Android App Similar to Blackberry Email Client?

[lowrider13]

Hi all,

Totally new to the forum, so please be nice! I have looked at other threads and cant seem to find an answer there so here it goes.

Does anyone know of an App that acts similar to the Blackberry email client?

What i really mean is does anyone know of an app that acts as a third party entering your log in details and then pushing emails to your phone (similar to what i believe the BB client does)

I only ask as i wish to connect to my Uni email address and the IMAP settings are restricted on undergraduate accounts, so cant sync in the usual way via IMAP. However, people who have BB's at uni have no issue in connecting to their emails. On asking the IT guys why this is they explained

"The reason people are able to use Blackberry?s is due to the fact that they provide there password to an external company to access there mail on behalf of them which is strongly against the terms and conditions of there university account, and as a result should not be doing this at all."

Essentially i need an app that mimics this.

Any help out there for a poor helpless noob to the forum who is very much in love with his new HTC desire?

Thanks in advance,

Callum

 

[TulsaTime]

I was able to do this with maildroid and k9 mail. I prefer maildroid though.

 

[shaneallenhenderson]

Let me know if you find a good one. I miss how my blackberry handles my email accounts

 

[lowrider13]

TulsaTime, thanks for your response.

Have just tried both K9 and Maildroid. Unfortunately i'm getting the same issues. Exchange just blocks me out saying that it cant connect to the outgoing server. (im guessing due to my user restrictions)...

It is so annoying that a phone like a Blackberry can "out do" an Android phone when it comes to email.

Does anyone else have any other solutions!? Please!?

 

[takeshi]

Does anyone know of an App that acts similar to the Blackberry email client?

You won't find anything like this as an Android app. What you're referring to is BIS. BIS didn't run on your BB. It ran on RIM's servers. Most people don't seem to realize that BB's are basically frontend devices and rely heavily on the backend that RIM provides (whether you're BIS, BES or both). Another reason an app won't provide you a similar solution is that if your device, regardless of OS, has already received email that it pulled from your accounts it doesn't need to push email to itself.

The closest equivalent I can think of is gmail's mail fetcher but it doesn't adjust polling intervals automatically based on activity like BIS does.

It is so annoying that a phone like a Blackberry can "out do" an Android phone when it comes to email.

There are pros and cons to every option out there and it's no different with smartphones and email handling. People love to parrot "BB is king of email" but that's not entirely the case. I was a BES user -- about as good as it gets on BB -- and even BES is push-and-reconcile (basically you don't get old email except for a few days worth during activation on BES). With Exchange and ActiveSync on my Droid I get true sync which the BB never had.

Also, as I stated, BIS ran on RIM's servers. Are you not familiar with RIM outages and how they affect BIS users? That's not really "outdoing" IMO nor is it in the opinions of many other former and current BIS users.

It's also not Android's fault that you can't use IMAP.


What precisely is your goal in finding a BIS equivalent? Are you concerned about email delivery times? Battery life? Both? Something else? You might want to see if you can forward from your email account to a gmail account and set the "reply as" (I don't recall off the top of my head if that's exactly what it's called) in gmail.

Is ActiveSync not available for your Exchange account? If it is, you really should use it.

 

[takeshi]

What precisely is your goal in finding a BIS equivalent?

From context, I'm guessing that BB users at your university are connecting BIS to Exchange via OWA. I'm not sure what apps, if any, will connect to Exchange via OWA on Android but that's what you need to be searching for if my guess is correct.

 

[lexluthor]

I think Touchdown might work through OWA.

 

[rkkeller]

I don't know if things have changed since when I had a BB but I really loathed email on it.

Most html emails looked like gibberish missing all kinds of things and even plain text sometimes didn't look like they were intended as RIM strips all kinds of things from the emails.

Maybe times have changed but I stopped using BB's as soon as other phones offered real html email years ago. I don't need instant, I need something that comes semi quick and looks like it did when it was sent.

 

[lowrider13]

Thanks for all your replies!

Takeshi, i never had a BB, and never will! But i understand about the RIM servers, i knew this was essentially the case, and wondered if there was an email app running a similar set up (after all Mini Opera runs using external servers does it not?)

Please dont get me wrong, my comment wasn't intended to be slating the Android OS or the fantastic developers that work with it, it's just frustrating that something like this occurs.

As you've stated, it is essentially my fault/issue anyway due to my user restrictions... Not the Android OS or the App developers. I appreciate that if I wasnt under the restrictions it wouldnt be an issue at all, therefore = my fault

What precisely is your goal in finding a BIS equivalent? Are you concerned about email delivery times? Battery life? Both? Something else? You might want to see if you can forward from your email account to a gmail account and set the "reply as" (I don't recall off the top of my head if that's exactly what it's called) in gmail.

Is ActiveSync not available for your Exchange account? If it is, you really should use it.

Exchange is available for some users... just not for the undergraduates (i.e. Me) - my goal is to access my emails and be notified of an email landing without having to open my web browser and access exchange via OWA.

From context, I'm guessing that BB users at your university are connecting BIS to Exchange via OWA. I'm not sure what apps, if any, will connect to Exchange via OWA on Android but that's what you need to be searching for if my guess is correct.

From hearing your break down of the BB system, this does sound like what i am looking for, essentially an app that can access exchange via OWA "in the background" of every day running of my phone... as you say, unlikely to exist, but i thought i would try my luck!

I think Touchdown might work through OWA

Downloaded the 30 day trial of touchdown, but didnt seem to have any joy, i may have missed something in teh advanced settings, but it seemed to work similar to all other apps i have tried.

Thank you for all your help, i do really appreciate it. I cant wait to get to know my Android a bit better and really start playing with how the OS and Apps can work.

 

[fkjr2]

even the iphone has a better email app by default


I sure hope android updates email -

needs:

1. email - move to folders
2. needs reply, forward icons upon replying & forwarding emails
3. needs icon badge notifications upon email arrival (home screen)

 

[chicano]

SEVEN on Android - Ah, push it - push it real good...

Seven for android is not bad.

 

[lowrider13]

Hey Guys,

Thanks for all of your comments and suggestions, unfortunately I didn't find such an app, and after Takeshi's explanation of the whole situation I can understand why.

However, I did find a work around, in that I went through OWA via I.E. which stopped it being a "light" version, this allowed me access to "Rules" which I thought were restricted due to my user privilages. Anyway, I set up a forward to my Gmail and can now easily access all mail from my HTC. I also set up my account so that it sends my emails on behalf of my Uni address.

So thanks for all your help and suggestions, unfortunately i didnt find the app i wanted, but they helped me realise a solution!