The newest iPhone software added a much needed feature; push email. And at the same time, Apple introduced their own push mail service; MobileMe.

The Apple version costs $99 for a year, but today I’ll show you a free alternative that is, in my opinion even better.

Mail2Web is a well established hosting provider that has been offering free Exchange accounts for years. I’ve been a very satisfied customer (with my Windows Mobile phone) for ages.

Their free Mail2Web Live service offers a basic Exchange push service with your own @mail2web.com address. You can forward your existing email to this address, or use their service to pull your own email into their system. The free service is ad supported and everything you send has your mail2web.com address in the “from field”.

For just $4.95 a month you can upgrade to Mail2Web personal; this allows you to use your own email address and access the service through Outlook Web Access. For just $59.40 you get a service that is essentially the same as MobileMe, but with TRUE push features.

You get a full 30 day money back guarantee and no setup fee is charged!

Update: I’ve been a little harsh on MobileMe, as commenter TivoBoy points out, there is a lot more to the Apple service than just Email.

Mail2Web exchange solutions

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Blackberry owners, pay attention! If you want to make your device look a little more exciting, then check out the free themes over at Blackberrythemes.co.uk.

These premium themes used to be available for purchase only, but because of an upcoming new release of the theme maker software, he’s giving away all his theme packages for free! There are some pretty decent looking themes available, but you’ll need an 88XX or 83XX Blackberry to install them. Once downloaded, unzip the theme, then simply point your desktop manager to the directory where you unzipped the files.

You’ll then be able to select the theme from the “themes” menu option in your setup screen.

Source: Blackberrythemes.co.uk (via Berryreview)

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Let me open by saying I’m not always the easiest  to please when it comes to technology. I’ll often start out impressed with something, but after 2 or 3 hours I’ll start to find things that annoy me, and end up hating it.

But I’ve been Blackberry Unite! for several weeks now, and I’m still loving it!

Blackberry Unite! combines the following features:

• Shared calendar and contacts
• Private email server
• Remote file access

The entire server runs on your home PC, and unlike their enterprise server, you do not need Exchange to run it. The heart of Unite! is the Blackberry MDS (Mobile Data Service Connection Service).

Installation

Installing Blackberry Unite! is as simple as running the setup program, and letting it do its job. Once installed, you configure the server through your web browser (IE only, Firefox did NOT work for me).

The first step in adding Blackberry Unite! to your own Blackberry is plugging your device into your desktop. Once the server detects your Blackberry you can register it.

Once registered, your Blackberry will receive several new service books which support the various Blackberry Unite! features. This registration also ensures no other Blackberry device can remotely access your information, the PIN level authentication is extremely reliable.

Once the Blackberry has been added, you can add an email account. Blackberry Unite! can retrieve email from POP and IMAP accounts, and forward it on to your device.

I’m not entirely sure what the advantage is of having Unite! do this for you when most people will already have Blackberry email service from their operator, but I guess that the ability to host your own Blackberry service might be interesting for people who do not trust their mobile operator, or who prefer to have a backup email provider. The Unite! email service can operate together with your current email setup, so there is no need to stop forwarding messages to your current email account.

Read the rest of this entry »

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No, that title is not something I came up with, it’s how Vito describes their newest touch enabled interface for Windows Mobile devices. Needless to say they got some inspiration from the iPhone (with a little Blackberry Bold thrown in).

The application combines a home screen,a contact manager, a task manager and a program launcher. You even get the same "slide to unlock" screen as on the iPhone.

You can download Winterface here. It costs $19.95, and a trial version is available.

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First of all, I’ll have to apologize for not actually testing this application. But the description sounds so interesting that I figured I’ll share it now and test it later.

Trippr is about as simple as it gets; it takes your GPS location, sends that to Flickr, and displays photos with "geotagged" coordinates of the area you are in.

Essentially, it shows photos of interesting things around you. The photos could be something cool, but they could also just be of the local sewage treatment plant, so don’t hold me responsible for a wasted afternoon.

The (free) application is part of a challenge to develop 30 different programs in 30 days and can be found here.

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OpenTable has always been my preferred way of making a restaurant reservation; I can instantly see all open slots, I get an email confirmation, and I can send myself a reminder. It also means I don’t have to deal with someone in a loud restaurant who seems incapable of spelling my name.

So it’s needless to say I’m happy with the new OpenTable mobile site. I tried it on several phones and it worked as it should.

There are several features I do miss though; it doesn’t look like you can search for a restaurant by name, so you’ll need to know the exact neighborhood for the restaurant (which can be quite annoying if you are not familiar with the city). It also lacks a favorites option for adding places you regularly visit to a list. But I’m sure that over time OpenTable will keep adding new features.

Check it our for yourself here.

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If you consider yourself a fountain of useless knowledge, then this new pocket version of Wikipedia is just for you! It is great for starting totally useless and uninteresting discussions with your seatmate, or for proving a colleague wrong, as we all know just how reliable Wikipedia is.

There are three versions available to download for free: Pocket Wikipedia for Windows Mobile, Windows and Linux. Each version is around 180MB and contains over 2 million Wikipedia articles, with 25,000 images.

Of course, you can also use the online WAP version of Wikipedia, but unless you are on a flight with Internet access, you’ll need something stored locally on your device.

Pocket Wikipedia (via Lifehacker)

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AOL just released a beta version of their AIM client for Windows Mobile. The previous version was almost 5 years old and never worked right on current devices, so this new version is a welcome update. When I took it for a spin it seemed to work fine, but on my device the enter key did not act as a "send message" button, so I had to tap my screen to send the IM.

The AIM client for Windows Mobile is free, and is a great way to stay in touch with folks back home using limited data. Just keep in mind that is is a beta release, so don’t blame me if something bad happens to your device.

You can find the client here: AOL beta central

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Weatherbug has always been my first choice for weather information on my desktop and Windows device, so when I ran into a free version of Weatherbug Direct for my Blackberry, I just had to take it for a spin.

Weatherbug Direct places 2 icons on your application list, and shows the current temperature as an icon. It’s similar to the existing Blackberry push weather application, but gives you direct access to the Weatherbug site, as well as showing your local forecast (including hi/low temperatures) in a second icon.

Weatherbug Direct for the Blackberry is free, and can be found here. A direct "over the air" download link is here.

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Bored at work/the airport/a hotel? Point your mobile browser to jagamaga.mobi and browse their collection of Creative Commons ringtones. Creative Commons is a rights method where the creator of the content releases it for free, non commercial use. Which means free ringtones for you and me.

There are some pretty decent ones in their lineup (and some horrid ones), but chances are that they’ll all be better than the standard ones you got on your phone, plus you won’t be charged $2 just to download them.

On most phones you should be able to either save the clip, or instantly assign it as a ringtone.

JagaMaga (via PocketPC Thoughts)

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