The UIQ Evangelist

System SEVEN is a push email application that is easy to use and provides alternatives for those who want to use personal email on their mobile devices. What makes it interesting is the easy setup process and the current beta has a few preloaded email settings, to be used with popular free email system like GMail, Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail. There’s also option to use your own domain POP or IMAP server and it also can be used to connect with MS Exchange Server to sync emails, contacts and calendar.

The setup process is very easy, just select your service (GMail, Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail, AOL Mail), enter your email address and password and you’re ready to go. It took me less than a minute to setup and receive my GMail inbox in my P1. Impressive!

After the setup is successful, it creates a mail folder in the Messaging with the logo of the service as the icon. For example, if you setup GMail, your email folder will have a GMail logo on it, if it’s Yahoo!, the Yahoo! logo is used, and so on. Pretty neat.

You can add other email accounts anytime by selecting the Add Account option from the main System SEVEN screen. I have used it for a few weeks now and I’m happy to say that Exchange ActiveSync is no longer needed on my P1.

More screenshots of System SEVEN running on my UIQ3 powered P1.

This application is still in beta. I dont have any information on when it will be released officially. However, it doesn’t mean this beta is not working as it should. Infact, to my surprise, it’s a well polished app for a beta. The UI is consistent, the integration with UIQ3 Messaging is very good, it handles attachment very well, and most importantly, it’s stable. I never experienced it crashes or slows the system during my test.

There’s one caveat for using push email. It maintains connection to the internet, riding GPRS or 3G or WiFi. Which eats battery more than usual. I have used Exchange ActiveSync since the P990 2 years ago and I have to charge the battery every night. With System SEVEN, I find myself worrying less about the battery power. Now I need to fill in the juice once in say, 36 to 48 hours. This is very good. It’s using less power and proving it’s power efficient.

Another concern about push email is the RAM consumption. Exchange ActiveSync consumes around 2MB to 4MB of RAM which is nothing on devices with large RAM like the P1. But on P990, it’s a real showstopper if you want to run other app that use a lot of RAM like Opera Mini or CorePlayer. System SEVEN, in this beta version I’m testing, is RAM efficient and friendly with other apps. I’m using it on P1 anyway, so RAM is never an issue.

The most impressive feature of System SEVEN, in my opinion, is it’s ability to work with multiple email accounts. You can configure GMail, Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail, and at the same time, having your own POP or IMAP email running, pushing all your emails from different accounts into your smartphone. This is something unique that is available only through System SEVEN. A unified mobile email solution.

So, who should use System SEVEN? Well, in my opinion, all smartphone owners who want to manage their emails anywhere, should use it. You dont need to have Exchange Server, you dont need to spend on expensive system. Just use your regular personal/work email.

Head over to the official Forum to follow the discussion and get the installation file from System SEVEN.

Categories: Apps, Comments
Tags: App, UIQ 3.0