Section 23. About Email and the BlackBerry Web Client

23. About Email and the BlackBerry Web Client

SEE ALSO

24 Create a BlackBerry Web Client Account

There is often confusion among users new to BlackBerry devices regarding email. It seems as if there are a dozen options for how to access and integrate email with your device, and it's hard to tell which options overlap and which ones are really necessary. So let me cut to the chase and attempt to explain the whole email scenario. I'll also point out where the BlackBerry Web Client fits into the email picture because it is an important component of BlackBerry email access.

There are four fundamental approaches to accessing email from your BlackBerry device. Let's take a quick look at each of them:

• The BlackBerry Web Client A web-based email solution for individuals that includes a handheld email account, it also allows you to integrate other existing email accounts into your BlackBerry email. The Web Client is useful for the handheld email account, as well as for anyone with a POP or IMAP email account with an Internet service provider, such as Earthlink, Comcast, Yahoo!, AOL, MSN, or Hotmail. The handheld email account included with the BlackBerry Web Client is a true push email account.

  KEY TERM

  Push email A type of email delivery in which email is sent immediately to the email client without the client having to periodically check for available messages. Push email feels more instantaneous because, when someone sends you an email, as soon as the server receives it, it's sent to your BlackBerry; it doesn't sit on the server and wait until you retrieve it. Sent messages are handled just as efficientlyas soon as you send a message, it is transmitted to the server and pushed to the recipient.

  
  

  NOTE

  The BlackBerry Web Client can retrieve and integrate email from up to 10 email accounts.

  
  

• Email forwarding An email solution for individuals in which you set a rule in your existing email client to forward messages to your handheld email address. This solution requires a BlackBerry Web Client account but doesn't require you to integrate your existing email accounts with the BlackBerry Web Client.

• BlackBerry Redirector An email solution similar to email forwarding; however, instead of relying on your email client, a special application called the BlackBerry Redirector is installed and used to forward messages from your desktop PC to your BlackBerry device. This solution is primarily geared toward corporate email users who don't have access to the BlackBerry Enterprise Server. The only hitch to this solution is that your computer must be up and running for the BlackBerry Redirector to redirect messages.

• BlackBerry Enterprise Server A server-based email solution for multiple users that involves using the BlackBerry Server software with an email server such as Microsoft Exchange or Lotus Domino. This email solution is powerful and offers complete email synchronizationwhen you delete a message on your device, it is deleted from your desktop email client. BlackBerry Enterprise Server email is also true push email, which makes it efficient.

NOTE

Another email option I neglected to mention involves third-party mobile email applications. You can download and install these email clients on your device in lieu of the default Messages application, which is covered in Chapter 6, "Digging Deeper into Email and Text Messages." These applications are typically designed to tie into an existing POP or IMAP email account. For overall usability, I've found the built-in Messages application to be as good as most third-party options, except in the case of dealing with email attachments; see 35 View an Email Attachment .

To sum up the various email approaches, the BlackBerry Enterprise Server is by far the best option if you work at a company that offers it or you don't mind shelling out the money to buy and run your own email server. If the BlackBerry Enterprise Server is not an option but you use a corporate email account that isn't easily accessed using POP or IMAP, you will probably need to use the BlackBerry Redirector application to redirect messages to your device. And finally, the BlackBerry Web Client is for everyone else, whether you choose to use only the Web Client account, integrate your email accounts into the Web Client, or forward other email to your Web Client account. Just because I mention it last in this discussion doesn't mean it doesn't do a good jobyou'll likely find that the BlackBerry Web Client solves most of your mobile email needs.

TIP

If you have multiple email accounts and want to use more than one of them with your BlackBerry device, it's worth pointing out that you can use any combination of the email solutions mentioned here. This flexibility is ultimately what makes BlackBerry such a powerful platform for mobile email.