Access Point Group is supported in the new release

Mar 24, 2009 15:10 GMT  ·  By

Nokia has recently updated its Mail for Exchange to version 2.9.158. As many of you might already know, the company's offering includes push email and PIM sync, as well as a wide range of other nice-looking features, all of which are turning the phone maker's Eseries devices into handsets better fitted to its enterprise users.

The 2.9.158 version of Mail for Exchange comes with new features, as well as with some improvements over previous editions. The first thing that should be mentioned about the release is the Access Point Group support. Through this feature, MfE is now able to actively switch between WiFi and GPRS connections provided that the device comes with support for Destinations. The feature works only with S60 3rd Edition, Feature Pack 2 and S60 5th Edition mobile phones.

With the new version, the Mail for Exchange does not retrieve the Out of Office (OoO) messages from the server periodically, as it used to do with previous versions, but only in case OoO is set to “Yes.” It seems that the new feature might sometimes cause short delays, while also requiring connectivity with the server.

At the same time, the new Mail for Exchange 2.9.158 allows users to manage their devices by name instead of IMEI via Outlook Web Access (OWA) email client, yet only in case the account allows it. Those who own an OWA will be able to perform management tasks on their handsets, including the wiping of the device. In addition, the phone model name can now be seen in the status field and might prove useful for those who sync several phones.

Other features of Mail for Exchange 2.9.158 include:

- Calendar, Contacts, Tasks are disabled by default on new installs. This is to prevent users from inadvertently losing Calendar, Contacts and Task data. - Much better battery life in adverse network conditions. If the Mail for Exchange client can’t maintain a connection to the Exchange Server, it automatically switches to polling every 15 minutes. The client will switch back to Always on at the next scheduled period. - Mail for Exchange setting tabs are no longer dynamically displayed; instead all tabs are always displayed. - Pictures in contacts are now synchronized.

The fact that the new version of Mail for Exchange comes with Access Point Group support can be considered a great thing, especially given the fact that S60 had a lot of issues when data connectivity was involved before Feature Pack 2. The new version still needs to be set to initiate the Group, yet it should work even in case one gets too far from the router when the Wi-Fi connection is used.