[Fishydog]

I've been reading a lot about Nokia Messaging and some sources say that it is a real push email service like BIS but some say that it needs to maintain an active connection all the times to ensure instantenous delivery of email. What's the truth? When I choose 'push' on my Nokia E72, it is connected to the internet all the time and only pretends to be real push, but I was wondering whether it's because my operator is not supported. Also, what difference does it make when your operator supports Nokia Messaging? As far as I know, my operator is not supported, but I easily set up Nokia Messaging with my Nokia E72. So, doesn't it mean that the only thing required for the Nokia Messaging to work is a data plan? Why does Nokia make announcements about starting to offer Nokia Messaging in countries where there already is internet in mobile phones?

[maramzin]

Seems it works in the same way as other email apps (ProfiMail, etc.) and uses IMAP idle service that needs internet connection. Please take a look at http://email.nokia.com/account/faq.action. Here are several quotes from this document:

---

What is Nokia Messaging?

...

• Automatic delivery of email using the IMAP idle protocol 

---

How do I set up Nokia Messaging on my Nokia phone? To sign up for Nokia Messaging, you need:

• ...
• A data service plan with your operator 

---

I get an error message when I try to get my email on my mobile phone in another country. What does this mean?

Nokia Messaging requires Internet connectivity...

[deadkenny]

As far as I know, Blackberry's BIS and BES solutions are an always on connection also, just it's probably not part of the normal data connection.

I think all push email works like this as there is no standard to send a special SMS message to a device that will be recognised as email, that works on any network, anywhere in the world (SMS sending around all operators is surprisingly complex, involving a lot of technical and more importantly legal and financial issues and arrangements).

It is far simpler to have the phone connected all the time.

It is called 'push' email because the phone sits there waiting for a message from the email server telling the phone that it has email.

In most phones this is done using IMAP Idle. This is an extension of the IMAP protocol where a connection is made and then apart from a few heartbeat messages of a few bytes, no data is transferred unless there is any mail. Therefore you don't consume vast amounts of data. However you do retain a GPRS/3G connection which adds to the drain on your battery.

IMAP connections have the benefit of being a live view of the server also. i.e. all your past mail, folders, etc. e.g. If you delete a mail on the server, it's gone on the phone too. With a push solution that just used SMS it would require firing off constant messages that contain incremental updates as to the current state of the server. The SMS system would get absolutely flooded with these, hence you can't really use such a system.

Emailer phones are designed to make optimal use of the battery in this situation so having it always connected is not too much of an issue.

RIM use a proprietary system involving the operators I believe (allowing them to deal with the billing side, e.g. by making their email data not part of regular internet data), but the way the phone connects I think is still the same.

As for Nokia Messaging, it's much the same as RIM's BIS. Designed for personal mail generally and works as an aggregator. The end server will fetch mail at intervals if those mail accounts are POP mail, or be notified if they are IMAP. The phone has an always on IMAP Idle connection to the server and is notified when there is mail.

I have noticed NM is still slow at delivering mail though. I suspect that is because of the sheer volume of accounts the server has to check.

Actually, if you want instant mail you are better off with Mail for Exchange (for corporate accounts) or manually configuring IMAP on the phone. Unfortunately phones like the E72 have problems with IMAP not supporting Idle when manually configured and consume a vast amount of data by comparison to Idle, but if you're on a free WiFi it's worth it as the mail is instant (but still always on), depending on how you set up the phone.

[son_son]

i've an n900 and a blackberry, i guess nokia messaging isnt "real" push.   a couple of basics we need to understand  :

1. bb or not, we need to keep "gprs" activated.   active gprs doesnt mean you're connected to the internet.  gprs is like a door for people (read "data") to come in and out.  but yes, gprs still consumes battery, especally if you choose 3g.

2. this is how bb is different from any other email provider incl. nokia.   with bis, you're not connected to the internet all the time.   bis will push any message (chat, email, social message) to your phone.  you'll see on the device that the 2-way arrows blink only when data exchange is happening, and that is only when you receive the above messages.     as to nokia messaging, its on idle imap.   meaning you need to be connected to the internet all the time.  however, its a more advanced way of getting "connected".    on imap idle, every 10-15 minutes, your device will need to send some kind of "data" to keep the connection alive between your device and the internet.  its a very small data.   otherwise, the connection with the internet will be closed and you wont be able to receive any messages incl.email.    and you'll see on your nokia device, 2-way arrows will always be "active".  if your nokia isnt connected to the internet, you'll only see "dashed/dotted" 2-way arrows.   

3. which one is better. based on my and friends experience, bis is the best messaging device today.     very rarely has connection issues, it really is "instant push messaging".   i tried nokia messaging before, there were issues with message delivery, but then again, it was during a test period. so i cant say nokia messaging is worse than bis.    like i said, bb may not be the best smartphone, but it definitely is the king of "messaging" device, and it'll take a very long note to tell you how good bb is in the messaging department.  for any of you who arent bb users, or at least not familiar yet, here's a taste of what bb can do :

a. instant email

b. instant social messaging

c. blackberry messenger service just like yahoo msgr, gtalk only a million times better.   you can, of course, chat, but also send images, group chat (you dont have to invite your best friends for a conference everytime you want to talk between the 3 or 20 of you, one time invitation to join the group, and that's it), broadcast message (like sms when you want to send to multiple recipients.   however, if you want to send to your "best friends" group, you can just open the group and start chatting away, no need broadcast message).   this is just a taste of it, bb really is an integrated messaging device, very user friendly actually.   if only bb has amore powerful OS like maemo, iphone, android and all, bb will rule the world.   but i still love my n900. 

4. battery life.   i cant say my bb is battery efficient.  just like any smartphone, you're left with around 15% of power after some 100 msgs(i'm quiet a heavy user, i send about 30-40 and receive as many msgs), 30-45 minutes of talking, and 10-15 mins browsing in a day.

will i switch to nokia full-time one day ? if only nokia has bb messaging capability, then yes.  i'm very very impressed with n900, i can say its the best OS now (no, i still remember the iphone, android, and webOS) , but i wish it has bb capability.

[deadkenny]

BB and Nokia are essentially the same mechanism if they're both using always on GPRS/3G (noting that Nokia can also use WLAN. I assume BB has a similar option if they have WLAN capable phones).

Nokia's relies on IMAP IDLE and that doesn't consume data until the server pushes the data. The same with BB. Nokia just don't have an indicator to show when the connection is actually active. It just shows there is a connection.

BB have likely integrated the whole email solution into the phone a bit better to make it easier to see when there is data flowing.

[AsadYousufi]

Use space-bar to select messages in new Nokia messeging client. You can select all from menu and then unselect few messages using space-bar, it is a bit different then previous email client that uses shift and control for that purpose.

Regards,

___________________

---

Moderator's note:

Post has been edited.

We would like to inform you that we have removed your personal details as it is unwise to publish personal details on forums like this.

Kind regards

Edited on 25/11/10 6:41 PM (MLA)