Got my new iPhone 3G, .... again! a couple of MobileMe questions.

[Crunch]

I just got another iPhone 3G, this time the gorgeous white 16GB one. Upgraded the firmware to 2.0.1, and am good to go.

I have a quick question as to MobileMe. Is it still having problems, or are they ALL fixed now? I have a MobileMe account (the 60-day trial), which I got on July 11, so it is still active. When I try to log in, however, it says it does not exist!??? I would really like my account "back".

Also, is MobileMe basically "mandatory", in the sense that I'd miss out on a bunch of (basic?) functions? I don't have a problem with paying it, but it appears to be that Apple is forcing new iPhone 3G owners to pay 100 bucks, which adds to what some people would consider a hefty cost of ownership.

Your thoughts?

Thanks all...

 

[Cadium]

MobileMe isn't mandatory, although it compliments the iPhone well when used in conjunction with a Mac or PC. The e-mail service still seems rather unstable, but other than that it seems OK.

 

[TLewis]

Also, is MobileMe basically "mandatory", in the sense that I'd miss out on a bunch of (basic?) functions? I don't have a problem with paying it, but it appears to be that Apple is forcing new iPhone 3G owners to pay 100 bucks, which adds to what some people would consider a hefty cost of ownership.

It's not mandatory, but the various push features are nice.

Also, there are currently "free" services that provide push services, but I don't know how well they work. They all seem to have limitations, though. See this post for more details: https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=5968839#post5968839

Also, Yahoo Mail Plus (non-free) supposedly offers push email, but I don't know how reliable it is. You might want to check it out, assuming that a yahoo email address is acceptable.

 

[Crunch]

So ALL email accounts ARE pushed?? Is IMAP4 mandatory? So it would be like the Blackberry? Or is only mobile me pushed, the calendar, contacts, etc.??

Also, I'd like to know how I can access my Windows Live Hotmail. That was a pain with the Blackberry's too. Only BIS 2.5 fixed it.

I am loving this thing. Should I jailbreak it??

 

[TLewis]

So ALL email accounts ARE pushed??

No.

Is IMAP4 mandatory?

No, but I'd recommend it (if you use non-push email).

However, IMAP isn't used by the iPhone for push email (it's unclear, but the iPhone appears to use either a proprietary extension to IMAP or Microsoft's activesync).

So it would be like the Blackberry?

No.

Or is only mobile me pushed, the calendar, contacts, etc.??

If you subscribe to MobileMe, only MobileMe email is pushed, only MobileMe contacts are pushed, and only MobileMe calendars are pushed (although you can synchronize these with desktop applications). You can, of course, subscribe to other, more expensive, exchange services to get similar push functionality.