On November 22, 2011, Google discontinued support for mobile Java and BlackBerry versions of its Gmail app and removed the download links for these apps from their sites. The Gmail apps still work and are the best way I've found to access Gmail on non-touchscreen feature phones. I haven't used a BlackBerry in years but when I did I used the Google app because it worked better with Gmail than BlackBerry Mail did.
As these apps still work I'm posting them here for anyone that wants them. These are all official versions that I downloaded from the Google servers over a period of years. They are unmodified other than changing the URLs in the .jad files to point at the .jar or .cod files on my servers.
These apps work best on non-touchscreen phones. I've run the Gmail app on a N0kia N8 touchscreen phone and it works but it's frustratingly difficult to accurately tap the correct items in the tiny hierarchical menus
Mobile Java:
V 1.5 "Mail By Google" version that supports Google Apps domains - 157 KB: JAD JAR
BlackBerry:
V. 2.0.6 for BlackBerry OS 4.1 and later: JAD for OTA , ZIP for installation using Blackberry Desktop Manager
There's also a link to Gmail V. 2.0.7 for touchscreen BlackBerrys posted in this CrackBerry Forum thread.
A word about the various versions. V 2.0.6, which was released in 2009, was the last Gmail mobile Java version. It includes the following new features compared with previous releases
- Support for multiple Gmail accounts including Google Apps accounts.
- Offline capability. You can launch Gmail even when you have no signal to read emails that you previously downloaded and to compose new emails. When you hit "Send", instead of complaining about the lack of connectivity, Gmail will hold the newly composed email and send it when you move back into a area with coverage.
- Polling, Gmail will check for new email periodically, approximately every 5 minutes when it's in the foreground and every 20 minutes when running in the background.
- Alerts, when new mail arrives Gmail will alert you. The Java app vibrates once when a new email arrives, which is easy to miss. With the BlackBerry app the Gmail icon on the home screen changes to indicate you have unread mail. Gmail also hooks into the Blackberry OS's profile based notification system allowing you to configure the phone to do any combination of vibrating, ringing or flashing the message waiting LED continuously to indicate new mail.
Unfortunately, 2.0.6 doesn't work for everyone. There are two main problems:
- Size: Gmail 2.0.6 is a relatively big download, the generic Java version is 257 KB and is too large to run on some older and very low end current phones. Version 1.5 was significantly smaller at 156 KB and 1.0 smaller yet at only 113 KB. (The BlackBerry version of Gmail that is even larger, but even older BlackBerries seem to have sufficient resources to load and run it without problems.)
- Data and battery consumption: The constant polling uses data and battery power and there is no way to disable polling or change the interval. This is an obvious issue for anyone who pays for data by the KB or who needs to make their battery last as long as possible. The only way to stop Gmail from polling is the exit the app which means you have to restart it every time you want to check you mail. Gmail's start up time is quite long compared with the time required to do an on demand poll with 1.5.
For most Java phones the easiest way to install Gmail is to point your phone's browser at the mobile version of this post on wapreview.mobi and click on one of the JAD file links.
JAD (Java Application Descriptor) files are small text files that contain meta data about the actual application which is the JAR file. Loading the JAD file is the recommended way to install Java apps. The phone will read the JAD, which contains a link to the JAR, and then automatically download and install the JAR. Occasionally a phone will have trouble understanding the JAD but will be able to download and install the JAR directly. So if you get an error with the JAD link, try clicking the JAR file link.
Originally posted 1-Feb-2009. Updated 14-Dec-2011 with 2.0.6 versions added and links modified to point to copies of apps on my servers.
I had a version that worked perfectly with my Nokia 3120c (Series 40 OS). I'm trying the V 2.0.6 from your post but it is slightly different: it doesn't accept my phone's enter key. I need to use the 5 key instead, which doesn't work well with some functions, like selecting emails from my address book.
Do you know if there's another V2 for phones like mine?
Thanks a lot!
After changing my device I couldnt manage to follow my personal mail account.
This is the only site, where u should get the GMAIL application.
Thank you 'wap review'
Please help
this saved my old phone
Thanks so much!
Pingback: One Day Too Late For GMAIL - Page 3 - BlackBerry Forums at CrackBerry.com
I can't see the Java Gmail app from working stopping working, as it actually downloads the "mobile web" version of your emails. That's why html links don't work. Only links with the url in the rendered text work.
(Btw, logicmail can render simple html links, and you can copy text from emails too).
Others have reported that shanghai mail for blackberry works with gmail too.
I was shocked to see this page http://www.google.com/mobile/mail/#utm_source=hc_header&utm_medium=Gmail&utm_campaign= where Google has withdrawn native application support from all platforms other than Android and iPhone. Dirty trick!?
Found the working one for BB torch... very nice thanks for all the help!
error starting gmail206: Module gmail206-3 verification error 1074 at offset a45f
Can anyone help me out?
Pingback: One Day Too Late For GMAIL - BlackBerry Forums at CrackBerry.com
the problem with open-sourcing it is Java ME is very much not open-source, unlike Java SE.
In fact, if some hacker group *cough* runs the existing GMail client through a Java decompiler like JAD and posts the full source of the application for all to see, I wonder what Google could do about it.
Of course, I´m not vouching for the violation of Google´s IP and trade secrets, not at all. That would be a fairly extreme (and beyond all, illegal) measure.
Let´s hope Google comes to its senses and releases the GMail app as open source. Should we start a petition?.
The big question why no one has challenged this on competition grounds. Seems like abuse of a dominant position to me...
FC
Pawel
The newest version here has limited functionality on the bold 9780.