Gmail Gets IMAP; BlackBerry Support
by Dennis KarakulkoOctober 26, 07 in BlackBerry, Gmail, IMAP
For the past few days Google was pushing out IMAP support to its Gmail users. IMAP resembles POP3 protocol, which is widely used to connect to email service providers – like Yahoo! and MSN/Hotmail.
IMAP is superior to POP3 especially when it comes to mobile devices. One big difference between POP3 and IMAP real time synchronization of read, deleted and labeled items between an email application of your choice and Google email servers. This is big for those that use stand-alone email applications at home or at a workplace and the Gmail web interface on a go. With IMAP, your labels show up as folders in a stand-alone desktop email application. Mobile device users can also benefit as IMAP does not download email body unless it is requested.
I was patiently monitoring my Gmail account for the past few days. Last night IMAP finally appeared in the Settings page. In about 5 minutes my Outlook was set up and ready to use. Labels appeared as folders and all of my emails were downloaded. Download Squad has a thorough article on How To: Use Gmail over IMAP and tag your mail, too.
IMAP is also supported on BlackBerry devices. If you are interested, head over to Gmail Help Center for an article on how to configure it. If PersonalEMailSetUp icon is not available on your BlackBerry, One Guy Blogging wrote an article on how to set it up using BlackBerry Internet Service page (BIS). Let’s all enjoy yet another great service by Google!
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