A Pocket PC is not limited to syncing Outlook email accounts through ActiveSync - it can also be set up to send and receive POP or IMAP email without a PC as an intermediary. This is easiest with a Pocket PC connected to a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth wireless network, but also works with a dial-up modem or Ethernet card installed. The only requirement is that you have access to the Internet.

Setting up an e-mail account on your Pocket PC is fast and easy.

To begin, open Pocket Inbox, the Pocket PC email program (this program is called Messaging in Windows Mobile 2003 SE).  At the bottom of the screen, you'll see two small icons, both grayed out, and to the left, the "Accounts" menu on the toolbar.  Tap "Accounts" and then select "New Account..."

 

Five E-Mail Setup screens will take you through the entire setup process.

On the first screen, enter the e-mail address with which you'd like the Pocket PC to receive and send email messages.  Once you've entered the e-mail address, click "Next."The Pocket PC messaging software will attempt to setup some of the email settings for you.  Once it has completed, tap "Next" to jump to the third screen. 

On the third screen, you must enter a name, username, and password. 

 

The contents of the "Name" field will be the name which shows up when you send an email to someone, and can be anything you would like.  The contents of the "User Name" and "Password" fields, however, must be exact and match the information given to you by your Internet Service or E-mail provider.   

On the fourth screen, select whether the e-mail account you're setting up is a POP3 or IMAP4 account.  Most e-mail accounts are POP, but you can check with your ISP to be sure.  POP and IMAP are the only two types of servers with which the Pocket PC software can natively connect.  Here you also enter a name for the account; this can be any name you would like.

The fifth and final screen is where the e-mail server information is entered.  The incoming and outgoing mail server information is provided by your Internet Service or e-mail provider.  Generally, the servers look like "pop.yourdomain.com" and "smtp.yourdomain.com."

 

With your e-mail settings input into the software, you can now tap "Finish."  This completes the e-mail setup and allows you to go on to check the messages on the account.  If you wish to make other settings changes to the account, tap the "Options" button on the fifth screen (as seen above).

The Options menu allows you to set the Pocket PC to check for new mail at certain intervals, log on to the outgoing mail server with a username and password (if required), and define whether or not the Pocket PC downloads a portion of the email or the entire message. 

Now you've successfully set your Pocket PC to send and receive email over an Internet connection. From the main screen, the two small icons at the bottom of the screen that were grayed-out before are now highlighted and are used to connect to your email server and to send and receive email. 

To go back and forth between the e-mail messages synced through ActiveSync and the new e-mail account that you've just setup on the Pocket PC, tap the "Accounts" menu on the toolbar and select between "ActiveSync" and the account you named (see below).  The name we used for our sample account is "My E-Mail."

 

If you wish to set your Pocket PC to check additional e-mail accounts, you can enter them in the same manner shown above.