RIM enables BIS 2.5: Hotmail/Live push, HTML email on OS 4.5
2008-06-30 02:51 AM | 9 comments
If you're lucky enough to have a BlackBerry device running OS 4.5, BlackBerry Internet Service is now enabled for Rogers and should also be ready for most - if not all other North American carriers.
4.5 OSes are officially available for most recent GSM/EDGE devices. I'd recommend staying away from beta releases, as they contain debugging utilities and aren't as stable as carrier-certified versions.
To find out if your device has an official upgrade available, look at the stickied threads for your device at BlackBerry Forums. These forums include the 81xx, the 83xx and the 88xx.
If you don't have OS 4.5, you can still add Hotmail, Windows Live and AOL accounts for push email through your carrier's BIS site.
Here's how to activate HTML email for devices running OS 4.5:
1. Sign into your carrier's BIS site:
2. From the site, click Service Books / Send Service Books.
3. When your device receives the service books, go into Messages / BlackBerry menu / Options and choose Email Settings. For each account, change "Enable HTML Email" to Yes.
Comments
(Removed some non-critical information re: instant messaging.)
And doesn't the html email only support fonts? Still won't download images? (I really don't care for that either. If it's not text, I don't read it, and I usually delete it.)
For the 8100, not sure if the OS is out of beta yet. I'm trying to load the newest WLM on my device - apparently some people have been able to get it to work through:
http://www.blackberry.com/devicesoftware/entry.do?code=wlm20
You may want to check your device on it without installing OS 4.5; as far as I understood the 4.2 devices should be able to take the MSN application.
I then tried AIM, and it wouldn't install at all, because my device didn't meet the requirements.
There is a Vodafone 4.5 OS available, which I have downloaded and am currently installing.
I found a thread on Pinstack which points to the mandate of 4.5 for this to work.
So I'm updating the OS as I type. And if I lose it all? Oh well, I've got BES.
I'll let you know how it goes.
(Removed some content regarding WLM versions. Nothing critical to this comment though.)
My 8100 is very sluggish, most likely due to the OTA BES activation which is taking forever. I need a bit more patience.
The 4.5 OS has numerous changes to the GUI. Most of which I enjoy so far...
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Yeah yeah yeah, I know about all the third party apps, but I don't like them. I prefer the tight integration of Google Talk or Yahoo Messenger for BlackBerry.