Nokia Email Growing Up, Enters Beta Labs Tomorrow
Readers who own an S60 handset from Nokia may or may not have heard of an application that Nokia has has done a fairly good job of keeping relatively hush. One of the biggest complaints S60 users have in general is the lackluster email client and less-than-reliable performance that comes along with it. There are plenty of third-party options out there of course, but none that is truly optimal and geared specifically for personal use. Nokia Email is Nokia’s first attempt at just that; a premium email client geared toward personal use as opposed to enterprise. We just got off a conference call the Nokia Email Product Manager and we have to say that the future is looking pretty bright for this app / service combo. Here are some highlights from the call:
- Nokia Email goes live on Nokia Beta Labs tomorrow
- Nokia Email will be a pay service once it exits beta; cost will be integrated into carrier data plans
- Users not on a carrier with whom Nokia has an agreement will still have access to the client, pricing info not yet available
- Future features:
- Focus on value added services - plenty coming that is not in the current beta
- Multiple email accounts will be supported - current beta client supports only one account
- Software update notifications will be automatic - install overlay will not remove settings
- Folder support is one of their top priorities - archiving, etc
The service itself has a long way to go but it’ll get there if you’re patient. Nokia also seems to be paying particular attention to feedback surrounding this app so don’t be shy in telling them what you want. Feel free to mention HTML support, though we know it’s already on Nokia’s radar…
Tags: beta, Beta Labs, Email, Nokia, Premium Serives, S60, Software, Symbian
Darn, wish nokia would just give up and start making blackberry bolds so i could buy some.
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is it email synch only? no calendar, no adress book etc.?
why not use mail for exchange or use a bb?
if this is going to be a pay-service for nokia, why should someone use this when he could have cheap exchange hosting?
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So i would need to pay a monthly fee in 2008 to use email on a high end phone?
A phone priced at $400 +/-
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Macs, release-version features are still unknown. “why not use mail for exchange” - this is a service for personal email. It will support multiple POP/IMAP accounts from various ISPs. Mail for Exchange is a completely different beast.
Demik1020, no. S60 handsets will still ship with the existing email client which of course is free. Nokia Email will allegedly feature additional value-adds that will help warrant the added cost. Will it be worth it? Of course we won’t know until we see what Nokia has planned…
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@Zach: “The service itself has a long way to go but it’ll get there if you’re patient.”
How long have you been playing with the Alpha? Otherwise, how can you make this statement?
@Demik1020: Do you seriously believe that you’re _not_ already paying “to use email on a high end phone”?
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zack cutt th cut the NYtimes attiude. theat paper is dying because of slant reporting an the editor has bias
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Any word on a corporate solution?
I’ve been using the Nokia Email for a few days and it is much better than the built in messaging app. Now just to make it work with my Lotus Notes/Domino server with instant push instead of waiting 15 minutes for emails…
Todd
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@zach: yep i know that. but there is no reason for not using mfe for personal email. monthly provider fee for an account here in europe (don’t know for the us) is a joke. it is 5 euros or so.
having only one always up to date adress book, email and calendar on phone, web and pc is just a fine thing. if this new service is going to provide all this, i guess it is the right way but if it is emailonly this would be a bit “thin”.
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I am glad that they are coming out with something “better”, especially after restarting my N95 three times today to reconnect to mailboxes. However, shouldn’t this be a free app? It seems ridiculous to have to pay to have acceptable email support on phones that cost so much to begin with and are being touted as some the most advanced phones in the world. No?
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especially having in mind nokia droped bb support
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Great! Now add back BB connect so business people have an alternative to a BB device. Oh yeah, you don’t care.
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Could you help compare features between the Nokia e71 and Blackberry Bold? Is one better for different needs? For example, User A does not need a data plan and primary usage is phone calls (best reception), texting and occasionally WiFi Internet usage and User B is a heavy email and web browser requiring constant 3g access.
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@GalvaDick: Is that anything like Kuwait slant-drilling 300,000 Barrels of crude per day from Iraq’s oilfields just prior to the ‘91 US invasion?
http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/blog/harak.html
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Macs, Nokia has a long (as in loooooooong) way to go with its enterprise email solutions. Mail for Exchange just doesn’t cut it. Look at Todd’s comment above for example. What does he do with Lotus Notes/Domino? Considering Nokia recently ended the BB Connect agreement, I have to assume that they’ve got something cooking but it had better be miles beyond the current Mail for Exchange offering if they hope to have a crack at the US enterprise market.
Nokia Email is not that solution however. It is geared 100% towards personal use and is not intended to be an all-inclusive solution.
And Todd, you might want to check out the SEVEN beta (community.seven.com) and Emoze. I’m not certain but I believe they each support Lotus Notes.
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Zach,
I do currently have SEVEN and Nokia Email installed. Testing both! I’ve been using Blackberry for a while now (have BES on my server with SEVEN EE…). I like the instant push from SEVEN but like the interface in the new Nokia Email app and actually wait for the emails to drop in via Nokia to reply.
Todd
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Todd, SEVEN is great and I typically use it for all of my accounts, but they recently announced that their beta server is completely hosed and it’s going to take a while to upgrade. Seems like the only account that works right now is my OWA - gmail and four more accounts are basically dead in the water. I’m currently pulling a little all-Nokia experiment with Mail for Exchange, Nokia Email for gmail and the standard client for two IMAP accounts. Should be interesting - if anything might be able to destroy an E71 battery it will be three always-on Nokia email clients!
All that said, it becomes pretty obvious why BB is the king for email. I’m running three separate always-on apps right now… Just to get my email.
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I use both Nokia Email and Seven. They work fine with my work email, and Seven has calendar and contact sync. This is via OWA.
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digging around in the help section of the beta apps seems to give a away a few features not made official yet (taken from part 10/17 in the help section of the nokia email app)
“About What to sync”
“On the What to sync screen, you can choose what you want to synchronize. Scroll to any of the following fields and select Options>Change to enable or disable snychornization of that item.”
- Inbox
- Drafts
- Sent items
- Calender
- Contacts
- Tasks
- Notes
- Files
- Backup - for backup publication synchronization
- Travel info
…. whether it will still be there on launch and how much it will be however, who knows?
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I actually think that this is a great service. Perhaps the best surprise with it is that not only is it functional, but it actually has a nice interface. I have been using the nokia bluetooth keyboard and it is perfect for email. The current lack of MS Word support is the one thing that has kept an iphone out of my pocket. I have also thought about getting the BB Bold. This program if it is priced right might keep me hanging on the my N95 at least long enough to see if the Nokia Tube changes its clothes and improves its interface.
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nokia needs to add spell check, ala blackberry.
also, i have been looking at every s60 email to run on my new e71 and everything is awful.
market opportunity?
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lol Nokia dosn’t wanna bow down to Rim is it me or is evey other manufatur trying to make their own mail service to TRY to compete with RIM’s services hmm just a matter of time before the patent trolls start a legal showdown again
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How ironic that Galvatron ignorantly speaks of that which he does not know … Intellectual property.
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For the last bloody time, the default S60 email client already supports HTML.
http://thoughtsons60.com/2008/06/05/open-the-damn-attachment/
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Jonny,
No, the S60 email client does not support HTML. It parses HTML emails and displays text only.
It does provide the original message as an attachment that it will open (in the S60 Browser) if you choose but it’s 2008. Why should there be three extra steps to view a simple email? Five extra steps actually, if you include backing out of the email.
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It may be a few additional steps, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t support it. Since the whole point of HTML email is to interact with the content in the message anyway, it makes complete sense to open a browser window to display the message. Then it’s one less step when you click on any of the links in the message.
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