Switching to Gmail IMAP on the BlackBerry

After reading this post a while ago and spending some time thinking about it, I’ve switched over to IMAP for Gmail access on the BlackBerry. Before I had an elaborate setup, using a filter to forward emails to my blackberry.net device email and then setting the device email to set from and reply-to to my gmail address and auto bcc my gmail address. All that because IMAP and POP have historically had much slower delivery times on the BlackBerry than the device and enterprise email. However, as I process more and more email using my device, I always have a pile of unread messages in my inbox whenever I log in to the web interface. I’ve tested IMAP again and it seems to be working much faster than in the past. Here are some notables about my new setup:

* Emails read on the BlackBerry are marked as read in Gmail
* Emails deleted from BlackBerry are archived in Gmail
* After creating a ‘Sent Items’ label in Gmail, emails sent from the BlackBerry appear under this label on the web interface. Conversations stay intact.

Technology wouldn’t be fun without a few caveats:

* Emails read in the web interface are not marked as read on the BlackBerry
* Emails archived or deleted in the web interface are not removed from the BlackBerry inbox
* Any previously archived messages moved to the inbox using the web interface will be redelivered as new messages on the BlackBerry

Now at least messages are marked as read when I view them on the device and I can archive messages from the device quickly to keep them from building up in my inbox. I still have the Gmail app installed but continue to see that as primarily a tool for searching through historic messages and chats, etc. from the device more than a good way to process incoming email and reply to it.