Without doubt, the most popular mobile email solution around at the moment is BlackBerry from Research In Motion (RIM). I’m sure you will have heard of them, but are probably wondering just what exactly do they do, how they work, and what’s the difference between them?
What do they do?
First and foremost, BlackBerry is about being able to send and receive email, quickly and easily. Over the last few years, BlackBerrys have been upgraded from only supporting email, text and phone calls to having digital cameras, expandable memory, media players, internet access, Wi-Fi, GPS and pretty much every other feature you’d find on any mobile phone on the market. The emphasis is still on email, and to be honest, there isn’t another device on the market that does what a BlackBerry does, as well as BlackBerry does it. BlackBerry devices can all handle email attachments such as Microsoft Word, Excel, & Powerpoint documents, PDF’s and images. Attachments aren’t downloaded automatically, the device will ask you if you want to download it. If you chose not to – maybe you don’t need to read the attachment until you get back to the office, the files will be sat waiting for you on your PC when you get back.
How does it work?
BlackBerrys use "Push Email" to deliver email to your phone. "Push Email" simply means that as soon as the email server receives an email, it pushes it out across the cellular network to your device. You instantly get an alert to notify you that you have new email and can read it immediately on your BlackBerry. Email on your PC or most other mobile phones normally works on a "Pull" system called POP. With POP email, your computer will connect to the servers at regular intervals (anything from 5 mins to an hour or more) and then download any new emails to your PC. This often means a delay between the email being sent and you getting it. With "Push Email" there is little or no delay. BlackBerry condenses the emails into just plain text, all fancy formatting is removed, and you just see the information you need. This allows the emails to travel quickly over the cellular network, meaning you won’t have to wait for the email to finish downloading before you can read it.
Why would I want one?
Email is now one of the quickest and easiest ways of communicating. By having email on your phone, you won’t have to worry about remembering to check your email on your computer. You won’t have to learn how to use email programs, or mess around remembering passwords for webmail. You don’t really even need a computer! Sending an email on a BlackBerry is as easy as sending a text message. You can send images in your emails, so there’s no need to try and figure out how to send picture messages. Email is cheaper too. Rather than paying for each message that you send, email is done on a flat monthly fee of around £5 (varies by network).
What email accounts can I use on it?
Pretty much all email accounts that use either POP or IMAP will work with no problem. When you set up your email with BlackBerry, you may be asked for your POP or IMAP server settings, you can normally find these on your email providers website. If you use Hotmail, then you will need to either pay to upgrade your account, or you can set a forward to your BlackBerry email address that you’ll create as part of the sign up process. See our post on Setting up email on BlackBerry Devices for more information
Are they easy to set up?
There are two different set-ups for BlackBerry Email, (BIS and BES) and this can cause some confusion.
BIS stands for BlackBerry Internet Service, and is what most of us would use to access our email. Setting up your email through BIS is extremely simple and is done either through your network providers website or through the handset. Once set up, BlackBerry email servers will check your existing email accounts for new messages and push them through to your device. BIS can be used by individuals, as well as companies large and small.
BES stands for BlackBerry Enterprise Server. BES is a more expensive option and is normally used by larger companies running email software such as Microsoft Exchange and requires BlackBerry software to be installed to the server and licenses obtained for each user. If you have been given a BlackBerry by your employer, there is every chance it will be running on BES. BES devices will have been set up by your IT department prior to you receiving the device. Depending on the security settings on your BlackBerry, you may also be able to add a BIS account so that you can access personal email on your BlackBerry as well. A word of warning though, this could breach your employers IT policy and get you into trouble, so its best to check with them first!
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