Berrymail brings good news to BlackBerry users: the Chinese version of Pushmail is about to be launched! | ZEAZ CLAW

Berrymail Brings Good News to BlackBerry Users: A Chinese Version of Pushmail is Coming Soon!

berrymail is my favorite domestic BlackBerry blog. In recent times, it has successively released original software such as QuickWheel 1.0 and BMLight, providing new experiences for us, the BlackBerry enthusiasts. We know that BlackBerry's forte is pushmail, but due to high usage fees, it hasn't been popularized in China, meaning that the BlackBerries in the hands of Chinese users haven't been utilized to their fullest potential. Recently, many so-called pushmail services have been launched domestically, but most of them are just email clients and far from being like SMS-based push mails. Previously, berrymail introduced Funambol, allowing us to experience the true charm of BlackBerry, but unfortunately, due to various reasons, not many people got the chance to try it. Recently, ttitoo, the main force behind berrymail, announced this exciting news! (Reprint follows) Let's all look forward to it with enthusiasm!

Here is the reprint:

I believe many friends know that when we first started this website last year, we were only focused on developing the Chinese version of Funambol. By the time of the Spring Festival this year, the old server and a test server were both shut down... Although we had solved many problems with Funambol, making it more user-friendly, as the number of users increased, some of its drawbacks gradually became apparent. Until recently, we came up with a new idea...

When we were choosing the name for the website, we thought about what domain to choose. Since at the beginning we were fully devoted to developing Funambol, we ultimately chose "BerryMail". Even now, our website description is still that original sentence: "BlackBerry email solution, native email sending and receiving." In recent times, you may have noticed that Funambol basically hasn't been updated. The reason is that we want to change because Funambol doesn't suit us, or at least it doesn't meet the expectations of our group. Thus, BerryMail exclusive to BerryMail.cn was born!

Today, I'm writing this post to introduce BerryMail :)

Firstly, some of you might ask, how does BerryMail achieve email sending and receiving? The answer is simple: just like Funambol, it uses the BB's built-in Message module for email transmission. Those who have used Funambol should know that the biggest advantage of Funambol over other email transmission software is using BB's Message module, which makes it convenient, easy to manage, and since the operation method is consistent with SMS or even RIM's push mail, users who have used it will have a deep impression of this operational style.

At this point, some of you might think we copied Funambol's code. However, in fact, from the client side to the server side, everything has been redeveloped by us, and it has almost no relation to Funambol's source code (the reason I say "almost" is because our inspiration comes from Funambol, which needs to be acknowledged, but in terms of source code, they are completely different. Now, BerryMail is only about 33k in size). This can be seen from several aspects:

1. Funambol requires the server to synchronize with the email server to retrieve emails, whereas BerryMail achieves instant synchronization. Therefore, in terms of timely receipt of emails, BerryMail has a significant advantage (this is also one of the big reasons why we developed BerryMail ourselves).

2. When Funambol sends emails, it performs a synchronization process, which is extremely prone to network congestion, and once there is a network blockage, it becomes impossible to know whether the email was sent successfully. In this regard, BerryMail can clearly understand the status of the email being sent; successful means successful, and failure is marked with a red cross.

3. The original BB version of Funambol would not give any notification upon receiving an email (only showing the number of unread emails), later we added a vibration alert when receiving an email. During the development of BerryMail, we have now achieved the ability to add Profiles, meaning managing email notifications via configuration files.

4. The original BB version of Funambol only supports one recipient (To), later we resolved issues with multiple recipients and multiple CCs (carbon copies) and BCCs (blind carbon copies) in the test version. Currently, BerryMail supports multiple To, CC, and BCCs... Additionally, BerryMail can display received emails with multiple To, CC, and BCCs (although hidden due to blind send reasons). This is something Funambol has not achieved.

5. The original BB version of Funambol shows the email arrival time as the time the email reached the BB, rather than the time the email was sent. However, BerryMail can now normally display the email's sending time in the email viewing interface.

6. The original BB version of Funambol does not support attachments, but BerryMail already supports receiving email attachments. When there are attachments, they will be displayed in the small icon before the email, but they won't be downloaded by default. Upon entering the email viewing interface, you can see the attachment names, and then select "Download Attachment" from the menu to automatically download the attachments. However, since BB can view very limited formats, we currently only support a few image formats (this feature still needs further improvement on the server side). Also, attachments are saved in a designated directory. Lastly, devices running OS 4.1 cannot use this function...

7. Funambol has the functionality of contact and calendar synchronization. In this aspect, BerryMail is still blank. However, we will add the contact backup function to BerryMail soon, which shouldn't be too difficult.

8. The final topic is, can push be implemented? At this point, we haven't considered it much. And even if push needs to be implemented, it would be through SMS reminders rather than maintaining long connections (which consume power, as users of QQ, Fetion, and other IM software would know).

After saying so much without showing a single picture, some might think we're joking... So let's show some preview images:

First, the location of the program. To highlight system integration, we've placed BerryMail inside BB's Options. The advantage of doing this is that there won't be an icon in the background programs.

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Then, here are the images of adding Profiles (configurations) for everyone to take a look :)

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Next, of course, is the main function of sending and receiving emails.

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Notice the difference between emails with and without attachments (various themes differ slightly, especially the Vodafone theme). There's a bug here... one email appears as two... quite frustrating, and it hasn't been resolved yet...

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This is the email content viewing interface where you can see the number of attachments and their names. Attachments won't download automatically; whether to download them is your decision, and this feature supports multiple attachments. Next, let's see how to receive attachments.

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After clicking "Download Attachment," the attachment will download to the specified folder. There's another bug here: attachment names containing Chinese characters display normally, but temporarily cannot be downloaded, though it should be easy to fix.

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Hehe, it's downloaded :)

Next is sending emails. On my local machine, the sending speed is very fast, finishing within 1 second... It might be slower on real devices, but since there's only one sending process, the speed won't be too slow.

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When initially sending, it shows as Pending. After receiving the server's return information, if the sending is successful, it marks it as successful. If it fails or times out, it shows a large cross.

The pictures basically end here. Although we've completed the main part of BerryMail, we still need to improve on some details. Today, we've shared some pictures mainly to tease a bit and also to respond to everyone's expectations regarding Funambol. Many friends have asked, when will the Funambol server reopen? Now, we can clearly say: basically, if we start the BerryMail project, we probably won't reopen the Funambol service anymore. Here, we also want to mention that please don't leave comments asking us for Funambol's source code. Actually, the source code is easily obtainable, available on www.fuanmbol.com...

Additionally, we reiterate again, BerryMail has no relationship with Funambol and can be said to have completely independent intellectual property rights, hehe~~~ Of course, there's still much work we need to do, and we'll strive to perfect it.