Group Review: Nokia's Mail for Exchange v Dataviz's Roadsync
For S60 users there’s been two choices for some time over how to get push e-mail and synchronise natively over-the-air with an Exchange (or Zimbra!) server using the Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync protocol (as opposed to adding a third-party application as Blackberry or Good Mobile Messaging does). Dataviz’s Roadsync product was first to the market, but costs, and Nokia’s home-grown Mail for Exchange product which was added more recently, was free, but initially more feature-limited. After more-recent releases of Mail for Exchange added a number of key enterprise features and meeting invite functionality a number of commentators suggested Roadsync may not have much of a future. I’ve been testing them both in daily use for the last 9 months and these are my thoughts…
Product capability
Both products offer push e-mail with calendar and contacts sync to an Exchange server. Meeting invites are also supported by both products so they can be responded to from the phone. Only Mail For Exchange offers task syncing, but Nokia’s standard calendar application displays these either mixed in with the standard calendar view or in a single inflexible list making the use of this data less than convenient.
Roadsync allows all mail folders (either root or sub-folders of the inbox) to be synchronised and also allows messages to be moved between them [see right]. Mail for Exchange only allows access to the Inbox and does not allow messages to be moved.
Both products support the Exchange administration function ‘remote wipe’ in case of loss or theft, but only Mail for Exchange enforces the handset lock feature requiring an unlock code to be entered and performing a wipe if it is repeatedly entered incorrectly.
Both product also support access to the Exchange Global Address List although Roadsync’s approach provides a slightly better presentation.
Roadsync is the only product to support any Exchange 2007 features such as e-mail flags, online searching, UNC file share access and faster message retrieval, but I was unable to test this as I didn’t have access to an Exchange 2007 server.
Both product support N and E-series devices from Nokia, but Roadsync supports all of both ranges (plus some S60 3rd edition FP1 devices and some non-Nokia devices such as the new Samsung SGH-i520) whilst N-series support from Mail for Exchange is limited to more recent models.
Winner: Close, but Roadsync just. It has more features and differentiates in other areas through better interface. Administrator control of handset lock is likely to be a significant concern to enterprise users though.
[L: Roadsync, R: Mail For Exchange]
Mail for Exchange presents information on the sync mode in use, status, last sync and what is being synced. Roadsync just displays the last sync time (the other information is available from the ‘Options’ menu).
Winner: Mail for Exchange
Settings and configuration options
[L: Roadsync, R: Mail For Exchange]
Connection settings for the two applications are virtually indistinguishable.
[L: Roadsync, R: Mail For Exchange]
Synchronisation control is also identical, allowing separate peak and off-peak settings.
Winner: Neither – near identical controls
Mail reading and writing
[Top Left: Mail For Exchange, Others: Roadsync]
Roadsync offers three viewing sizes and compresses message details into less screen space than Mail for Exchange which only offers one text size. As can be seen the smallest Roadsync font is still easily readable but requires much less scrolling.
Winner: Roadsync
Pricing
Roadsync is US$50 (around £25 at the time of writing) per device. Mail for Exchange is free.
Winner: Mail for Exchange
Stability and reliability
Roadsync is rock solid – over more than 6 months of use I never experienced a crash or an error. Mail for Exchange crashed several times over 3 months use and occasionally refused to send messages giving a ‘try later’ message that required a phone restart to work. It also interfered with Three’s Mobile Mail application causing the read/unread status of messages not to be updated correctly if they were changed remotely.
Winner: Roadsync
Overall
It’s a close call, but my choice is Roadsync – it’s a more reliable product that is marginally more functional in a few key areas that make a big difference to the user experience and speed of use. The cost is reasonable for a mature product that receives free updates regularly and new features, in the majority, are added before Mail for Exchange…. You get what you pay for.
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Much kudos to Anthony Pranata who’s free Screenshot application made this (and many more) reviews possible. This would be my recommendation for an ‘application of the week’ to the committee!
