I had an email conundrum: How could I get my mobile email to work the way I needed it to work?
I’m a Gmail vet, people. Way back when Yahoo and Homail — I’m sorry, Hotmail — started letting in more spam than real mail, I decided to give the new Google beta a try, and haven’t looked back since. When I finally paired what had become my primary email address with a BlackBerry, it was paradise, baby.
My 8320 handled my email in the mobile space: Through POP-tinted glasses.
I almost never checked my true Gmail box online; why would I? It was way cooler to send email with the “sent via BlackBerry” tag on it. With such advanced features like leaving email in the inbox, sent confirmation email and unified inbox, it was, uh, well… something.
And Then I Used Android
The eventual switch to Android was a bit more agonizing that it needed to be. After perfecting the art of typing on a physical keyboard, I was not too keen on going to a touchscreen. Plus, I’d lose my groovy email signature.
In the end, Swype made the decision easier… but email remained a point of contention. I wanted email the old way; the BlackBerry way.
I downloaded app after app trying to”fix” what I saw to be Android’s email problems. At any given time, you could find me using 3 or 4 third-party email clients simultaneously, while trying to narrow them down to The One. One day, bogged down in the purgatory of duplicated labels and badly filtered messages, I deleted all my email apps in a fit of frustration.
That will show’em.
But Then..
The answer was starring at me: The stock Gmail client!
I was introduced to a more intuitive means of handling email. IMAP provided push functionality, and allowed all my labels to be mirrored with the web client. Archiving fed my needed for a clean inbox, and since all my emails (corporate, business and work) were all Gmail/Google Apps based, I had plenty of desktop power in my hand. Even the sync toggability brought tears of joy to my eyes!
A Lesson Learned
This whole experience may mirrors some of our real world experiences. We allow ourselves to be chained by our minds, and when we manage to break free, we can roam around until we find the right answer, because we can’t see it through the fog of our preconceived notions. It’s easy to battle to fix what isn’t broken and make a bigger mess in the end.
What I learned is the simple solution is often the right one and complexity should only be an attribute of necessity, not proof of the best solution.
And now, as I promised on Twitter, I’m off to leave a sweet love note for my wife with my Gmail folders. 😀
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