In March RIM rolled out BlackBerry Internet Service version 3.0. Like other BIS updates, this offered a few changes. Chief among them, at least for Google users, was two-way syncing for Gmail accounts. Google and RIM made it quite simple to receive Gmail emails on a BlackBerry, though not without problems. We covered that in pushing your Gmail vs. the Gmail BlackBerry app, one of our most popular threads. The inclusion of two-way sync in the new BIS package would make the question moot. Except in the case of advanced inbox functions, pushing Gmail would make a lot more sense with a two-way sync. Unfortunately, it hasn’t quite worked as expected.
First, RIM delayed the feature. They introduced BIS 3.0 to their North American users in late March, but two-way Gmail sync was not included. It was promised as a later update, slated for the spring. That didn’t leave me very optimistic, because the spring is a pretty ambiguous timeframe, and if it gets delayed we wouldn’t know until sometime in June. Yet RIM did come through, beginning their two-way sync roll-out earlier this month.
It took a while, but earlier this week I noticed the two-way sync taking effect. It happened after a long day at the office, after which I picked up my BlackBerry to see only a handful of unread messages. Normally I see a number that gets above 50 and sometimes approaches 100. Clearly, my BlackBerry was now marking as read emails that I had already viewed on the Gmail server. Sweet. No longer would I have to deal with a red blinking light after I’d read an email on my computer.
Yet I don’t think the sync is quite up to par. It seems like the sync happens once an hour, if that. Is this normal for other email services? I’d think that with a two-way sync it would update pretty quickly. Yet, despite having marked an email as read on my computer, the red light on my BlackBerry continues flashing for the full 15 minutes. Even after it’s done flashing the email still appears as unread in my BlackBerry inbox. I haven’t quite figured out how long it takes to show up as read in both places, but again, it seems like at least an hour.
Like many web workers, I use Gmail for most of my email needs. I dealt with the pain of a one-way sync because 1) I love BlackBerry and Gmail a lot, and 2) there was a promise of two-way syncing. The second, however, appears to be of little worth. Has anyone else experienced this? Are you as annoyed as me?
