RIM's BIS 3.0 email features apparently leaked, finally does Gmail justice
By Chris Ziegler 
posted February 5th 2010 5:57PM
posted February 5th 2010 5:57PM
For a platform billing itself as the business user's best friend, BlackBerry's list of unsupported protocols that have achieved ubiquity is actually astonishing: you can't do two-way read status sync with an IMAP email account, for example, and amazingly, you can't natively connect to an Exchange ActiveSync service without being routed through RIM's back-end software. In a shocking move that's straight out of 2002, it seems at least one of those niggles is going to get patched up soon thanks to a leaked list of email features in BlackBerry Internet Service 3.0, the software carriers deploy to marshal all data connectivity on the handsets they've deployed to customers. Yes, that's right: you'll be able to synchronize read status and sent items with your Gmail account, just as if you were using virtually any other phone produced in the last several years! It's hard to fathom that it's taken this long, but hey, we'll take it -- unfortunately, it's up to each carrier to decide when they're going to deploy BIS upgrades, so your mileage may vary on the wait time. Of course, RIM could just add IMAP support directly to its phones so that this whiz-bang tech would work with any third-party email service and wouldn't have to go through BIS in the process, but that would be crazy talk, right?
[Thanks, Jeff]
Update: Unfortunately, we've had to remove the image on our legal team's advice. Sorry!
[Thanks, Jeff]
Update: Unfortunately, we've had to remove the image on our legal team's advice. Sorry!
I'd just like to say I love the new social networking buttons on posts!
@Eminemdrdre00
Errr but where's Reddit?
Can't wait until my BB finally syncs gmail status. It's been annoyingly stupid for too long
@Eminemdrdre00 This would all be great if anyone actually still used a BB
BB was so far ahead of the pack, but then they just...sat there. The world has all but passed them by. I have a BB for two reasons: the mail checking by proxy (i.e. BIS push) and BB Messenger (i.e. its core messaging software). But if they don't get with the program soon, even those won't be enough.
@psycros I agree with RIM being so far ahead. I gave up this week, moved on to a Pre+ after BIS choked too many times over the holidays for me and the Gmail contacts sync was all wonky. RIM BB means RIM, Buh Bye!
Bout time. This (and the whole BB OS=Java terribleness) is what has always kept me away from BB and on WinMo...the terrible compatibility with IMAP email! Maybe some justice is finally on its way...
RIM lost a sale back in November '09 because of this exact missing feature. My wife was all excited to get a Storm2 but because she uses Gmail so much not having any proper synchronization available, not even with the official Gmail app?!? She got a Droid instead, where of course, Gmail is simply marvelous
@theaussiepunk
What are you talking about? I have used the Gmail app on my Storm 1 since day one and it syncs perfectly fine.
@theaussiepunk
I wouldn't call Droid's implementation of Gmail marvelous. I know a lot of people are geeked about it but I hate that it doesn't cache anything. The normal email client on the Droid has a similar problem (at least with crappy Yahoo POP3) - it at least seems to try to keep a cached copy but it's constantly losing the cache and going out to the network to download again, which takes forever. Both clients work fine sometimes but far too often it takes 30seconds or more to re-download the day's email, and that's just silly.
@dibs oddjob
that's bizarre! I had a Storm 1 from launch and we specifically tested the Gmail App on the Storm 2. Read/Unread status and deleting on server or deleting on device did not sync between the phone and gmail.com every time I tried, and I tried a bunch of times. Maybe I was doing something wrong
@junktrunk
I only tried the Droid for two weeks but I never had a problem with my Gmail downloading. I guess I was specifically jazzed with the ability to report spam right from my phone :)
@dibs oddjob I think you're talking about two different things. Gmail through the native BB "mail client" doesn't sync both ways. The Gmail app you can install on any Blackberry syncs wonderfully with labels, etc. It's just a clunky kind of old-fashioned UI.
I only use the app when I need to check something in my archive, sent folder, etc. Searching in the app is also good.
The current Gmail plugin for BB mail supposedly has a universal archive search function, but I've had mixed results with it.
I'm glad RIM is finally doing this.
Too bad i sold it (9700)
This was really annoying. I switched to the iPhone 3GS which supported full IMAP.
@(Unverified) NO kidding! Too late blackberry, I'm ditching mine, this was my single biggest gripe, it should have been fixed years ago. This has been the biggest reason over the last year I've been telling people not to buy blackberries, because despite what everyone says, they're crap for email.
@Sagisarius
Actually for enterprise email they're pretty awesome. It's personal email they're not so amazing at.
@theaussiepunk I think that's one of the things RIM needs to realize - the BB is a great tool for the enterprise, but their consumer-specific stuff sucks. They are selling a ton of BB's to consumers now (Pearls, Tours, etc.), but they really need to step it up on the consumer side (which is I switched from a Curve to the DROID).
@theaussiepunk In order to be awesome at enterprise stuff, it needs to also support native exchange...which it does not.
LOL i like the arrows in the picture !! someone was waiting for this update !! Hehehe
Wow so no one uses blackerries anymore? I'm on an iPhone and I know BB is still #2 worldwide and #1 in north America. Anyway The writer's idea of running imap on the Bb doesn't make any sense. The blackerry advantage IS bis. Not using it doesn't make any sense
@Chr1stian
You don't get it.
IMAP is an email protocol, like POP.
BIS is exactly what its name implies: internet service. Just a data connection link. It's what allows for data (including emails) to get "pushed" to the user. Using IMAP (or POP, for that matter with Blackberry's integrated message system) does use BIS.
@tbhuang2
I just worded that badly. I know imap is a prtocol but the author suggested that rim should have imap support that completely circumvents bis. Which, as I said, makes zero sense.
RIM is doing this right. Polling IMAP directly from the device wastes battery life, BIS manages it for the device. Even the current Gmail implementation is alright, you still get labels and threaded conversations, which no other platform other than Android has. I much rather they do a Gmail specific implementation through BIS than plain IMAP.
It's hard to see them adding ActiveSync though because it removes the rationale to use BES. I think they need to adjust to shifting trends and give users something less than full on BES to connect to Exchange.
RIM also promised BIS GMail contact sync this half of the year. I hope that's still on track.
@sivan How does BIS save battery life over direct IMAP exactly? By using the IMAP IDLE feature the client can get change notifications from the server with no polling.
@piggy IMAP requires long polling. Every request eventually expires and the device initiates a new one. Every account on the device polls independently and it adds up. BIS maintains a single connection to the device and polls all mailboxes for it. I'm not completely sure about it, but I believe it also extends to all instant messaging clients as well, and possibly Facebook and the upcoming Twitter client. BIS does a lot of work for the device.
Every single time I read something about RIM doing something, I want to kick myself for being duped into buying one of their crappy phones.
Every time I see a post about RIM I want to kick myself for bothering to read the comments as half of them will be the same tired old whine about BB OS being old and should be scrapped rather than them fixing or improving the bits that need it.
I could write an essay about the technicalities of it, but as a moderate email user that stays in touch mostly with texting, the blackberry has been superior to any phone I've used for getting done what I need as efficiently as possible. Until there is a blackberry phone form factor that runs android (for all that gmail goodness) that's about as good as it will get from my end.
So... uhh... does this come to my BlackBerry Tour? Or do I have to upgrade my device before I can take advantage of these features. Honestly I feel embarrassed that I'm the only one in the office that doesn't have calendars synced.
FINALLY!
Us BB users have been settling for mediocrity for far too long. Too late though; Android won me over many months ago.
Unfortunately this took way too long. I was a strong Blackberry supporter but BIS just doesn't cut it. I needed my Inbox and Sent mail synced (flags included) between my phone and the server and I just couldn't get this with BIS. I needed my address book and calendar synced with my phone and my computer and this just wasn't happening with a Mac. After two different Blackberrys and nearly 3 years of frustration with duplicate contacts, multiday events split across days, and all day events moving up or down an hour, I caved in and got an iPhone 3G. I miss blackberry messenger but I'm pleasantly happy with a synchronized email system, address book, and calendar.
This, a Webkit browser with plugins support, MIDP 3.0 support and more modern hardware will get BlackBerry right back where it should be. Competing with modern smartphones.