Configuring IMAP Based Gmail on Windows Mobile 6.1

On Windows Mobile 6 phones, if you want to add Gmail to the email account list, there will be a wizard that automatically configures your Gmail account using POP3, which works fine.

However, as Google just enabled IMAP access for Gmail, you may want to switch over to IMAP because that way you can view the same set of folders/emails right on the server without downloading a local copy.

The problem is, how to bypass that automatic email setup wizard (it always sets up using POP3 once you entered your gmail account at the first step)?

Play this trick: when you are first prompted to enter your email address, just type in some garbage like aaa@bbb.com. Then you will not be forced to use that automatic setup wizard (POP3); instead, select IMAP as the account type, then manually type in IMAP server and SMTP server addresses as described here. After that, go back to the account settings, change your email address to the real one you use with Gmail.

Well, yes, there should be a better way of bypassing that wizard.

Update: It turns out on Windows Mobile 6, there is a box you can uncheck to disable 'Get Settings automatically from the Internet". On 6.1, however, no such option exisit.