Database Users

Email... push (IMAP IDLE) or poll for best battery life?

I've been doing a lot of searching (push poll battery), and not finding much of a definitive answer on this.
Battery life, vs. email checking method... what impact does push (IMAP IDLE) have vs. polling.
And very possibly the answer varies depending on how often you would poll... ie. I could see that polling every 5 minutes uses more battery than push, but polling only once/hour would use less .. I'm not saying that;s the case, just saying maybe the answers are not so clear b/c its not an always-this or always-that answer.
It appears that the GMail app uses push. I don't really use Gmail for my mail.. I have a home server (linux box) that runs an IMAP server (and webmail), so I have multiple ways I can get my mail
a) over the web via browser
b) using K-9 to access my home IMAP via poll (let's say every 15 minutes)
c) using K-9 to access my home IMAP via IMAP IDLE (push)
d) insert other idea here
I think a) is probably the best battery life, but by far the least convenient, so really I'm trying to understand the differences/trade-offs for b&c (and open to learning if I've missed a better way (d).
thanks,
Mike

Theoretically, it should be "c" given the choices you present.
In practice however, I have found that k9mail is a bloated pig and dead slow. It might not use up much network in the imap idle, but the thing seems to have a constant and very ugly hit against the CPU.
Gmail push delivery is quite similar to using imap idle. There is some difference in the execution of push email delivery though... you will find that gmail only pushed the notifications and not the message itself. k9 actually pushes the message so that it would be available for reading offline.

lbcoder said:
Theoretically, it should be "c" given the choices you present.
In practice however, I have found that k9mail is a bloated pig and dead slow. It might not use up much network in the imap idle, but the thing seems to have a constant and very ugly hit against the CPU.
Gmail push delivery is quite similar to using imap idle. There is some difference in the execution of push email delivery though... you will find that gmail only pushed the notifications and not the message itself. k9 actually pushes the message so that it would be available for reading offline.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the info!
Is there a better IMAP client vs. K-9? (I found that it at least is much better than the stock mail proggy and haven't seen really any suggestions for alternatives for IMAP)
Is there an option d I should consider? (its my linux server at home.. I use fetchmail to collect/condense several email accts to one.. and can install other packages if there is something I should try)
thanks,
Mike

How about just forwarding everything to your gmail address?

lbcoder said:
How about just forwarding everything to your gmail address?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nah.. I like having everything on my home server.
I like Google, but don't need/want to have all my mail sitting there for them to parse.

zim2dive said:
Nah.. I like having everything on my home server.
I like Google, but don't need/want to have all my mail sitting there for them to parse.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
.... forwarding it does NOT mean that you are deleting it from your home server. You can have it in both places.

lbcoder said:
.... forwarding it does NOT mean that you are deleting it from your home server. You can have it in both places.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Understood.. I just prefer to keep *any* company from having 100% of my personal life flowing thru their hands (I avoided having my contacts even uploaded into "the cloud" until I got this phone), so I'm looking for best battery practice methods that offer a fair compromise of email timeliness, battery life, and access my server (tho adding/upgrading my server to support some kind of better feature is certainly fair game.. its Ubuntu 9.10)
I don't wear tin foil hats I just detest spam... and (IMO) the best way to avoid spam is to keep control over your info.

I highly doubt that any of your emails are particularly secure. Unless you are certain that there is an SSL pipe all the way from your SMTP client through to the other guy's SMTP client, and that there is no windoze-anything anywhere along the lines, then it is trivial for anyone to read your emails.
With that, it would be *really* nice if they added public key encryption to the gmail application.... (not the gmail web service, but directly in the application).

lbcoder said:
Gmail push delivery is quite similar to using imap idle. There is some difference in the execution of push email delivery though... you will find that gmail only pushed the notifications and not the message itself. k9 actually pushes the message so that it would be available for reading offline.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry for regain an old post, but ive constant problem with gmail app.
I never can had notification from gmail when an emal arrives.
I flashed cyan5.07test5, set my gmail account to import hotmail messages, and enabled imap and pop3 via web interface.
I installed Gmail Notifier (free on the market) too.
I set "Automatic sincronization" and" background data" (sorry for wrong translation, i've an italian phone), but gmail never automatically synchronize new mails nor notify that. I can manually update only, and he're we go. Any help?

fl3xo said:
Sorry for regain an old post, but ive constant problem with gmail app.
I never can had notification from gmail when an emal arrives.
I flashed cyan5.07test5, set my gmail account to import hotmail messages, and enabled imap and pop3 via web interface.
I installed Gmail Notifier (free on the market) too.
I set "Automatic sincronization" and" background data" (sorry for wrong translation, i've an italian phone), but gmail never automatically synchronize new mails nor notify that. I can manually update only, and he're we go. Any help?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This question is totally unrelated. I'll answer you here, but if you have further questions along the same line, you must start a new thread to address it, OK?
First off, gmail notifier should NOT be used, nor anything else that might interfere.
Second, gmail notifications go over gtalk on port 5228. I do notice some oddities re gtalk/5228 on CM507, but pushes seem to work (at least on t5 and for me...)
Ensure that you are signed in to gtalk service -- by running the "talk" application and signing in (and setting it to sign in automatically). This might help you.
POP and IMAP have nothing to do with this at all.
Something else you didn't mention is whether this problem you are experiencing is limited to the CM507 ROM, or if you've had it previously. This makes a big difference -- if it didn't work before, then you need to consider the possibility that your mobile data provider is interfering somehow. I know that Wind in Canada initially caused some trouble for google services on 5228, I don't know if it was perhaps related to a similar policy implemented elsewhere. We have since had a dialog with them and have had these kinds of issues eliminated.

wow lbcoder, you must be sick.
I didn't notice any sarcasm and you were polite.
lol

Sleeepy2 said:
wow lbcoder, you must be sick.
I didn't notice any sarcasm and you were polite.
lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, BITE ME
(feel better now? )

lbcoder said:
Ah, BITE ME
(feel better now? )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
haha. much

lbcoder said:
This question is totally unrelated. I'll answer you here, but if you have further questions along the same line, you must start a new thread to address it, OK?
First off, gmail notifier should NOT be used, nor anything else that might interfere.
Second, gmail notifications go over gtalk on port 5228. I do notice some oddities re gtalk/5228 on CM507, but pushes seem to work (at least on t5 and for me...)
Ensure that you are signed in to gtalk service -- by running the "talk" application and signing in (and setting it to sign in automatically). This might help you.
POP and IMAP have nothing to do with this at all.
Something else you didn't mention is whether this problem you are experiencing is limited to the CM507 ROM, or if you've had it previously. This makes a big difference -- if it didn't work before, then you need to consider the possibility that your mobile data provider is interfering somehow. I know that Wind in Canada initially caused some trouble for google services on 5228, I don't know if it was perhaps related to a similar policy implemented elsewhere. We have since had a dialog with them and have had these kinds of issues eliminated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You always help, it was the gtalk service for some reason not initiated.
Ive tried with openssl a lot with no result.
Yes, lbcoder is real sarcastic BUT had always some special gear.
thx a lot

[Q] CM6 and Exchange

I'd like to know about other people's experiences with CM6 and Exchange. With the stock email app, I have noticed at times that at times it would start using a lot of cpu, and stop receiving emails. I did have "all email" sync, but these issues would happen randomly after all of my mailbox was downloaded; could this have anything to do with it? I would have to reboot my phone for email to start working again. After reading about people's experience in the CM6 thread I thought it might be appropriate to have an altogether separate thread. I did notice some users having similar issues, and that TouchDown is a good alternative.
So about 2 weeks ago, I started trying it. Problem is, when I go to add a contact (discovered this by long pressing a number to create a contact), it will let me create a "TouchDown contact", but only with names. I contacted touchdown support and they said that no other applications can have access to TouchDown data for "security". I did put in a feature request for an optional contacts integration, because my Aria is a work phone, and every contact I add I *need* synced. I did think about adding contacts to Google account, and then installing Google/Outlook sync on my work pc, but this seems too convoluted.
Has CM6 exchange improved in any of the nightly builds? If I choose to go back to the stock email app, is there any way that if I run into these issues again I can provide debugging information? The only thing I really liked about TouchDown was the search email feature, but this is in no way a feature request for the stock email app. xD

Why not ask in the cm6 thread instead of starting a new one?

I've been using stock exchange mail client since the beginning of CM6 on aria, haven't ran into any major issues with it. The only problem I have with it is that sometimes the deleted email on aria still show up on desktop outlook.
Sent from my Liberty using XDA App

Just wanted to add that stock client does stop getting emails ( very rarely for me), instead of rebooting, I just forse close the app and restart it again.
Sent from my Liberty using XDA App

For adding/syncing contacts (using touchdown for email) I added the exchange account (under stock email settings) and set it to never check mail, but still sync contacts and calendar. I am going to see if this combination with touchdown works, as the email app is required to run if syncing exchange contacts is to work at all. I hope don't run into the process hanging without email actually syncing. I'm still waiting this trial out to see if touchdown is worth it; they did add a new feature that shows the number of new emails in the notification icon (I don't recall if this is in the stock email app).

loooking for an alternative to the gmail built in app?

Hi
I get the sending.... hanging problem with the galaxy s built in gmail app.
clearing the cache doesn't work, and using the other email app wont attach video , it just says too big.
what are the good alternative email programs?
Cheers

Hi,
I'm using K-9 Mail via an IMAP Account and are fairly happy with it. Only one thing: Push-Mail via IMAP-Idle drains the Battery like Hell... but a 15 Minute poll is fair enough (shorter Intervals are also available).
And it is FOSS...
Bye

ayn said:
Hi,
I'm using K-9 Mail via an IMAP Account and are fairly happy with it. Only one thing: Push-Mail via IMAP-Idle drains the Battery like Hell... but a 15 Minute poll is fair enough (shorter Intervals are also available).
And it is FOSS...
Bye
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cheers K9 came up in a google search, it sounds good
I turn off sync with email and check it manually when i want to.
its more about sending an email and it actually getting there . where the gmail app fails .
I check my mail on my main computer, but use my phone to 'quick check' stuff. but if an app is a 'beast that takes ages to open' that would be a pain. I didn't think about battery life, (cheers for that). so many apps just run in the background on my galaxy s. as much as i love it, it is another crazy computer in my life .
is K9 a free app or advertising/donation?
also any other suggestions welcome too

Are you sure the gmail app is failing? If you've got your phone to manually sync, the email will never send. The gmail app does not send emails as per request, they are put in a queue and sent out only when the phone syncs. Try it now. Send an email and keep syncing disabled. Nothing happens. Hi options the. Choose refresh option and I will push through the queued emails. As for file size limit, I wouldn't know but I have added a total of 5.8mb in an email which sent fine.
Edit: re read your post. Use the gmail app and try what I said, it has no issues with file size like other **** apps.

galaxy44 said:
is K9 a free app or advertising/donation?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
K9 is free open source software without any kind of adds or something else.

SargeRX8 said:
Are you sure the gmail app is failing? If you've got your phone to manually sync, the email will never send. The gmail app does not send emails as per request, they are put in a queue and sent out only when the phone syncs. Try it now. Send an email and keep syncing disabled. Nothing happens. Hi options the. Choose refresh option and I will push through the queued emails. As for file size limit, I wouldn't know but I have added a total of 5.8mb in an email which sent fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its a known issue:
http://www.google.co.uk/support/forum/p/Google+Mobile/thread?tid=1363d927a73ee840&hl=en
send sometimes works
sometimes doesn't (usually when i attach pic or video)
i can send very small test messages by clicking refresh
SargeRX8 said:
Try it now. Send an email and keep syncing disabled. Nothing happens. Hi options the. Choose refresh option and I will push through the queued emails. As for file size limit, I wouldn't know but I have added a total of 5.8mb in an email which sent fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i always use refresh to send the email with sync disabled
its a know issue
the file size issue is to do with the 'other' email program that came with my phone.
I've ruled both out as not fit for purpose.
but i don't want to try hundreds of apps so i thought a few good recommendations might help.
cheers anyway, but I'm giving up on the gmail app.

quick update:
I've tried K9
it had success sending video attachments (that were stuck on gmail app or cancelled on the other galaxy s email app)
the bad
when it set up, it took ages (i have 1000s of email on my gmail account. so it could just be that)
it doesn't seem to group the emails (like replies from forums etc) can i set the settings to do this?
the names like expunge and poll (empty trash and refresh)
it seems a bit slower than the gmail app? but i could just be me
i'm trying to get used to the scrolling left and right in messages.
the good
it showed the full message
it could send video attachments to gmail (is 25mb max for gmail)
it sent the items (unlike the gmail app)
it seems pretty equipped with options
looks ok
I'm still not sure
What else might i try?

ok
I'm using a Samsung Galaxy S
I shoot 3 videos (all 3 are about 7mb)
Gmail can handle attachments up to 25MB
Gmail app always gets stuck on sending (with no warning to let you know its not sent)
MMS wont convert the files
Other Email app wont accept the file size
K9 sends them (which is a step forward)
but doesn't group messages by conversation
also it has the push always running (i don't know what push is)
and seems to always be checking my mail (I don't mind exploring the oddly named and confusing settings if its the program i am going to use)
also the built in gmail app shortens messages so replies from this forum wont display the link to the topic (pretty annoying) the other built in email app does display the link long enough to click.
I feel very frustrated.
I just wanted to send a couple of funny videos to my friend via any means.
And it feels like my Samsung Galaxy S is just completely against me doing this in any easy fashion
I might keep K9 but turn all the setting to check the email off and use it if i want to send a file.
how do i turn the check mail settings off on k9 (the options are confusing, confusingly named, and different depending on where you are in the program.
if i turn K9 off, and use it only occasionally will it take ages to open if i keep all my messages on the server?
Or is there a fourth email program:
that opens fast
groups the messages
sends attachments up to 25mb
Cheers

i tried Maildroid but he adds were annoying.
back to K9:
How do i stop K9 automatically checking mail?
and how do stop the k9 mail service app running constantly (i assume its the push thing)
I'm thinking of keeping the app on there to send files by email, and for links that don't show up properly like replies from this forum. but i don't want it spanking my battery or checking for emails
How do i set it up for "there when i need it"?
the options are confusing and have nonsense kind of names.
Cheers

[Q] Galaxy S4 Stock Email App. So many flaws?

Got my new Galaxy S4. What is up with the email app? are you able to have it push email? i dont want it to poll every 5 minutes, i need my emails instantly...
I turned on sync in the email app, which apparently this is not push, anyways, throughout the day when i open the email app i get a popup saying email sync disabled. Why?
Can anyone confirm that the search function works?? I have my email set up as an imap account, whenever i want to search something in my email i get 0 results, and if i hit the search on server, it does not bring up anything either. This happens with all my email accounts on my phone, and my wife's accounts on her GS4. Any idea why??
I have a rooted S4, not using a custom rom. I have tried K9 email but it is just plain ugly. I actually like how the stock email app looks but nothing works!
I searched all over the internet and i dont see anything on most of these issues so im assuming im doing something wrong if nobody else is talking about this. Please, any help would be awesome. My wife wants her iphone back because of this.

I use the stock email app with no issues. I have it set to recieve from my work exchange account, my outlook and gmail accounts. All are push, and all of mine are searchable with no issues.
You may try erasing the account, and then resetting it. I know my outlook account is also an exchange server, but the gmail I think is IMAP. All mine have the check box "sync email" checked, and I set all to push notifications. Be sure you are setting up the account in the email app itself, that may help.

aawshads said:
I use the stock email app with no issues. I have it set to recieve from my work exchange account, my outlook and gmail accounts. All are push, and all of mine are searchable with no issues.
You may try erasing the account, and then resetting it. I know my outlook account is also an exchange server, but the gmail I think is IMAP. All mine have the check box "sync email" checked, and I set all to push notifications. Be sure you are setting up the account in the email app itself, that may help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where do you see the email push setting? only see sync, and whenever i turn on sync, i get a popup a few hours later when i open the app that sync has been disabled. Even when i enable sync, it gives me the option for sync schedule for at most every 15 minutes.
As far as the search, i use godaddy imap and yahoo. I cant search anything out of what is showing when i open the app. It shows me default of i think 25 emails when i open the app and if i scroll to the bottom it starts to load more. When i do a search, it only searches through what is loaded and when i do continue searching on server i get nothing more. The only results is what is in the 25 loaded messages, or 50 messages if i scroll down at let it load more...

crammer04 said:
I searched all over the internet and i dont see anything on most of these issues so im assuming im doing something wrong if nobody else is talking about this. Please, any help would be awesome. My wife wants her iphone back because of this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The email app on the iphone is far better than the stock email app on the SGS4. I think the stock email app on the SGS4 is utter crap, at least with IMAP. Maybe it works better with exchange. I use Kaiten, which is an upgraded/updated version of K9. Another one that I looked at briefly was AquaMail.

GeorgeP said:
The email app on the iphone is far better than the stock email app on the SGS4. I think the stock email app on the SGS4 is utter crap, at least with IMAP. Maybe it works better with exchange. I use Kaiten, which is an upgraded/updated version of K9. Another one that I looked at briefly was AquaMail.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The thing is i actually really like the email app on the GS4. I think the layout is nice and the email app is one of the few times i actually feel that the air view feature is really useful. The problem is, is that it is not reliable. I need my emails instantly and the email app is not getting it for me. I just figured out the search problem i was having. If i just change in the settings messages to load from 25 to "total" all of my messages will be there and search is fine. I still wish there is a way to have my emails come instantly rather than every 15 minutes. Aside from the push issue, what else do you dislike about the stock app that the other apps have? The only thing i noticed on the iphone is the push option...

GeorgeP said:
The email app on the iphone is far better than the stock email app on the SGS4. I think the stock email app on the SGS4 is utter crap, at least with IMAP. Maybe it works better with exchange. I use Kaiten, which is an upgraded/updated version of K9. Another one that I looked at briefly was AquaMail.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
on the app go to settings, tap on the account, then on Sync Schedule, set it to Push.

aawshads said:
on the app go to settings, tap on the account, then on Sync Schedule, set it to Push.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You must be talking about an exchange account. You don't have that option with IMAP.

I dont see the push option, here is what i see
aawshads said:
on the app go to settings, tap on the account, then on Sync Schedule, set it to Push.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont see the option for push, this is what i get-
View attachment 1998784
View attachment 1998785

crammer04 said:
Aside from the push issue, what else do you dislike about the stock app that the other apps have? The only thing i noticed on the iphone is the push option...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Four major issues are (and there are other minor issues):
- Lack of IMAP IDLE (push)
- When you reply to someones message, the text in their message is reformatted in your reply (font changes and line spacing changes). Looks unprofessional for work email.
- html hyperlinks are sometimes not properly parsed and are unclickable. I get a news service hyperlinks to articles. None of the hyperlinks work on the stock email client. I have to forward the message to gmail or something to click on the hyperlinks.
- emails sent from stock email client do not sync properly and have a different format on my outlook client.
Kaiten has none of these problems. These are not problems with the iphone app either.

GeorgeP said:
You must be talking about an exchange account. You don't have that option with IMAP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
plus, to update on the syncing being disabled. I set the sync to on, reboot my phone, opened the mail app and i get the pop up that says sync disabled. I open the settings and the sync option is no longer checked.

Just tried Kaiten...It was downloading so many copies of my emails. It showed each email at least 4 times...uninstalled...

They are correct, the one I looked at was my Outlook.com email address, and my work address. The gmail address shows the same thing as yours.

I guess the news hasn't gotten around fully. Gmail accounts to do not support push with anything other than the native stock android gmail app anymore (since, when exactly, I don't remember. March or April of this year?). In that particular case, it's not the fault of the Samsung email app. No other app besides the official "gmail" app will receive emails by push from a gmail account, and that includes any email applications on any other system from iphone to any other operating system. Blame gmail.

The only thing I miss by using the stock email app is that I can't get it to come up in the combined inbox by default...I have to select it each time which is a bummer.

itiskonrad said:
I guess the news hasn't gotten around fully. Gmail accounts to do not support push with anything other than the native stock android gmail app anymore (since, when exactly, I don't remember. March or April of this year?). In that particular case, it's not the fault of the Samsung email app. No other app besides the official "gmail" app will receive emails by push from a gmail account, and that includes any email applications on any other system from iphone to any other operating system. Blame gmail.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If this is true its embarrassing.
Is there any workaround?

hmmm
this is strange cause i have a s4 and only get the 15 minute option, but on my note 3....i get the push option!!! that very strange

Use solmail....
Works with gmail and has neat interface

crammer04 said:
I dont see the option for push, this is what i get-
View attachment 1998784
View attachment 1998785
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you think you got it bad, i paid for unlock code on a rogers 1337m and had the push option.
when i inserted a telus sim and and unlocked it, it force reset the phone, force factory reset rather, and now i dont have push.
i also picked up some crappy apps from telus
confused.

Stock email app - archive gmail messages

I'm using the gmail app right now, but I'm trying to switch over to the stock app to take advantage of the aod email notifications (for the time being anyway....). I'm not sure if i'm missing something or I'm the biggest noob around or what, but I can't seem to archive new gmail messages from the inbox or the stock email app. My options are swipe right: Move,Set Reminder,Unread,Reply ... swipe left: Delete. I noticed if I move messages, I have to select a folder to put them in. This marks then as read, however, I would like to simply archive my messages and have them appear in 'All Messages' without having a label attached to them. Is this possible and I'm totally missing something? Or is this just gonna happen? I realize this is more of a standard email client, but given the amount of gmail accounts out there, this is something I would expect would be available for a google email account. I will stick to the Gmail app for now, but would be nice to know, even just to get the oad notifications, thanks.
ps - I searched the forums first, but if I missed the answer already, sorry.
tldr: Archive in Samsung mail client ... where is it?

Don't think you are going to get it with the stock app. However, when Nougat rolls out for the S7 I am hoping the AOD will also update to show all notifications.

Verme1 said:
I'm using the gmail app right now, but I'm trying to switch over to the stock app to take advantage of the aod email notifications (for the time being anyway....). I'm not sure if i'm missing something or I'm the biggest noob around or what, but I can't seem to archive new gmail messages from the inbox or the stock email app. My options are swipe right: Move,Set Reminder,Unread,Reply ... swipe left: Delete. I noticed if I move messages, I have to select a folder to put them in. This marks then as read, however, I would like to simply archive my messages and have them appear in 'All Messages' without having a label attached to them. Is this possible and I'm totally missing something? Or is this just gonna happen? I realize this is more of a standard email client, but given the amount of gmail accounts out there, this is something I would expect would be available for a google email account. I will stick to the Gmail app for now, but would be nice to know, even just to get the oad notifications, thanks.
ps - I searched the forums first, but if I missed the answer already, sorry.
tldr: Archive in Samsung mail client ... where is it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Albeit a little late to reply to you, but I ran into the same issue.
The answer basically is that in Gmail terms, archiving a message means removing all tags from it.
You can do this on the Samsung mail app by "moving" it to "all messages" folder...it sucks, I know

Well, I'm not 100% to your liking, but I did not use either both gmail or samsung mail. I switched to bluemail. If you want, you should try

mashardpro said:
Well, I'm not 100% to your liking, but I did not use either both gmail or samsung mail. I switched to bluemail. If you want, you should try
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Jut be aware of the possible security issues using BlueMail
:fingers-crossed:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/general/xda-assist/typeapp-bluemail-security-problems-t3427000

It's the same as on iPhones I think, where a gmail account on their default email client app will go straight to delete.
Moreover, as Yahoo app does the same (I think), the outlier might actually be Gmail which doesn't let you delete, but only archive emails.