Host your own push email for your iPhone.

Posted by markm Fri, 24 Apr 2009 05:57:00 GMT

The going rate for an Active-Sync enabled Microsoft Exchange account seems to be about $15/month. Some plans are a little more, others are a little less. If you need a couple of accounts it adds up really quick. And these days every dollar counts.

For about $34/month you can set up your own email server ($12/month for the software license, $22/month for the hosting). And for that price you get 10 email accounts that support:

  • ActiveSync (Push email for devices like an iPhone or iPod Touch).
  • Secure SMTP and IMAP. (BYO SSL Cert - I have a wildcard I use from RapidSSL, you can generate a self signed cert if you don’t.)
  • Calendaring
  • Open Source AntiSPAM and AntiVirus
  • more details…

First you need to buy a license for Axigen Mobile Office. It is a yearly license and comes with ActiveSync - 99 Euros.

Then grab yourself a CloudServer from Mosso. I opted for a 512MB but you might be able to get away with a 256MB.

Once you have your CloudServer up and running and have download the latest Axigen installer you need to know a couple of things to help you on your way:

  • You can’t use the installer. Dump out the package and install it by hand. You will need to add the 32-bit support modules for Ubuntu (if that is your distro of choice).
  • You NEED a license code for push to work. Everything else works in trial mode.
  • The license code will not show up till Monday if you order it on the weekend, so plan ahead.
  • Mosso is still working on the interface for their DNS system. It should see improvements soon but for the time being you might want to transfer your domain to Hover and use theirs.

I have been using this for about a month now and I couldn’t be happier. The push email works exceptionally well and IMAP idle on the desktop is just as quick.

If you need step-by-step instructions - I do intend to post them soon - this might not be the thing for you.

But, if you need 3-10 ActiveSync accounts, you should think about this.

It is a great way to save some money and get a great solution in the process.

Actual iPhone data usage on Rogers much less than you thought...

Posted by markm Tue, 03 Mar 2009 07:35:00 GMT

 According to a recent post on Engadget Mobile 91.2% of all iPhone users chew through less than 100MB of data in a month.

If you were one of the people that complained to me about the data plans I would now like to serve you up a huge heaping serving of I told you so!!! 
 
A lot of people were up in arms about Rogers data plans claiming that they would blow through more that 2GB every month which is pretty much ridiculous unless you are tethering the phone or looking at a ton "high quality videos" on your device.
 
Most people are using the iPhone for a moderate amount of data with GPS, email, web browsing and the odd App and this type of usage simply can’t consume the large amounts of data that was being predicted.
 
If you are part of the 1.2% of users that managed to go through over 1GB of data the last couple of months (and are not a developer or somehow tethering your device) maybe you should lay off the "high quality videos.
 

Tips to lengthen your iPhone battery life.

Posted by markm Mon, 01 Sep 2008 23:44:00 GMT

One of my friends was complaining to me about the fact he needs to charge his iPhone nightly. Apparently his old "WinMo" device would last at least two days.

Like I told him, the first thing to keep in mind is that he uses his iPhone much more than his old HTC - you probably do too. If you use the device more, the battery is going to be consumed much quicker. Also, your old phone was probably an Edge device - Edge consumes much less battery power.

That being said, here are some tips to get at least two days off of a charge:

  • If you have an unlimited data plan, turn off WiFi. Doing this by itself doubles the battery life on my iPhone. It is that simple.
  • Unless you need it, turn off Push email. Push will keep a persistent connection open which means you are pretty much always moving some data around. That definitely hurts battery life.
  • If you are looking for that last little drop, force the phone into "Edge Only" mode by disabling 3G. This tip is useless though if you have WiFi enabled because WiFi consumes so much battery power that you won’t notice the benefits.

Personally, I get about two days with WiFi off and that is good enough for me (I will turn it on but only when I need it and immediately turn it off when I am done). I leave Push and 3G on.