Amzar File

The best email smartphone is...
By Alfred Siew

WHAT gives a mobile warrior the best way to get his personal e-mail on the road? That was what I set out to find out when I tried out the most popular e-mail offerings on today's smartphones.

I tested how well they worked out of the box by checking how easy it was to set up a common e-mail account, say, on Yahoo or Gmail, and how the software allowed users to scroll through a day's worth of e-mail messages.

I also noted how the e-mail software handled complex HTML messages and how easy it was to open an attachment - say, a PDF file or Word document.

What I did not test: the features on individual devices. This was because, with the exception of the iPhone, these e-mail experiences are available on a myriad of devices - say, with a Qwerty keyboard or touchscreen.

Here they are, in alphabetical order:

(Source: Asiaone)




Push email - BlackBerry

Device tested on: Blackberry Curve 8900
Still seen as the king of the hill when it comes to e-mail, BlackBerry is one tough nut to crack.

The e-mail set-up is easy as can be, usually requiring just your e-mail address and password to get started. Once your account is up, you simply wait for messages to be automatically pushed to you when they hit your inbox.

The concept of a push-mail system, made famous by Research in Motion, the company behind BlackBerry, works in the background and never misses a message during my tests.

Its handling of e-mail messages is top-notch. Complex HTML messages with difficult graphics and tables in them are not a problem - they are just reformatted so as to make very readable.

Naturally, regular text-based e-mail does not present a challenge. The messages are displayed clearly, with all the indents and other formatting kept intact for a quick glance.

The powerful features are all there with a single press of a button. You can search for messages according to sender or subject, mark a message as unopened or even forward an e-mail message as an SMS or MMS message.

The only downside - and it is a big one for consumers - is that they have to subscribe to a special BlackBerry plan to get their mail. This costs more than $60 a month from StarHub, for example, for an unlimited usage plan. In contrast, subscribers of its regular data plans, who can pick any of the other devices and e-mail services here, pay a maximum of only $36 a month.




Push email - Apple iPhone

Device tested on: Apple iPhone

Not the best gizmo around if you ask e-mail junkies who check their inbox every second. Still, the iPhone's e-mail software hooks up to Yahoo and Gmail easily.

The two-line screen - more than the usual one-liner or just a few words - gives a clue of what the message is about.

With both regular text messages as well as rich HTML messages, the original formatting - down to the text colour and indents - are well kept. Opening a Word or PDF document is also a one-touch affair, giving you access to attachments quickly.
However, the iPhone lacks some features for power users. To delete a message without opening it - say, if you have several spam messages, you have to click on the 'edit' button and select them for deletion. Edit button? Not exactly the most intuitive interface, if you ask me.

You can view up to 200 messages at one go on the iPhone but, if you have lots of e-mail messages, the iPhone can come up a little short.

For example, you cannot do a quick search, like with Windows Mobile, or mark a message as read, like with a Nokia phone.

On the bright side, I got my Yahoo messages pushed directly to me when I set the iPhone to fetch data updates automatically. Gmail, for now, seems to be only on 'pull' mode, which means I can get the messages at periodic intervals (the shortest is 15 minutes).

How much you pay for e-mail on the go depends on your data plan with the telco and how often you download messages on the move.



Push email - Nokia

Device tested on: Nokia E75

The world's biggest cellphone maker is on a grab-market-share warpath after it launched its push mail service along with its newest phones.

The E75 is one of these devices to offer a recently souped up e-mail interface, which promises some handy features. For one, a contextual menu - accessible via a button on the phone - lets you quickly reply, delete or even move the message. That is nifty and powerful at once.

Set-up is also easy - as easy as on a BlackBerry. I set up my Gmail and Yahoo accounts within minutes.

I would rate the Nokia experience just a short way behind the BlackBerry. The only reason is that it does not do HTML messages as nicely as the king of e-mail now.

Typically, such messages are reformatted for the small screen. Even when you choose to view them in full HTML mode, it is a hassle scrolling up/down or left/right of the message.

The good news is that regular text messages are well-formatted and easily readable. Opening PDFs and other attachments is usually a one-click affair.

What Nokia lacks, it makes up for in its coverage of popular e-mail services and price. There is none of the costs involved with BlackBerry plans.

Instead, expect bundles like the $5-a-month offering from SingTel, unveiled when the telco launched Nokia's E63 messaging phone early last month. On other phones, you will have to pay regular mobile data charges, but even these should be cheaper than a comparable BlackBerry plan.

For its advantages and ease of use, yet at a cost lower than the BlackBerry, Nokia would be my system of choice.




Push email - Windows Mobile

Device tested on: HTC Touch Diamond

The latest Windows Mobile phones come with easy-to-set-up e-mail accounts, which require only an e-mail address and password to get things up and running. So it was on my HTC Touch Diamond, which took just minutes to start connecting to my Gmail and Yahoo accounts.

There is push-mail support for Hotmail but not for popular third-party services like Yahoo or Gmail. For these, you can set the phone to pull the messages every five minutes, which gives you near instant e-mail alerts.

The list of messages come on quickly once I start to send/receive mail. Do note though that, with Gmail, you do not automatically synchronise any folder other than Inbox - understandably to save on data costs. However, you can set this up through the options menu, say, if you need to get a message from your Gmail Sent folder.
HTML messages look reasonably well-formatted and images keep to their original positions.

There is room for improvement. On phones with small screens like the Touch Diamond, a preview of the message can be just four- or five-words short.
Unlike on the Nokia, the preview does not scroll sideways like a ticker tape to present more information.

There are no e-mail data bundles for Windows Mobile phones right now, so you will have to limit your usage by downloading only part of the message (the default setting) or go for an unlimited usage data plan from your telco.

This story was first published in The Straits Times Digital Life.

All source: Asiaone