Any iPhone POP3/IMAP users out there?

[Jeff Mottle]

Now that the 3G iPhone has been released in Canada, I was considering getting it, but there is one feature that will probably be the deciding factor. As I travel a lot, any data plan I can get it moot as international roaming rates will apply. When you download email, is there a way to ONLY download the headers of the email and not the full message or attachments? On windows mobile I can specify to only download the headers and if I opt to open the full message only then will it download the body and attachments if that option is enabled.

 

I've googled and called our local wireless carrier and am getting conflicting info. Can anyone confirm for me?

 

As the US roaming data rate is $3/MB and $0.05/KB (10-25KB min), this feature is pretty crucial.

[mattclinch]

just spoken to the guys at work who have iphone 3g's and according to them it doesn't (unlike windows mobile devices they both had before, which had the 'header only' option). instead it downloads a kind of stripped down low graphic version (but all text) and gives you the options to get the whole message, but this it is rare that you need to do this apparently.

 

they regularly get texts from apple/o2 telling them to remember to turn of data roaming when they go abroad as all UK tariffs have free data on the iphone, but international rates will be charged.

[Jeff Mottle]

just spoken to the guys at work who have iphone 3g's and according to them it doesn't (unlike windows mobile devices they both had before, which had the 'header only' option). instead it downloads a kind of stripped down low graphic version (but all text) and gives you the options to get the whole message, but this it is rare that you need to do this apparently.

 

they regularly get texts from apple/o2 telling them to remember to turn of data roaming when they go abroad as all UK tariffs have free data on the iphone, but international rates will be charged.

 

So is this low graphic text version a lot smaller than the entire message? If you opt to get the whole message will it download the attachments regardless of size?

[mattclinch]

as far as i'm aware this isn't an option as such, its just how the iphone does it. and its not attachments, more graphic heavy emails, like cgsociety updates and ticketmaster updates for example. i think it downloads your whole attachment regardless.

 

likely i'm wrong though - perhaps iphones in countries with limited data tariffs will have a 'header only' option - it would make sense.

[Jeff Mottle]

as far as i'm aware this isn't an option as such, its just how the iphone does it. and its not attachments, more graphic heavy emails, like cgsociety updates and ticketmaster updates for example. i think it downloads your whole attachment regardless.

 

likely i'm wrong though - perhaps iphones in countries with limited data tariffs will have a 'header only' option - it would make sense.

 

Yeah, my carrier says it's all or nothing, but then I've read on some websites that IMAP only downloads the header, so I am not sure what the real story is.

[AJLynn]

Mine seems to do a few different things-

 

Text email has no load time. I think it's downloading the text of the message automatically.

 

Messages with inline attachments have the attachments loading when I open the email.

 

Messages with attachment attachments have a button at the bottom to download the attachments.

 

But I have it working with mac.com, Imap and Exchange accounts and I haven't been keeping track of what does what. I'll do some experimenting on it later and see if I can figure out more details - I figure if I send myself emails, wait for them to register, then turn on Airplane Mode before opening them, I'll know exactly what was downloaded automatically.

 

BTW, if Rogers is anything like ATT, the smart people aren't at Rogers, they're at the Apple store and at discussions.apple.com.

[moshenko]

Hi Jeff,

 

I am a Windows Mobile user as well and have thought about this issue for the same reasons. One thing you might want to check out is a product called NotifyLink (http://www.notifycorp.com/). In the same way that Blackberry "pushes" messages to their devices, NotifyLink is supposed to do the same thing to a variety of phones, including the new iPhone. As I understand it, with a push technology the user defines what is sent to them with each message and the content is compressed at the source and uncompressed on the recipient's phone. A solution like this could certainly save on data. I've been meaning to do a trial with this product but I haven't had the time.

[Ernest Burden III]

.As I travel a lot, any data plan I can get it moot as international roaming rates will apply.

 

AT&T pushes their world-wide coverage. They would make you pay a special charge to use data in the US or Europe? Perhaps they have a plan that would include a small set of other countries.

 

I just got the iphone, so I'm no expert. So far I've made three calls on it. But I have read CGA! Posting would be too much trouble because of the typing. So far, I cannot get the phone to retrieve my email from my ISP, which is verizon.net This morning I realized that I could use the web to check email on the iphone instead of using a computer. I'm in California right now, at my sister's house. Anyway, it made me think that using a webmail portal would allow you to use email without having to worry about DLing attachments to an iphone. Is your email readable over the web? If so, it will work from anywhere the iphone has data.

[AJLynn]

With ATT, international roaming data rates are ridiculous. It comes out to something like $19/MB. They did a very bad job of making customers aware of this the first few months the iPhone was out, and there were these horror stories on the net of people with $5000 bills because of it, so now they are very careful to tell you that data roaming is expensive and they have a feature that turns off data when roaming.

[Jeff Mottle]

With ATT, international roaming data rates are ridiculous. It comes out to something like $19/MB. They did a very bad job of making customers aware of this the first few months the iPhone was out, and there were these horror stories on the net of people with $5000 bills because of it, so now they are very careful to tell you that data roaming is expensive and they have a feature that turns off data when roaming.

 

Here it looks like the roaming rates are $6/MB in the US and upwards of $50/MB Internationally.

[BrianKitts]

Here it looks like the roaming rates are $6/MB in the US and upwards of $50/MB Internationally.

 

wow.... no wonder the data when roaming option is turned OFF by default!!

[Jeff Mottle]

Hi Jeff,

 

I am a Windows Mobile user as well and have thought about this issue for the same reasons. One thing you might want to check out is a product called NotifyLink (http://www.notifycorp.com/). In the same way that Blackberry "pushes" messages to their devices, NotifyLink is supposed to do the same thing to a variety of phones, including the new iPhone. As I understand it, with a push technology the user defines what is sent to them with each message and the content is compressed at the source and uncompressed on the recipient's phone. A solution like this could certainly save on data. I've been meaning to do a trial with this product but I haven't had the time.

 

They finally released the iPhone app on Friday and I have been on and off all week with tech support only to find out that all of the features that do anything useful are not available on for the iPhone. The ONLY benefit to using notifylink to normal IMAP is the security of not having your email credentials stored on the phone. In other words...waste of time. Maybe a newer more mature version will be better.