Exchange support provided on the Google Android G1 via TouchDown

I have now been using a T-Mobile G1 for about 3 months and still find it to be a rock solid device that is a blast to use. A coworker visited my desk today and said she picked up the G1 and loves it so far, but wondered how she could get her work email on the device. We just switched to Exchange about six months ago and also have IMAP support. She figured out all the needed IMAP settings, which was quite impressive because I couldn't get it right and it was very customized compared to a standard IMAP setup. Her question encouraged me to look again for any kind of Exchange client on the G1 and in the spirit of the football playoffs I scored a TouchDown!

NitroDesk released an early version of TouchDown late last fall, but it had too many issues and was very early in development so I passed it up and focused on using Gmail as much as I could. I then just saw that TouchDown is available on the Android Market so I downloaded and installed it to see how far development has come in the last couple of months. After using if for the last half hour, I went and purchased my license priced right now for US$19.99 until 10 January 2009 using the coupon code TMONEWYEAR. Regular price is US$29.99 and includes one year of application updates and support. With the version downloaded from www.tinyurl.com/tchdwn in your G1 browser you get a full 5 days to use the full version before it reverts to the free limited version.

With the full version of TouchDown you get the following functionality:

• Compose and send Email
• Reply to, Reply All and Forward your email
• Delete Email messages
• Move email between folders (yes, email folders are supported)
• Add, Delete or Edit existing contacts when you are on the move.
• The changes to your contacts will be automatically updated to your Exchange account.
• View your daily calendar
• Appointment notifications
• Customizable alerts
• Database on SD Card - saves phone memory

Push email is not yet supported, but you can control the polling time and 15 minutes is what I have set at so my battery doesn't die in minutes.

What is the difference between the FREE Edition on the market and the commercial version? The FREE edition on the market is a scaled down version of the commercial version. It allows you to connect and retrieve messages from one day, retrieve your contacts and the current day's calendar. This may be fine for light users of Exchange, but I imagine most of you will want the full version so get it while the price is right.

Some of the items they are working on next for future updates (they say they hope to release these in the next few weeks) include:

• Automatic calendar refresh
• Out Of Office setting
• Showing quoted text when replying/forwarding
• Opening attachments (at least saving them)
• Searching the Global Address List
• Adding exchange contacts to the phone contacts list
• Multi-day calendars
• Create or edit appointments
• Custom poll scheduling
• Investigate/implement Push email
• Brute-Force-Retrieving mail for previous N-days

In addition to the two bold items I want to see implemented soon, I also want the ability for more folder support. In particular I want to access my server Sent messages folder because I often forward messages to others or need to see what I sent.

If you want Exchange on your G1, I think this is a good start and with the coming updates this can be a fantastic product. IMHO, it is definitely worth the current $20 price.