[dfb8085]

I think that most everyone here is expecting more out of the email active sync than it can deliver. There is a big difference between what we are used to on our phones and what the playbook can deliver. Just the nature of how it is constructed. The BES/BIS email we are accustomed to maintains a real time connection to the servers and and enabled us to have 2 way real time sync. The active sync on the playbook cannot deliver that. It may one day if they can figure out a way to make it happen. It all goes back when this was on the drawing board. Remember when rim was saying that they were having trouble getting the servers to connect to different PIN numbers for separate devices. The playbook active sync was their answer to native email everybody was having a cow to get. Its the best it can be at this time. You can't compare it to what we have on our phones. Thats why I really was never gun on having native email on the playbook in the first place because I knew what would happen. Your seeing it now

[GEMSONDAY]

Thats one of the main reasons I have not updated to OS 2 yet!

[RegN]

The only advantage I found is when I have wifi and want to send a set of pictures home. It works really well to select them all and attach. Other then that you have 2 email apps bringing in the same emails at slightly different times. I guess if you don't have bb phone it makes sense.

[gimpy666]

I'm happy with the mail service and I am using three accounts Telus, Yahoo and Gmail with no problems other than one day of having to keep adding my passwords. The lack of support with BB desktop for Outlook is annoying as I had to input all my data by hand. The mail works very well.

[anon(106603)]

so you're not going to upgrade to OS2 because of native email/active sync - what's the logic there?

[stranger99]

so you're not going to upgrade to OS2 because of native email/active sync - what's the logic there?

Yes that makes no sense. Just don't use the native email. I deleted my account on the native email/calendar/contacts for 2 reasons. First the double notifications were a pain. But mostly I much prefer using Bridge so I know I can easily disable my email access if someone else (family members) is using my Playbook.

If only the Bridge was as pretty and integrated as the Native.....

[Michel Souris]

This is just sloppy and stupid work by RIM. My Android tablet was set up quickly for email in just a couple of minutes and has worked flawlessly since, with complete IMAP implementation including folders. This is not rocket science, just stupidity.

[fruitloaf]

Personally my annoyances with the email app are nothing to do with activesync. I've not found the slight delay in propagating changes a problem though I do find it mildly amusing that RIM can't get email working with their own protocols after a years trying.

No my problems are that the app simply is still unfinished and buggy. No imap folder support, I constantly find that often emails are truncated and not properly downloaded, filling emails in folders doesn't work 100% reliably and I can't chose to download more than 30 days of emails (this isn't a big issue on my phone but the playbook with its bigger screen and search makes it much more desirable).

[fruitloaf]

Oh and not to mention that I couldn't get the SMTP support to work without enabling SSL which in combination with the most terse error messages makes it a pain of a problem to debug.

[constable24601]

After reading this thread, I still have 3 questions.
1. Is it possible to create subfolders under the 'inbasket' and file correspondence there?
2. What are the steps needed to send an attachment? I don't see an icon indicating the ability to navigate to a directory location where the attachment might reside.
3. Can an attachment be saved into any folder within (subfolders mentioned above) or outside of the email client (such as documents). Even though the PB provides native file management capability through several file management programs, I can't figure out how to manage attachments.

[berian7]

I love the new Os2 email! I only wish they would add an ability to make folders so one can send emails to a group rather than one at a time. Other than that, it is near perfect in my opinion.

[BearSnout]

I love the new Os2 email! I only wish they would add an ability to make folders so one can send emails to a group rather than one at a time. Other than that, it is near perfect in my opinion.

Me too... it's great.

[mud314]

This is just sloppy and stupid work by RIM. My Android tablet was set up quickly for email in just a couple of minutes and has worked flawlessly since, with complete IMAP implementation including folders. This is not rocket science, just stupidity.

I too agree with the folders on IMAP not syncing, that is just down right stupid on RIMs part. I don't get it at all either. I still like this email client a lot though and do use it.

[Foreverup]

I think that most everyone here is expecting more out of the email active sync than it can deliver. There is a big difference between what we are used to on our phones and what the playbook can deliver. Just the nature of how it is constructed. The BES/BIS email we are accustomed to maintains a real time connection to the servers and and enabled us to have 2 way real time sync. The active sync on the playbook cannot deliver that. It may one day if they can figure out a way to make it happen. It all goes back when this was on the drawing board. Remember when rim was saying that they were having trouble getting the servers to connect to different PIN numbers for separate devices. The playbook active sync was their answer to native email everybody was having a cow to get. Its the best it can be at this time. You can't compare it to what we have on our phones. Thats why I really was never gun on having native email on the playbook in the first place because I knew what would happen. Your seeing it now

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong (Please do) but just cause active sync is there doesn't mean your getting true push email. The mail server you use has to have it active also. Meaning your pop3/stmp free email probably don't support it and the native email just turns into your typical pull email solution. On top of that the playbook is not a BIS/BES type device so comparing it to your phone is useless. No email is going through the NOC like a BIS phone, you are connecting directly to your mail server. The part the NOC is playing is pulling down the setup config so you don't have to.

[VerryBestr]

ActiveSync is push mail. Google Sync is ActiveSync (Google licenses the technology from Microsoft). IMAP can effectively be push mail too.

| Push email - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
...
Android's built-in Gmail client uses Google Sync to push email for Gmail accounts set up to sync with the phone. Android also supports Microsoft Exchange accounts natively through its default mail application.
...
IMAP in fact allows many notifications to be sent at any time, but not message data. The IDLE command is often used to signal the ability of a client to process notifications sent outside of a command running, which effectively provides a user experience identical to push.

Here is somewhat more technical explanation of why IMAP IDLE is effectively push:

| IMAP IDLE: The best approach for 'push' email

I don't have a PlayBook myself, but I have the impression from various posts here that, by default, the PlayBook sets up gmail and hotmail accounts as ActiveSync accounts (although gmail and hotmail can also be accessed as IMAP or POP accounts).

[VerryBestr]

... I do find it mildly amusing that RIM can't get email working with their own protocols after a years trying.

RIM is not "trying" to get email working with their own protocols. RIM is moving to a new, improved protocol. ActiveSync is the new standard, with support for folders, integrated calendars, contacts, etc.

On an enterprise installation, the ActiveSync traffic will be routed through RIM's network (NOC), compressed and encrypted. This will go through the "BDS" (BlackBerry Device Service) with management by Mobile Fusion -- which is effectively the new BES.

On the other hand, for companies that don't use BES, employees can use the PlayBook (and future phones, I imagine) in the same way as iOS and Android.

[VerryBestr]

I too agree with the folders on IMAP not syncing, that is just down right stupid on RIMs part. I don't get it at all either.

RIM clearly gave priority to ActiveSync, because that is crucial to their enterprise plan. RIM's IMAP implementation sounds like a very basic, "feature-challenged" job. I hope they can improve on this.