Mail Checker - IMAP and POP3 checking only when in cradle

[Guest revolution.cx]

Here's a little program I've been working on. It automatically checks for new IMAP or POP3 email every 3 minutes but NOT wirelessly. It checks to make sure that there isn't a wireless connection before it checks for new email. This means you can get your email checked while the phone is in the cradle but it won't sit and dial your phone every 3 minutes while you are out and about.

Don't forget to setup your email for IMAP or POP and also you need to have Internet pass through enabled in ActiveSync. These items are well covered in discussions in these forums, but to save you some time I will remind you that pass through isn't set right by default, you need to change it to "Internet" to make it work right.

This will likely be spiffed up and productized at some point but there's a good chance I will make the unsigned version free for those who have unlocked their phone.

I hate to charge for small items like this but Smartphone development is not paying for itself at this point and the appropriate business decision would be to focus on Pocket PC software until the Smartphone market picked up, but hey, I acutally USE my Smartphone whereas I'm always trying to find some way to use my Pocket PC so I'm a little biased.

I digress...download and enjoy and although I have tested it for the last few weeks use it at YOUR OWN RISK!!! It has never dialed the phone or used the wireless link in my testing but configurations could be different for other networks. Please post any feedback here in the forum.

It expires on 5/5/2003

http://revolution.cx/rcx/smartphone.htm

Edit: I meant to put this in Software, not Main.

[Guest Monolithix [MVP]]

Moved to Software

[Guest revolution.cx]

Am I missing something?

The problem with the Smartphone is that if you want to get your email wirelessly you have to forgo the continuous sync in the cradle via ActiveSync.

The auto mail check for IMAP or POP3 will happily dial your GPRS connection every x minutes when not in the cradle, driving up your connection costs.

This program makes it so when the phone is in the cradle it syncs automatically every 3 minutes via the pass through Internet connection but switches to manual sync when it has to use a wireless connection.

So I thought this would be a well received program and I'm wondering if I missed something that makes the program pointless or if I didn't explain it well or if people just aren't interested in it.

Just curious...

[Guest MoRFLeZ]

Well, while the program might be nifty and all, I don't really have any use for it. I have other e-mail notifications when I'm sitting at my computer. And while I luff my SPV, I'd rather read/respond via my computer.

[Guest revolution.cx]

Me too, but when I grab my phone before I go out for the day I want all my current email synced up in its inbox like it would be if I were using ActiveSync.

There's usually something in there I need such as instructions, directions, part #'s, etc. and this program makes sure I have it with me.

It sounds like lots of people using the SPV in Europe are currently enjoying unlimited GPRS, but this isn't the case here in the US. Is this true? If so, I could see how syncing via GPRS all the time would be the way to go.

I'm just trying to write some useful software and I welcome feedback and insights.

Well, while the program might be nifty and all, I don't really have any use for it. I have other e-mail notifications when I'm sitting at my computer. And while I luff my SPV, I'd rather read/respond via my computer.

[Guest Fick]

Me too, but when I grab my phone before I go out for the day I want all my current email synced up in its inbox like it would be if I were using ActiveSync.

I agree with this. I'm in the Uk, so am on the free GPRS package, but its nice to not have to wait for emails that you may have already read on your pc to download when you check for mail away from the cradle.

[Guest Barcode]

I'm just trying to write some useful software and I welcome feedback and insights.

I think what would be much more use would be a program which will switch between using ActiveSync and pop3. While your idea might work for you, messages are removed by Outlook when our server connected with our ISP so a dial through connection would always find no mail.

Now if you could write a program which would use the mail sync option in ActiveSync when in the cradle and then switch to pop3 when in wireless mode that would be very useful. Currently I have had to disable mail sync as it was too much of a PITA to switch between the two modes of operation.

Another advantge would be setting a cradle sync to always download the full message while a pop3 would just get the headers

[Guest fraser]

I'd have a lot of use for this application, but it seems I missed it first time round. Are you going to release a new beta or anything?

I completely agree with your reasoning on why it's useful, and I'm sure I've posted requests for a similar app in the past. My suggestions also included having an automatic sync over the air at set times, so you still get automatic syncronisation away from the cradle, just not as often and not during the night when you are sleeping. For example, if you had a 9-5 desk job, you might set the over-the-air syncs for 8AM, 6PM, 7PM, 9PM, 11PM and 12PM.

In all honesty though, I probably wouldn't pay money for it. It's a pretty simple application really. Maybe something ridiculusly low like $5 would be a fair price?

[Guest revolution.cx]

Thanks for the comments - this thread is a good archaelogical find...

I have to admit I don't use the program anymore myself since it expired and I didn't get around to messing with it again.

I used it with IMAP access to my Exchange server, not sure if it would be much different with POP3. Exchange shouldn't remove items from POP3 view but who knows how your admin has it setup.

The problem with switching between POP3 or ActiveSync is that Pocket Inbox will throw away all your existing messages when switching.

I still think it's a good solution for the email problem on Smartphone. Adding some other features would certainly help it be more of a useful item. The scheduled sync is a good idea.

Still it worked for me - it acted like ActiveSync email in the cradle but still allowed me to get mail on the go. I should see how it works with POP3 which is certainly much more common than IMAP.

When I get a chance I'll re-compile it and put it back up - maybe even sign it. The whole idea with the expiration was to see how many people emailed when it expired pleading for a new version...in this case no one did.

[Guest fraser]

Cool. I use IMAP all the time myself, it's the only sane way to do it when you have multiple clients. I've only got Active Sync set up to do Appointments, Tasks and Contacts, but not mail. That way, you get all of the benefits of ActiveSync, plus e-mails remotely. You can't really store Outlook items on an IMAP server anyway, without lots of unpleasant hacks that is. So, the only useful way to sync these things is through Active Sync, and it's actually really good at it.

When you are on the cradle, the phone uses the pass thru to get to the IMAP server. Perhaps something similar to my set up might help you. The only downside is that I have a redundant "Inbox" folder in the main heirarchy in Outlook. Hardly anything to worry about! :wink:

If a version of your app were to be recreated, with the option to simply tell Outlook to send and receive at a set interval, I'm sure it would be very popular. Everyone who sits at a desk a lot of the time will appreciate the GPRS savings (free GPRS has ended on Orange now).

Being able to sync at a slower rate when not on the cradle (as I suggested) would be useful. I'd probably set it up to sync every 1 min on the cradle (it's my own personal IMAP server 8) ) and every 2 hours when on GPRS.

If you decide to do anything with this and you need any help, just message me. I'm a coder/tester myself, but just not on Microsoft platforms.

[Guest revolution.cx]

Yah, that's what it does. When the phone is in the cradle (can create a "zero cost" connection to the network) it will check IMAP every 2 minutes. When it's out of the cradle it doesn't check at all.

I could add the scheduling aspect too but combined with the current polling built into pinbox you'd be all set. Set Pinbox to poll how you'd like when on GPRS (like every 2 hours) and it will dial out and all. Mail Checker will just poll IMAP/POP when in the cradle.

UPDATE: I've recompiled it with an expire date on 8/15/03. It's on the website for download. Sorry for the expire but I may make it a cheap product...Smartphone software development has not been paying for itself. Appropriate feature requests welcomed.

http://revolution.cx/rcx/smartphone.htm

Hayes

[Guest fraser]

Yes, tried it, works perfectly, thanks!! The built in sync covers it as you say. Only suggestion would be a command line option that can be included in a shortcut to make it start silently, i.e. without the intro screen. Then you can set it to start when the phone boots.

[Guest revolution.cx]

Great! I'm immersed in other work right now and leave for vacation in early August. I'll try to clean it up and sign it before I go - feel free to ping me on it.

[Guest Fick]

Is this still a work in progress? I would be quite interested in a full version if one was to become available.

It's one of those programs that happily works in the background, and you don't realise how useful it is until is gone!