Questions about PDA Phones & Push Email

[pmgibson]

I'm a longtime PocketPC user, but have not made the switch to a Phone Edition. In trying to decide if I want to when the Kaiser becomes available, I've been thinking about how I use the PDA and what I want out of a converged device. Which leads me to questions about email.

Right now I have a Dell x51v and a Motorola Razr. I sync the Dell to two computers, home and work.

At home I use Outlook 2007 with a PST file. My main email account is a POP3 account that I automatically forward from the ISP to an AOL IMAP account. I don't download from the POP3 account -- I sync Outlook with the IMAP account (automatically every 5 minutes). Since the PC at home is up and connected through broadband pretty much 24/7, my email stays SPAM filtered and organized within a 5 minute timespan on both the PC and the IMAP server, and when I sync the PDA, it mirrors the IMAP server (no spam, organized).

When at home, the PDA is mostly cradled and sync'd with the PC and the IMAP server, so I typically have my personal inbox available. However, most of my saved mail is not on the IMAP server - it's in a PST file, so it's not sync'd to the PDA.

At work I have an Exchange Server account that I sync to the PDA. Sometimes through the wired network when the PDA is cradled and sometimes WiFi when I'm roaming the halls.

When the PDA is not cradled, at home, work, or just roaming around town, I have the option of WiFi or Bluetooth for connectivity. When using Bluetooth, I have a pairing with my cellphone so if BT is turned on, on the PDA, I get email from both Exchange and the IMAP server anywhere.

My questions concern how this will work with a Phone Edition (or whatever WM6 is calling it now).

Will I be able to have both personal (IMAP account) and work (Exchange) email received on the device? Will they both be push email or will I have to have scheduled syncs like I do now?

Is there anything that I haven't asked (because I don't know enough about it to know I should ask)?

I've looked for posts about this -- was hoping for maybe a tutorial from Menneisyys -- but haven't found anything. If I've overlooked something and someone could point me to a good description of how this works, I'd really, really appreciate it. I'd also be grateful for anyone who feels like writing up some detailed answers to my questions.

Patty Gibson

[Mark Kenepp]

It really will not be any different then what you have now except that in the schedule settings there will be an option to sync "As items arrive".

Just like in Windows Mobile 2003 (which I assume you have on your x51v) you can only set up one Exchange Server account through Activesync so that will be the only true "push" account you have on your device.

[pmgibson]

Thanks for the reply. Actually my x51v is a later model that has WM5.0 on it. But I think the one Exchange Server account still applies -- I don't see any place to set up additional ones.

Just curious -- how does it know to sync "as soon as items arrive". I understand syncing on a schedule or triggered by an event on the PDA (for example, sending email). But how is it triggered by an event on a server?

Thanks.

[Mark Kenepp]

Just curious -- how does it know to sync "as soon as items arrive". I understand syncing on a schedule or triggered by an event on the PDA (for example, sending email). But how is it triggered by an event on a server?

I do not know the details of how it works, though I would assume that a detailed explanation is available. Here (http://blogs.msdn.com/jasonlan/archive/2005/12/03/499714.aspx) is one that I just found through Google.

I do know that from posts in various Pocket PC forums that there is some bandwidth overhead associated with direct push. I can't recall the thread where I read this but I remember users reporting the amount of data overhead using "push" and I was quite surprised! It was much higher then I expected and would seem that it would use up any limited data plan quota pretty quick. Since I don't remember the numbers posted I don't want to guess here.

From what I recall, the device is making requests to the server every few seconds. Though the actual data transfer of each request is small, running every few seconds does add up.

[Brad Adrian]

Your explanation is pretty accurate. The amount of data usage can be pretty high, depending on the e-mail volume, but the "overhead" I see on my device when I subtract the size of the messages themselves is pretty small.

I've never liked to worry about whether or not I'm exceeding a data service limit, so I have an "all-you-can-eat" data account. Even with moderate spurts of Internet use, I don't think I ever go over 10MB per month.

[Mark Kenepp]

Your explanation is pretty accurate. The amount of data usage can be pretty high, depending on the e-mail volume, but the "overhead" I see on my device when I subtract the size of the messages themselves is pretty small.

I wish I could find that thread where people were posting their numbers. If I recall correctly, it was around 10k /day which, now that I think about it, still would be way less than a meg a month so I guess I was just causing undue hysteria :oops:

[Nurhisham Hussein]

Here's another article (http://www.geardiary.com/2007/08/13/how-microsoft-push-mail-really-works/) that explains push email.