Using HTML Email Client in S60 Devices

In recent years, many email clients began supporting Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) formatting tags in messages. An HTML message can have rich fonts, layout controls, hyperlinks, and inline images. The inline images can be included in the same message as attachments. While the Nokia native email client handles plain-text messages and attachments very well, it does not support HTML rendering or inline images. To view HTML email messages on your phone, you need third-party software.

When I have a choice, I always try to avoid sending HTML email messages, since they are not compatible with all email reader clients.

Handling email attachments in S60 devices

Originally, email messages were just plain text. Later, Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) technology was developed to encode arbitrary binary files into text, and hence allowed the files to be sent as part of the email message (i.e., attachments). The Nokia native email client on Series 60 phones supports MIME attachments for both sending and receiving email messages.

The current generation of Nokia Series 40 phones (e.g., the Nokia 6230 camera phone) does not support attachments in email. You can still use MMS to send media files from the phone to an email address. But you cannot receive files in email messages.


Notice the difference in the header bar in the first and last screenshots (i.e., after the attachment is added the message size is larger, and a paper-clip icon indicates there is an attachment).


You can open and save the message attachments, if there are any, from the Options menu. If the phone recognizes the attachment file format as a supported media format, it provides the option to save the attachment file to the phone's Gallery.


If the attachment is in a format the phone does not support, the phone will not allow you to save it to the Gallery.

If you install a PDF reader program on your phone, the PDF reader will register .pdf files (and their appropriate MIME types) as "recognized" file formats. Then you will be able to open PDF attachments using the reader program from within the Messaging Inbox.


You can still send the attachment to another device or computer. Or, you can use a file browser, such as FExplorer, to get the attachment file directly from the mail folders.

Delete email in S60 devices

Since the Nokia phone first retrieves all the message headers from the remote POP/IMAP server, it retrieves the message bodies only when you specifically instruct it to do so (e.g., by opening a message). So, when you delete a message via the Options Delete menu, you have two options:

If you choose to delete from the phone memory only, the message body is deleted. But the message header remains in the phone memory. You can still see the message in the email message list, and if you open it, the phone redownloads the message's body.

If you choose to delete the message from both the phone and the server, the message header is marked with a delete sign in the phone's email list. The next time the phone connects to the server, it instructs the server to delete the message immediately.

When deleting a message, the Nokia email client behaves differently from most desktop email clients. Desktop email clients can be configured to delete the message on the server several days after the message is deleted locally. That allows you to recover deleted messages from the server if you need to. The Nokia phone's native email Inbox is always a mirror of the account on the server. The deleted messages are erased from the server immediately after the phone connects to the server the next time.

Receive email in S60 devices

On a Nokia Series 60 device, you can simply open any properly configured email mailbox from the Messaging application's Main menu. The phone connects to the Internet and checks for new messages on the remote POP/IMAP server. Or, you can select Options Connect to force a connection.

On a Nokia Series 40 device, select the Messages Email Retrieve menu to retrieve messages from the currently active mailbox. The retrieved messages are available under the Messages Email Inbox menu.

For all new messages, the phone retrieves only those message headers that show the sender's email addresses, the message dates, and the message subjects. It does not automatically retrieve the message bodies or attachments. This saves bandwidth and greatly improves the email client's response time. If you want to view an individual message, you can retrieve the message body by opening it. You can also select commands from the Options menu to retrieve all messages or marked messages.

Send a message

To create a new message on the phone, choose the Options > Create message > Email menu in the Messaging application (Series 60) or the Messages > Email > Create email menu (Series 40). You can select any recipient from the phone's Contacts list or type in any valid email address in the To and Cc fields. The body field of the email composition form is pre-populated with your email signature, if you have one. Type in your message and select the Options Send menu to send the message using the currently active mailbox settings.

Set up your mailboxes

Setting up mailboxes is quite easy on both Series 60 and Series 40 phones.

On a Series 60 device, you can just launch the Messaging application and choose the Options > Settings > Email > Mailboxes menu. Then you can select and edit any existing email message in the Inbox. Or, you can use the Options > New mailbox menu item to create a new mailbox for an email account. The Messaging application's main screen lists the phone's native Inbox (for receiving SMS and MMS messages) as well as all configured mailboxes. Email messages are pulled into the mailboxes, not into the native Inbox. The Options > Settings > Email > Mailbox in use menu item points to the default mailbox to use when sending email messages.

A Series 40 phone can hold 520 mailboxes (i.e., email accounts). You can activate a mailbox via the menu path Messages > Message settings > Email messages > Active email settings (or via Messages > Email > Setting > Mailbox in use for older phones). The email Inbox (in Messages > Email > Inbox) on the phone retrieves messages from the currently active mailbox, and all outgoing email messages are sent via the SMTP server in the active mailbox. To edit the settings for a mailbox, you need to first activate it and then select the "Edit active email settings" (or "Edit active mailbox") menu in the email settings screen.

In the mailbox settings screen for both Series 60 and Series 40 phones, you need to enter the following information:

• Your email address
• An SMTP server address and its access credentials
• A POP/IMAP server and its access credentials
• The data access point to connect to the email servers

The security setting specifies whether the phone uses encrypted connections (SSL) to connect the email servers. You should always try this option first, and disable it if you get an error. SSL protects your username and password from eavesdroppers. Although it also transports your email messages securely, the moment a plain-text email message hits the wide-open Internet, it becomes susceptible to eavesdroppers.

The SMTP server and POP/IMAP server share the same GPRS access point and the same username/password. Some devices (e.g., the Nokia 6230 phone in Series 40) allow you to specify a different GPRS access point, and a different username/password for the SMTP server and the POP/IMAP server, respectively. Many phones also support the Authenticated POP (APOP) protocol to retrieve messages. Under APOP, the user-name and password are sent in encrypted format to the POP server. APOP provides protection against network sniffers that intercept clear-text passwords.

Email Basics

When you send and receive email messages over the Internet, your email client software on the PC or on the phone primarily needs to communicate with two types of email servers over the TCP/IP protocol:

Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP) server
Takes email messages from your email client and sends them to the recipient's email server. To avoid being exploited by spammers, most SMTP servers require you to have an account with them and to authenticate yourself before you can send an email message.

POP or IMAP servers
Give you access to your email accounts. Your email client software logs into the POP or IMAP server periodically, using your username and password, to check for and retrieve new messages.
Typically, your SMTP and POP/IMAP servers are hosted by your Internet Service Provider (ISP) or by your company's IT department. If you use web mail (e.g., Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail), you typically need to pay for the privilege to directly access their mail servers.

An open source program called YPOPs emulates a POP3 account over your free Yahoo! Mail account on your own computer. For more information, visit http://yahoopops.sourceforge.net/.