Chapter 3. Email

When the BlackBerry first came onto the scene some 7 or 8 years ago, the big hubbub about it had to do with the fact that users could check their email no matter where they were. They could check email, read email, and even respond to email, all while sitting in a movie theater or a restaurant. In other words, the most expensive part of the email experiencethe computercould be replaced by a simple handheld appliance that pretty much everybody could afford.

Probably the biggest question for most people is "Do I really want it?" After all, for some people, having access to email at every moment is worse than having a wireless headset strapped to your ears 24 hours a day. Still, there are plenty of realistic and practical reasons why having access to email makes sense. Some people have very busy and time-consuming sedentary jobs, but having both a phone and email connection in one device frees them just enough to get out and exercise at a health club every day for a couple of hours.

This chapter takes a brief look at the email functions of the Pearl, the basics of how it works, and how to set it up and use it when it's up and running.