Recently, I've gotten back into BB. I was using the iPhone for quite a while and lately, it's beenxxx8230; uhxxx8230; less reliable. Decided to put the iPhone aside. Plus, it hasn't been unlocked. Not a good phone to use when traveling.

So, I picked up a Bold. I have a non-active 8800 somewhere in the house.

Anyway, I've a few questions that I'd like to ask the gurus & jedis here.

Oh, before anything, maybe I should give a bit more info about my background/usage:

I'm a graphic designer, receiving lots of attachments online. Proofs and what not. Lately, I've been working outside the house/traveling overseas more often. Getting online can be proven a challenge. As long as I can read my Email/look at my proofs, I'm safe. I don't roam, I tend to pickup locals' PAYG's Berry accounts, yes, they exist in some countries. Amazing.

I'm with Rogers Wireless. I have a BIS add-on with them.

But I've been reading some more, and I want to get more out of the Berry that I have. So, naturally, it'll be a BES account.

1) Gmail Folder Syncs:
I don't understand why the emails I sent from my Blackberry, doesn't get copied to Gmail's "Sent Email" folder; albeit not making it to my Macs' Sent folder in Mail.app. I've set the Gmail accounts in BIS to be under IMAP (as oppose to pop. I had to manually set it up this way, instead of letting BIS chose the setup). Yes, I don't get copies of emails I sent from Gmail on my Blackberry (no filter trick, just plain IMAP), but I'd still like to see the emails I sent from my Blackberry to be copied over to Gmail + Macs.

2) Contacts + Calendars Syncs (as of now, hosted by Google):
As of right now, I'm using Gmail/gCal to host my contacts/calendars. There's no direct access from Mac OS X to them, unless I use my browsers. Well, AddressBook.app can sync with Gmail, but I'd have to use an iPhone (or I think I can just pull out iSync, and do a force sync). AFAIK, iCal does NOT have Exchange support, but I know AddressBook.app has Exchange support. Now, if I end up with BES, how will I sync all of these? How do I control my contacts/calendars on Google? It would be really nice for me to be able to use AddressBook and iCal again, since I often check/try to manage my calendar from 35K above the ground. Google hasn't fully implemented Offline Access yet :(. I DO NOT want to use Entourage (product of the devil!)

3) What are some of the other benefits of having BES over Rogers' BIS, aside from per-folder Email syncs, and PIM syncs?

4) What are the requirements?
I know I need my own domain name (I've got one)

Thanks for reading

First and biggest condition for BES is that you'd need your own email server (exchange,lotus..). Having BES has nothing to do with BIS or your gmail setup. You'll still have the same issues as now. Are you using gmail or google apps (with your own domain name email addresses)? Benefits of having BES? Will do everything you wanted in your post.

I downloaded the Gmail Blackberry App. but I don't like using it. I like everything to be native and integrated. That's why I'm still using the native Blackberry Email client.

I have my @gmail addresses tied to my BIS. I have yet to tie in my google.com/a/ addresses to my BIS.

But yes, I have my own domain. And all my domain's email is hosted by Google at the moment.

Unfortunately you can't have BES features using BIS service. That's bottom line. You may try and use imap and google mobile sync (for calendar and contacts wireless sync) etc and will get you around but it is not going to be the same as having BES and exchange in place where everything seem to be seamless and works great.

Oh, BES will work with Gmail? Or you mean Google hosted Email (Google.com/a/)?

No. Bes will not work with neither. If you want to stick with either thing then BES is out of the picture. BES is an option only if you have your own domain and exchange/lotus email server. But judging by your answer this might not be an option at all. What I meant is that BES would do all those wireless sync/reconcile for enterprise email server users.

I just did a test. I have my gmail setup an account via my BIS rather than the gmail application (I dont like that either). I have that setup as POP with a filter not to forward emails from my address to my bb. I sent an email from my bb and checked online and it was in my sent items on my gmail account page.

Try using imap.gmail.com instead of pop, for sending and recieving emails.