Gmail with Push e-mail in a Sony Ericsson K800i – using IMAP4

Ok, so you don’t have to own a BlackBerry to enjoy “Push” email: Email that is actively transferred (pushed) to the device as it arrives. It doesn’t even have to be a Smartphone.

The reason why I selected a Sony Ericsson K800i is because… I still use it! ;-)   Though I use a SE K800i here to demonstrate the settings, I’m pretty sure you can use the same settings with any phone that supports IMAP to send and receive Gmail messages.

Off to the steps…

Enable IMAP access in Gmail

If you haven’t already done so, you have to enable IMAP access in Gmail, so that you can use the mail client in your mobile device to access your email.

1. Go to “Settings” in Gmail and select the “Forwarding and POP/IMAP” tab:

forwarding and pop-imap tab in settings

2. In the “IMAP Access” section, select the “Enable IMAP” under “Status”.

enable IMAP radio button

Remember to save your changes

Set up the mobile phone’s mail client

1. From standby, select “Menu” => “Messaging” => “Email” => “Settings”.

Messaging Email Settings

2. Select “New Account” and type a name for your account (e.g.: “My Gmail Account”).

New Account Enter Account Name

3. When you press “Ok”, you will be taken to the first set of settings. Select “Connect Using” and select a data account you have set up in the phone (If you don’t have one, you will have to set up a data account with your mobile operator first. Without a data connection, you won’t be able to continue).

Connect Using Select data account

4. Once the data account is selected you will be back to the settings. Now select the next item, “Email Address” and enter your full Gmail address (including “@gmail.com”). Press Ok.

Email Address Enter email address
5. Next step is to select “Connection Type”. Select IMAP4 as the connection type.

Connection Type Select connection type

6. Then change the “Incoming Server” option’s value to imap.gmail.com. Username should be your full email address and set your Gmail password.

incoming server username password
7. Change the “Outgoing server” option’s value to smtp.gmail.com, and move on to the “Advanced Settings” option.

outgoing server advanced settings

8. Under Advanced Settings, you can set your name (how you want it to appear in mails) and a signature. Under “Download S&R”, I recommend you select “Subjects Only” so that you can check the subject and decide whether to press the button on the mail to download it or not.

“Check Interval” can be used if you don’t want to use Push email. Setting a check interval won’t keep the phone connected always. Instead it will check for mail periodically when the check interval elapses (This is recommended if your phone has battery life problems!).

Turn “Push email” on if you want to be notified about incoming email as it arrives (like in a BlackBerry!). This option will not be available at this time. But it will be available AFTER you create the account. The only warning I would give is that it will drain your battery fast. So if it is a problem, leave it off and use the “Check Interval” option to an appropriate value.

name and signature Check interval, push email and allow connection

9. Now select the “Encryption” option. You will find two sub options in it. Select SSL for “Incoming Server” option and select “TLS” for the “Outgoing Server” option. Use the back button on the phone to come out of the “Encryption” settings.

Select the “Outgoing Username” next and enter you full email address (including “@gmail.com”). And enter you Gmail password for “Outgoing Password”.

Set the “Incoming port” to 993 and “Outgoing port” to 587. That is the last option under the “Advanced settings” section. Now press the back button to come to the previous settings screen. Press the back button again to come out of the email settings altogether.

You should get a popup saying: “Account created. Select the new account if you want to use it as your active account.”

outgoing username and password incoming port and outgoing port account created

(Note: Hope you remember, I said that the “Push” email option wouldn’t be available until the account is created. Now, either you should get another popup sooner or later saying that Push access can be enabled asking whether to enable it, or you can go into the settings again and turn it on).

To go back to edit any settings you should follow:

Messaging => Email => Settings => (now highlight the account) => More => Edit Account.

10. To send and receive email, come into the email inbox => More => Send & Receive. You can mark mails for deletion. To clear the emails that were “marked for deletion”, you should select “Clear Inbox”.

Send and receive Mark for deletion, mark as unread, clear inbox

That’s all folks.. enjoy Gmail through IMAP4, using an old brick. Winking

Hope that helps at least another Sony Ericsson K800i user!

Further Reading:

  1. Gmail Help – Configuring other mail clients
  2. Gmail Help – Getting started with IMAP for Gmail
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15 Responses to “Gmail with Push e-mail in a Sony Ericsson K800i – using IMAP4”

  1. Son Viet Tran says:

    yeah thanks. It works like charm

  2. Hello there, just doing some browsing for my Sony website. Truly more information than you can imagine on the web. Wasn’t exactly what I was looking for, but great site. Cya later.

  3. Tarun Malhotra says:

    Thank you Brother

  4. Aditya says:

    thank you for your tutorial Mr. Guganeshan, Namaste

  5. Guganeshan.T says:

    Tarun & Aditya, you are welcome!

  6. jakub.h says:

    Works great on my W890i – thank you!

  7. karisa says:

    thanks for the info.it worked but i cant seem to to turn on the push email thing.its inactive.what do i do.my phone is k800i.thanks

    • Guganeshan.T says:

      Hi Karisa,

      After reading your comment, I created a new account in the K800i just to confirm. As I have mentioned, the option does not turn on immediately.

      Try these stepes:
      1. Make sure the email account is selected.
      2. Go in to the Inbox and press “Send & Receive” (left button)
      3. If all settings are correct it will fetch mails (if any). Press Ok in the following popup alert.
      4. Now you will get a popup asking whether to turn on Push Email, and you can select “Yes”.

  8. myomin says:

    It is working properly in my K810i, well done Mr. Guganeshan.T.

  9. Arus says:

    Hi..

    I am using SE Naite..I have Imap4 as well as SMTP to configure in-order to activate push mail. Can u help me with complete settings?

    Thank You Very Much !

    • Guganeshan.T says:

      Hi Arus,

      I checked on the web and it seems many owners of the Naite (J105) have problems with Gmail (at least to receive mail).

      I haven’t seen the phone, so I cannot list you the exact steps.

      If nothing else works for you, there’s a java application by Google that you can use. It will work if your Internet connection is working.

      Visit: m.google.com/mail
      using your mobile phone browser to install it.

      Hope this helps.

  10. vkoument says:

    I tired until i find your settings!!
    Thank you, very much!!

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