Poor Man's Blackberry

UPDATE: Make sure you check out Google's Gmail for mobile for Java-enabled phones, and Google's calendar access (just go to http://mobile.google.com/calendar/ from your mobile device).

Blackberries are popular devices for mobile email. But they're expensive, and many models are cumbersome and bulky (as telephones).

If you have a recent-model cell phone with Web access, you can set up a "Poor Man's Blackberry" for mobile email. It's not as nice as a real Blackberry, but it works well and the price is right.

The basic idea is to use Google's Gmail Web-mail service, which has a mobile Web interface. If Gmail is your primary email, you're all set: just surf to http://m.gmail.com

If Gmail's NOT your primary email, it's easy to make it mirror of your primary mailbox. Here's my setup:

1. Configure your phone service for Web access. I use Verizon, and the "Mobile Web" service costs an additional $5/month.
2. Set up a Gmail account (if you don't already have one)
3. Configure your primary email account to forward a copy of each message to Gmail. I do this within my mail server, but you can also do it in many mail clients with automated rules (e.g. Outlook).
4. Configure Gmail to send messages "from" your primary email address. This will cause messages sent from Gmail to appear to be sent from your primary address, instead of from your Gmail address.
5. On your mobile phone, surf to http://m.gmail.com to access your Gmail inbox

For extra credit, you may be able to change your phone's start page to go directly to Gmail, or to a start page of your own with a convenient link to Gmail. This will help you easily navigate to your inbox, without having to deal with bookmarks. For example, see my LG-VX8100 page.

Of course, you don't get complete mirroring between your inboxes: if you read or delete a message on Gmail, it won't be marked in your primary inbox.