Make IMAP Gmail work on blackberry

If you enter your Google email address when prompted, there is no way to configure advanced settings to make IMAP accounts work. In fact, I called Orange and was told that their Blackberries do not support IMAP with Gmail, and it does not work.

But they are wrong. It does work - you need to enter an email address that is not one of the major commercial providers, but does host email accounts. I used a fake email alias @ a domain I know has a working mail record: siteaboutnothing.com

Then, as you follow the prompts, choose "Advanced settings" or similar, and you are able to set the server to imap.gmail.com and change the email address back to your gmail account.

I now have it set up so messages marked as read on my phone are sync'ed with my main gmail account and I don't have to manage two accounts at once.