Is there any IMAP SSL client for PocketPC that does? (SnapperMail for the Treo does.)
- I left the SX66 cradled overnight, and it didn't seem to do any email checking at all until I un-cradled it the next morning. I have no idea why not. The GPRS radio was enabled. I get the impression that being cradled somehow overrides the PocketPC's internet connection, but why?!
- Inbox seems very slooow when dealing with IMAP. Even after getting the new mail, it enters this "Receiving Folders..." phase that takes forever to complete, and I've not seen in any other IMAP client.
The ability of the PocketPC to multitask is a god-send compared to the Treo, and Pocket IE (especially with PocketPlus installed) is light years ahead of Palm's Blazer, and of course there's no WiFi in the Treo.... I want to use the SX66 but I need these email doo-dads to work the way I'm used to.
I get the impression from reading the forums that PocketPC IMAP support is just kind of weak in general. Any PPCPE power users have any suggestions?