Guys
please please state which email solution you are using when you explain the problems you have. Modest as a client certainly has some limitations, but is it a Modest problem or the protocol or the server, or the way you have set it up. So please state:

are you using MfE or Nokia Messsaging, or IMAP/POP to access your server.
what is your back end service ? ie gmail, yahoo,exchange. If exchange, what version.

some of the problems here are known, some have fixes on the way, some are configuration, some are server side.

As my main client anywhere I use alpine it works great. The only reason I'm not using it on the N900 is that there is no way to specify it what should be the default handler for mailto: and other links that one might want to use. Can anyone write up a tool to do so?

Now my problems with modest from what I've observed:

painfully slow no matter what connection
again no sent etc... server side
I have also observed it does not mark messages on the server read etc...
no way to tell it only check the following folders
MISSING FOLDERS!!!! I have an alpine alpine.bugs alpine.devel alpine.info folders and they aren't shown in modest.
Folder view... Very very bad way to view folders and subfolders...
i.e.
sourcemage
.bugs
.discuss

How am I supposed to know where something fits in... Especially with some of the larger subtrees.


As for my backend:
a fully IMAP compliant dovecot 1.2.8 server using Maildir storage. Using alpine there is no problem, using webmail(hastymail) there is no problem. Using modest... constant problems.

I have deinstalled MfE and Nokia Messaging from the system completly as I have no need for them. Also removed any activesync/camel stuff I was able to remove without fuss.

my gmail is set up for IMAP4 and it still does not want to sync.
imhave a old yahoo mail accout. set that up and that doesnt want to sync either.
my exchange is syncing perfectly but the email app does not want to sync my other email accounts.

Pretty sure I read somewhere on here a while ago that archiving messages in gmail cut down a lot on the 100% CPU and retrieval times.

OK, so Modest isn't the quickest when dealing with IMAP accounts and it has a fair few other glitches... Hopefully these are just teething issues which will be dealt with very soon.

The thing that really bugs me though, is how it doesn't tell you how many new/unread emails you have in your mailbox(es). It's caused me to miss a really important email once already; and because visiting each inbox to check if they have anything is so slow, the whole thing is really really cumbersome...

I know these kind of comparisons aren't welcome but I do hope that someone who has a chance to work on Modest takes a quick look at the below pictures and grasps what needs to be done - just add the number of new emails on the account summary screen...

I know the frustration sxc
You are better off than me, as you can use Modest, I can't. 20mins to check emails and then 20mins to apply any flags to emails read etc. Then 20mins to check again, that's an hour to do something that takes a few seconds on a desktop, mutt or webmail client. So I am using these means until modest becomes usable.

This and the camera haze issue makes me wonder how little QA went into this; issues that would have been picked up straight away.

Don't get me wrong, I am not whinging, I am glad to have it and I love my N900 and I realise Nokia was pushing out as fast as possible, but just another week [a day to be honest] would have picked these things up in a heart beat.

So looking forward to the update :-D

I agree with you sxc, it's annoying how you can't see the count of emails. Other issues about the client that bug me are..

- Not being able to delete messages after you view them after an alert (but that's a bug that's been fixed in next firmware apparantly).

- I wish there was a general overview that let you see all new messages instead of me having to go inside each account.

And comparisions are welcome as long as they are constructive, I see nothing wrong with your post. Welcome to the forums.

My problems with the email client (I use IMAP and Exchange accounts):

• Does not show recipient list when viewing messages. (You must use "Message Details".)
• Does not download the body of messages for instant reading later. WM devices, for example, let you precisely control how much of a message will get downloaded, whether attachments are included, etc., and for 90% of my messages, they are completely downloaded by the time I am notified about them.
• Does not allow you to read some messages while it downloads other messages. For a multitasking device this is disappointing.
• Has phantom "xx unread messages" status indicators which do not go away even after you read the messages. No amount of send/receive syncing or re-reading the messages makes any difference. Seems like cache corruption -- goes away on its own sometimes but recurs often.
• Does not allow you to specify individual folders to sync or not sync. (I think there's a workaround by temporarily using another IMAP client though.)
• Does not allow you to edit a forwarded message.
• Does not allow you to open Inbox sometimes -- you have to sometimes race with the client to get it to let you open Inbox before it starts syncing, and then it locks the Inbox out.
• Does not handle Exchange calendars well -- I've had entire recurring appointments deleted from my Exchange server by my N900, and other times I've had appointments stay on the N900 and then get duplicated both locally and on the server -- hence every appointment gets doubled. My advice: Don't manipulate calendars with the N900 client; just sync the N900 with the server, and use Outlook Web Access to make any changes with the N900.
• Cannot accept/tentative/reject/propose new times for appointments.

To me, the email/Exchange client is the biggest limitation of the N900, more than all other issues combined.

Hello to everyone !

I write this short message to add myself to the people not happy with Modest email client. I'm still not using much, since the MFE now isn't working with Exchange 2003 (only with 2007) but I'm really thinking about using it as mt primary email client.
The main reasons are already explained by sxc and leek and also others.

Although in the next firmware update we'll have the main bugs resolved, we REALLY NEED MORE FUNCTIONS and LESS LIMITATIONS with Modest client.
I'm not a Linux expert ( I was an OS/2 user for many years but after I had to change to Windows because of my work) but I can't believe thare is no better email client than this Modest !

Every time we say that Modest has some limitation , someone say ...Modest is open source .... OK, but I'm not a porgrammer and I cannot modify by myself.

PLEASE...Request to Any of the Great Linux Gurus and Programmers in this community: instead of porting some new niche apps, dedicate some of your time and efforts to IMPROVE Modest email client and Calendar app, adding some features that now are common on the others email Mobile clients.
You'll make thousands of N900 owners really happy !!

Since Nokia tells us that N900 "iso not a phone but an Internet tablet", please delive better email and calendar programs, more close to the desktop similar apps.

Thank you,
SkyEagle

I don't have any problems with it, I set it up for 2 accounts, one Gmail and the other my own domain email address, both Imap, I didn't use the MFE,
Yeah I'd like it to say you something like "you have 3 emails" but its not really needed as if there is any unread messages in any of the folders the text changes to blue so you know to look in that folder.
I have mine set to update every 15 mins
Works well for me

Edit - Just noticed when you open an account up it does say to the right of the inbox "X read message"