1. Ateela's Avatar
    Hello all! I'm new to the CrackBerry forums so I would just like to start out by saying that I'm very excited to be joining this fantastic community of enthusiastic BlackBerry users!

    I'm considering purchasing a Bold 9900 and would just like to clarify some things related to GMAIL's compatibility on the new BlackBerry phones in general (OS 7). I recently switched to GMAIL and I'm finding it so much better than Hotmail (yes, I used to be an unfortunate Hotmail user). I used to use 2 different Hotmail accounts but now I have GMAIL pulling all my mail from those accounts, adding a label to each one, and archiving them. So basically all my mail from those accounts are separate from my GMAIL inbox and are found in their respective labels. Oh and one last thing, I use BIS not BES. Now, just a few questions:

    1) Emails sent to my Hotmail accounts used to take about 10min to arrive on my BlackBerry. Is this also the case w/ GMAIL or are emails received on the BlackBerry instantly?
    2) In the individual GMAIL message inbox, upon opening it, do you see ALL your emails from your inbox AND labels or does it only view one folder at a time? Do I have the option of quickly choosing to view emails of one specific label or all my starred items for example?
    3) Does the BlackBerry sync both ways with GMAIL? I.e. if I apply a star to an email, label it, mark it as important, delete it, etc. on my BlackBerry, does it automatically sync this action with my web GMAIL? Does it do the same vice-versa (i.e. I take an action on my web GMAIL, will that action automatically apply on my BlackBerry)?

    I currently have an Android phone in addition to my Curve 8900. I must say, GMAIL compatibility is (naturally) great w/ Android. Mail arrives instantly & when I open the GMAIL app, I see a list of folders (inbox, spam, starred, individual labels, etc.) that I can choose from and also, any action taken on the Phone is instantly synced with my web GMAIL and vice-versa. I want to know how close the current BlackBerry OS 7 (w/ the enhanced GMAIL plug-in) comes close to this and what are its major drawbacks.

    Thank you very much in advance!
    09-20-11 12:56 AM
  2. Bulldawg's Avatar
    Well, it's not perfect.

    1) GMail on BIS is push, so you'll get it instantly. I usually get mine before they are available in the web interface.
    2) You can only see one folder at a time. The inbox is the first view, and you will need to go to view folders and pick the label you want to view another label.
    3) Changes made (archive, star, label, read, mark unread) on your phone will be immediately reflected in your Gmail inbox, but changes made via the web interface will not be immediately reflected on your phone. I've pretty much stopped using the web interface to read e-mail because of this. It's easier to manage my inbox on my phone than it is to do it via the web and then wait for the phone to reflect the change (takes hours to happen, very frustrating).

    So, like I said, not perfect, but it's much better than OS 5 with the enhanced Gmail plugin.
    Ateela likes this.
    09-20-11 07:19 AM
  3. Ateela's Avatar
    Thank you for your reply! It sure does clear things up.

    I want to ask one more thing though. For my emails that are being pulled from my other accounts and are being labeled + archived, do I receive notifications for them? Also, in order to read them, I'll have to open my GMAIL message inbox AND then pick the label's folder?
    09-20-11 08:34 AM
  4. Bulldawg's Avatar
    Thank you for your reply! It sure does clear things up.

    I want to ask one more thing though. For my emails that are being pulled from my other accounts and are being labeled + archived, do I receive notifications for them? Also, in order to read them, I'll have to open my GMAIL message inbox AND then pick the label's folder?
    E-mails set to auto archive through a rule in Gmail will get pushed to my BB, but I will never get a notification of a new e-mail from them. If I go into the messages app and view the folder for that label, the e-mail is there.

    One caveat, I also have these e-mails set to mark as read automatically, so maybe if you don't have your rule set to mark as read, you'll get the notification.
    09-20-11 11:00 AM
  5. rollingrock1988's Avatar
    You can also download the gmail app from google. I use both in tandem.

    For instance I see the emails come in through bis and delete them on my hand held. If I need to look back, I open the gmail app and can look through all my messages. Then I exit and resume.
    09-20-11 11:20 AM
  6. Jaguarr40's Avatar
    I believe while someone already said that with BIS gmail is not perfect but it has many great aspects that I beleive you will enjoy much more than hotmail and the delivery since they are being pushed to your BB will get to you very fast.

    Give it a try and if you do't like it, you can always go back to another email.

    Welcome to our little BB family - Yell if you need anymore help.
    lssanjose likes this.
    09-20-11 06:28 PM
  7. jarbootsy's Avatar
    Gmail has the best sync ability with RIM devices of all the free email programs. If you do decide to use the Gmail app in tandem with push service, keep in mind that there is an error in the app when it is running BB OS 6 and 7. When you click search, it will not show any letters or boxes on the screen, but rest assured if you type what you are looking for and hit enter, it will return with search hits. I think that it is important to keep the GMAIL app on the phone because even though the sync is amazing with Gmail, it is still not BES and to search for email older than 30 or 60 days (you could set your BB to keep email indefinitely, but, I wouldn’t recommend this) you will need the Gmail app.
    09-20-11 09:25 PM
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