Taking The Google Sync Plunge On My iPhone

Although I always wanted push functions on my iPhone, I never wanted to pay the $99/year for MobileMe.  Plus, my main e-mail address is on Gmail and I don't want to change at this point.

So, it was to my great surprise that Google Sync is now available for the iPhone.  It syncs my contacts and calendars WIRELESSLY between Google and my iPhone.  Eventually, Gmail will be added to the sync and I will be able to get Gmail pushed to my iPhone.

Here's a video of what Google Sync does:

I was a little bit wary of taking the Google Sync plunge, especially since setting it up will ERASE all of the contacts on your iPhone!  But after making the switch, all you have to do is follow a few simple steps here: Google Sync^Beta for your iPhone

After backing up your contacts in Google and setting up your iPhone to sync with Google, it's a good idea to go through your contacts because it will be messed up.  I decided to merge the contacts on my iPhone with the contacts in Google.  In Google, your contacts are separated into at least two different groups: "All Contacts" and "Your Contacts."  "Your Contacts" are synced to your iPhone and "All Contacts" is not.  So, you might have to move some contacts to the group that syncs with your iPhone.  I also have had to manually merge a bunch of contacts so that the e-mail addresses and mobile phone numbers are now in one contact space.  Also, if you're missing a contact on your iPhone, check your "All Contacts" list.  I had to move some of them.

I have to admit that it was a fairly painless process.  And I can't wait until Gmail supports push.