Mobile email account?

[puma1552]

Curious, in Japan when you set up a phone they give you a mobile email address as well, and instead of texting Japanese people just use that.

1) Is there a way to get a mobile address for a 4S? My wife is Japanese so she would like to be able to send and receive emails with her friends in Japan.

2) Alternatively, I set up my Gmail account on my phone so I could receive a copy on my phone, but I don't get any notifications about it being received, I have to actually go into the mail app to check and then they pop up...I do have the notification center turned on in mail settings, so not sure what else to do.

3) Finally, how much data does iMessage use if she is doing that internationally? The same paltry amount of data as a regular stateside SMS text?

TIA. Haven't had a new OS since 3.1.X.

 

[GoCubsGo]

I think Textie may be something you can use. Check it out, I could be wrong. Can't help you with data usage.

 

[puma1552]

I figured out #2, set the gmail up as an exchange account, and I guess that takes care of #1 also since her friends can just send email to her gmail and it will come to her phone, and she can send out from there too.

So what about #3, is iMessage still free if sending overseas, or does it use data and if so how much?

EDIT: Think I found it, it uses just a tiny tiny tiny amount of data.