The search function in iPhone OS 3.0 works well. Searching for emails, however, is often a lesson in frustration. More often than not, when I go to search for something I end up seeing this…

That won’t be the case any longer thanks to a new version of the iPhone app remail. The application it’s not for everyone but if you find yourself doing a lot of searches in Gmail and having to wait to check the server it just might be the perfect email add on for you on your iPhoneHere’s a quick look…

When you first launch the application asks for your e-mail credentials. You have the option to use the Gmail account or some other IMAP account. This is where the first limitation shows up. Application only allows you to use one e-mail address at a time. Since I forward all of my e-mail to a single Gmail address isn’t the problem for me but if you use multiple inboxes it will be problematic.

Once it is set up you are able to search your entire Gmail account quite quickly? How ? Because the app downloads the entire contents of your Gmail account (or other email account) onto your device. In my case it currently means over 50,000 emails. Now that may sound crazy. Why would you want to have so much email on your iPhone, especially since it will take up a huge amount of space.

The answer is really quite simple for me,

A) The application compresses the e-mails quite well so that my 4 GB of mail is far small once it loads.

B) That’s the reason I got a 32 gigabyte iPhone 3GS! I always believe in getting the greatest largest capacity possible so that you always have enough room on the device.

Here’s how my email actually looks on the device…

Emails look like this when viewed through the app…

After that you can read email, compose a new one, or copy either the name or address.

You can also reply, reply all forward or delete emails.

The application works well and does exactly what it says. There are a few caveats worth noting, however.

First, I only tried it with Gmail. It worked beautifully but I can’t guarantee anything if you try to login with another account.

Second, as previously noted it only works with one e-mail account at a time.

Third, it is your e-mail as if you were looking at Gmail’s “all Mail” folder. In other words, you can’t split out your inbox, your sent messages etc. Then again, it wasn’t designed to do that.

Fourth, it doesn’t have an auto refresh feature. As a result, each time you use it you will need to use the refresh button.

Finally, if you are anything like me and have a tremendous number of archived emails the initial sync process will take a long long long long long long long time.

None of those are criticisms of the app. They’re merely the reason why, as good as this application is for quickly searching your e-mail, it won’t replace your normal e-mail app entirely. That noted, with a bit more functionality added it very well could.

You can check out the apt for yourself by visiting here. It’ll cost you $4.99 to purchase.

How you would like to subscribe to Gear Diary? We offer:

Full Post Feed | Summary Feed | Comments Feed

No related posts.