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Home»BlackBerry News»News & Rumors

Research In Motion details official BIS 4.1 features

by Michelle Haag on 12 Sep 2011 05:41 PM
48
 
BIS 4.1

We heard back in March that we would soon see an update to BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS). As revealed back then, we will be seeing improvements to email including large email and native attachment support, inbox priming for new account integrations and additional language support. In addition to this, changes to the email flow on SIM swap means you'll want to be extra careful when switching devices, especially if you plan on selling your old BlackBerry. That's right, make sure you do a security wipe before passing it on. Who doesn't do that anyway? Seems like common sense to me. You can check out the full Overview from the BlackBerry Knowledge Base after the break.

For those of you wondering how you get the BIS 4.1 update, well, there is no way to get it, exactly. The update will be rolled out by RIM at some point and pushed to your device.

Source: RIM

Overview
The BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) is designed to provide BlackBerry smartphone users with access to email messaging, instant messaging, Internet browsing, and more. BlackBerry Internet Service subscribers can receive automatic delivery of email messages from up to ten email accounts on their BlackBerry smartphones.

The following is a list of new features being introduced with BlackBerry Internet Service 4.1:

Improved large email and native attachment support
Subscribers using BlackBerry smartphones with BlackBerry® 7 installed can:

  •     receive email messages that are up to 11MB in size
  •     download attachments in their original format that are up to 8MB in size
  •     view up to 300KB in an HTML email message

No interruption to email flow on SIM swap
Subscribers who insert a new SIM card in to their BlackBerry smartphone, including SIM cards from a different wireless service provider, no longer experience email flow interruptions. The BlackBerry Internet Service only stops sending email to a smartphone when the subscriber deletes all data from the smartphone, not when a new SIM card is inserted in to the smartphone.

Due to this change, before selling a smartphone, subscribers must delete all data from the smartphone (security wipe) to protect personal information, including email messages and synchronized contacts and calendar events. Note: This functionality will be available when BlackBerry Internet Service 4.1 is released in all regions.

Inbox priming for new account integrations
When a subscriber adds an email address to a smartphone, the inbox on the subscriber’s smartphone is pre-populated with up to 20 existing email messages from the email account.

Additional language support
Latvian and Lithuanian are supported by the BlackBerry Internet Service. Emails received in these languages can now be viewed on BlackBerry smartphones.

Filed Under: News & Rumors; Tags: BIS, BIS 4.1, BlackBerry 7, BlackBerry Internet Service
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48 Comments

Posted by vrs626 Monday, Sep 12, 2011 255 days ago

How about true 2-way sync for GMail????

 
 
Posted by stevedion Monday, Sep 12, 2011 255 days ago

Exactly! Seems like this is something basic! I hate having to open read messages on my BB cause i read them on my laptop! How about Activesync support or better OWA integration (contacts, calendars).

 
 
Posted by chi-town311 Monday, Sep 12, 2011 255 days ago

my gmail always sync. Never have a problem. all emails marked as read when read on device.

 
 
Posted by Imperor_69 Monday, Sep 12, 2011 255 days ago

Yes sent attached deleted files also sync :D

 
 
Posted by vrs626 Monday, Sep 12, 2011 255 days ago

that's not the issue. the issue is emails that are read on the computer not showing up as "read" on the device.

 
 
Posted by gingertonic Monday, Sep 12, 2011 255 days ago

Do you have IMAP enabled in your gmail settings? If not, enable it. Problem solved.

 
 
Posted by estarno Monday, Sep 12, 2011 255 days ago

EXACTLY! Make a real "improvement". RIM and Google fail to even acknowledge this. It is supposedly Google at fault, but RIM needs to light a fire under their a$$ about this already. It's really pathetic. And NO, jumping through the hoop of enabling IMAP does NOT solve this problem. Actually makes it worse as the delay is incredible.

With Yahoo Mail, everything usually works beautifully with no setup hassle even.

 
 
Posted by bbpandy Monday, Sep 12, 2011 255 days ago

I have never had a problem with gmail & Blackberry. My emails are pushed to my phone often instantaneously & When I read the msg on my 9700 the msg shows as read on gmail as well.

 
 
Posted by silly_walk Monday, Sep 12, 2011 255 days ago

And when you read the mail on a PC first, does your BB mark the email as read?

 
 
Posted by JarekGora Tuesday, Sep 13, 2011 255 days ago

No. Never. If I am at my pc and read a new email it still shows as unread on my 9900.

I'm using gmail and don't have google sync installed.

However the other way around holds true. Reading an email on my bb shows up as read on pc.

 
 
Posted by DJ Reyes Sunday, Oct 09, 2011 229 days ago

Hence, the reason people are complaining. It is only one-way sync at the moment. 

 
 
Posted by gordonzhao Wednesday, Oct 12, 2011 226 days ago

Not true at all, have a little patience. After you read it on your computer, your BB will eventually sync it all together. Or often times mine does it. If it syncs one for one instantaneously your BB's battery would be dead. Especially if you're doing a lot of reading, reply and etc. on the computer.

 
 
Posted by telefonique Monday, Sep 12, 2011 255 days ago

Your right about one thing, jumping through hoops does nothing. True two way sync is not working properly for me at all, not even with a delay of a few hours like others report, in my case it just simply doesn't work at all.

Where you may, or may not be wrong is about it being Googles fault. You see, this basic feature of two way sync works flawlessy on my iPhone, and has worked on three generations of iPhones in my experiences, so it's obviously something that's possible. The two companies just need to communicate better, either to themselves, or their staff, or us. Whatever. I'm sure we'd understand if it's a programming head ache for RIM, but they ought to invest in dealing with it, period.

 
 
Posted by gingertonic Monday, Sep 12, 2011 255 days ago

Which is why the delay for my gmail with IMAP enabled is under a second...

 
 
Posted by nliang Monday, Sep 12, 2011 255 days ago

Will this ever be introduced to O/S 6 device like the Torch 9800?

 
 
Posted by Bla1ze Monday, Sep 12, 2011 255 days ago

Some of the features but some are limited to only BB 7 devices as noted in the previous article - http://crackberry.com/blackberry-internet-service-41-gets-detailed

 
 
Posted by guerllamo7 Monday, Sep 12, 2011 255 days ago

Nice, the best e-mail on mobile devices just got better. Thanks BB.

BTW, I used the YouTube app on my Bold 9930 to watch video and WOW!

 
 
Posted by megabus Monday, Sep 12, 2011 255 days ago

How about IMAP folder support?!

 
 
Posted by dasDestruktion Monday, Sep 12, 2011 255 days ago

Lifesaver for me. Lots of traveling around. In the states I'm on VZW. (A CDMA carrier). When I travel and buy and load a pre-paid SIM card, all of my BIS settings get wiped from the device. I must re-add all my emails accounts, etc. Only to return home and call VZW to fix the mess its made of my usual BIS account.

This doesn't happen all the time but plagues me in Spain and France in particular. Glad it will be (hopefully) addressed! :)

 
 
Posted by gordonzhao Wednesday, Oct 12, 2011 226 days ago

Back up and restore?

 
 
Posted by wobbly Monday, Sep 12, 2011 255 days ago

Same time as playbook update, the end of never

 
 
Posted by decypher44 Monday, Sep 12, 2011 255 days ago

I have a feeling it's gonna be a while before it's rolled out. I'm tired of my email being truncated. Lame!

 
 
Posted by Bla1ze Monday, Sep 12, 2011 255 days ago

It's already started in Asia Pacific. Won't be long for North America.

 
 
Posted by orangepit Monday, Sep 12, 2011 255 days ago

What's with these "Firsters" in the comments section of all newly-posted articles? Bunch of spammers !! Can these peeps offer nothing more constructive than "1st" or "First"??? >:(

Anycase, back on topic...
Thanks for the update Michelle! Looking forward to the update. But is there any word on when various carriers propose to upgrade to 4.1? Rogers, Bell, Telus, AT&T, Verizon, Vodafone, Orange, etc?

 
 
Posted by RetroAndreas Monday, Sep 12, 2011 255 days ago

October for N.A. I read somewhere.

 
 
Posted by Peppy690 Monday, Sep 12, 2011 255 days ago

activesync would be amazing

 
 
Posted by Kuttysark Monday, Sep 12, 2011 255 days ago

So how does this role out, do we just have to resend service books when my carrier roles this out?

 
 
Posted by orangepit Monday, Sep 12, 2011 255 days ago

Indeed good question! Wonder if we'll just notice a difference or get a Network or "Cell Broadcast"?

 
 
Posted by nliang Monday, Sep 12, 2011 255 days ago

The new BIS 4.1 will also be part of the OS2 upgrade for the Playbook. right?

 
 
Posted by johnts Monday, Sep 12, 2011 255 days ago

Does this update mean when the setting is checked to load images, the email will actually load with them, instead of having to do the get images option from the menu?

 
 
Posted by iamyamster Monday, Sep 12, 2011 255 days ago

Finally a BIS update its really a big hassle if BlackBerry users are unable to open large email attachments

______
CrackBerry.com and BlackBerry Rocks

 
 
Posted by bcbbanga4l Monday, Sep 12, 2011 255 days ago

yeah two way sync would be awesome. It doesnt work for me and my mac mail or gmail

 
 
Posted by joeldf Monday, Sep 12, 2011 255 days ago

None of the really useful email features (larger truncation limit and large attachment downloads) will be available for the majority of us BB users stuck on OS 6 (or earlier). Way for RIM to turn their backs on existing users who can't just pick up a new phone on a whim.

 
 
Posted by dodger_moore Tuesday, Sep 13, 2011 255 days ago

Oh yeah, just like Apple turning their backs on iP3 users by introducing a new feature like Facetime to the iP4.

So when are we allowed to get new features on our BlackBerries then? Should we penalise all new BlackBerry owners because others can't pick up the new phones?

If I'm spending my money on the latest and greatest device I want all the best features, otherwise I'd have stayed with OS6 on my 9700.

Wait till QNX comes out, or rather don't, you'll be furious! :D

 
 
Posted by joeldf Tuesday, Sep 13, 2011 255 days ago

First of all, your example is not comparable. You're talking about physical hardware changes on new models. This is about back-end software changes that shouldn't have anything to do with the OS. Especially since it is supposed to finally address issues we've screamed about for years.

And, sorry, but upgrading the email truncation limit from about 48 Kb to a whopping 300 Kb (oooh... that's so big...) just isn't going to be that taxing on even an OS 4.5 device, much less on my Torch running 6.

 
 
Posted by just_luc Saturday, Oct 08, 2011 230 days ago

I don't claim to be an expert on the back end software or hardware, but I would assume there has to be a hardware limitation, as RIM has always been pretty good at rolling out updates to older devices wherever possible.

 
 
Posted by rustmonkey Monday, Sep 12, 2011 255 days ago

Activesync would be nice... wish in one hand...

 
 
Posted by myfantasticbold Tuesday, Sep 13, 2011 255 days ago

I hope RIM can do something to add editing/attached files functions on forwarded emails ! Kinda hassle and not efficient if you want to forward emails and edit the content !!!!

 
 
Posted by troubl3dman Tuesday, Sep 13, 2011 255 days ago

There's an app for that.

 
 
Posted by dodger_moore Tuesday, Sep 13, 2011 255 days ago

Copy and paste.

 
 
Posted by myfantasticbold Tuesday, Sep 13, 2011 255 days ago

You cannot copy and paste or edit forwarded attachments.

 
 
Posted by katiepea Tuesday, Sep 13, 2011 255 days ago

All this talk about Gmail sync... I thought bb was the best email device around.... Guess not

 
 
Posted by Enrico2828 Tuesday, Sep 13, 2011 255 days ago

Sorry but where are the real improvements? Still no proper 2way sync of gmail / exchange mail, contacts and calendar. Something Android and iOs do out of the box. For BIS my provider always charges me extra, and I get less features than on another OS. And then we call Blackberry the king of email - ridiculous. It is the king of communication, due to excellent keyboard and notification system and the unified messaging box. But their mail services suck.

 
 
Posted by gbcoa83 Tuesday, Sep 13, 2011 255 days ago

I don't know when BIS 4.1 start running, all I know is that i got yesterday my new Torch 9850 from Verizon and I can't connect to internet or open emails. It is just weird.

 
 
Posted by rarebreed1134 Tuesday, Sep 13, 2011 255 days ago

Now I'll be able to send 10 second HD videos via email to my gf...YESSSSS!!!!!...(extreme sarcasm was intended in the publishing of this comment)

 
 
Posted by marklu98 Tuesday, Sep 13, 2011 254 days ago

I can confirm that the "Inbox priming for new account integrations" already works from my BIS provider Taiwan Mobile. However after account setup, I only got around 10ish emails, eventhough there are a lot more than 10ish unread emails in that account. I have confirmed this with two separate corporate (non gmail nor yahoo) email accounts, both were "primed" with 10ish emails only.

It appears that 4.1 has already been rolled out to Asia Pacific BIS carriers.

I will confirm later today whether "No interruption to email flow on SIM swap" works or not.

Also not that many would require it, with a secondary BIS account, I have been able to configure more than 10 email accounts on my 9900 on Bell BIS ( current limitation is 10 emails per BIS account). And yes, emails from both BIS accounts are being pushed to my 9900 without any problems!

 
 
Posted by deathdealerleon Friday, Oct 07, 2011 230 days ago

Any time soon??? From big red

 
 
Posted by tboyd1120 Saturday, Oct 08, 2011 230 days ago

I believe RIM updated BIS for Cellular South this morning, I received 40 emails dating back to February that my phone would not display or show received while Outlook on my PC shows them. All the emails were Microsoft Infopath emails that didn't show up on my phone. Prior to my BB phone I had a Windows Mobile phone and it would receive and display these emails. The only reason I received 40 emails that I had previously received on my desktop, now on my phone is the BIS 4.1 upgrade. I've been wanting this to happen for a long time.

Emailed myself a 8.24 MB file this morning and it came right through. I can't confirm my carrier(cellular south) BIS 4.1 was updated but something happened last night and now I'm getting all my emails and can send/receive large attachments.