Free BlackBerry Storm App of the Day: myFUNAMBOL Cloud Sync & Push Email

by

funambol.png

Funambol, is now offering mobile cloud sync and push email for the BlackBerry Storm.  We've been waiting to name this our BlackBerry Storm App of the Day for a while because it syncs contacts with all sorts of email and calendaring services.

The Funambol BlackBerry Storm sync client enables
users to keep their contacts, calendars, tasks and notes in sync
between the BlackBerry Storm, a Funambol server, and email systems and
desktop apps including Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, AOL Mail and Hotmail as well
as Outlook and Thunderbird.

The Funambol BlackBerry Storm push email client lets users get free push email on their handset from popular email systems. BlackBerry Storm users can get the software for free by signing up for an account on the myFUNAMBOL Portal at http://my.funambol.com.

"The BlackBerry Storm touchscreen handset, like iPhone and Android,
raises the bar for smartphone manufacturers," said Fabrizio Capobianco,
Funambol CEO. "At the same time, users increasingly expect to
seamlessly access their contacts, calendars, email, and more, on their
phone, the web and desktops. We are excited that Funambol now enables BlackBerry Storm users to access this information, anytime, anywhere."

The Funambol BlackBerry Storm sync and push email clients
enable users to sync contacts, calendars, tasks, notes and email with a
Funambol server, including myFUNAMBOL. The Funambol server can sync
with Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, AOL Mail and Hotmail, and desktop apps such as
Outlook and Thunderbird.

Funambol also lets you sync
Outlook with an iPhone or iPod Touch. myFUNAMBOl supports many of the
most popular BlackBerry smartphones including the BlackBerry Bold,
BlackBerry Curve, BlackBerry Pearl, and others. The app does use data, therefore data charges will be charged by your carrier..

The sync client is part of the latest Funambol monthly phone pack that is in Funambol's commercial Carrier Edition software and that has been deployed on myFUNAMBOL. This phone pack also includes the latest Funambol Symbian sync client that supports new Nokia phones, enabling users to keep PIM data in sync between their phones, the web and desktops.

The Funambol cloud syncing and push email are viable options instead ot BlackBerry Insternet Service and or Gmail's BlackBerry Mobile client software. It is especially useful if you have contacts, calendar, tasks and events from mutiple web sources.

Hal Steger, product manager notes that on BlackBerrys martphones using the BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS), the native Messenger app enables users to get push email from webmail services (e.g., Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, AOL, Hotmail), as well as POP/IMAP email. However, there is no wireless PIM (personal information management) sync of contacts, calendars, tasks and notes, with these email systems or Outlook. There is a tethered (i.e., cable) option using the BlackBerry Desktop Manager. Funambol syncing is done via a wireless cloud and no cable is needed.

The messenger app is integrated with the BlackBerry address book; if you have email addresses in it, you can use them in the Messenger app to send email. The trick is how do you get email addresses into your BlackBerry address book, without manually entering them, and keep them in sync? When you receive email from someone in the Messenger app, there is a menu option to 'Add contact' that allows you to add a contact and their email address to your address book, but it is a manual process. This can be a inconvenience for users to add their contacts email addresses and keep them up-to-date. Steger suggests that Funambol is an easier way to deal with the contacts.

Funambol provides two free apps for BlackBerry devices, one for syncing, the other for push email, both of which are automatically installed and configured for users over-the-air on their phones when they sign up for a free account on the myFUNAMBOL Portal.

The Funambol BlackBerry sync client keeps contacts, calendar events, tasks and notes (PIM data) in sync with a Funambol Server (e.g. the myFUNAMBOL Portal) with the corresponding native apps on a BlackBerry. This PIM data can be from Outlook as well as webmail services e.g. Yahoo!, Google or AOL contacts or calendars.

The Funambol BlackBerry push email client enables users to get push email from webmail as well as POP/IMAP. It has an integrated list of email addresses from Outlook, Yahoo!, etc. so that users do not need to manually enter these or remember/know them in the first place, they can just be selected from a list, and they are kept up-to-date.

Google offers a Gmail mobile app for BlackBerry that has contacts (from Gmail only), as well as a Google Sync service that syncs contacts and calendar events (again, from Google only). If a BlackBerry user only uses Gmail and Google Calendar, and does not use Outlook or care about other PIM data (e.g. tasks and notes or elsewhere besides Google), and it works with their BlackBerry model, this may be an option for them, says Steger.

For those who keep contacts in MySpace and or Facebook, Steger says that syncing with social networking services is in the works.

BlackBerry Storm Apps & Accessories Articles from Wireless and Mobile News:

BlackBerry Storm News and Reviews Links Page.

No Related News.