Mobile e-mail at work
One of the most widely used phones for mobile e-mail are phones running Windows Mobile; therefore, this is a platform Maria will have to support. Funambol fully supports this platform, extending the Windows Mobile native e-mail client to support SyncML and Funambol mobile e-mail.
As Windows Mobile does not natively support SyncML, Maria needs to download the Funambol Windows Mobile Sync Client from the following URLs:
- http://www.funambol.com/opensource/download.php?file_id=funambol-smartphone-sync-client-7.2.2.exe&_=d (for Windows Mobile smartphone)
- http://www.funambol.com/opensource/download.php?file_id=funambol-pocketpc-sync-client-7.2.2.exe&_=d (for Windows Mobile Pocket PC)
Like any other Windows Mobile applications, these are executable files that need to be run on a desktop PC and the installation will be performed by Microsoft ActiveSync.
Once installed on the mobile phone, Maria can run Funambol by clicking the Funambol icon. The first time the application is launched, it asks for the Funambol credentials, as shown in the following image:
Maria fills in her Funambol Server location and credentials (not her e-mail account credentials) and presses Save. After a short while, the device will start downloading the messages that she can access from the Funambol account created by the Funambol installation program in Pocket Outlook. The inbox will look similar to the following image:
To see mobile e-mail at work, Maria just needs to send an e-mail to the e-mail account she set up earlier. In less than a minute, her mobile device will be notified that there are new messages and the synchronization will automatically start (unless the client is configured differently).
Mobile e-mail client configuration
There are a number of settings that Maria can set on her mobile phone to change how mobile e-mail works. These settings are accessible from the Funambol application by clicking on Menu | Settings.
There are two groups of settings that are important for mobile e-mail: E-mail options… and Sync Method.
From the Email options panel, Maria can choose which e-mails to download (all e-mails, today’s e-mails, or e-mails received from the last X days), the size of the e-mail to download first (then the remaining part can be downloaded on demand), and if she also wants to download attachments. In the advanced options, she can also choose to use a different “From” display name and e-mail address.
From the push method panel, Maria can choose how to download e-mail automatically using the push service on a regular basis, with either a scheduled sync or only manually upon request (from the Funambol Windows Mobile Sync Client interface or the PocketOutlook send and receive command).
Funambol supports many mobile phones for mobile e-mail. The previous description is only for Windows Mobile phones. The manner in which Funambol supports other devices depends on the phone. In some cases, Funambol uses the phone’s native e-mail client, such as with Windows Mobile. In other cases, Funambol provides its own mobile e-mail client that is downloaded onto the device.