BES 5.0 Incremental Features Document Leaked – Colored Follow Up Flags!

We have been giving you the details on BES 5.0 for awhile now. One of our secret agents scored a new document that lists the current features that will be added in BES 5.0 that are not in BES 4.1.6. This includes most of what we have mentioned before but with some interesting new twists. It also includes lots of details at the end for BES admins who are interested in the high availability aspect and new administration features.

For example: We told you that BES 5.0 was going to let you flag your emails for follow up. I was worried that this was going to be a red or not red flag kind of like older versions of Outlook. Turns out I was wrong! You will be able to flag your emails as Red (Default), Blue, Yellow, Green, Orange, and Purple. There is also the ability to set a due date and if the flag is completed or not. Also available is the ability to flag it as a Custom Request, Call, Do not forward, Follow up (default), For your information, Forward, No response necessary, Read, Reply to all, & Review.

Pretty cool stuff right? Looks like most of this will be waiting for OS 5.0 on your device but that should be coming soon! The only sad note I noticed was that even though you will get remote access to windows shares you will not be able to upload files…

Also worthy of note and as a reminder (coming with OS 5.0 together with BES 5.0):

• Mail Folder Management – Users can now manage mail folders on their device similar to the way they manage folders on their desktop. This includes adding, deleting, renaming, and moving mail folders.
• Forwarding Calendar Appointments – Microsoft® Exchange Only – For appointments that a user has been invited to, the user can now forward that appointment to a 3rd party. Appointments can be forwarded directly from the calendar or from the message list/inbox on the BlackBerry smartphone when the appointment request is received.
• CALENDAR MEETING DELEGATION – IBM LOTUS DOMINO ONLY – For appointments that a user has been invited to, the user can now delegate that appointment to a 3rd party. Appointments can be delegated directly from the calendar when already accepted or from the message list when the appointment request is received.
• Viewing Attachments in a Calendar Appointment – Calendar appointments containing embedded documents (e.g. Microsoft® PowerPoint® file) can be viewed  and downloaded on the device in a similar manner to opening and downloading attachments for email.* All file formats currently supported for viewing in emails are supported for viewing when embedded in the calendar appointment notes.
• Remote File Explorer / Remote File Access to Windows Shares – A File Explorer application will be included on the BlackBerry smartphone to allow for browsing and downloading of both remote and local files. Remote file access provides save, view, edit, and email capabilities on the device for files stored on the corporate intranet.  Files cannot be uploaded.
• Wireless Contact Synchronization – Contacts on the device can now be wirelessly synchronized with multiple Contact Folders, Personal Distribution Lists, and contacts stored in public/shared folders.
• Support for Windows Media Audio files – Windows® Media Audio (WMA) is a Microsoft® proprietary compressed audio file format used for voicemail playback and is utilized in Microsoft unified communications technologies.