Using Gmail account in stock Email app vs. Gmail app

[JasW]

I came from BlackBerry where all of my email (work/enterprise and several personal accounts) was pushed instantly to my phone. All that is pushed to my Note 2 now is my work email (via a Lotus Traveler app) and Gmail; three other accounts (two Yahoo-based and one Outlook) are just polled every 15 minutes. I suppose I can live with that, but I don't want to use the separate Gmail app because it means having and checking three separate email apps -- Traveler, Gmail, and the stock Email app.

I added Gmail as an account in the stock Email app, and set it up with IMAP settings, but email isn't pushed there. I still have the Gmail app on the phone, and have sent a half dozen test messages, and in every instance the Gmail app receives the email instantly, while the Gmail account in the Email app does not. Is there something I need to set up differently using Gmail as an account in the Email app, or am I stuck with the Gmail app if I want to receive Gmail instantly?

 

[tsells]

I came from BlackBerry where all of my email (work/enterprise and several personal accounts) was pushed instantly to my phone. All that is pushed to my Note 2 now is my work email (via a Lotus Traveler app) and Gmail; three other accounts (two Yahoo-based and one Outlook) are just polled every 15 minutes. I suppose I can live with that, but I don't want to use the separate Gmail app because it means having and checking three separate email apps -- Traveler, Gmail, and the stock Email app.

I added Gmail as an account in the stock Email app, and set it up with IMAP settings, but email isn't pushed there. I still have the Gmail app on the phone, and have sent a half dozen test messages, and in every instance the Gmail app receives the email instantly, while the Gmail account in the Email app does not. Is there something I need to set up differently using Gmail as an account in the Email app, or am I stuck with the Gmail app if I want to receive Gmail instantly?

Try using an app called Aquamail. You can unify all email accounts into a "Smart Inbox" and can even color code them to differentiate each account. There's a free version and a Pro version. I've been using it for a while now and it works great!

 

[JasW]

Try using an app called Aquamail. You can unify all email accounts into a "Smart Inbox" and can even color code them to differentiate each account. There's a free version and a Pro version. I've been using it for a while now and it works great!

Hey, tellsells, good to see you!

If you recommend it, I will install it with no questions asked. Thanks!

 

[tsells]

Hey, tellsells, good to see you!

If you recommend it, I will install it with no questions asked. Thanks!

Nice to see you here too. Hope you figure it all out. There's a definite "learning curve" to Android but it's great once you forget about your BB ways.
AquaMail is a fantastic app with really good support. It takes a little while to really figure it out, but it works great. And it has 2 widgets (one counter icon and one message preview icon).
BTW, I did look at the Z10 and was not too impressed.

 

[JasW]

Nice to see you here too. Hope you figure it all out. There's a definite "learning curve" to Android but it's great once you forget about your BB ways.
AquaMail is a fantastic app with really good support. It takes a little while to really figure it out, but it works great. And it has 2 widgets (one counter icon and one message preview icon).
BTW, I did look at the Z10 and was not too impressed.

Wow, it really is a terrific app -- blows the stock email app away. The only downside is losing the counter on the stock app (I can't use the Aqua Mail counter widget because I need to keep email apps in the dock.) I'm going to look into fixing that with a launcher, but the support faq says I'd have to install the launcher first.

Anyway, I notice you mention color coding for each account, but I don't see where to tweak that in a given account's special settings. All I see is a tweak for the color of the LED, but nothing for the color of the accounts in the Smart Inbox. Right now, Gmail (the only IMAP account) is red, and the other three (all POP3) are hot pink. I didn't see anything in the support faq on it -- can you tell me where that might be? Or maybe you were talking about different colored LEDs.

 

[tsells]

I'm using Nova Launcher and I have the AquaMail counter in the dock:

And to color code your accounts:
Open Aquamail>Go to the main screen of Aquamail (not the smart inbox)>Long press on your first email account>options and folders>scroll down to "folders">then click on the "wrench" next to inbox/drafts/sent/etc to set up a color code.
Then repeat with each email account. It should look like this when done (Aqua is aol account; Green is gmail account):

And you can also change the sound of the notifications for each email account in Aquamail.

 

[paintdrinkingpete]

As an ex-BlackBerry user, I know where you're coming from...but I've because quite used to using separate apps for separate email accounts.

Frankly, I don't think any email app is going to handle GMAIL as well as the Gmail app does. It's that simple. Using the gmail app, I really like having the ability to access all my labels, archive my mail, compose drafts, etc., and know that everything is fully synced with my online account.

I actually even prefer to use the Yahoo Mail app over using the stock email app to check my mail...but the difference there really isn't a big (and I really don't use my Yahoo email very often, either, primarily just for my fantasy sports leagues).

Bottom line, my choice has been to separate my different emails accounts, running them on the apps I prefer for each type of account, and frankly I've gotten very used to it -- you may decide that having a universal inbox is more important than some of gmail features you get only by using the gmail app (including instant delivery and sync) -- but I doubt you'll find any solution that truly offers both.

 

[tsells]

JasW,
Nothing to do with Aquamail, but if you do try Nova Launcher (Pro), then also check out this thread for global notifications:

http://forums.androidcentral.com/an...709-how-guide-global-badge-notifications.html

 

[JasW]

I'm using Nova Launcher and I have the AquaMail counter in the dock:

And to color code your accounts:
Open Aquamail>Go to the main screen of Aquamail (not the smart inbox)>Long press on your first email account>options and folders>scroll down to "folders">then click on the "wrench" next to inbox/drafts/sent/etc to set up a color code.
Then repeat with each email account. It should look like this when done (Aqua is aol account; Green is gmail account):

And you can also change the sound of the notifications for each email account in Aquamail.

JasW,
Nothing to do with Aquamail, but if you do try Nova Launcher (Pro), then also check out this thread for global notifications:

http://forums.androidcentral.com/an...709-how-guide-global-badge-notifications.html

Excellent, thank you!! The Aqua Mail developer (Kostya, wow, is he responsive!) suggested the Apex launcher, but I imagine it's six of one, half dozen of the other, no? I have a long way to go to get up to speed here, but there's no doubt I've found my latest time sinkhole.

As an ex-BlackBerry user, I know where you're coming from...but I've because quite used to using separate apps for separate email accounts.

Frankly, I don't think any email app is going to handle GMAIL as well as the Gmail app does. It's that simple. Using the gmail app, I really like having the ability to access all my labels, archive my mail, compose drafts, etc., and know that everything is fully synced with my online account.

I actually even prefer to use the Yahoo Mail app over using the stock email app to check my mail...but the difference there really isn't a big (and I really don't use my Yahoo email very often, either, primarily just for my fantasy sports leagues).

Bottom line, my choice has been to separate my different emails accounts, running them on the apps I prefer for each type of account, and frankly I've gotten very used to it -- you may decide that having a universal inbox is more important than some of gmail features you get only by using the gmail app (including instant delivery and sync) -- but I doubt you'll find any solution that truly offers both.

I'm of course very used to that from BB -- I had the combined inbox as the first icon in the dock and then every other email account (I had the max of 10, not going to do that here) scattered about with its own icon. I did not use stand alone apps, though -- it didn't make any sense with virtually everything, save a Comcast account, being pushed by BIS. Here, that's a different story. I've set email to be polled every five minutes, but that may be having a negative effect on battery life (it had been every 15 minutes in the stock app). Two of the four accounts I have on my Note 2 are Yahoo-based -- the Yahoo app doesn't offer any syncing improvement (i.e., push IMAP), does it?

 

[tsells]

Nova and Apex are really similar. I tried them both and it was hard to tell the difference, but the global notification badges work really well with Nova. Also, Widget Locker (made by the Nova Launcher developer) is a great lockscreen replacement app, that plays really well with Nova.

 

[JasW]

Nova and Apex are really similar. I tried them both and it was hard to tell the difference, but the global notification badges work really well with Nova. Also, Widget Locker (made by the Nova Launcher developer) is a great lockscreen replacement app, that plays really well with Nova.

Did you already have Nova installed before you installed Aqua Mail? That's what Kostya says you have to do with Apex -- have it installed first -- and I don't see why it would be different with Nova. Not crazy about having to uninstall Aqua Mail and then reinstall, but whaddya gonna do.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 2

 

[tsells]

Did you already have Nova installed before you installed Aqua Mail? That's what Kostya says you have to do with Apex -- have it installed first -- and I don't see why it would be different with Nova. Not crazy about having to uninstall Aqua Mail and then reinstall, but whaddya gonna do.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 2

Never heard that, but yes I did have Nova before Aqua.

 

[tsells]

AquaMail does have a backup and restore function so no problem uninstalling it.

 

[paintdrinkingpete]

...
Two of the four accounts I have on my Note 2 are Yahoo-based -- the Yahoo app doesn't offer any syncing improvement (i.e., push IMAP), does it?

The Yahoo Mail app works *kinda* like the Gmail app (but obviously not nearly as integrated into the Android OS). It just provides a direct connection to your email on the server, so it's not using POP or IMAP, etc to download messages to a client, but it's definitely more of a "push" setup in the sense that the notifications are pretty instant -- I'm not sure how the app is "triggered" to check for messages, but works very well and I've never noticed any negative effects on the battery.

Only thing I don't know is if you can set it to work with multiple accounts...

EDIT: I just checked, and there is an option to add additional accounts. Never done that, but apparently it's possible to do.

 

[gnr_2]

The Yahoo Mail app works *kinda* like the Gmail app (but obviously not nearly as integrated into the Android OS). It just provides a direct connection to your email on the server, so it's not using POP or IMAP, etc to download messages to a client, but it's definitely more of a "push" setup in the sense that the notifications are pretty instant -- I'm not sure how the app is "triggered" to check for messages, but works very well and I've never noticed any negative effects on the battery.

Only thing I don't know is if you can set it to work with multiple accounts...

EDIT: I just checked, and there is an option to add additional accounts. Never done that, but apparently it's possible to do.

The yahoo! mail app is much better than the Google Mail app. If you can use that with Google accounts for free, then I'd suggest that method as the GMail Android app sucks.

Edit: looks like it's just multiple Yahoo accounts.

Sent from my totally awesome Sprint Galaxy Nexus, even if I don't know all its secrets yet.

 

[JasW]

Never heard that, but yes I did have Nova before Aqua.

AquaMail does have a backup and restore function so no problem uninstalling it.

Cool. I'm going to have to look more into Nova and Apex, though, because I know once I get started with this, I'm going to end up spending a whole lot of time with one or the other.

 

[JasW]

The Yahoo Mail app works *kinda* like the Gmail app (but obviously not nearly as integrated into the Android OS). It just provides a direct connection to your email on the server, so it's not using POP or IMAP, etc to download messages to a client, but it's definitely more of a "push" setup in the sense that the notifications are pretty instant -- I'm not sure how the app is "triggered" to check for messages, but works very well and I've never noticed any negative effects on the battery.

Only thing I don't know is if you can set it to work with multiple accounts...

EDIT: I just checked, and there is an option to add additional accounts. Never done that, but apparently it's possible to do.

The yahoo! mail app is much better than the Google Mail app. If you can use that with Google accounts for free, then I'd suggest that method as the GMail Android app sucks.

Edit: looks like it's just multiple Yahoo accounts.

Sent from my totally awesome Sprint Galaxy Nexus, even if I don't know all its secrets yet.

Ha ha, well now I'm torn. If I use the Yahoo and Gmail apps (and I suppose the Hotmail app for my outlook.com account?), then along with the Lotus Traveler app, I've got all five of the email accounts on my phone being pushed -- but they would be in four separate apps. So it's either that or using Aqua Mail with the four non-work accounts all being polled every five minutes. Or some combination. Damned Android, giving me too many choices again!

Edit: It turns out that the Yahoo app only works with "freemail" accounts, and one of my two Yahoo accounts comes via their web-hosting service, so it is technically a "small business" account. Also, the outlook.com app has gotten terrible reviews and is apparently a battery killer. Just sticking with Aqua Mail for now sounds like my best bet, all things considered.

 

[tsells]

FYI, when on wifi AquaMail emails are instantaneous (not sure how it does this) , meaning they come in at the same time as my computer emails. And when not on wifi, I can go all day without a charge even when polling 3 email accounts every 5 minutes.

 

[JasW]

FYI, when on wifi AquaMail emails are instantaneous (not sure how it does this) , meaning they come in at the same time as my computer emails. And when not on wifi, I can go all day without a charge even when polling 3 email accounts every 5 minutes.

You mean you didn't customize it to poll every minute? At least I think that's what setting the Custom check interval to 00:01 does. I'm not sure what kind of havoc that might wreak with multiple accounts on the phone.

 

[paintdrinkingpete]

The yahoo! mail app is much better than the Google Mail app. If you can use that with Google accounts for free, then I'd suggest that method as the GMail Android app sucks.

Edit: looks like it's just multiple Yahoo accounts.

Sent from my totally awesome Sprint Galaxy Nexus, even if I don't know all its secrets yet.

What?!? How does it suck?