‘BackupBerry’ Options for BlackBerry Addicts

By Devin Banerjee and Eric Bellman

Indian officials are still tussling with BlackBerry over access to communications sent using the device. India on Thursday said it will consider banning BlackBerry Enterprise Service and BlackBerry Messenger Service if telecom providers don’t make them open to law enforcement surveillance by Aug. 31. Unless officials reach a breakthrough soon, BlackBerry users in India could be cut off from uninterrupted emails and messenger messages buzzing in their pockets.

AFP/Getty Images
A customer checks a BlackBerry handset at a shop in New Delhi.

So, India Real Time explored a few “BackupBerry” options. While this is far from the comprehensive test trial Wall Street Journal columnist Walt Mossberg recently gave the BlackBerry Torch, we hope some of these alternatives can help Indian BlackBerry addicts get important emails (and the other ones too).

Note: We’re assuming Indian users will still have access to BlackBerry Internet Service.

1. Microsoft Outlook Web Access is the option corporate users who are already using Outlook will likely prefer because it doesn’t involve going off your office email network. But it’s not going to mimic the push email experience and it’s not BlackBerry specific. You’ll have to keep refreshing to check for new messages. If you’re not already using Outlook Web Access, you’ll need help from your office IT administrator to set this up.

2. Yahoo! Mail for BlackBerry provides information on how you can help sync your Yahoo! Mail account with your BlackBerry. You can also download their messenger app if BlackBerry’s own messaging application is banned.

You’re supposed to be able to integrate your Yahoo! email with BlackBerry one of two ways, either by going to a URL from your BlackBerry browser or through your BlackBerry menu. Yahoo! advises you to go to blackberry.com/yahoo/mail, but the page wouldn’t load on our BlackBerry—we’re not sure why.

The easier thing is go to the BlackBerry menu, select the “Setup” icon and then select the “Email Settings” icon.  Agree to the Terms and Conditions and then enter your email ID and password. A few moments later, a new inbox icon with a little “Y” logo appeared on our BlackBerry.  We also got a disconcerting message from Airtel thanking us for registering with them. Another message said emails would start appearing in approximately 20 minutes. The first message came in about 40 minutes later (we didn’t have any mail before then).

There’s no need to refresh—your messages keep feeding into the Yahoo! Inbox, and when you want to delete, you can use the BlackBerry “delete” button and choose whether to remove messages from just the device or from your Yahoo! mailbox as well.

3. Gmail, Google’s popular mail service, has an application you can place right on the front screen of your BlackBerry independent of the device’s internal email application. Go to http://m.google.com/mail in your mobile browser and download it for free. The site will recognize your device and automatically change your settings to make it work.

While it took us a while to find it hidden in an inside folder (marked “download,” surprise!) the application seemed to work well. It simulates the push-email experience by automatically grabbing your latest email every 20 minutes or so. If you have an important email on the way, you will have to continue clicking “refresh” under options.

The application was good at sending, receiving and forwarding emails and even big attachments, but unfortunately does not recognize the “delete” button we use so often on our BlackBerrys. Users have to go to options to delete.

4. MSN Mobile provides access to Hotmail and MSN Messenger on the BlackBerry. The application can be accessed for free via the device’s Web browser at mobile.msn.com.

Once logged in, the mobile Web page loads 10 emails a page in a convenient font size that doesn’t require any zoom. Options such as reply, reply all, forward, delete, move, mark as unread and flag are listed at the bottom of each email, which made it easy to manage messages in whichever way we wanted.

Because the Hotmail page is accessed via the browser and not a native application that can be downloaded, push-email is not an option. But a refresh button located at the top of the inbox folder makes it easy to load new emails at any time.

5. BlacMail is an India-specific solution from Bangalore-based Fifth C Solutions Ltd. that is slated to launch next month. The company says BlacMail will allow subscribers use their BlackBerrys (or other phones) to send and receive emails from up to two email accounts, including Gmail, Yahoo! Mail or Hotmail accounts.

“While the concerns expressed by the Intelligence Bureau and the Department of Telecommunication are readily understandable, the government seems to be overlooking the dozens of alternate email-on-mobile services available in the market,” said Anindita Biswas, a spokeswoman for Fifth C Solutions.

Ms. Biswas said BlacMail’s software meets the government’s requirements because its data can be accessed by security agencies. The service is expected to cost between 50 and 60 rupees a month, Ms. Biswas said.

—Tripti Lahiri contributed to this post.

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    • Another backup solution at the Android App Store, Blackberry App Store, Samsung App Store, OVI, is Data Assurance from a company called Perlego Systems, Inc. I use it on my Droid. It is $20/2 yrs and provides backup of all your docs, videos, pictures, contacts, calendar, etc… It is all done Over-the-Air. You set the backup schedule to daily or weekly. The service provides a wipe should the phone be lost or stolen. And a self-srvice portal to view your backups. Pictures can be sent to your Facebook, Twitter, Flicker. The best item is that you can restore your data to a new phone even if it is not the same Operating Systems, I.E. like Blackberry to Android, Win Mobile to Android, Android to Blackberry. Pretty Cool! Check it out at http://www.perlego.com or at the marketplaces above to buy. rich

    • The BlacMail service mentioned here is apparently a very similar push mail service to BB that can work on any Java supported handset, including BBs! Also, these guys claim to have cleared the Legal Intercept policies, something that GMail and Outlook Express is still vulnerable to. Might be interesting to check out…

    • Most US companies have migrated to the iphone by using encryption software that makes e-mail service secure regardless of the phone/platform. I am amazed most still think BlackBerry is the only secure e-mail system. The one advantage of BB is that it has a push system that allows quick e-mail service to/from the smart phone.

    • nice

    • privacy appears to be vanishing…really sad. you cannot even send a private message. i guess they cannot read our dreams yet

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