I've been using a BlackBerry Storm for the last few weeks. Since Gmail is my main e-mail account, I set it up on the Storm. I'm able to send/receive e-mails with no problem. What's untenable, however, is that anything I read on the Storm is not marked as read on the server and vice versa. This is just unacceptable. RIM and Google need to fix it.When I read Gmail messages on my iPhone, they are marked as read on Gmail's servers. Same goes for Gmail on the HTC G1 Android phone. Oh, and if you use the Gmail application on other devices, such as Nokia S60 smartphones, any e-mails you read via the Gmail client are marked as read on the server. In other words, scores of devices can access what is a basic function of mobile e-mail: marking messages as read on both the device and the server.

For some unknown reason, RIM's BlackBerry Internet Service servers don't support read/unread sync for POP3 e-mail. According to RIM, POP is the oldest and most limited e-mail protocol. From the RIM Web site:

The reconciliation of read and unread statuses of e-mail messages is one-way only, from the BlackBerry smartphone to the messaging server. For most integrated e-mail accounts, it is not possible to reconcile read and unread statuses of e-mail messages from the messaging server to the BlackBerry smartphone.

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E-mail messages marked as read or unread on the BlackBerry smartphone will also be marked as read or unread in the mailbox of an integrated e-mail account. However, this does not apply to Post Office Protocol (POP) integrations.

How is this acceptable? How is a major e-mail provider such as Gmail -- which is increasingly used by businesses for corporate e-mail around the world -- not properly supported by RIM's BIS? This is driving me utterly insane. What's the point of reading e-mails on a smartphone if they're going to appear as unread when I sign in to my in-box later? I've scoured every trouble-shooting nook and cranny of RIM's Web site and have been unable to come up with a fix. I called my wireless network operator's tech support. They couldn't offer a solution, either. The only fix that appears to work at all is to use Gmail via IMAP instead of POP. If you choose that route, however, there is a delay in seeing new messages on your handset. Messages sent via POP appear pretty much instantly. With IMAP, you might see a delay of 20 or 30 minutes before new messages arrive. Gmail defaults to POP, not IMAP. You have to go into your e-mail settings on the desktop to enable IMAP and set it up properly. If you use the basic e-mail set-up tools provided on most BlackBerry devices, this doesn't work. It's not the default. Why not?

This needs to be fixed, pronto. If the iPhone and HTC G2 can properly mark read/unread messages on the device and sync them with Google's Gmail servers, RIM, the MOBILE E-MAIL KING should be able to figure it out, too, even via POP, if necessary.

Another completely maddening issued faced by Gmail users on the BlackBerry is that the server automatically sends a copy of each e-mail you compose to yourself. So, every time you write an e-mail to someone and send it from your BlackBerry, you get a copy of it sent to yourself in your BlackBerry in-box. This couldn't be more annoying, and it does nothing but further clog up your in-box.

Luckily, there is a workaround (but there shouldn't have to be one). You can log into the BIS via your network operator's site and create a filter to weed out messages sent from yourself. This gets the job done, but, again, isn't something users should have to deal with.

What's the deal here RIM and Google? These are basic, low-level mobile e-mail functions that you're just not getting right.