So, rarely do I ever talk about technology unless it involves shopping or something, but for my new job (oh yeah, I started my new job) I've been playing around w/ a Blackberry Curve. Nasty looking humongous form-factor aside, THE EXPERIENCE IS A PIECE OF CRAP.

Seriously, whoever RIM's marketing team is, give them a raise because they have totally got people thinking that this thing is easy to use.

Let me tell you, it is not.

So far, other than charging the thing (and battery life IS good, I'll give it that), I've had a hell of a time setting it up - from "registering" it (a term the phone and web site tell you to look in their getting started guide to figure out how to do it - except no where in the guide do they even use the term 'register') to my fake out gmail set up.

The gmail set up is actually the worst thing because I 'thought' I did it right - Blackberry even sent me a nice little "Activation - Success! pat on the back message, but they lied. Jerks. At least with registering they kept on telling me I wasn't registered and in the end I knew I couldn't figure it out so I called for support.

Turns out, after looking at Gmail's help forums, the simple fields that Blackberry said I needed to fill out weren't sufficient - which is just stupid because how hard is it for Blackberry to make the configuration of this (and any other massively common mail provider) happen behind the scenes and not force users to go through the steps below?

Seriously. Pig-F'ers.

Blackberry

To configure IMAP for your Blackberry, just follow these steps:

1. Enable IMAP in your Gmail account settings.
2. From your BlackBerry home screen, select the Blackberry Set-up icon, then choose Personal Email Set-up. (On older devices, just look for the Personal Email Set-up icon.)
3. Select Personal Email Set-up.
4. Accept Terms and Conditions.
5. On the Email Account Set-up page, enter your Gmail username (including '@gmail.com') but leave the password field blank. Select Next.
6. You'll see a screen that says 'We are unable to set up your email account.' Select 'I will provide the settings to add this email account,' then Next.
7. Select 'Internet Service Provider Email (POP/IMAP),' then Next.
8. Select 'I will provide the settings to add this email account,' then Next.
9. You'll see 'The BlackBerry Internet Service could not configure [your email] account.' Select 'Provide The Settings' to add email account.
10. Enter your Gmail username (including '@gmail.com') and your password, then Next.
11. Enter 'imap.gmail.com' as the email server, then Next.
12. Select OK.
13. Below your newly added email address, select Edit.
14. Select Advanced Settings at the bottom.
15. Make sure the port is set to '993' and 'Use SSL' is set to 'Yes.'
16. Select Save.

If your email set-up was successful, there should be a new-messages icon on your home screen labeled with the name of the account. Once you see this icon, follow these steps to ensure proper configuration:

1. Open the mailbox icon.
2. Open the menu by pressing the jog wheel or BlackBerry menu button, then select Options.
3. Select Email Reconciliations.
4. Confirm the following settings:
   • Delete On: Mailbox & Handheld
   • Wireless Reconcile: On
   • On Conflicts: Mailbox Wins
5. Select Save.

Source: Gmail help