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Mobile Email – Success

By The Guru on April 17, 2007

The first thing that I’m testing as PC-Free is email. I have 2 email accounts that I check regularly. Both are on Gmail; one is personal and the other is blog related. I used to check them separately, but it got to be a huge pain to sign in and out of Google all the time, so I set it up where I can check both from one inbox.

There are several ways to get your email on your mobile device, and I currently have three set up on my N73…. 

I don’t use push. I’m just not that important or popular yet. I have my
Gmail set up with the built in email app, Profimail, and the Gmail java
app. The built in app is the best if you don’t want to have to manually
check your email. You can set it to check your mail on certain
intervals. There’s a bug with this, too, btw. Profimail is needed if
you get alot of HTML mail. I personally don’t care for it, really. The
Gmail java app I opposed for a long time, as I’m not a huge fan of java
apps on my s60 device. However, I found that it’s incredibly great,
specially if you’ve used Gmail for a while and like to keep track of
stuff.

On to the important stuff…I’ve found that mobile email actually
improves my productivity and communication skills. How so? For
starters, there’s T9. Typing out an entire email with just T9 is a
pain, and causes me to think through my response more. As a result, my
emails are more concise, to the point, and my words are chosen better.

Also improved are my reading skills. If I recieve a lengthy email, it
usually needs more of my attention than the quick ones I get to let me
know someone commented on my site. It also takes more concentration to
read longer emails on the smaller screen of my phone. Thus, if I’m
checking email on my phone, I’m more likely to set aside the longer
emails for when I can focus on reading them. In similar fashion,
checking when I have time means that I set aside time in my day for
email, and handle clumps at a time, rather than interrupting my task
everytime I get an email.

So the first task that I would highly suggest passing from the PC to
the device is email. Doing so has helped me improve my communications
with others, strengthened my reading skills, and allowed me to be more
productive throughout the day.

What about you? Have you tried moving your email to your mobile device?
Make sure you have an appropriate data plan, and then see if you can’t
go a week or two of just using your phone to handle all your email.

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The Guru

The Guru, aka Ricky Cadden, started Symbian-Guru.com in November 2006, out of his excitement for the S60 3rd Edition version of Symella. The Guru has used Symbian devices since the Nokia 6620, and is known for his perspective as a power user. You can follow The Guru on Twitter at @Rcadden

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  • http://www.brilliantexpos.com/ Jeb

    Can you talk a little about the 2 Gmail apps you use? I have one, the one you download at gmail.com/app but I don’t know anything about the other. Plus I’m interested because you said you can set it up to check in intervals. Very interesting.

  • http://www.brilliantexpos.com Jeb

    Can you talk a little about the 2 Gmail apps you use? I have one, the one you download at gmail.com/app but I don’t know anything about the other. Plus I’m interested because you said you can set it up to check in intervals. Very interesting.

  • http://profile.typekey.com/brucery/ brucery

    I like using the GMail app on my N80. Something I discovered recently was the ability to specify which tags/folders show up in the Menu. I use auto-filtering that often bypasses the Inbox, so I would previously have to search through several tags to find new e-mail. Then, I discovered that I can specify which tags show up in the Menu, and New Mail shows up a numbers in parentheses, just like on the PC client. My current gripe relates to GMail in conjunction with S60. Often I start mail in GMail and want to attach a photo as an afterthought, but it is difficult because all I get is a list of timestamped photo filenames — I would love the option of thumbnails in the S60 built-in file manager when browsing directories with media files.

  • http://profile.typekey.com/brucery/ brucery

    I like using the GMail app on my N80. Something I discovered recently was the ability to specify which tags/folders show up in the Menu. I use auto-filtering that often bypasses the Inbox, so I would previously have to search through several tags to find new e-mail. Then, I discovered that I can specify which tags show up in the Menu, and New Mail shows up a numbers in parentheses, just like on the PC client. My current gripe relates to GMail in conjunction with S60. Often I start mail in GMail and want to attach a photo as an afterthought, but it is difficult because all I get is a list of timestamped photo filenames — I would love the option of thumbnails in the S60 built-in file manager when browsing directories with media files.

  • http://mobileministrymagazine.com Antoine of MMM/Brighthand

    I like that breakdown of emails that you speak about (long ones versus short ones). I didn’t even realize that I have been doing the same thing, but when mobile and you don’t have a lot of screen to work with, you indeed only take a quick moment to read, and set aside time for the longer ones.

    I do admit, I’ve become a bit of a pest though because since being mobile, I’ve been getting on friends and fmaily about sending forwards that have huge attachments or haven’t be cleaned up (meaning I am reading groups of email addresses and carrots (‘>>’) before getting to the email content).

    It has made me a better reader though. And to some extent, a better writer, because I have taken the time to say just what it is that I want to say.

  • Bazza

    I purchased three items on ebay yesterday, wrote a few emails to my college tutor, read a web comic and called my girlfriend, all on my E61 during a 1 hour train journey. Pretty awesome i must say, and all the while i was enjoying 3 albums worth of music encoded in eaac+ format.

    The Gmail app is great but it doesn’t display images embedded in the body of the email. Of course I prefer to use opera mini for my webmail.

  • Bazza

    I purchased three items on ebay yesterday, wrote a few emails to my college tutor, read a web comic and called my girlfriend, all on my E61 during a 1 hour train journey. Pretty awesome i must say, and all the while i was enjoying 3 albums worth of music encoded in eaac+ format.

    The Gmail app is great but it doesn’t display images embedded in the body of the email. Of course I prefer to use opera mini for my webmail.

  • http://mobileministrymagazine.com/ Antoine of MMM/Brighthand

    I like that breakdown of emails that you speak about (long ones versus short ones). I didn't even realize that I have been doing the same thing, but when mobile and you don't have a lot of screen to work with, you indeed only take a quick moment to read, and set aside time for the longer ones.I do admit, I've become a bit of a pest though because since being mobile, I've been getting on friends and fmaily about sending forwards that have huge attachments or haven't be cleaned up (meaning I am reading groups of email addresses and carrots ('>>') before getting to the email content).It has made me a better reader though. And to some extent, a better writer, because I have taken the time to say just what it is that I want to say.

  • http://mobileministrymagazine.com/ Antoine of MMM/Brighthand

    I like that breakdown of emails that you speak about (long ones versus short ones). I didn't even realize that I have been doing the same thing, but when mobile and you don't have a lot of screen to work with, you indeed only take a quick moment to read, and set aside time for the longer ones.

    I do admit, I've become a bit of a pest though because since being mobile, I've been getting on friends and fmaily about sending forwards that have huge attachments or haven't be cleaned up (meaning I am reading groups of email addresses and carrots ('>>') before getting to the email content).

    It has made me a better reader though. And to some extent, a better writer, because I have taken the time to say just what it is that I want to say.

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