Hi Everyone,

I figured it out. I was running 4.2.94, I upgraded to 4.2.107. For those who need the info:

I was on Rogers BB Plan - $55/month, Voice & 4MB data.
I have switched to the Mega Incoming 25, and $7 unlimited data on my BB Pearl.

I have the set the APN, according, to Opera Mini's site - internet.com, with UN & PW.
Under the Security Options, TLS, I have the default set to proxy - not sure if changing it will work, but it works with proxy.

I have the three programs installed and use it for my requirements:

Opera Mini 4 - Excellent
GMAIL Mobile - Excellent
GCAL Sync - Excellent

Excellent represents the programs usability and performance. I notice that at times Opera will fail to load, and when I look the edge network is not available - and even when it is available I get an error now and then - does not bother me, just exit and restart the app - once it is working, it is fine.

I will be installing Google Maps and hopefully goes without a problem. As I don't have OTA available anymore, I need to find the alx file - if anyone knows where I can, please let me know.

What have sacrificed, I know the power users would know this already, but for people considering this move:

OTA (Over the Air) installs - NOT possible without a BB Plan
ALL BB apps that require a data plan - there is a lot of info out there about service books, and what the BB plan does so I will not get into it.

All other functions works - all phone, and text messaging - added to my plan.

I am no expert, and only reached this far because of people in this forum, and would like to specifically mention Mark Rejhon, and please read his excellent post -

http://www.blackberryforums.com/blac...data-plan.html

Sam.

Hi All, Just some more info.

I used T-Mobile's 8100 4.2.107 OS - luckily I had a friend with a number on their network, and was able to access the downloads - just remember to delete the vendor file if you do not belong to their network. Of course there are many other locations to find the download, delete the vendor.xml file.

Please read a great article by John Clark, http://www.blackberryforums.com/gene...ee-memory.html

He tells you how to optimize and indicates to upgrade your BB OS (different from Desktop Manager, so be wary, he also talks about this).

I also got Google Maps Mobile installed, I mentioned that I was looking for it, and thanks to bjallen2880 for the post, look here: http://www.blackberryforums.com/gene...p-manager.html

Look for the zip file to download.

Remember, in my above post, when you upgrade, it would be a good idea to do a battery pull.

Have fun!

Hi Again,

Sorry to be posting over and over again. Just noticed something - the "Data Connection Refused" has disappeared when I upgraded - Blackberry Maps work, and the Rogers WAP browser works - don't know whats up, and I just checked my account - according to Rogers (online) I am not on a BB plan, but the $7 data plan. Hope it all goes well!!!

Data connection refused disappears on newer versions of the OS. Watch out for BB maps, they eat a lot of data.

Just read this thread with a lot of interest.

Question: Google Talk - will it work with a generic plan or not?
Request: Can someone please post the link to the cod files for the latest version for Google Mail for Google Apps (not the regular Gmail) for the 8300 and the 8100?

Much appreciated.

Never mind. found it.

Google Talk I think will not work Will give Jive Talk a go.

And the currently latest version for Google Apps Mail for my 8300 is here:
http://m.google.com/a/v1.5.1.1090/L1...ckBerry-42.jad

Can Any One Write BB explorer emulator, or crack it for work without BB plan ?

i have to bb pearl 8100 and installed the gmail app without any problems. i was able to sign in but i couldn't fully connect. It says "loading" on the upper right hand corner of the gmail app but then an error message pops up:

"network unavailable, the program is unable to connect to the server. this is likely temporary. please wait one minute and try again"


options>advanced options>TCP>APN: wap.voicestream.com
options>secutiry options>firewall>status:enabled

i don't have a data plan and i'm on tmobile in the U.S. -- if that helps.

i'd like to be able to check and send mail. from what i've read, i'm able to do all that w/o a data plan.

please let me know if i need to change some of the settings

i have to bb pearl 8100 and installed the gmail app without any problems. i was able to sign in but i couldn't fully connect. It says "loading" on the upper right hand corner of the gmail app but then an error message pops up:

"network unavailable, the program is unable to connect to the server. this is likely temporary. please wait one minute and try again"


options>advanced options>TCP>APN: wap.voicestream.com
options>secutiry options>firewall>status:enabled

i don't have a data plan and i'm on tmobile in the U.S. -- if that helps.

i'd like to be able to check and send mail. from what i've read, i'm able to do all that w/o a data plan.

please let me know if i need to change some of the settings

which one is for the 8800?

What about the 7520? (OS 4.1)
Does anyone have the most recent GMail .alx/.cod files for this?
Greatly appreciated

This may work for ya.

Google Mobile - BlackBerry

Wirelessly posted (8300)

Sorry my bad that is only maps. Let me see if I have an oofline copy for os 2.1

anyone know if there is there a non-ota version of google sync??

Sorry to revive such an old thread, but has anyone tried the instructions for installing GMail by spoofing the BlackBerry Brower's User Agent string in order to get the correct COD files?

I would post a link to the instructions I found on the web, but I can't post links yet... (credit goes to Kevin Kleinfelter's blog).

I suspect that the User Agent string is decoded as follows:

Obviously, you substitute 8700 with your model number...

VendorID is your vendor ID (ie your carrier's 3 digit code).

4.1.0 Profile is your OS version.

Not sure about the MIDP and CLDC codes....

Okay people I have decoded the GMail installation procedures. These instructions are to download the latest version v2.0.6 of GMail.

I did not see this posted previously, so I apologize if this has already been covered.

Google organizes its software in folders based on your OS version...

Examples:
The "BlackBerry-41" folder is correlated to your OS.

So, with that in mind, let's begin.

1) You need to figure out our BlackBerry's OS version. Once you've done that you can proceed to downloading the GoogleMail.jad file.

2) To figure our your GoogleMail.jad file, you will need to use the following decoder to figure out the folder.

OS Version 4.0 to 4.1, use the folder BlackBerry-40
OS Version 4.1 to 4.2, use the folder BlackBerry-41
OS Version 4.2 to 4.3, use the folder BlackBerry-42
OS Version 4.3 to 4.6, use the folder BlackBerry-43
OS Version 4.6 to 4.7, use the folder BlackBerry-46
OS Version 4.7 to 5.0, use the folder BlackBerry-47

So, let's say you are running OS version 4.5, you will use the following URL to download your GoogleMail.jad file:
3) Now you need to open the GoogleMail.jad file using a text editor. You should see something like this:
I have bolded the lines you are interested in. The number of .cod files will vary based on your OS. Make sure you download all of them.

The URL to download those files are:
Download all the .cod files and put them all in the same folder.

4) Now you need to create your own .alx file. I recommend using a text editor like notepad. Make sure your .alx file is located in the same folder as your .cod files!

In our above example for OS 4.5 there's a total of six .cod files. Therefore, we need to reference all six .cod files in our .alx file.

Sample .alx file-
I've bolded the parts you need to pay attention. Make sure that the <version>2.0.6</version> is the same as the version of Google Mail you've downloaded. Then add in the .cod filenames as indicated above.

5) You're done. You should be able to install now.

thanks for the great post!

i'm guessing the installation for google sync can be done in the same manner? just need to find the gSync download urls...

Yes Google Sync has similar instructions:

1) To get the .jad file-

Again substitute the BlackBerry-43 folder name as necessary.

2) .jad file looks like-

3) Download link for the .cod files-

Again, modify the file name as necessary to get all the .cod file listed by the .jad file.

4) Your .alx file should look like-

you're awesome, warreng24!

i wish i knew how to find these urls, they're gold.

Find someone with the same device and have them download/install the app. Then have them run the device switch wizard and save the backup files for you (see link below). Then all you need is the {pin}.alx and the gm_42_L1 files from the backup. You can then install the app from the backup files.

The steps for the 3rd party apps backup process:
How do I backup my Third Party Applications on my BB? - BlackBerryFAQ

I picked up my first BlackBerry on December 19 without BES/BIS and I found this thread just in time. I'm a heavy Gmail user so this helps a huge deal. Thank you warreng24, you're a saviour!

Quick question; how can we update to the latest Gmail software? How do you find the URL for the latest Gmail app version?

One way is to occasionally check the gmail version in a different BlackBerry that's registered to BIS and visited m.google.com for updates.. but is there another way for us non-BIS/BES users?

Will the "Update Software" feature in the Blackberry Desktop Manager work for GMail and GSync?

Here's a link to a ZIP file containing all ALX/COD files you need to get GMail 2.0.6:
rapidshare.com/files/177739013/GoogleMail_2.0.6_for_BB.zip.html