Back in the hunt for better e-mail

This post is much more about "smart busy" than it is about "TV". I'm always looking for ways to improve my electronic communications. And for better or worse, most of those communications revolves around e-mail. I use my Treo 650 cell phone quite a bit for phone calls, and I text-message my wife and close friends/co-workers quite frequently. But outside of face-to-face contact, I spend more time communicating via e-mail than any other means. So I'm always looking to do it better, faster, for less money.

Here's my set up right now. I pay a yearly fee for an account with a Microsoft Exchange host, 4SmartPhone.net. That allows me to sync e-mail, calendar items, contacts and tasks between my laptop and my Treo. On my Treo, I use the pre-installed VersaMail to sync the calendar, but I use ChatterMail for real-time e-mail delivery to my Treo. Because I can't use my personal laptop at work (FOX won't allow outside PC access to the network), I use Outlook Web Access via my 4SmartPhone.net account. Via OWA, I can access all my Outlook data in real-time via any PC, including the PC at my newsroom desk.

The Treo-delivered e-mail works great. I highly recommend ChatterMail as an e-mail client, and it gives me Blackberry-like e-mail access for a reasonable price. I pay 4SmartPhone $84 a year for the Exchange/Outlook account, and I paid ChatterMail a flat $40 one-time fee for their software.

On paper, the whole setup works. I only have to handle each e-mail once. If I delete an e-mail on my Treo, it's in my trash bin when I open my laptop or log in to OWA. It's all the same e-mail box, all in real-time.

There are two drawbacks to my complicated scheme. First, the 4SmartPhone OWA implmentation is very slow. Frequently it will take 8-10 seconds for an e-mail to load when I'm accessing e-mail via the web. Second, Microsoft's Exchange/OWA product is almost 4 years old, and it's showing its age. There are better web e-mail clients out there using more advanced web technologies (AJAX and Flash, for two). Check out the new Yahoo Mail. They bought out the old OddPost client, and they integrated those technologies into their new mail system. It's very slick and responds very quickly. But Yahoo Mail doesn't allow IMAP access, so I couldn't use it as a real-time e-mail system for my Treo. Same with GMail - no IMAP access. I want a slick web e-mail client that's compatible with my Treo and laptop e-mail setups.

Mark Cuban's BlogMaverick turned me on to a new e-mail product, goowy.com. It's a very powerful desktop-replacement system, which in effect allows you to have the same desktop tools (most in widget-format -- they call them "mini's") at your service no matter which PC you use. And goowy's e-mail client is very cool. Goowy's still in development, but you can get your own account. They're not offering IMAP access yet, so I can't switch over, but this has promise.

I've also looked at BlueTie and Roundcube. The former is a new e-mail/calendar/groupware system for businesses. It looks cool, but probably too much group-focused to serve my individual needs. Roundcube has potential as a standalone server/client e-mail system, but I'd have to build my own IMAP server to use it.

Anyone using something really cool? I need real-time e-mail, plus Treo-syncable calendar/tasks/contacts. I prefer Treos to Blackberries because I can do more with the Treo (camera, games, other software apps). I'll pay a small monthly fee for fast, professional, accessible e-mail without ads.