iPod touch Does Mobileme PUSH email to the iPod Touch?

[spamdumpster]

Does this work? I have my work emails forwarded to mobileme, using a set of rules and Entourage. As soon as an email hits my work account it's available on me.com, BUT, it doesn't show up on my ipod touch for a few minutes (obviously, connected to a wi-fi network the whole time). If I check manually on the ipod, the emails also show up on the iPod, so they're there, just not getting "pushed" to the Touch.

I thought Mobileme email was supposed to be push, from Mobileme to my iPod Touch. Is this correct? If it doesn't work on the Touch, will mobile me email push work on an iPhone?

 

[kornyboy]

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Check your push settings in your ipod. You have to turn it on in the settings there to recieve push email, contacts, or calendars.

 

[wxboss67]

I have the 'Push' option for my .Mac (or .Me) address, but my Gmail and Comcast addresses only have the 'Fetch' option.

 

[spamdumpster]

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Check your push settings in your ipod. You have to turn it on in the settings there to recieve push email, contacts, or calendars.

Thanks, but push is definately turned on for the mobileme account. How push would work for a non-phone internet device? Does the mobileme account maintain a constant connection to a network like a phone does or like an IM client. It doesn't seem to maintain a constant connection -- i.e., the connecting spinning thing next to the wi-fi signal strength isn't always spinning.

 

[wxboss67]

Thanks, but push is definately turned on for the mobileme account. How push would work for a non-phone internet device? Does the mobileme account maintain a constant connection to a network like a phone does or like an IM client. It doesn't seem to maintain a constant connection -- i.e., the connecting spinning thing next to the wi-fi signal strength isn't always spinning.

With Push features, the server side does the work and then 'sends' mail to your device. With 'Fetch' the phone periodically polls the server looking for new mail.

Think of it as the difference between the mailman delivering mail to your house (Push), or you having to go to the Post Office to pick up the mail (Fetch).

With Push technology, the phone shouldn't be constantly polling (connecting) to the server it receives data from.

 

[spamdumpster]

With Push features, the server side does the work and then 'sends' mail to your device. With 'Fetch' the phone periodically polls the server looking for new mail.

Think of it as the difference between the mailman delivering mail to your house (Push), or you having to go to the Post Office to pick up the mail (Fetch).

With Push technology, the phone shouldn't be constantly polling (connecting) to the server it receives data from.

Yeah, I know how it works. The question is whether it works over wi-fi or only over an EDGE/3G network. Traditionally, push only applies to cell networks, not wi-fi/lan networks. I've noticed that my mobileme email does not get pushed to my iPod Touch, even though push is turned on.

 

[sharp65]

Yeah, I know how it works. The question is whether it works over wi-fi or only over an EDGE/3G network. Traditionally, push only applies to cell networks, not wi-fi/lan networks. I've noticed that my mobileme email does not get pushed to my iPod Touch, even though push is turned on.

Push definitely works over wifi.

 

[26139]

So...

BUT, it doesn't show up on my ipod touch for a few minutes (obviously, connected to a wi-fi network the whole time). If I check manually on the ipod, the emails also show up on the iPod, so they're there, just not getting "pushed" to the Touch.

It sounds like you said that the emails ARE getting pushed, just not instantaneously. Is that correct?

 

[spamdumpster]

It sounds like you said that the emails ARE getting pushed, just not instantaneously. Is that correct?

Yeah, that's a good way of putting it. The emails show up periodically, as if it's checking every x minutes or so. I know this because the emails arrive on the iPod in batches. I was hoping this would be true push email, what, in my view, means email that arrives on the device as soon as it hits the account server. Is that not how Mobileme push is supposed to work? I thought push from the cloud to the device was instantaneous.

 

[maclovin']

I'm kinda curious about this too. I have push set up on my iPod for my Gmail IMAP account. I was under the same assumption as you are. I thought that if I was connected to a WiFi hotspot any email that was recieved on the Gmail server I would get instantaneously, but it seems that it just shows up at random times after the fact. It's very confusing

 

[26139]

No no no

No, Gmail doesn't support push, you have to have it checked manually or set it to check every 15 or 40 minutes. Being connected to WiFi has NOTHING to do with it.

In regards to MobileMe, Push is not instantaneous, but you don't have to check it to get it to work. It seems like it pushes email (if you have it) every 2-10 minutes.

If Gmail constantly checked or MobileMe constantly pushed, I'd imaging battery life would take a huge dive and server traffic would become gnarled.

I use both services mentioned above and really don't have a problem with how either works.

 

[maclovin']

No, Gmail doesn't support push, you have to have it checked manually or set it to check every 15 or 40 minutes. Being connected to WiFi has NOTHING to do with it.

In regards to MobileMe, Push is not instantaneous, but you don't have to check it to get it to work. It seems like it pushes email (if you have it) every 2-10 minutes.

If Gmail constantly checked or MobileMe constantly pushed, I'd imaging battery life would take a huge dive and server traffic would become gnarled.

I use both services mentioned above and really don't have a problem with how either works.

I thought that's what IMAP was??? What's so special about IMAP if it doesn't support push?

 

[26139]

no no no

I thought that's what IMAP was??? What's so special about IMAP if it doesn't support push?

IMAP keeps messages on the server, making it much (much, much) easier to keep track of your email from multiple locations (iphone, webmail, apple mail).

Push doesn't necessarily require either IMAP or POP, but I've personally never heard of a POP email service that supports push. Could be wrong, though.

 

[SuperMacMan]

Okay,

POP email: Downloads messages from server onto device you are accessing the email on, and deletes them from the server (as they are now on your device). This makes accessing your POP email from multiple devices (say, a PC, a Mac, & and iPod Touch) annoying. Definitely not a Push service, must be checked when YOU want to, or set to check automatically.

IMAP: Web-based email. No matter what device you access it on, all messages STAY on the server (That's why Gmail/Hotmail/Yahoo! Mail has to offer 5GB+ of space per account), and when you access your account it just shows a list type thing of your emails. Nothing is actually downloaded from the server & placed onto your device, just downloaded from the server to your device to view the email. Definitely not a Push service, must be checked when YOU want to, or set to check automatically, like POP

Exchange/MobileMe (Push): Exactly the same as IMAP, messages are stored on the server, but instead of checking manually, when the 'cloud' (or 'server') recieves a new message, the "cloud" sort of 'pings' the device & lets it know there is new mail. This process usually takes about 5 secs to 5 or 6 mins, depending on how busy the server is.

-------

GMail does not support push, nor any other account type (eg Hotmail), unless it is a MS Exchange account OR a MobileMe OR Yahoo! Mail (Or similar) account, mid you the Yahoo! Mail push service on iPhone/iPod Touch is rather flaky.

But, being connected to a WiFi hotspot or 3G/EGDE service should not make any difference to how long it takes to receive mail.

Hope this helps. Sorry for the looong post !

SuperMacMan

 

[big-blue-wolf]

Aren't Apple having problems with the Push email part of MobileMe?

I thought they released a statement that MM email wasn't instantaneous on mobile devices at present and they were working to make it so.

I don't think they are using "Push" to describe the email side of MobileMe and may have changed the details on the website