The Truth About HTML E-mail On Windows Mobile 6
I’ve received a couple of e-mails recently from folks running Exchange Server 2003, either standalone or as part of SBS, who have been asking about HTML e-mail on WM6. Long story short, they are still receiving plain text versions of their e-mails. Worse, they’ve heard from various and sundry sources that they have to run Exchange 2007 to get HTML e-mail support.
Well, I’ve got some good news and bad news on this one.
The good news…
Exchange 2007 being required isn’t entirely true.
The bad news is…
Exchange 2007 being required is mostly true.
HTML e-mail support in Windows Mobile 6 is actually one of the few new Messaging features that doesn’t necessarily require Exchange 2007, but there’s a hideous catch.
Windows Mobile 6 supports HTML e-mail over pretty much any transport you want, including POP, IMAP and ActiveSync. You simply set the type of e-mail you want when you configure a given e-mail account on your device, as shown in this example of a POP account…
So where’s the catch? Grab hold of a chair and get ready to throw it in the general direction of the 98052 zip code.
When using Exchange 2003 OTA AKA Over The Air via Direct Push, HTML e-mail is NOT supported…
However, using Exchange 2003 via a local AKA cabled/Bluetooth/IR ActiveSync connection does support HTML e-mail…
Show of hands for everyone who wants their e-mail synchronization to only happen when they are connected via a cable or other local ActiveSync connection?
Yeah, didn’t think so.
However, if you are using Exchange 2007, then you have full HTML e-mail support OTA using Direct Push to your Windows Mobile 6 device.
I think the key to this confusion is some semi-misleading info in some of Microsoft’s released WM6 collateral. You’ll note that on most of the Windows Mobile 6 collateral, HTML e-mail is not indicated as a feature that requires Exchange 2007.
That’s because…well, technically it doesn’t. But since 99% of WM6 users using Direct Push have their e-mail synching OTA, it’s pretty ludicrous that this fact isn’t better documented. One strategically placed asterisk would have made this as clear as a steam whistle.
In the meantime, for those of you who want to view HTML e-mails coming in over Direct Push to a Windows Mobile 6 device, but aren’t running Exchange 2007 for one reason or another…
You can always forward your mail to a secondary POP account as an OTA workaround.
Is that an ugly solution? Oh, you betcha!
|| posted by chris under clueless, hardware, mobility, unified comm || || ||
Regarding IMAP on Windows Mobile 6:
it’s crippled by Microsoft (in order to push their ActiveSync solution).
The whole idea behind IMAP is that you have a continuous connection. On most mobile phones this results in a Blackberry-like pushmail experience.
Not so on WM6 devices.
Here you can only set a schedule for synching your IMAP folders every once in a while.
On the positive side: HTML does come through.
comment by Onno ter Wisscha — November 26, 2007 @ 3:10 am
This MIA HTML OTA has to be by design. Probably a Friday afternoon or Monday morning vote in the name of bandwidth. What other reason could their possibly be?
-Tim Barrett
comment by Tim Barrett — November 26, 2007 @ 10:34 pm
Tim,
Actually, this is an Exchange 2007 CAS “feature”; CAS or Client Access Server is the new Exchange 2007 frontend for client access that runs services like pop3, imap, activesync, etc.
The 2003 server-based activesync is set to push text mail down for PocketPC’s regardless of the version because it simply doesn’t check for the capabilities. The 2007 server-based activesync is slightly more evolved than that, thus the ability to send down correct data, in correct format, with correct permissions and IRM stuff like do not forward. For “dumb” protocols the content type doesn’t matter, it just retrieves the message and parses it on the device just like every other POP3 or IMAP client.
Thats all there is to it, there is no bogeyman. Sometimes advanced development requires work on both the server and the client and those are separate teams - so they both need to be in step with one another. In 2003 they were not, in 2007 they are.
I mean, if you want to complain about a lack of common sense, take a look at Exchange-Outlook combo.
-Vlad
comment by Vlad Mazek — November 27, 2007 @ 7:15 am
Just a correction on the content type and dumb protocols I mentioned above — when a pop3 client pulls down a message it just sends the RETR command to the server along with the message it wants to pull down. The message is printed, top to bottom along with any MIME/attachments, etc. You can restrict how many lines are sent down as well.
So for POP3 and IMAP, it is on the client to parse the message. You can do it out of a telnet session:
telnet mailserver 110
user vlad
pass mypass
retr 1
Client interprets the formating, bang.
With ActiveSync something else happens.
In 2003, the PocketPC accesses the server like this:
POST /Microsoft-Server-ActiveSync?User=vlad&
DeviceId=blah&DeviceType=PocketPC&Cmd=Sync
and the server looks at that and says: Here is the plain text content, whereas it doesn’t do the same for the desktop tethered activesync connections.
-Vlad
comment by Vlad Mazek — November 27, 2007 @ 7:26 am
@ Vlad…
Thanks for the EAS technical deep-dive. FTR, I totally agree with you re: Exchange & Outlook right now. Pathetic.
@ Tim…
You’ll see a similar issue of both client and server updates being required for certain feature support on other mobile platforms. Blackberry immediately leaps to ming. The only reason I even blogged this HTML over EAS/Direct Push item is the conflicting/unclear info from MS regarding the true HTML e-mail capabilities of WM6.
comment by chris — November 27, 2007 @ 8:21 am
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