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

Email Delay

I'm having troubles with pop email accounts, I'm not being notified for new emails, they do not show up in my inbox until i manually open the email client - I have my client to auto check every 5 minutes, yet if I don't check for half a day and then login I have emails from all times of the day being loaded into my inbox.
my friend is having the issue, was wondering if anyone else was?
It's with hotmail, yahoo and ever business emails servers.
suggestions?
Thanks in advanced

nobody noticed that there email isn't polling when it should be?

If you are using an app-killer, make sure your email app isnt killed with it, since that would eliminate the option to auto-fetch emails.

Inebriatef said:
If you are using an app-killer, make sure your email app isnt killed with it, since that would eliminate the option to auto-fetch emails.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pls check these items.
Have you add to auto kill list? then remove it. along with email app.
com.andorid.provider.download
google.android.apps.uploader
data sync should be on.
try it.
Im sure yore battery life wont last 2 days. and why did you setup pop3? Go for Imap it saves resources and disk space.
Let your computer do POP3 work.

no appkiller of any kind installed
I just noticed now I havn't received emails to my phone in the last 3 days, I had to manualy open the app to fetch it, update is set to 30 min
I use moxier and it updates and polls fine,
email app doesn't.
x10a rooted on o24 software
every other functions works great

robbyf66 said:
no appkiller of any kind installed
I just noticed now I havn't received emails to my phone in the last 3 days, I had to manualy open the app to fetch it, update is set to 30 min
I use moxier and it updates and polls fine,
email app doesn't.
x10a rooted on o24 software
every other functions works great
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On the first day I got the phone, before doing anything (root) to it, I also noticed that it didn't poll. Had it set for 5 minutes, background data on and it did nothing. Never polled once all day.
So rather than waste my time with something (else) from SE that didn't work I just installed K-9 Mail and never looked backed since

i have all my accounts forwarded to my gmail which i believe is push on android phones (someone correct me if im wrong), although this probably doesnt save battery life, i prefer having my email pushed

zhoustanley said:
i have all my accounts forwarded to my gmail which i believe is push on android phones (someone correct me if im wrong), although this probably doesnt save battery life, i prefer having my email pushed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
agree...just let gmail take care of it

I prefer to reply or send emails from my actual email account, I did use k9 for a while and it was working and i do like all the additional advanced features it offers. All I need is basic send/receive from a basic client and the android email app is suppose to work like that.
thanks so far guys
rvictorg said:
agree...just let gmail take care of it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

The regular email client is a bit lacking. Your issue isn't common though. Must be just missing something in the setting somewhere...if not you could always do the total reset on the phone i guess if you really had too.
I recently just caved in and made the full switch to Gmail for all of my accounts. Much easier to manage. It IS full push email I believe, plus imap makes things so much easier it's not even comparible.
It's too bad the gmail app on the phone won't let you send from multiple addys, but the web interface is good for sending from a diff addy in a pinch.

robbyf66 said:
I'm having troubles with pop email accounts, I'm not being notified for new emails, they do not show up in my inbox until i manually open the email client - I have my client to auto check every 5 minutes, yet if I don't check for half a day and then login I have emails from all times of the day being loaded into my inbox.
my friend is having the issue, was wondering if anyone else was?
It's with hotmail, yahoo and ever business emails servers.
suggestions?
Thanks in advanced
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just checked it today, App killer was set for auto kill after a hour. Disabled, now push email works.....

Changing gmail fetch rate?

On the Gmail app on the Vibrant, is there any way to set when your phone checks for mail? I'd like to be able to lower the rate at which it checks. Can't seem to find any option for it whatsoever.

As far as I know, there is no polling interval. New e-mails are pushed directly to your phone the moment they arrive.

vapotrini said:
On the Gmail app on the Vibrant, is there any way to set when your phone checks for mail? I'd like to be able to lower the rate at which it checks. Can't seem to find any option for it whatsoever.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you want to do this, you need to turn off email sync, with gmail , and set gmail up with the regular email app on the phone, gmail gets push mail notifictations, the regular app polls at a set time.

Thanks for the responses.
thegreatcity said:
As far as I know, there is no polling interval. New e-mails are pushed directly to your phone the moment they arrive.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well if that's true then surely that is hurting battery life, no?

A further question:
Will Gmail still update if you turn off Auto Sync? What about Background Data?

if you turn off auto sync, then nothing will come to the phone that is on that account, email, contacts, calendar, etc. its either all on or all off

vapotrini said:
Well if that's true then surely that is hurting battery life, no?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not necessarily. You may want to look into other options to conserve battery life, but if you feel that Gmail is the culprit, Id say that watcher has the appropriate solution. The regular email app, is decidedly less feature filled, but you can certainly change the polling interval with it.
Kubernetes said:
Will Gmail still update if you turn off Auto Sync? What about Background Data?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, with Auto-sync off, you only get calls and texts.

Push is not Poll
vapotrini said:
Well if that's true then surely that is hurting battery life, no?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't believe that is necessarily true. Gmail leaves a TCP/IP connection open to a server, but transmits no data unless there is a new message. In other words, think of your phone as running a very simple and secure server that is ready and listening for Google to connect to it and alert it that there is a new message to retrieve (I don't think it's really a server, but it helps conceptually). Leaving that port open and a constant connection with no data flowing requires no additional battery life over what is necessary for your cellular modem to be on (which you need to be able to receive calls as well).
Wikipedia says that the technology used is Microsoft ActiveSync, but I'm inclined to believe it's XMPP (which is what Google Talk uses and is built into Android for other uses as well). But the above description of the technology is valid either way.
(spamblocker, remove the spaces) http :// en.wikipedia. org /wiki/ Push_e-mail # Google_Android
Every time a message is received, battery life is consumed in order to download the message. So, if you were to get the message on your desktop first, handle it, and delete it, I presume that would save you the battery life of the download of that message, but that is a very nominal amount of battery life. I wouldn't worry about it.

watcher64 said:
If you want to do this, you need to turn off email sync, with gmail , and set gmail up with the regular email app on the phone, gmail gets push mail notifictations, the regular app polls at a set time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just a heads up to the OP (or anyone interested) regarding the stock email application- my experience was that the polling interval was unreliable. I have 3 email accounts, 2 of them were set to check on frequent intervals like 10 minutes or something and the third was set up to check on the hour.
Often times the stock email app would miss the intervals or would not check at all. Additionally there were numerous occasions that mail was sitting on my server but the stock vibrant mail would report no messages.
Your mileage may vary as many people seem to have very different experiences with their phones and bugs. My experience with the stock email app was pretty poor so I thought it worth sharing.
GPS and such annoyed me but I figured I'd be able to wait it out for a fix. Email was nearly a deal breaker though, especially having these problems after coming from blackberrys which do a great job with email.
I figured gmail was the way to go but i didnt want to get into some complex forwading scheme fr all of my email addresses.
The way I ended up working it out was to set up a free Google business account and change the mx records on my mail server to run through Google servers instead of my webhosts servers. Now I'm running all of my email addresses on the Gmail application and have push email and aside from a few minor gripes with the gmail/android interface I am pretty happy overall.
I'd suggest sticking with the gmail application, push email is a good thing.

Juice Defender from the market allows for setting how often your phone connects to a data connection. More or less doing the same thing.
I don't personally use it since I don't care, but it should answer the OP's question with a working solution.

Thanks for all the responses guys, a lot of good alternatives out there it seems.
I don't get all that many emails a day so was just curious if disabling it would save a lot of battery life. Since the general consensus is that it doesn't I'll leave it be.

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] Gmail Refresh Bug

Hi Guys,
Quite often I see that the Gmail app on my N7 (second generation) does not show the latest emails even after a complete sync. I have to switch between folders (say from Inbox to Priority-Inbox, and back to Inbox) to see the new emails. I know I am not the only to see this issue as I have seen a few redditors complaining about it as well, but I was wondering if any know of a solution to this problem.
Most often i have to do the folder switch trick as I do not know if the list of emails is up to date. This is a big annoyance.
Thanks,
nitro

I've never had problems with Gmail...
on an other note, you're posting this under the wrong forum, this should be in Questions and Answers

I have found no way to check all you mail accounts at once in "combined view" in the mail program. You need to go to each one and refresh it to check it.
Thats is of course if you DO NOT have your push setup.