Mobile phone users are buzzing about Google's ineffective IMAP service for Gmail on Windows Mobile.

Users point to battery drains and slow service as cause for dissatisfaction. But most vexing for Windows Mobile users is that they can't see their Gmail email.

"If you're using IMAP on a Windows Mobile 5 or 6 phone, emails downloaded in HTML format may not be displayed in your IMAP mail client," Google posted on its Gmail site. "While headers may be downloaded, the body of the message may appear empty."

Beyond blank email messages, users have complained that IMAP, which is an acronym for Internet Message Access Protocol, dramatically drains the battery on Windows Mobile phones. Others complain that Gmail IMAP servers are slow.

Gmail users have been waiting for Google to fix the glitch on Windows Mobile devices since early October.

Google does not officially support the Gmail application for Windows Mobile devices.

But in its defense, Google developers are currently collaborating with experts to resolve the Windows Mobile incompatibility issues.

"Since we launched Gmail, our goal has been to make it accessible wherever and whenever our users need it, whether on the Web interface, on desktop clients or on mobile devices," said a Google spokesperson.

"We're actively working with the Windows Mobile team to fix the problem, and we hope to have this resolved as soon as possible," the spokesperson said.

With IMAP, users can send and receive messages on their mobile phones. When they do so, their changes are synched -- the updated inbox appears the next time the user accesses their email.

Gmail works fine on the Apple iPhone platform. It also functions on the latest Verizon LG Voyager mobile device, which uses an Internet Explorer browser.