Email

There are several ways to get, send and read email on Maemo devices such as the N900.

N900 Email Client
The default Email Client on the N900 is Modest

Modest was presented at the 2009 Maemo Summit. The slides are here

The N900 includes a setup wizard that helps you to set up your email account. Please make sure that you select the correct service provider. DO NOT SELECT "OTHER"until you have scrolled through the service provider list (this is not obvious) in the wizard to see if your provider is already there. You will see a long list of providers starting with :-

Other

Mail for Exchange (for connecting to Exchange servers only)

Nokia Messaging (If you want push email from your provider)

.MAC

3Mial (three.co.uk)

AIM

AOL

Beeb.net

Bluyonder

Brethe

BT Click

BT OpenWorld

BT Yahoo

Clara.net

demon

Force9 .......

Push Email
The N900 comes with two options for people looking for a push type e-mail service like Blackberry or Microsoft over the air ActiveSync.

Mail for Exchange (MfE)
This is an implementation of the Microsoft ActiveSync protocol that connects an over the air Exchange server to the N900 e-mail client and Calendar and Contacts.

Google mail also supports ActiveSync these days. Though is is not supported, some users have reported success.

MfE and Digital Certificates
MfE depends on the system to handle Digital Certificates. If you have come off a Symbian device then you would expect MfE to prompt you to save a certificate when it does a first sync. On the N900 you will have to save the certificate yourself onto the N900 and open it up in the file browser to install it. You can check the Certificate is installed under settings.

See this post on how its done http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p=422526&postcount=98

Limitations of MfE
MfE on the N900 is only designed to work with Exchange 2007 servers. It will not work on Exchange 2003 servers. Exchange 2007 servers will also need to have support for Non Provisioned Devices Enabled in order to have synchronization work.

The following features are not supported by the Maemo 5 implementation of Mail for Exchange:
 * Categories support
 * Corporate Directory Lookup
 * Email search on Server or Client
 * Marking messages for follow up
 * Only one active MfE account is supported

MfE is included on your N900, no need to install, but here is the home page for MfE for other Nokia devices. Note that MfE on N900 is a separate implementation from this:

Mail for Exchange download page

Known Problems of MfE
With the first retail release of the N900 there are a number of known issues. Many users have worked around these issues. You can follow MfE discussions on this thread http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=35136


 * Exchange server 2003 not supported -This will be fixed in next firmware release
 * Self Signed Certificates give "Error:Either Exchange server requires secure connection or account is disabled". You can work around this by creating symlinks see the bug report here https://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=6467#c17


 * Sync fails due to older 12.1 protocol version see here http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p=426857&postcount=368

Nokia Messaging
If you already have a favorite webmail service, but would like your email "pushed" to you then this is what this option was designed for. Nokia messaging can connect up to 10 email accounts at one time, and you can choose which account you send from. Nokia also provide their own webmail service (Ovi Mail) that can be linked to this. Nokia messaging provides for easy setup as it already knows the server settings for a large number of the email services out there. Nokia Messaging only handles email and not Contacts and Calendar or Tasks.

Nokia Messaging http://email.nokia.com/account/home.action

IMAP Idle for Push Email
Many modern mail servers support the IMAP Idle feature, which allows your email client to monitor an inbox. Sadly Modest on the N900 has this feature disabled for power reasons.

Desktop style e-mail using the Modest e-mail client
Some people want to be able to have a copy of all their e-mails local to their device, just like Outlook or Lotus notes. If your e-mail service provider provides POP or IMAP support (which they all should) then the N900 has a very good email client called Modest. Modest currently seems to have problems dealing with very large inboxes such is typical with Gmail accounts, as it will try and copy all of your mails to the device.

Modest e-mail http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modest_(e-mail_client)

Gmail and IMAP access
Gmail does not offer IMAP Access by default it needs to be switched on. There is a good Article of IMAP vs POP here http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/getting-gmail-anywhere-imap-versus-pop.html

And Instructions on Turning on IMAP http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=77695&topic=12891

HotMail
Hotmail does not offer IMAP access. it only offers POP3 access. The user expereince is not very good as a result. For instance deleting emails on your device does not delete on your server. The best option for Hotmail is to use Nokia Messaging.

Webmail
The Browser in the N900 is very powerful and supports most webmail services including GMail and Hotmail.

Gmail
You can access a Internet tablet friendly version of Gmail by pointing your browser at http://mail.google.com/mail/x/gdlakb-/gp/

Hopefully a version of macuco will be ported to the N900 from the N810 that gives you finger friendly access to the gmail site.

Google wave has also been tried, and appears to work to some degree. You may need to use the Onscreen Cursor to get to some of the UI elements.

Please add services that you have tried

Third Party Email options
Please add your experience with other email options here

users have reported success with Nuevasync This service allows you to sync your google mail,contacts and calendar whit your N900

Lotus Domino (Notes)
The backend for Notes is called Domino Server. Domino 8.5.1 was released in October 2009 and added an optional software module called Lotus Notes Traveler. This module is required for push email.

If you have Lotus Notes Traveller then all you need on your phone is ActiveSync support which the N900 has in its Mail for Exchange (MfE)application.

many Domino sites have integrated Blackberry Connect as their Push EMail option. As of November 2009 there is not support for this on the N900

Additional Resources
Nokia Messaging options website http://messaging.nokia.com/site/main.do