Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync on Android MyTouch 3G

I have been a Microsoft Exchange user and Exchange Server Architect/Engineer/Administrator for over 11 years now. Heck, I remember when it was just called Microsoft Mail Server. The Microsoft Exchange Server product has greatly matured over the years, and I’m hoping that the Android implementation of supporting ActiveSync will mature quickly because in its current incarnation it is fairly primitive.

On the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS, Microsoft ActiveSync is implemented with the Exchange Server implementation of push technology. The device opens an HTTPS connection with a long TTL (time-to-live) and is notified immediately if a new message arrives. I won’t go into the architecture of Exchange, but the way it processes messages as they arrive the server notifies the ActiveSync service before actually dumping the message over into your inbox on the Private Information Store. When I was carrying an iPhone daily, I could have my Microsoft Outlook or Microsoft Entourage client open and would receive notification of the new message on the iPhone before the message would show up in either desktop client.

The T-Mobile MyTouch 3G’s implementation of ActiveSync is very rudimentary. It does not implement the same push technology. It actually logs into the server on regularly scheduled intervals. Out of the box, the default implementation is every 15 minutes (this can be adjusted to suit your needs). For my needs using this device as my non-business essential device, it works just fine. Sometimes I actually find it to be more productive since I’m not checking the phone every time a new message comes in. I highly compliment the efforts put forth to accommodate using such an excellent mail server product such as Microsoft Exchange, but it really needs some work to break into the enterprise user arena. At this time it should be called “Really Simple Configuration Settings for Checking Your Corporate Mail” than a true support of Exchange ActiveSync technology.

Tagged as: ActiveSync, Android, Exchange, iPhone, MyTouch 3G