Buckeyemail: OSU's new webmail

As I prepare to begin my first year of grad school and get myself together for the re-adjustment of returning to school I have stumbled across a very welcome change in OSU's webmail system. The university recently has switched from the very limited "webmail" system to its new "Buckeye Mail" via MS Outlook. So what's new, besides having to add the annoyingly long "@buckeyemail.osu.edu" to your address (which technically is not necessary for most pratical uses)?

The new system provides a number of upgrades. Students get more storage space plus all of the advantages of Outlook, plus a 25GB skydrive account. My, favorite new feature however, is the abiltiy to sync your mobile device using the exchange server. This is something I'm sure most students will not even realize they have access to, but given that the majority of students have some form of smart phone or pda it could be a great asset.

This feature which is really easy to set up can be located from the options menu in your Buckeyemail account. It will walk you through the step by step procedure for your device. It will allow you to sync your account; coordinating emails, contacts, calendars, and tasks across multiple devices! This is very usuful, and if your like me it will help you really keep up with all the hundreds of things you have to do everyday.

I currently have my phone and iTouch syncd up wit it and I love it. It provides a way to seemlessly connect your account with your devices so that any changes made on one automatically update on the other. I can keep up with my email, update my caledar online and then have my entire class schedule on my phone so I know where I am supposed to be. If you own an iTouch this another great way you can use it. OSU is probably one of the best places to own an iTouch since there is wifi everywhere allowing your iTouch to do damn near everything the iPhone does except make calls (and actually you can indirectly do that). So now in addition to providing almost endless entertainment in almost every form my iTouch also has all my contacts, school, email and calendar.

Keep in mind that if you use this dependig on your setting and your device you WILL consume more battery power. So its up to you to set your device to sync at a rate that fits your needs. You can have it update instantly but that will typically use more power. I suggest testing it and then adjusting the sync frequency as needed. You can choose on most devices between, instant updates (more power consumption) or set it to sync at different time intervals (less checks = less power consumption)

Considering the ease of use all students should be using this its a good look on OSU's part especially consiodereing all the money we have to kick out to them.