Though push mail is by no means a new fad, there are people who are still caught in a limbo as to what's the difference between push and pull mail.

Scratching your head in confusion about push and pull e-mail? Don't worry because once you go through the brief notes below, you will be as savvy as your well-informed friends!

What Is Push Mail?

Push e-mail utilizes a mail delivery system with the real-time capability to "push" e-mail through to users as soon as it arrives, rather than requiring the user to collect or pull mail manually. With a push e-mail Smartphone, for example, the user's mailbox is constantly updated with arriving e-mail without user intervention. Smartphone’s announce new mail arrival with an alert. This simply means that your mail arrive very much like your text messages; you will be alerted when a new mail arrive to your phone similar to how you receive text messages. Therefore, you save yourself the hassle of logging onto your mailbox.

Pull Mail

Pull mail is something most of us are used to. It requires effort on our end; we have to log on to the mail server to retrieve our e-mail. If we don't log on, we won't be able to tell whether any new mails have arrived in our mailbox.

How It All Works

Conventional e-mail systems are usually "pull" oriented. When an e-mail is sent, it arrives at the recipient's Internet Service Provider's (ISP's) mail server, where it is held for collection. If the e-mail is Web-based, it will arrive at a website server. Either way, the e-mail remains on the mail server until the recipient uses an e-mail program to pull the mail to the user's computer.

In conventional pull systems, push e-mail can be somewhat simulated using a user set to frequently poll for new mail. Polling involves "handshaking" between the client software and the mail server. If the server is busy, the delay in completing the handshake can lengthen, causing the client to time out.

Phones That Support Push Mail

Itching to try out the convenience of push mail? The good news is that most phones these days support the push e-mail service. The 02 Xda IIs. 02 Xphone II, the Samsung SCH-i600, the Sony Ericsson P800, P900 and P910, and a large number of Nokia phones are just a few that support push mail. However, do note that staying logged on for 24 hours can be costly, so check with your service provider first! When it comes to push e-mail, one name will definitely come to mind - the Blackberry. BlackBerry Enterprise Server or Desktop Redirector software "pushes" or redirects new e-mail and documents straight to the user over the Internet and the cell phone network. This device is known to be the most effective in the push e-mail mode and now, the Blackberry service is available to other phones as well, enabling them to acquire the same efficiency for retrieving e-mail. And on that note, happy pushing!