Exchange email client for Blackberry - not BES or BIS?

[Darren S]

Chaps,

Any suggestions for using a Blackberry 8520 Curve with Exchange 2010? Loads of apps out there that promise the earth, but a lot seem a bit horse.

We've had a BES server for quite a while but have canned that now. I suspect that RIM makes it quite difficult for freebie email clients to exist out there?

Cheers,
D.

 

[J__B]

Hey - like you say there are a few apps but most are a bit rubbish.

If you have a data plan on your blackberry and have owa access available you should be able to push your emails to the device without using an app.

I know you said not bes/bis but I recently installed blackberry Enterprise server express (free download)for one of our clients and it works very well (exchange 2007) just means you have to have a bis data plan on the blackberry but dont need To purchase any blackberry licences like you would do on a standard bes server.

If it is just for the one blackberry though probably not worth it !!

 

[Darren S]

Hey - like you say there are a few apps but most are a bit rubbish.

If you have a data plan on your blackberry and have owa access available you should be able to push your emails to the device without using an app.

I know you said not bes/bis but I recently installed blackberry Enterprise server express (free download)for one of our clients and it works very well (exchange 2007) just means you have to have a bis data plan on the blackberry but dont need To purchase any blackberry licences like you would do on a standard bes server.

If it is just for the one blackberry though probably not worth it !!

Thanks for the feedback JB. We did have around 20 Blackberry users who have changed to Android and to be fair, it's not really been a good move. We still have the data bolt-ons enabled for the HTCs so that they ActiveSync with OWA - which would be great if we could simply configure that on a couple of Blackberries.

Ours are not unlocked however and come with a lot of Vodafone software on it. Believe it or not, I'm actually struggling to find any form of email client or interface on the Blackberries, even after they have been reverted back to factory settings! I think that's mainly down to me however, as I'll admit to not being that knowledgable about BBs.

As you say, it might not be worthwhile for a single user - but if we get say half-a-dozen on the Enterprise Server Express, it might be worth the switch? Of course, then the questions will start be asked as to why we switched in the first place - lol!

Cheers,
D.