One of our secret agents just sent in some great details about BIS 2.6 which is coming around the middle of March currently. According to their current build out, they have been releasing a new BIS about every quarter, so expect 2.7 sometime in June.
This new version 2.6 brings few features to the table that interest me. Nothing like the HTML email in version 2.5, but still nice:
- Better Gmail Integration
- Accessing Gmail through IMAP instead of current POP interface
- Provides one-way (BB Gmail) sync of read / unread status, delete, & sent items
- Eliminates duplicate message issue on sent items
- This new integration works with Gmail, Googlemail domain, and any other Google Apps domains
- Access to @carrier.blackberry.net hosted email address only
- Email is limited to 32kb
- No attachments or HTML formatting in emails
- You will now be sent a message telling you to set your desktop email client to leave messages on the server or else BIS will not get them
So what do you think? Personally, I was hoping for some contact/calendar/task/notes sync for consumer users, but it is definitely a step in the right direction. Still, I was hoping for it to finally let you release a BlackBerry PIN or close your account. Or, at the very least, give you a reminder of your username if you forget. RIM always seems to forget about the small things… It’s almost like none of them uses BIS.