Smartphone Thoughts: Picking the Right Email Strategy for Your Windows Mobile Device

Exchange ActiveSync
Microsoft Exchange 4.0 was first introduced as Exchange Server 4.0 in 1996 as a corporate e-mail tool. It's evolved over the years to be a collaborative software server. The current version is Exchange Server 2003, and Service Pack 2 coming out later this year will add some compelling features, most notably Direct Push Technology e-mail support that puts Windows Mobile-based devices on a par with instant-messaging devices. Until fairly recently, Exchange accounts were the purview of employees of large corporations and something that most small business owners lacked. Many of the wireless synchronization features introduced in past versions of Windows Mobile required an Exchange account, so I felt left out until I discovered the marvels of a hosted Exchange account.

What's hosted Exchange? First, let's consider all the things you'd need to have in order to have your own Exchange account: a server, the license for Exchange, a special Internet access account (most ISPs ban people from running any type of server on consumer-level Internet access accounts)�and the knowledge and skill to install, configure, and keep an Exchange server up and secure. I tried setting up an Exchange server once, and simply didn't have the necessary knowledge to get it working properly. I must not be the only one who had trouble, because there are hundreds of companies out there that take the headache out of running an Exchange server. For a monthly fee, they manage the server, the configuration, and all the security. You simply synchronize with your server, and that's it. You get all the benefits with none of the hassle�that's my kind of solution!

I've tried two services over the past two years, and settled on a company named 4Smartphone in late 2004. Don't let that name fool you, their service works with both Pocket PCs and Smartphones. Their $6.99/month plan gives you both Windows Mobile and desktop Outlook synchronization and 1 gigabyte of space on their server for your e-mail and Outlook data. If you don't need to synchronize Outlook, for $3.99 a month you can get Windows Mobile-based device synchronization and Outlook Web Access (OWA). There are many other companies with hosted Exchange offerings, so pick the best one for your needs: an MSN Search query for the terms "hosted exchange" turns up some 103,000+ results.

Exchange really shines in multiple-device scenarios. I use several computers day-to-day, and having up-to-date information on all of them is critical. By having all of my e-mail and Outlook data (Calendar, Contacts, etc.) sitting on the Exchange server, I can keep all my devices in sync painlessly. If I'm working on my desktop computer and make changes to my calendar and contacts, then leave my office carrying only my Smartphone, I know that within a few minutes all those changes will be on my Smartphone. The side effect of this is that your Outlook data is protected from loss because it's on multiple devices. Having once lost a 2 GB PST file full of data, it's a comfort knowing my data is mirrored on five different computers and two different mobile devices.

Exchange and Outlook 2003 also have a fantastic offline cached mode. When Outlook 2003 is offline you can move, delete, read, respond, and change any piece of Outlook data�unlike IMAP where you need to be connected live to the server to really do anything. The next time you connect, all those changes are uploaded to the Exchange server and then mirrored when you connect your other devices.

Windows Mobile-based devices can be configured to synchronize on a time basis (i.e., every thirty minutes), or when new items arrive. That means when a new item arrives (say, a new e-mail message), the Exchange 2003 server sends an SMS message to your mobile device. That SMS message contains the command to start up an ActiveSync session on the device, which then connects to the Exchange account and pulls down the new e-mail. With the forthcoming Windows Mobile 5 devices, and the SP2 update for Exchange 2003, the scenario will get even easier: when a new e-mail arrives on the Exchange server, it's immediately pushed down to the device, just as with other instant messaging devices on the market.

The setup of a hosted Exchange is also amazingly simple�4Smartphone offers me a setup file that I can download. Once I double-click the file and enter my username/password, Outlook 2003 is automatically configured and all e-mail and personal data starts to download immediately. Outlook 2003 is required if you don't want to mess with VPN configuration, but most hosted Exchange providers give users a free copy of Outlook 2003 with the setup of their account.

As great as a hosted Exchange account is, there are still some baffling limitations. There's no way to sync Tasks as of yet (this is fixed in the upcoming Exchange SP2 release, but you need a Windows Mobile 5 device for it to work), no way to sync Notes, and no synchronization of documents or favorites. I'm hoping that future versions of Windows Mobile and Exchange Server will offer more options.

Despite these limitations, using a hosted Exchange account is one of the best technology decisions I've ever made. It allows me to use multiple devices, yet always be in sync and up to date. The freedom of not having to worry about whether or not a particular device is up to date is priceless, and has made my devices much more useful to me.

Conclusion
Windows Mobile-based devices make ideal tools for managing your e-mail�whether it's deleting spam so you'll come in to a clean Inbox at work, triaging and forwarding important messages while you're out of the office, or sitting down with a folding keyboard at the airport to really dive into all that e-mail. Once you start using your Windows Mobile-based device for e-mail it will become even more valuable to you.

It's important to understand that you can use these three options in tandem. Windows Mobile-based devices support up to eight e-mail accounts in Outlook Mobile, so you can have a POP e-mail account, an IMAP account, and a hosted Exchange account. In my case, I use my 4Smartphone-hosted Exchange account for my primary work e-mail, and four IMAP accounts�one for my personal e-mail, and one for each of my Web sites. You might use a POP e-mail account for personal e-mail.

In an upcoming article we'll tackle setting up a Pocket PC and Smartphone with an Exchange server, and what sort of issues and options you'll have.