I will try to keep this post updated as BB10 evolves and as I update my understandings of the platform.
Blackberry 10's email retrieval and syncing features are very similiar to many other popular smartphone platforms today, though there are some significant differences from the legacy Blackberry OS (ie versions 5/6/7) environment. In particular the "BIS" service which required a specially-provisioned mobile account (and often separate fee) is no longer required/included. (Though it is still used behind the scenes for services such as Blackberry Messenger.)
Many people appreciate the ability to receive messages as quickly as possible after they were sent, and Blackberry has long had a reputation for helping facilitate quick email retrieval. There are several ways to accomplish this "push" or "pseudo push" email retrieval, please see below for details.
There are 5 main email server architectures to be aware of:
#1: POP mail is checked/retrieved by periodically "polling" for new messages. 3-15 minute polling intervals are common. This is the most data-intensive system due to the continuous polling. Traditionally it was "all or nothing" - once you knew there were messages waiting, in order to see them you had to download the entire message, including large file attachments. Some email clients allow you to "peek" at the beginning of the message - ie to read the latest response at the top of the body of the message - without downloading the entire message.
#2: IMAP also uses polling to retrieve messages, but it also has optional modes, ie "IMAP IDLE" or "P-IMAP" that as long as the client maintains an active connection, the server can "push" any new messages to the client without the client having to constantly poll for them. This conserves resources on the client and carrier data usage, and generally retrieves mail faster especially when compared to infrequent polling.
#3: Exchange uses one of 2 main proprietary methods to "Push" email to the client, so emails are received quickly. The most common method of syncing an Exchange email account to a mobile device is called Exchange ActiveSync, or "EAS" for short. BB10 is the first Blackberry smartphone OS with native EAS support. (BB10's predecessor "Blackberry Tablet OS", as used on the original Blackberry Playbook, was actually the first Blackberry OS to feature EAS, starting with v2.0.)
#4: Webmail services are typically accessed via web browser or a proprietary app. Some also allow email retrieval via non-web email clients using standard email protocols. Here's an overview of some of the more popular ones and which methods they support:
Google Gmail / Google Apps
Microsoft Windows Live Mail / Hotmail / Outlook.com
Yahoo Mail
Fastmail.fm
#5: Blackberry's proprietary "BIS" / Blackberry.net - this was a boon in the days when many people were using POP email systems which had no "push" capability. RIM/Blackberry collected your emails by continuously polling your POP email server, then sending new messages to the Blackberry without requiring the Blackberry itself to do the polling. BIS also includes some data-compression features and gives users the ability to decide on a message-by-message basis whether to keep a local copy of the message, leave the email on the POP server for later retrieval from ie a home PC, or delete the email on the POP server. BIS email can also collect email from IMAP servers and popular webmail providers such as AOL, Gmail, Windows Live or Yahoo.
However since POP email servers are getting less and less common, and because BIS had its own limitations (message and attachment size limitations, inability to edit a forwarded message, inability to see full email headers, etc) and because BIS is a complex and costly service whose cost was passed-on to carriers, Blackberry decided to discontinue reliance on this service for individual user email starting with Blackberry 10. (Blackberry's enterprise email products are not affected.) Blackberry has stated that existing users will be provided a mechanism to automatically forward emails sent to or originating from blackberry.net addresses to another email address for up to a year after the activation of a Blackberry 10 device.
Options for former BIS users
The upshot of this is that in some cases, people who are currently using POP-based email services will not have the BIS "pseudo push" service available to them any more. For many users, they can simply switch to a different method of retrieving messages from their provider, as most major email providers today support one of the more modern protocols as listed above.
For those who do not have that option, there are some other possible workarounds. One option would be to auto-forward emails from your traditional provider to an account at an email provider that provides quick/efficient retrieval - ie using "IMAP IDLE" or "EAS". Another theoretical option would be to use some special POP communication settings to help minimize the traffic incurred during each polling/retrieval cycle. (ie some email servers and clients support data compression, and most POP clients today have a setting to limit the size of "message chunk" downloaded, to allow you to peek at a message with a big file attachment, for example, without having to download the whole attachment unless you choose to do so.) I do not yet know if Blackberry 10 offers, or plans to offer, these latter options for POP3 accounts on the smartphone itself.
The BIS changes will not affect your ability to receive "nearly instant" email notifications if you are currently using Gmail, Microsoft Hotmail / Live / Outlook.com, a corporate email server or commercial hosting provider supporting EAS or any IMAP email server supporting "IMAP IDLE", though you may have to adjust some account settings to make sure you are using the most efficient retrieval method. In some cases this may entail higher resource/data usage than the old "BIS" system, but that puts Blackberry 10 on par with all its other major competitors and provides some actual benefits as well.
Yahoo is a special case. While Yahoo technically supports push email delivery (Indeed, Blackberry's legacy BIS service implements this) it is a proprietary protocol and this is not currently supported in Blackberry 10, possibly for security reasons. (Apparently XYMPKI sends auth credentials in the clear, which is a bigger deal over the internet than when it is encapsulated in BIS traffic. To be clear: this is speculation on my part. I don't have any official info from Blackberry on the reason this has changed w/ Blackberry 10. For what it's worth, both Android and Windows Phone 8 have the same issue: no push Yahoo email via the built-in, native email client.)
Now, how do you setup a new email account?
Here's a good Crackberry post on the basics (link), and here's a tutorial and video from the Inside Blackberry Help Blog. (link)
You can use the "easy" or "advanced" method. The "easy" method will try to guess some things, based on what you enter for your email address. If you're not using one of the more popular services, or if you want to tweak things more, you can alternately use the "advanced" method.
There are also a few settings you should be aware of to make most effective use of your new Blackberry 10 email configuration.
If getting email as quickly as possible is a priority, don't forget to set the "Push" option in the account setup or advanced settings page of an existing email account. (This will not be available for a POP3 email account)
Also, for IMAP or EAS email accounts (including Google or Outlook.com), you can set the length of time your Blackberry email client will display older messages. The setting is slightly different for each method:
In the case of EAS, this determines how long a message will remain visible in your Blackberry after its timestamp date. For example if you have this parameter set for 30 days and the message in question has a timestamp of January 1, it should remain visible in your Blackberry until February 1. This does NOT mean that after February 1 the email is deleted from your account, it just means it is no longer directly visible on your Blackberry. (There is a search function that can find messages older than the Sync Timeframe)
In the case of IMAP, this determines how far back your Blackberry will initially retrieve messages upon initial account setup.
In both cases, the maximum timeframe at the present is 30 days. (There has been some indication from Blackberry staff that the maximum may be increased in the future, but be advised that trying to keep a copy of all emails from a large account on a mobile device can result in performance/resource consumption issues)
[1] Details on Google phase-out of Exchange ActiveSync here.
I hope I have helped to clear up some of your email-related questions pertaining to Blackberry 10.
Or at least given you an opportunity for a restful snooze. ;)
.
Blackberry 10's email retrieval and syncing features are very similiar to many other popular smartphone platforms today, though there are some significant differences from the legacy Blackberry OS (ie versions 5/6/7) environment. In particular the "BIS" service which required a specially-provisioned mobile account (and often separate fee) is no longer required/included. (Though it is still used behind the scenes for services such as Blackberry Messenger.)
Many people appreciate the ability to receive messages as quickly as possible after they were sent, and Blackberry has long had a reputation for helping facilitate quick email retrieval. There are several ways to accomplish this "push" or "pseudo push" email retrieval, please see below for details.
There are 5 main email server architectures to be aware of:
- POP server. "Store and forward". Email is received on server, sits on server until it is retrieved, whereupon it is deleted from the server. This works best when you only have a single email client, but you can "kludge" multiple clients by configuring one email client not to delete an email after retrieving it, and another email client to retrieve and delete. (Which usually works.) These were common with old-school ISPs and legacy corporate networks.
- IMAP server. This is a newer technology than POP. In this architecture, emails are stored indefinitely on the server. You can use multiple email clients (even at the same time) to view, organize or delete messages, or download a local copy of messages. Depending on client and server configuration, once a message is deleted it will either go into a "trash folder" which you have to manually purge as desired, into an "archive" folder, or it is deleted immediately. Many ISPs and companies use this now instead of POP.
- Microsoft Exchange Server. Full-blown enterprise email. Conceptually similiar to IMAP as it stores all messages on the server, but with many additional features. Often includes contacts, calendar and tasks features. Email connection is either via a proprietary "MAPI" connection, or via Exchange Active Sync ("EAS"), a lightweight synchronization protocol.
- Webmail. ie Gmail/Hotmail/Yahoo. Normally used via a web browser or proprietary email client app, some allow retrieval via POP/IMAP/EAS protocols as well.
- Blackberry.net email using the legacy Blackberry Internet Services, or "BIS". Proprietary "push" email system, can be used natively with a "Blackberry.net" email address, or can be configured to retrieve email from other POP/IMAP servers and deliver them to your Blackberry inbox(s). Allows email sent to "masquerade" as the email address being forwarded to it, so your emails still appear as if they are coming from the external account(s). Requires the Blackberry-proprietary BIS service, a Blackberry ID and a Blackberry smartphone. (BIS is also used for other traditional Blackberry services, like BBM and PIN messages.) Blackberry.net email is in the process of being slowly phased-out.
#1: POP mail is checked/retrieved by periodically "polling" for new messages. 3-15 minute polling intervals are common. This is the most data-intensive system due to the continuous polling. Traditionally it was "all or nothing" - once you knew there were messages waiting, in order to see them you had to download the entire message, including large file attachments. Some email clients allow you to "peek" at the beginning of the message - ie to read the latest response at the top of the body of the message - without downloading the entire message.
#2: IMAP also uses polling to retrieve messages, but it also has optional modes, ie "IMAP IDLE" or "P-IMAP" that as long as the client maintains an active connection, the server can "push" any new messages to the client without the client having to constantly poll for them. This conserves resources on the client and carrier data usage, and generally retrieves mail faster especially when compared to infrequent polling.
#3: Exchange uses one of 2 main proprietary methods to "Push" email to the client, so emails are received quickly. The most common method of syncing an Exchange email account to a mobile device is called Exchange ActiveSync, or "EAS" for short. BB10 is the first Blackberry smartphone OS with native EAS support. (BB10's predecessor "Blackberry Tablet OS", as used on the original Blackberry Playbook, was actually the first Blackberry OS to feature EAS, starting with v2.0.)
#4: Webmail services are typically accessed via web browser or a proprietary app. Some also allow email retrieval via non-web email clients using standard email protocols. Here's an overview of some of the more popular ones and which methods they support:
Google Gmail / Google Apps
Web
POP
IMAP / IMAP IDLE (PUSH)
Atom
Exchange ActiveSync "EAS" (PUSH - Ending 2013-01 to 2013-07 for new non-paid users, see [1] below)
Microsoft Windows Live Mail / Hotmail / Outlook.com
Web
POP
Exchange ActiveSync "EAS" (PUSH)
Yahoo Mail
Web
POP (legacy / paid accounts)
IMAP - via imap.rim.mail.yahoo.com or rim.imap.mail.yahoo.com)
P-IMAP / XYMPKI / Proprietary (PUSH)
Fastmail.fm
Web
POP
IMAP / IMAP IDLE / IMAP Advanced (PUSH)
#5: Blackberry's proprietary "BIS" / Blackberry.net - this was a boon in the days when many people were using POP email systems which had no "push" capability. RIM/Blackberry collected your emails by continuously polling your POP email server, then sending new messages to the Blackberry without requiring the Blackberry itself to do the polling. BIS also includes some data-compression features and gives users the ability to decide on a message-by-message basis whether to keep a local copy of the message, leave the email on the POP server for later retrieval from ie a home PC, or delete the email on the POP server. BIS email can also collect email from IMAP servers and popular webmail providers such as AOL, Gmail, Windows Live or Yahoo.
However since POP email servers are getting less and less common, and because BIS had its own limitations (message and attachment size limitations, inability to edit a forwarded message, inability to see full email headers, etc) and because BIS is a complex and costly service whose cost was passed-on to carriers, Blackberry decided to discontinue reliance on this service for individual user email starting with Blackberry 10. (Blackberry's enterprise email products are not affected.) Blackberry has stated that existing users will be provided a mechanism to automatically forward emails sent to or originating from blackberry.net addresses to another email address for up to a year after the activation of a Blackberry 10 device.
Options for former BIS users
The upshot of this is that in some cases, people who are currently using POP-based email services will not have the BIS "pseudo push" service available to them any more. For many users, they can simply switch to a different method of retrieving messages from their provider, as most major email providers today support one of the more modern protocols as listed above.
For those who do not have that option, there are some other possible workarounds. One option would be to auto-forward emails from your traditional provider to an account at an email provider that provides quick/efficient retrieval - ie using "IMAP IDLE" or "EAS". Another theoretical option would be to use some special POP communication settings to help minimize the traffic incurred during each polling/retrieval cycle. (ie some email servers and clients support data compression, and most POP clients today have a setting to limit the size of "message chunk" downloaded, to allow you to peek at a message with a big file attachment, for example, without having to download the whole attachment unless you choose to do so.) I do not yet know if Blackberry 10 offers, or plans to offer, these latter options for POP3 accounts on the smartphone itself.
The BIS changes will not affect your ability to receive "nearly instant" email notifications if you are currently using Gmail, Microsoft Hotmail / Live / Outlook.com, a corporate email server or commercial hosting provider supporting EAS or any IMAP email server supporting "IMAP IDLE", though you may have to adjust some account settings to make sure you are using the most efficient retrieval method. In some cases this may entail higher resource/data usage than the old "BIS" system, but that puts Blackberry 10 on par with all its other major competitors and provides some actual benefits as well.
Yahoo is a special case. While Yahoo technically supports push email delivery (Indeed, Blackberry's legacy BIS service implements this) it is a proprietary protocol and this is not currently supported in Blackberry 10, possibly for security reasons. (Apparently XYMPKI sends auth credentials in the clear, which is a bigger deal over the internet than when it is encapsulated in BIS traffic. To be clear: this is speculation on my part. I don't have any official info from Blackberry on the reason this has changed w/ Blackberry 10. For what it's worth, both Android and Windows Phone 8 have the same issue: no push Yahoo email via the built-in, native email client.)
Now, how do you setup a new email account?
Here's a good Crackberry post on the basics (link), and here's a tutorial and video from the Inside Blackberry Help Blog. (link)
You can use the "easy" or "advanced" method. The "easy" method will try to guess some things, based on what you enter for your email address. If you're not using one of the more popular services, or if you want to tweak things more, you can alternately use the "advanced" method.
There are also a few settings you should be aware of to make most effective use of your new Blackberry 10 email configuration.
If getting email as quickly as possible is a priority, don't forget to set the "Push" option in the account setup or advanced settings page of an existing email account. (This will not be available for a POP3 email account)
Also, for IMAP or EAS email accounts (including Google or Outlook.com), you can set the length of time your Blackberry email client will display older messages. The setting is slightly different for each method:
- EAS: Sync Timeframe
- IMAP: Initial Retrieval Amount
In the case of EAS, this determines how long a message will remain visible in your Blackberry after its timestamp date. For example if you have this parameter set for 30 days and the message in question has a timestamp of January 1, it should remain visible in your Blackberry until February 1. This does NOT mean that after February 1 the email is deleted from your account, it just means it is no longer directly visible on your Blackberry. (There is a search function that can find messages older than the Sync Timeframe)
In the case of IMAP, this determines how far back your Blackberry will initially retrieve messages upon initial account setup.
In both cases, the maximum timeframe at the present is 30 days. (There has been some indication from Blackberry staff that the maximum may be increased in the future, but be advised that trying to keep a copy of all emails from a large account on a mobile device can result in performance/resource consumption issues)
[1] Details on Google phase-out of Exchange ActiveSync here.
I hope I have helped to clear up some of your email-related questions pertaining to Blackberry 10.
Or at least given you an opportunity for a restful snooze. ;)
.