[Wangta]

Hey guys,

I've been an avid Blackberry fan for the past 10 years, and admittedly, have been tempted to jump ship to iPhone, especially with the release of the 4s (my GF upgraded and we have an iPhone 4 laying around now...). Doesn't help that I've noticed the plethora of cool applications for the iPhone released, with little response from Blackberry (Skype anyone? I can't believe I'm still waiting for this). Oh, and add on that the 9900 has YET to be released by AT&T. My patience with Blackberry is at an all time low.

ANYWAY - we have an iPad and while it's ok. I absolutely hate that I can't check my work email on it efficiently. It doesn't support explorer, so microsoft webmail looks like complete garbage and functions in the equivelant of "safety mode".

I've been eyeing the playbook for awhile. The bridge feature sounds pretty ridiculously cool. And I think i could type on the playbook given the smaller size "comfortably" - or as comfortable as one could ever type on a glass tablet. This idea seems great, but obviously requires a blackberry nearby.

I've been seeing many references to "Native email" coming soon to the playbook w/ 2.0. What exactly does this mean? Does that mean the playbook will act just like a blackberry, and interact with BES just as my blackberry does? For example, if I go to Starbucks this weekend, could I go with just the playbook and leave the Blackberry at home and still get my emails/calendar and be connected to BES just like I'm "bridged"? On a flight, I'm guessing now I would have to turn on my Blackberry, connect it to gogo wireless via wifi, turn on my playbook, then activate bridge? With "native" email, can I just turn on the Playbook, connect to gogo, then start getting all my emails while leaving my Blackberry off?

Thanks guys...I tried searching the forums for a native email for dummies thread but didn't find anything that laid it out in real-life terms I can understand. Doing my best to stick with Blackberry but Apple hooligans are everywhere!

[chrism_scotland]

Native email means an email client built into the Playbook OS allowing you to send and receive email with using the "Bridge" functionality via the Blackberry.

Not so sure on BES or BIS support for the Playbook itself though seen as it only has a Wifi connection but they did mention provisioning a PB against a BES server yesterday when talking about Blackberry Balance.

[Wangta]

Native email means an email client built into the Playbook OS allowing you to send and receive email with using the "Bridge" functionality via the Blackberry.

Thanks Chris - maybe I'm not following. Can't you do that now by using the bridge function? Or did you mean without?

So in my examples (coffee shop and flight) - I could get emails in real time (push) without firing up my 9700? Does the playbook interact with my company's BES somehow?

[chrism_scotland]

Basically Bridge at the moment allows you to send and received email via your BIS or BES account that is tied to your Blackberry phone, but without Bridge the only way to get any email on the PB is via the Web (Yahoo, Google, corporate web login, etc)

[Wangta]

Basically Bridge at the moment allows you to send and received email via your BIS or BES account that is tied to your Blackberry phone, but without Bridge the only way to get any email on the PB is via the Web (Yahoo, Google, corporate web login, etc)

Got it. I was hoping this native email would allow me to get my emails (both BIS and BES) on the playbook without the blackberry. I'm not sure how synching works without it being connected to BES?

[JR A]

Got it. I was hoping this native email would allow me to get my emails (both BIS and BES) on the playbook without the blackberry. I'm not sure how synching works without it being connected to BES?

When your BB is bridged to your Playbook, the PB is just utilizing the bluetooth connection to "mirror" information on your BB. So, technically, there is no BES information on your PB; your PB is just showing you what's already stored on your BB device. Naturally, once you de-bridge the two devices, none of the information will stay on the PB.


As of right now, you can only get your BES stuff through Bridging your BB. You can't do it with your PB alone.

However, this may all change after this week of DevCon if there is a huge update announced...

[melander]

So are you saying that tasks and calendar are actually stored at RIM? Unless they are, I don't see how PIM apps on the Playbook will get content without a BB phone. I hope native email just means an email client the likes of Logicmail or better yet, email clients that do imap, EAS and pop.

[JR A]

So are you saying that tasks and calendar are actually stored at RIM? Unless they are, I don't see how PIM apps on the Playbook will get content without a BB phone. I hope native email just means an email client the likes of Logicmail or better yet, email clients that do imap, EAS and pop.

That's the whole point of Bridge. Everything is stored/goes through your BB phone and nothing is saved to your PB.

Native email as in the way you currently receive email on your BB phone. You just click the messages inbox and read/write emails there and get notifications there as well. You don't have to go to the browser on your BB phone and log onto yahoo or gmail's website to check your email... That's what we mean by native.

[melander]

That's the whole point of Bridge. Everything is stored/goes through your BB phone and nothing is saved to your PB.

Native email as in the way you currently receive email on your BB phone. You just click the messages inbox and read/write emails there and get notifications there as well. You don't have to go to the browser on your BB phone and log onto yahoo or gmail's website to check your email... That's what we mean by native.

But for a moment:
BIS users get email forwarded to their devices from RIM's datacenters from store/forward servers.
BES users get email, Calendar and Contacts forwarded to their devices from enterprise servers and RIM's datacenters.

I don't believe the same is true for Calendar and Contacts on BIS, that they are not stored @RIM.

I can currently use the bridge and get Contacts and Calendar on the PB through the bridge even though I'm a BIS user.

The implication I'm trying to understand is that email may be stored and forwarded twice (once to the BB phone and once to the PB) so that the PB no longer needs to tether to the Bridge for email. RIM can do this because the email part touches their servers.

But if that is the design for native email for the PB, what of Calendar and Contacts? Is RIM developing an infrastructure that will upload current Contacts and Calendar events from the BB phone and up to RIM's datacenter, and plan on a synching mechanism so that the PB will be able to see those same objects without Bridge?

Thanks

[jesse_h]

Native email means an email client built into the Playbook OS allowing you to send and receive email with using the "Bridge" functionality via the Blackberry.

Not so sure on BES or BIS support for the Playbook itself though seen as it only has a Wifi connection but they did mention provisioning a PB against a BES server yesterday when talking about Blackberry Balance.

WRONG.

When "native" email is released, it will be just that, native. It won't rely on bridge and it won't require you to own a blackberry smartphone. Calander will work the same way.

[s219]

To the OP -- I agree with you, the Outlook/Exchange webmail is a pretty poor experience on any browser other than Explorer on a PC. But the iPad e-mail app supports Microsoft Outlook/Exchange directly. Why don't you set it up? There is no need to use webmail on that device for Microsoft integration.

[Wangta]

To the OP -- I agree with you, the Outlook/Exchange webmail is a pretty poor experience on any browser other than Explorer on a PC. But the iPad e-mail app supports Microsoft Outlook/Exchange directly. Why don't you set it up? There is no need to use webmail on that device for Microsoft integration.

Oh really? Well, the big reason I never tried this is because my gf actually uses the ipad for her email, and I didn't want my work email permanently there as well. Not sure if that's sound logic, but my reasoning nonetheless.

But I've been eyeing the playbook since day 1 despite the ipad - I really like the synching with the blackberry phone, and FLASH. FLASH. FLASH!

[chrism_scotland]

WRONG.

When "native" email is released, it will be just that, native. It won't rely on bridge and it won't require you to own a blackberry smartphone. Calander will work the same way.

My fault typo, meant to type without, not with in there.

[s219]

Oh really? Well, the big reason I never tried this is because my gf actually uses the ipad for her email, and I didn't want my work email permanently there as well. Not sure if that's sound logic, but my reasoning nonetheless.

That makes perfect sense. Many people use webmail for work because they specifically don't want it rolling into their inbox with their personal content.

[giorgoskyropoulos]

when you setting up an email account at the first time with a new bb, at the other end of the ''net'' (rim) you just assign your device pin with your mail. Then push your mails to your pin and you notify you on your device. All the job is doing by the pin. I suppose that rim with the native mail application on pb can push your mails on your pb pin. Its sound to me so simple and easy. One mail account or more connected with two pins.

[Wangta]

when you setting up an email account at the first time with a new bb, at the other end of the ''net'' (rim) you just assign your device pin with your mail. Then push your mails to your pin and you notify you on your device. All the job is doing by the pin. I suppose that rim with the native mail application on pb can push your mails on your pb pin. Its sound to me so simple and easy. One mail account or more connected with two pins.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. So [email protected] would have two pins associated with it on the BES. Assuming the Playbook has internet access, it should update on the fly just like the BB.

[z_scorpio_z]

The much earlier leaked screenshots native email setup screen did not show BIS/BES (they had I think EAS/POP/IMAP etc).

Hopefully, BIS and BES is supported on the playbook and read/sent are kept in sync on the two devices (my exchange on BES and phone do this wonderfully, same for creating deleting contacts/memo/task/calendar via either outlook or BB works great).

I was not so hopeful about BES on PB, but during the devcon they did show PB provisioned by blackberry server (they did not call it BES), but it created work folder (with PIM) and also allowed IT to push "Work" category in the App World and push internal applications to the employees PB. This gives me some hope that there is some way to provision PB with BES.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com