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Awaited Enhanced Gmail Plugin Launched

by Luis Merlos on Aug 22nd, 2009 at 5:07 pm EST
14 Comments »
 

Today I woke up to see that the awaited app Google announced back in May which integrates BES  to enhance  your Gmail account services with some cool features but so far I have heard mix feelings from users. Quite a few of twitter followers don’t seem to be impress with it, but I wonder if is because some of them might be on BIS  plan not a BES .  Many of us running OS 5.0 are out of luck at the moment because it will not download, it tells you that your device does not meet system requirements. This new application it is supposed to enhance features such as automatically syncing your Gmail contacts with your BB, Calendar, archive messages, assign labels.  I have not had the chance to test it out on mine because it will not let me download, so if you have a chance to play with it let us know what are your thoughts of it. To get a copy of this app simply point your BlackBerry browser to www.blackberry.com/gmail

Capture on 08-22-2009 15-41-59

Capture on 08-22-2009 15-42-25

Here is a list of the features from the Official Google Enterprise Blog

Features include:

  • Messages sent to your Gmail inbox are pushed to your BlackBerry within 60 seconds.
  • Emails read/deleted on your BlackBerry are marked as read/deleted in Gmail, and vice-versa.
  • Emails archived/starred on your BlackBerry are archived/starred in Gmail, and vice-versa.
  • BlackBerry folders are synchronized with labels in Gmail.
  • You can search for contact information of coworkers from the global address list on your BlackBerry.
  • Contacts in Gmail are automatically synchronized with your BlackBerry address book.
  • You can view your Google Calendar schedule with the native BlackBerry application, with one-way synchronization from Google Calendar to your BlackBerry device. Two-way calendar sync with the ability to accept, decline and schedule meetings from your BlackBerry device is not available with this release but we are working on it.
  • Administrators can use the management and security tools that are part of BlackBerry Enterprise Server.

This new features are free for now, but it seems the option for now  only offers one way syncing and it doesn’t sync any new changes you make. Thanks to Nolan for sending this link to a BlackBerry Knowledgebase article about  the new Enhanced Google Mail plug-in. Let us know what you think in the comments below.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, August 22nd, 2009 and is filed under News.

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14 Comments to “Awaited Enhanced Gmail Plugin Launched”

  1. Posted by: Robert
    August 22, 2009 at 6:46 pm EST

    Hi,

    Those on BIS can already do most of this with the current Gmail app from Google. By using IMAP in Gmail you can sync both ways with:

    * Star messages (Flag in Entourage/Outlook)
    * Delete messages
    * View Labels (Folders)
    * Archive
    * Set Read/Unread status

    Using Google Sync you can sync a 28 week period in Google Calendar to the BB and desktop.

    My problem is that Google apps don’t integrate with the BlackBerry system enough. For example I want to add an email as a Task or Calendar Event and need to copy and paste. Ideally RIM should show BIS users some love and give us the Gmail options in the native email client. If they think this will eat into their BES sales well Apple (and soon Nokia) already are.

    – Robert.

    Reply
  2. Posted by: Terry
    August 22, 2009 at 7:03 pm EST

    There is some confusion here. You have a link for the Google Enhanced Email plugin for BIS, but you have the description for the Google Apps integration for BES. Two separate products, nothing o do with one another. The BIS plugin gives you much better email fucntionality, but it has nothing to do with your Calendar or Contacts.

    Reply
    • Posted by: Luis Merlos
      August 22, 2009 at 7:18 pm EST

      Thanks for the clarification and feedback I couldn’t test it out so this helps.

      Reply
      • Posted by: DavidB
        August 22, 2009 at 7:29 pm EST

        Yeah, there were two BlackBerry releases from Google this week and you’ve confused them together.
        The gmail one is supposed to add far more functionality to the RIM client without needing the gmail app.
        The other is the Apps connector for BES.

        Reply
  3. Posted by: Chris
    August 22, 2009 at 8:29 pm EST

    I’m disappointed.

    From what I’m seeing on my Bold, you have to keep your e-mail folders separate for this plug-in to really work. I can get the Star/Archive/etc. commands in the menu from my integrated Gmail folder, but not in the main combined Messages folder. This is lame, because I only like to have one icon on my screen for all of my email and SMS accounts.

    Reply
    • Posted by: tate83
      August 24, 2009 at 8:03 am EST

      its the same for me.. besides.. do the messages stay in the “combined” mail-view when archived in the gmail-view?

      Reply
      • Posted by: DavidB
        August 24, 2009 at 8:15 am EST

        I would think once archived they wouldn’t show? The “Messages” icon is just an amalgamation/convenience of the real inboxes, and I know if I delete an email from an inbox it is gone from “Messages” too.

        Reply
        • Posted by: tate83
          August 24, 2009 at 8:30 am EST

          well, I used to delete read messages on my BB locally and then use or archive them on gmail.com.. I think I need to change that way with the new possibilities :-)

          still, archived emails disappear from the “gmail-inbox” but they do not from the “messages”.
          just did another test with splitted mailboxes.

          Reply
          • Posted by: DavidB
            August 24, 2009 at 8:50 am EST

            Dang. Another half-assed implementation of something on BlackBerry. So the “enhancements” only apply to the individual inbox and are completely lost when using the consolidated “Messages” inbox (which I have no doubt is what MOST people with more than 1 email address use). This wouldn’t be so awful if there was a way to have that particular gmail inbox NOT appear in “Messages”, but apparently that’s not possible either.

            For this I would call this plugin a FAIL for anyone that uses the consolidated “Messages” inbox.

  4. Posted by: Luis Merlos
    August 22, 2009 at 8:42 pm EST

    I separate my emails from my sms but only two icons

    Reply
  5. Posted by: Chris
    August 22, 2009 at 8:48 pm EST

    I wouldn’t mind the separate icons except the gmail folder icon doesn’t match the rest of my theme now. The icon is the default “Bold theme” icon and is totally out of place.

    Reply
    • Posted by: DavidB
      August 24, 2009 at 8:13 am EST

      Yeah, wouldn’t something so simple as choosing a home screen icon seem a no brainer for RIM to include in the user email options for each inbox? Maybe OS 5.0 will have such a feature.

      Reply

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