The Future of Nokia Email

A few weeks ago Nokia Email made it to Nokia Betalabs.  Before my hiatus I had the privilige of putting out some questions to the Product Manager in regards to the advances of Nokia Email.

One thing that I've learned is that mobile email users are very different.  While some appreciate the value of having the ability to delete emails from their phones and server at the same time, I like being able to delete them from my phone only and later being able to view them on my laptop.  Am I alone in this?

First and foremost, Nokia Email is not a feature, but more of a rich client application that Nokia provides and works primarily through the operator channel.  Meaning that in conjunction with your email credentials a provider data plan is required.

4 Key things that Nokia Email offers:

1. The ease or lack of discoveribility which basically enhances the phones already built in email capability.
2. Ease of Set-up.  We have all encountered the mishaps of setting up our emails with the settings provided through our service providers settings.  I remember the hassle when doing it on the 3650 and 6600. Thankfully Nokia had created the Settings Configurator, but more recently just providing a built in set-up feature has proven less hectic.
3. Predictably of cost:  We know what this means in a nutshell.  One price, no hidden fees... boom!
4. The option of either having email on your device or not.  Believe it or not, some people don't want the hassle of email on their devices.  But for those that do, the first 3 things are considered.

While the future of Nokia Email will bring more supported ISP's and more supported devices, there are currently amazing advantages.  Even though in the future the service will be fee based, multi-Nokia users will be happy to know that the fee will be for the service and not on a per-device basis.

One of the questions and concerns that I made was the fact that I am spoiled when it comes to having a back-up service.  From the moment Lifeblog came out and users had a way of backing-up sms I've been a great fan of having a resource.  Currently I use Nokia Email for my Gmail account, but I have my main emails also forwarded to my Gmail. Since my life revolves around the content that I have on my device(s) such as my contacts and calendars, there should be a way to be able to incorporate some form of syncing. 

In a nutshell, I like the direction that Nokia Email is heading.  Although it doesn't completely override the need of the built-in email client, it does provide a better solution for those of us that are seeking one.

If you have not already tried Nokia Email, you can get started here.

Comments

[Martain]

Hello Darla,

To answer your question on the deletion of emails from both the phone and the server or not, you are not alone in that.I prefer to have the choice during every deletion of an email.
I am using Nokia Email on an E61 with my provider’s POP3 mail server. At the moment, the deletion of an email from the inbox of the Nokia Email client is as follows; the email is put into the folter Deleted. On emptiing this folder, the emails are only deleted from the phone. The mail client on the N70 that I used before, asks if an email should be deleted on the phone only or on the phone and the server. So I can choose to have the email deleted from the server. In certain cases, I like to leave a copy on the server for later reference or follow-up. I think the Nokia Email client should facilitate in such a feature to.
I have also some other recommendations for the Nokia Email development team which I will post on the comments within the Nokia Beta Lab blog.
One thing that I find strange as being a mobile email user, are the settings of retrieving email on a (two) monthly basis. Why should anyone want to have their email retrieved in such a long interval? I regret the absence of the periods of a quarter of an hour or half an hour!
Next to my private email that I now retrieve with the Nokia Email service I receive my corporate email with Nokia’s Mail for Exchange.
This program can be configured with busy hours during working days. During office hours, my email comes to me in intervals of 15 minutes and outside those hours; emails are delivered in an hour’s period.
I would like to have my private email delivered to me during office hours in a longer interval than when I am free. That is just the other way around as with my corporate email. And the reason is obvious; during working daytime, I need my corporate email more than my private email. When I am free, I need my private email more.
The Nokia Email client has three options for delivering email to the user: on all day, betreen 8 AM till 6 PM or a customized period during the day. That is not the way, I would like to use it ;) My recommendation to the development team is to have the same options as in Mail for Exchange; split the day in two parts and let the user decide on which interval email is pushed to him/her in both parts.

I like the iniative of Nokia to try out such a service. I hope it will be a succes since I want to use it in the future and won’t mind to pay a fee for it (although I like a free service to being a S60 ambassador ;) )

Best regards,
Martain

[James]

I'm a little unsure as to what the differences/advantages of the Nokia Email Client are compared to the default client in for example my N95 8GB? Care to point the major advantages out?

Also - if you're looking to sync your Gmail contacts and/or Google Calendar with your mobile, check out www.goosync.com - it's great!

[Curtis]

You are not alone, Darla.

I also like clearing emails from my phone but leaving them on the server. I mean, what if I lose my phone? Then someone could have access to all of my work emails that I've downloaded!