Probably like many of you, I received my new Google Privacy Policy via email this week, and while couched in language about creating a more “beautiful” experience for us, the users — read: products — it’s also clearly about Google leveraging their popular services like Search and Gmail to help their new services, like Google+, become competitive with Facebook and Twitter.

Because Facebook and Twitter scare the shit out of Google and when companies, like people, are scared they do dumb things.

Google in particular, once the brash, brazen upstart that gave the proverbial middle finger to old, portal-style search sites and promised to always deliver the best results, not just the best Google-owned results, is struggling with their inner demons now. They don’t want to be replaced by social search the way their authoritative search replaced Yahoo! and Alta Vistas of old.

I’ve riffed before that any company sufficiently large is indistinguishable from evil. As they grow, as they face competitive pressures, the interests and agendas of their shareholders, stakeholders, and executives increasingly and more noticeably diverge from the interests of their users. From us.

They, like many of us, become the parents they used to despise.

Why does this matter to me and why am I posting it on iMore, an iPhone and iPad focused site? Because I’m a huge user of Google services and iPhone and iPad users in general are huge users of Google’s services. We use Google Search, Gmail, Maps, YouTube, and other services every day. We give Google massive amounts of personal information. We give them our trust. And that absolutely means we have both the right and obligation to hold them to that trust.

According to Sarah Lacey at PandoDaily, Google’s new, “don’t be don’t be evil” direction has become a concern even for many Googlers past and present, and the silence surrounding it is stymying even internal PR.

Good. This shouldn’t be easy. It should be messy and public and painful, and if Google wants to keep getting and using our data, they should keep earning that privilege.

Hopefully the rumors of Larry Page not wanting to hear any opposition to their new Google+ strategy are false, and like Apple and Facebook have sometimes done in the past, Google’s more unpopular new policies will be reversed, and soon.

Check the source link below for more on the issues surrounding Google’s new, more publicly evil direction, and read on for the new privacy policy in full.

More: Page Rage Escalates As Google Cancels Twitter Android Meeting

Dear Google user,

We’re getting rid of over 60 different privacy policies across Google and replacing them with one that’s a lot shorter and easier to read. Our new policy covers multiple products and features, reflecting our desire to create one beautifully simple and intuitive experience across Google.

We believe this stuff matters, so please take a few minutes to read our updated Privacy Policy and Terms of Service at http://www.google.com/policies. These changes will take effect on March 1, 2012.

One policy, one Google experience

Easy to work across Google

Our new policy reflects a single product experience that does what you need, when you want it to. Whether you’re reading an email that reminds you to schedule a family get-together or finding a favorite video that you want to share, we want to ensure you can move across Gmail, Calendar, Search, YouTube, or whatever your life calls for with ease.

Tailored for you

If you’re signed into Google, we can do things like suggest search queries – or tailor your search results – based on the interests you’ve expressed in Google+, Gmail, and YouTube. We’ll better understand which version of Pink or Jaguar you’re searching for and get you those results faster.

Easy to share and collaborate

When you post or create a document online, you often want others to see and contribute. By remembering the contact information of the people you want to share with, we make it easy for you to share in any Google product or service with minimal clicks and errors.

Protecting your privacy hasn’t changed

Our goal is to provide you with as much transparency and choice as possible, through products like Google Dashboard and Ads Preferences Manager, alongside other tools. Our privacy principles remain unchanged. And we’ll never sell your personal information or share it without your permission (other than rare circumstances like valid legal requests).

Got questions?

We’ve got answers.

Visit our FAQ at http://www.google.com/policies/faq to read more about the changes. (We figured our users might have a question or twenty-two.)

Notice of Change

March 1, 2012 is when the new Privacy Policy and Terms will come into effect. If you choose to keep using Google once the change occurs, you will be doing so under the new Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.

Please do not reply to this email. Mail sent to this address cannot be answered. Also, never enter your Google Account password after following a link in an email or chat to an untrusted site. Instead, go directly to the site, such as mail.google.com or www.google.com/accounts. Google will never email you to ask for your password or other sensitive information.

The official Gmail blog just posted a pretty lengthy entry explaining the changes to their newly updated Gmail app for iOS. While the update doesn’t seem to be a huge one, it does bring some much wanted additions –

• Nested Label Improvements
• (iOS 5 only) A new custom sound for sound notifications
• Mobile Signature and Vacation Responder, accessible via the gear settings icon at the top of the menu view
• Numerous bug fixes and UI improvements

I personally have my Gmail account set up via the native mail app and that works fine for me. If you’re a hardcore Gmail user that lives by labels and the “Gmail way” of handling mail, this is an update you’ll most likely want to check out. The Gmail app for iOS is available for free in the App Store and the update is available now.

• App Store Link

Sent is a Gmail client for iPhone that’s decidedly more native than Google’s own, still disappointing Gmail app. It also offers multiple account support. But before you get too excited it’s $4.99 and doesn’t offer push notifications (yet?). It also asks you to login to your Google account right inside the app, rather than sending you to Google’s web page for authorization. Maybe that doesn’t work for 3rd party clients, but it does work for my security paranoid brain that flinches at the thought of putting my creds into 3rd party app. The internet birthed Xauth for a reason, after all.

Whether you like the idea of a separate app for Gmail or not — and I personally don’t — it would be nice to see Google take some of their search billions — nicely fed by iOS devices, thank you! — and make the first party app a lot of people are still waiting for.

$4.99 – App Store link

Features:

• Fast
• Conversation view
• Gmail search (e.g. “before:2011/10/01 in:important has:attachment”)
• Stars and labels
• Attach photos
• Support multiple accounts
• Gmail Motion support
• Nope, just kidding

Ha. Ha. It’s not for me, but if it is for you and you try it out, let me know how it compares to Google’s app and/or web app.

The once pulled, now updated, GMail application is again available for downloading through the App Store. The previous build was approved and quickly pulled after some issues with Push Notification, and we have been waiting for the application to surface again. For those who still have it installed, the updated advises that you delete the previous version, and then install this version instead of just updating this one over the previous build. With no errors on launch, and notifications pushing, could this update be what we had hoped to see originally? Hit the link below to grab it for yourself, and let us know how it works out for you.

Free – AppStore Link

Do you have just one main account? Do you have separate accounts, and/or use separate services for work and for personal use? Do you have multiple accounts for a bunch of different stuff? Do you forward most or all of them to the same place? Do you even setup all your email accounts on your iPhone or do you leave some off? Would you recommend what you’re using to a friend, or something else?

How are you handling email on your iPhone? Vote in the poll up top and then give me the details in the comments below!

Phil from Android Central put the brand new (and currently pulled for bug fixes) Gmail for iPhone and iPad app on an iPhone 4 and iPad 2 running iOS 5 against the Gmail app on a Samsung Nexus S running Gingerbread and a Galaxy Tab 10.1 running Honeycomb.

It’s easy to see Google took the easy way out with Gmail for iOS, going for a tragically thin native wrapper around the similar-old web content. Maybe they’re still limited by the iOS SDK, maybe they want to keep Android as the premiere Gmail experience (and who could blame them?), maybe it’s a hormone thing, or maybe they just want to prove Facebook isn’t the only rich, powerful web company that can’t release a stable iOS app, who knows?

Hopefully Google takes this as an opportunity to learn and gives their massive iPhone and iPad wielding user base a new Gmail app worthy of the name. And of Google.

Source: Android Central

Google released their new Gmail for iPhone and iPad app today and due to some launch-time bugs involving push notifications, TiPb’s getting a lot of questions about Notification Error “no valid ‘aps-environment’ entitlement string found for application, what it means, and what can be done about it.

Short answer: It means Google messed up Push Notifications and there’s nothing you can do about it until Google fixes it and Apple pushes out that fix.

Long answer: We reached out to Paul Haddad of Tapbots and Tweetbot fame to get a better informed idea of what’s going on, and this is what he was kind enough to share:

In the iOS Provisioning Portal you need to various different certificates. For all apps you’ll normally generate a Development, AdHoc distribution and Store distribution certificates. For push enabled apps you also need to generate Development and Production Push certificates.

What I think happens is that most people start by generating and downloading the 3 standard certificates and at some later point generate the Push certificates. However when you create the Push certificates it modifies the standard certificates in some way that tells the OS that it can be used for push notifications. You’ll often re-generate/download the Development and AdHoc certificates as you add new devices for testing, but you only have to re-genrate the Store certificates once a year when renewing with Apple.

So again what Google probably did is create the standard certificates, then create the Push certificates and didn’t re-generate/download the Store certificate. It’s a really easy mistake to make and there’s no indication of a problem anywhere within the submission process to Apple. It’s also a pretty trivial thing to fix and I’d expect Google to re-submit and Apple to expedite the release pretty quickly.

It does make me wonder why Apple didn’t catch this issue, my guess is something about the way they run apps prevents this error from showing up.

As far as I know the only way to see if this is a problem or not is to run the following command

codesign -dvvvv –entitlements – .app

and look for the following two lines in the output

aps-environment production

Thanks Paul!

Google has officially announced a native Gmail app for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Yes, you read that right. No, this isn’t a dream. You finally — finally — have native Gmail, stars, labels, attachments, and all, on iOS.

[Google] has created a new Gmail app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. We’ve combined your favorite features from the Gmail mobile web app and iOS into one app so you can be more productive on the go. It’s designed to be fast, efficient and take full advantage of the touchscreen and notification capabilities of your device. And it’s one more reason to switch to Gmail.

Google says Gmail for iOS has been optimized for speed, efficiency, and touch, and includes nice little iOS-nods like “pull down to refresh”. It might be so good even I won’t mind having two separate apps for email…

Go grab it and let us know what you think, and if you don’t see it in the App Store yet, hang tight. It takes a while to propagate through Apple’s servers, but it should be any time now. (One down, 4 to go, 2 months left…)

Free – App Store link

Update 1: Push notification broken, app disappointing

Looks like it’s a thin app wrapper around a WebView with push notification already broken. Hopefully a fix is on the way, not to mention a major update to include features like multiple account support.

Update 2: Google pulls Gmail for iOS

Google has pulled the app to fix the error. If you’re curious about the error, here’s an explanation.

MG Siegler, blogging on his own parislemon site says multiple sources are telling him that the stars have finally aligned for a native Gmail iPhone app>

Perhaps the biggest issue with using Gmail through the iPhone’s native mail client is that Gmail is not Push-enabled. Yes, you can hack it to work through Exchange, but then you lose other functionality, such as the ability to star messages via flags. The native Gmail app will likely bring other key functionality as well: like Priority Inbox and one-click starring of messages. Other possibilities include some of the stuff Google is about to roll out for Gmail proper: like contact icons, better threading, and deep searching functionality. Maybe there will even be some Google+ integration, which Google is also hard at work on for Gmail.

While Google’s Gmail has handy features, they’ve never made it play nicely enough with regular IMAP or Exchange mail to have Stars translate to Flags, and Labels to efficiently correlate the Folders. Because of this, Android has annoyed me for years by having separate mail apps for standard email and for Gmail. A real unified inbox across multiple accounts, Gmail and non-Gmail alike is compelling. For power Gmail users, however, a native iOS Gmail app is likely even more compelling.

Let’s see how well Google can pull it off.

Source parislemon

Google has updated its web app for Gmail with the inclusion of pull down to refresh, new transitions and updated icons to take advantage of the Retina display of the iPhone 4.

• You can now pull down to refresh your message list and conversation on all iOS devices. To refresh, simply touch the message list, drag downwards and release.
• For those of you using Gmail for mobile on an iPhone 4 Retina display, the icons and graphics are now at a higher resolution, making Gmail for mobile sharper.
• When you tap on a conversation, tap back to the inbox, go to the menu or go back, the view will slide left or right. This new transition animation is a quick, small indication that makes the view change feel smoother.

[The Official Gmail Blog]

Have a email account with multiple aliases and curious how to send email from those aliases on iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad? While Apple made this easy on Mac by letting you simply type a comma and string the aliases together, iOS doesn’t allow you to enter commas, so no easy aliases. Luckily, however, we have a work around! To find out how to get your mail aliases working, follow along after the break!

In this example, leanna@smartphoneexperts.com is the main email address and leanna@tipb.com is the alias.

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap Mail, Contacts, Calendars
3. Tap Add Account…
4. Select Other (Do not select Gmail! This is key.)
5. Select Add Mail Account.
6. In the Address field, enter the alias you wish to use and fill out the rest of your information. Tap Next.
7. Make sure IMAP is selected.
8. For the Incoming Mail Server, enter the following (if Gmail):
   • Host Name: imap.gmail.com
   • User Name: your main Gmail address (not your alias). In our example, that’s leanna@smartphoneexperts.com
   • Password: your password
9. For the Outgoing Mail Server, do not enter your Gmail information. You must use a different server in order for your sent emails to show as from your alias. I used my ISP’s (Comcast) outgoing server information.
10. Tap next.
11. Wait for account to verify.
12. Select if you want to sync mail and notes.
13. Tap Save.

Now you can send emails from your alias! However, with this current set up, you are not able to send emails from your main address. If you want that ability, follow these next steps.

1. Open the Notes app.
2. In a new (or existing) note, type a comma, followed by a space and your main email address. For example:
   • , leanna@smartphoneexperts.com
   • If you have more aliases, you can add those too.
3. Copy the text string.
4. Go back to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars and tap on the account you just added.
5. Tap account.
6. In the IMAP Account Information section, put the curser at the end of the Address field.
7. Paste.
8. Tap done.

There you go! Now you can send emails from your alias or main address! Take note that whichever address you listed first in the Address field is the default address for this account; however, Mail will choose the correct address when replying to emails.

Let us know if you have any questions!

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to news@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)

Google has updated Google Sync for iOS devices, a service that lets iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users sync with Google’s Gmail, Calendar and Contacts via Microsoft’s ActiveSync protocol.

Google Sync keeps your phone’s native mail and calendar apps in sync with your Gmail, Calendar and Contacts. Today, three new updates to Google Sync for iOS will allow you to:

• Search all your emails in Gmail, not just the emails stored locally by the iOS mail app.
• Accept, decline or edit calendar events from the iOS calendar app.
• Send email from the address you want. We recognize that some of you manage multiple email addresses from a single Gmail account.Gmail’s “Send Mail as” feature lets you send messages with another email address listed as the sender instead of your Gmail address, e.g. joe@altostrat.com instead of joe@gmail.com. Now the iOS mail app will respect these settings.

All of these are welcomed additions to Google Sync, specifically the ability to search all mail in Gmail instead of just what’s stored on the device — right from the native Mail app in iOS.

Let us know how these new features are working for you in the comments!

[Google Blog via Phonescoop]

While the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad come with built in, Apple made Gmail, Maps, and YouTube native apps, Google also provides Google made Gmail, Maps, and YouTube web apps. Apple native apps gain all the benefits of being part of the OS, including attachments, uploads, contact integration, etc. but Google updates their web apps quickly, gives you labels, stars, and ties them into the rest of your Google info, and keeps the experience the same regardless of the device you’re using.

Do you have a preference? Do you prefer Apple’s design and the unique iOS look and feel of Mail, Maps, and YouTube, or you prefer the Google vibe and want everything to look like the web regardless of where you’re accessing it from?

Apple vs. Google. Native vs. Web.

Vote in the poll and give me the details in the comments!

Apple’s latest ad wants you to buy a $500+ tablet computer that runs App Store apps. Apple wants to sell you shiny things to make money.

Google’s latest ad wants you to store personal details about your child’s life, from birth, on their servers. Google wants your data so they can sell it (aggregated and anonymized, of course) to others to make money.

Taken in that context, Apple’s ad might be obnoxious and highly commercial, but Google’s is downright creepy.

That’s not an Apple fanboy perspective, that’s a privacy fanboy perspective. And it’s not iPhone vs. Android either. iPhone users use tons of Google services, including Gmail, Maps, and Search, and YouTube built in, and Voice, Latitude, etc. available via apps. Given over a 100 million iOS devices, we’re a huge part of Google’s user base, and a valuable part. And for the record, I haven’t liked some of Apple’s recent ads either.

But I do think about how each company makes money and what they have to sell to make that money. Apple makes almost all their money selling hardware products — selling to you. Google makes almost all their money selling advertising — selling you. (Or in this case, your child. Seriously.)

I’m not telling anyone to stop using Google, far from it. I’m a huge Google user myself. What I’m saying is this is not really a good ad.

(Note: As Apple ramps up iAds, this’ll be a concern for iOS users as well.)

Both videos after the break.

UPDATE: Again, I’m a huge user of Google services — this is not intended to scare anyone but simply to inform users, so users can make better informed decisions. Convenience and security are always at odds, and choosing the convenience of free cloud services like Google’s sacrifices the security of your personal information. I currently find that an acceptable compromise. If you don’t have a problem with it either, than good for you. Enjoy. As long as we all know the deal.

Using both MobileMe and Gmail, or Google Accounts and Exchange, or any mix of multiple accounts on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch and curious how to reduce the clutter by linking them into a single, unified entry? It’s easy to do, provided the contacts meet a few simple formatting criteria. We’ll show you how, after the break!

Let’s say you have a colleague who’s also a friend. You have his home contact information syncing with MobileMe and his business details syncing in Exchange. It’s handy to keep them separate in theory but it’s annoying to have them that way on your iPhone or iPad in practice. Here’s how you can link the contacts to unify the entry:

1. Make sure you’ve set up more than one account on your device
2. Make sure the accounts are setup to sync contact
3. Make sure both accounts have the same contact (i.e. if the contact is only in one account, even if it’s duplicated in one account, you can’t link them — you have to have the same contact in two or more different accounts)
4. Make sure the first and last name is identical names. Edit to remove minor variations if you have to (i.e. initial vs. first name).
5. Select the first of the two contacts
6. Tap edit
7. Scroll to the bottom
8. Tap Link Contact (iPhone) or the silhouette icon (iPad)
9. Select the second contact
10. Tap link
11. That’s it, they’re linked!

You now have a single, linked contact and Unified Info will be shown on the top bar to remind you when you view it.

If you want to unlink a contact:

1. Select the unified contact you want to unlink
2. Tap edit
3. Scroll to the bottom
4. Tap the red circle
5. Tap the read unlink button to confirm
6. And they’re unlinked

Bonus Tip: If you have one account set up on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, and then add another, iOS will automatically link any accounts that have identical names — so you may already have linked accounts.

If you have any other cool contact tips to share with us, drop them in the comments!

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)

Google has announced a small improvement to its Gmail mobile web experience. Starting today you now have an undo bar that allows you to undo certain actions.

Sometimes when I’m using Gmail on my phone, I delete a message by mistake or label it incorrectly. Sure I can fish the message out of my Trash or remove the label and apply the correct one, but that takes several steps. Even just a few seconds is usually enough time to catch those annoying mistakes.

Do any of our readers use Gmail in mobile Safari? Is this a handy improvement? Let us know in the comments!

[Google Mobile Blog]

Coming from another platform where you’re used to the Gmail app on Android or the instant push of BlackBerry mail and curious how to get that on your iPhone? Well good news — Google licensed Exchange ActiveSync from Microsoft and offers Google Sync for iPhone (and other devices). So if you set up your Gmail (or Google Account) as an Exchange account you get push email, calendars, and contacts. We’ll show you how after the break!

Setting up Gmail as Exchange/Google Sync is easy provided you ignore that giant Gmail button on the mail account screen and choose Exchange instead. Here are the steps:

1. Launch the Settings app.
2. Tap Mail, Contacts, Calendars.
3. Tap Add Account.
4. Tap Microsoft Exchange.
5. For Email, enter your full Gmail or Google Account email address (i.e. name@gmail.com or name@mygoogleaccountdomain.com).
6. Leave the Domain field blank. (Really.)
7. Again, enter your Gmail or Google Account email address as the Username. (Yup, that’s twice.)
8. Enter your Gmail/Google Account password for Password.
9. Tap Next.
10. When the Server field appears, enter m.google.com.
11. Tap Next.
12. Select what you want to sync (Mail, Calendar, and Contacts).

WARNING: Your iPhone will ask if you want to delete all existing data and replace it with Google data, or merge the two. What you choose depends on how you store your data. If everything is in the Google Cloud, choose replace. If you have a mix of data from, for example, Outlook as well, choose merge.

If you’ve got an questions or any Gmail tips of your own, let us know! And power users, especially if you’re coming from Android, check out our how to get a better Gmail experience tip!

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)

Switching to the Verizon iPhone, or any iPhone, from BlackBerry or Droid (or another Android phone) and curious how to transfer your data over? We’ve already told you how to switch from AT&T iPhone to Verizon iPhone, but crossing platforms can seem like a bigger headache. It isn’t. There’s lots of services available to help you transfer data from one device to another. Keep reading for some simple suggestions that can make the process of going from BlackBerry or Droid/Android to the iPhone just a little easier for you.

There are two main ways to move all your data over to iPhone: desktop sync via iTunes and cloud sync via Google, Yahoo!, Exchange, etc.

iTunes

If you want to move your music, TV shows, movies, photos, and other media over to your new iPhone and you already use iTunes on Mac or Windows PC then it’s pretty easy.

1. Just plug the dock cable into your iPhone and into your PC and your iPhone will show up in iTunes.
2. Go through the tabs and choose what information, media, and photos you want to sync.
3. Press sync

You can sync multiple iOS devices (if you already have an iPad or iPod touch) with one iTunes library or set up multiple iTunes libraries to keep things extra neat and tidy.

Google Sync

Here is a way to use Gmail or Google Sync to transfer your data. If you’re already using a Gmail or Google Account to sync your mail, contacts, and calendars, this process is dead simple. Just make sure you’ve done a sync on your current BlackBerry or Android device.

1. On your new iPhone tap Settings and go to Mail, Contacts, Calendars.

2. You’ll need to add your new account to your iPhone. Simply tap the new account and then Gmail option.
3. If you want full push, you can also set Gmail up as Exchange as well. Visit Google’s Exchange page for instructions on setting up this way.
4. After your account is verified, you can simply choose to sync what items you would like to sync by turning those options On.

5. If a message pops up asking what you’d like to do with the data, choose to replace your iPhone data.

Yahoo! Sync

To perform a sync with Yahoo!, you are essentially going to repeat the same steps you would for Google sync (see above), except you’ll choose Yahoo when you choose your new account type. All the options should be identical when it comes to syncing contacts, calendars, and email accounts.

Exchange and Hotmail

If you’re using Exchange at work, and/or Windows Live Hotmail at home, again the instructions are the same as above just choose Exchange ActiveSync as your account type. (If you have problems with a work account, check with your IT department for the proper settings)

Transferring contacts and calendars from your computer with iTunes

If you don’t use any Google, Yahoo!, Exchange or any online service and you’re just looking to transfer your contacts to your iPhone, you can do that too. Whether you have Windows or Mac, you can transfer contacts from your current smartphone to your iPhone pretty easily.

1. Plug your old device into the computer and sync them with either Outlook, Exchange, or Mac Address book. This process is pretty easy but varies from device to device, so you may need to refer to your specific device instructions in order to do this. If you still have an issue doing this, head on over to the Verizon iPhone Forum for some expert switcher advice and help.
2. Once your contacts are already on your computer, you can plug your new iPhone into your computer.
3. Open iTunes and click the Info tab under your iPhone sync settings.
4. You will see a Contacts option. Select that and choose what contacts you would like to be synced to your phone.

5. Click sync and wait for iTunes to do its thing. When complete, your contacts should now be on your new iPhone.

Note: You may have noticed iTunes has native options to configure Yahoo! or Gmail sync. You are more than welcome to use these options as well. They are just as easy. You can also choose to sync calendars via iTunes as well. Use whatever process is going to be more convenient for you on an ongoing basis.

Transferring photos from your old device to your new iPhone [PC users]

1. Simply sync or transfer the photos from your old device into your photos on your Windows PC. Whether you choose to do this with your actual device, or from removable storage like an SD card is your choice.
2. Plug your new iPhone into the computer and open iTunes and navigate to the Photos tab.
3. Navigate your way to where you save your photos to your PC when choosing what photos to sync and make sure to choose the pictures you’d like on your phone.
4. Click sync and wait for iTunes to finish. Your photos should now show up in the Photos app on your iPhone.

Transferring photos from your old device to your new iPhone [Mac users]

1. Plug your old device into your Mac and open iPhoto. (If iPhoto doesn’t recognize your Android or Blackberry, simply transfer the pictures from the removable storage in your device, if you have that option.)
2. Your device should show up in the left navigation pane of iPhoto.
3. Name your album and import the photos. Alternately, you could select just the photos you’d like on your new device if you want.

4. Open iTunes and go to the Photos tab. Select the albums or events you’d like to sync to your new iPhone.

5. Click sync and wait for iTunes. After the sync is complete, you should see your new Photos in your Photo app on your iPhone.

Next steps

The iPhone is a pretty easy device to transfer data to. Once you’ve gotten all your data from your other device into a cloud service or on your computer, it should be easy as pie. If you guys have any issues doing any of this, feel free to check out the TiPb Verizon iPhone Forums for answers to many questions.

For more on using your new Verizon iPhone, check out our iPhone Starters Guide.

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to news@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)

Switching from BlackBerry Storm, Bold, Tour, Curve, or Torch to iPhone — maybe the new Verizon iPhone? — and curious which are the best, most must-have apps you need to make yourself feel at home? Well read on for TiPb’s top 5 most recommended, most must-have apps to get your Android experience maximized on iPhone.

Google Sync (Push email, calendar, contacts)

While you’re giving up BIS and BES, you don’t have to give up your addiction to super fast push email, calendar, or contacts and since Google has licensed ActiveSync, you can even get it for free! If you already have a free Gmail or paid Google Account, you’re good to go. Just set it up as an Exchange account on your iPhone and get your push on. If you don’t already have Gmail, go grab an account and then set it up as Exchange. You can even forward your old account or have Gmail fetch it for you so your transition is smooth as silk. [Built-in - Gmail link]

Also check out:

• MobileMe is Apple’s paid push email, calendar, and contacts service that also gives you iDisk cloud storage, photo galleries, and a host of Mac features. [$99/year - MobileMe link]
• Good for Enterprise is for those who want extra secure Exchange or Lotus email on their iPhone. (You’ll need Good on your IT sever side as well.) [Free - iTunes link]
  

Kik (BBM)

BBM put the crack in CrackBerry and leaving it behind is hard to say the least. The good news is you’re leaving a BlackBerry locking but now have access to cross-platform replacements like Kik. It gives you all the real-time sent, received, and read status you crave and if you get your friends onboard, you’ll never miss BBM again — and can probably save on SMS text messages as well. [$0.99 - iTunes link]

Also check out:

• WhatsApp Messenger is similar to to Kik and works on iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, and Nokia. [$0.99 - iTunes link]
• BeeJive isn’t BBM but it is IM and if you’d rather use something more universal, that supports AIM/MobileMe, MSN/Windows Live, Yahoo!, GoogleTalk, Facebook, MySpace and Jabber [$9.99 - iTunes link]
  

Boxcar (Notifications)

While we can’t turn the iPhone 4 LED flash into a notification light for you (yet!) a lot of apps come with built-in push notifications and local notifications that will give you popup alerts, badge number counts, and sounds. Boxcar takes this to the next level with push notifications for Twitter, Facebook, Email, RSS, Growl, Github, Google Voice, Google Buzz, App Recommendation, and more. [Free - iTunes link]

Reeder (RSS/News Feeds)

BlackBerry 6 includes feeds and while that’s far from being a mainstream feature power users will want their RSS — enter Reeder. It syncs with Google Reader accounts and it’s lightning fast. Just tap the app open and start browsing, reading, and sharing your feeds. [$2.99 - iTunes link]

Also check out:

• NetNewsWire isn’t as fast but it’s widely popular and it’s free! [Free - iTunes link]
• Twitter might sound crazy but many sites push their RSS to Twitter so you can follow them or makes lists of your favorite sites and get your news that way. [Free - iTunes link]
  

Jailbreak [Themes/settings]

The App Store has 350,000 apps but due to Apple’s policies there are just some low-level, system-side things they just can’t do. Jailbreak — which “breaks” open the root “jail” and lets you install non-Apple approved apps is an option. With Jailbreak you have access to the Cydia Store, themes and customizations, notifications and easy settings access, and pretty much everything else you can think of and Apple would never approve. Check out our Jailbreak Starters Guide to get you going, our Top 5 Jailbreak apps and Top 5 Jailbreak themes for some of our favorites, and head on over to the Jailbreak Forum for expert help and discussion.

More iPhone apps and games

Once you’ve gotten that Google fix and you’re ready for the best of the rest, check out TiPb’s Top 10 iPhone apps where we list off some of the best, most must-have social networking, communications/IM, productivity, music/internet radio, photography, utility, and location apps, along with casual, time management, and hard core games. We’ve also got an ongoing series of top app lists in different categories and we’re adding more all the time, so keep your eyes peeled!

Your top apps?

So there you have them, our top 5 best iPhone apps for Droid/Android switchers. Be sure to check out our Picks of the Week and iPhone App and Games Forum for more recommendations, and if we missed any of your favorites leave them in the comments below!

Big Google user and interested in getting a better Gmail experience on the iPhone? You can use IMAP or set up Gmail as Exchange via GoogleSync in the Mail app to cover the basics, but you won’t get stars and labels. You can use Gmail.com to get stars and labels, but you won’t get iPhone Contacts integration, attachment viewing, or easy access to multiple accounts. For that you have to get a little more… creative. We’ll show you how after the break.

[Thanks to The Keith Newman for this tip!]

Putting Gmail.com in an app

Gmail.com is a great web app and, of course, really nails the Gmail experience. Since it’s not a native app, however, it can’t do everything a native app can. Enter Mailroom [iTunes link]. It wraps the iPhone-optimized version of Gmail in a native App Store app, creating a hybrid that’s almost the best of both worlds. It does cost $2.99 but for hardcore Gmail users it’s well worth the price.

While it does provide iPhone Contacts integration, attachment viewing, multiple account support, offline mode, labels, stars, threaded conversations, badging of total unread and new message counts, and everything else you’d expect, it doesn’t — yet — support push notifications.

Getting Push Notifications

Google Mobile App

Google Mobile app [iTunes link] is free and does provide push notifications for your Gmail account (and Google Calendar), including the ability to turn off sound notifications during certain times (like when you’re sleeping).

You can’t make Mailroom your default mail client but you can see the badge on Google Mobile and then tap Mailroom instead.

Boxcar

Or you can use Boxcar [iTunes link] instead, also free and a push notification powerhouse, and set it to open Mailroom when you get a Gmail alert.

What would be better?

Sure, it’s not the most straightforward or elegant solution, but until Apple provides more functionality in iOS Mail (like flags and mapping stars to flags!), or Google makes a native iOS Gmail app, it can be just the compromise you need to get more productive on your iPhone.

If you have any questions or any other Gmail tips to share, leave them in the comments!

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)

Despite hundreds of thousands of iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad apps in the App Store, there are still some huge gaps, and major apps missing from the big players, including Apple themselves, Adobe, Google, Microsoft, and BlackBerry maker RIM. Some of the best known software on the market simply isn’t available for iOS. We’re hoping that changes in 2011, and after the break are the apps we’re hoping help make the change!

Apple: Files

I wrote at length about the need for a Finder app and amended it to a Files app in 2010 and now, at the beginning of 2011, it still tops my list for new iPhone and iPad apps I want from Apple. The reason is simple: document access on iOS as it currently stands is a nightmare. Apple’s own iDisk and third parties like DropBox and Box.net offer functionality that really should be native and as off-line as it is on. Again, the Photo app is the model. It preserves the sandbox by providing a central repository for files, and allows them to easily be opened via the Picker in any other app. What Photos does or images and video, Files should do for documents (and both should do via Safari so we can upload to the web, just saying…). Apple, make it happen.

Also want:

• iWork for iPhone. We have it for iPad, we’ve seen it teased for iPhone, it can’t possibly not be released in 2011.
• iPhoto for iOS. Create albums, move photos between them, do basic editing like crop and red-eye removal, and sync selected photos. We got iMovie for iPhone (and hopefully for iPad 2 soon), give us iPhoto.

Adobe: Flash Player

For years people have been angry at Apple for the lack of Flash support. And that’s ridiculous. It’s entirely Adobe’s fault for coasting on shoddy code for the last five years and only delivering a workable mobile Flash, in beta, near the end of 2010. But deliver it they have. It’s not great; I’ve disabled it on my Nexus One, but Adobe is working on it fearfully hard, and Google and Palm and RIM have chosen to support it (and in so doing slowed the switch to HTML 5. Jerks.), so it’ll get good enough. I don’t think Apple would allow a Flash plugin like on other devices — it’s a security risk and a user experience hit — but a Flash Player? Apple could work with Adobe to create a Flash app much like the YouTube app. A single app that, if it detects Flash video anywhere else on the device, especially Safari, it can take the handoff and play it in its own little, highly optimized, hopefully hardware accelerated, Flash-cookie-free sandbox. (Much how the QuickTime player handles H.264 video). It’s not 2007 anymore, and 2011 isn’t Flash free, so it’s time to bite the bullet on this one.

Also want:

• Creative Suite Viewer That I can view AutoCad docs on my iPhone and iPad and not Photoshop, Illustrator, or InDesign is a disgrace. Get on that, Adobe!

Google: Gmail

I don’t want to come off as greedy, since my mind is still blown by getting Google Voice and Google Latitude in 2010, but in 2011 I really, truly would like a native Gmail app that can handle things like attaching pictures and video (and Files.app, right Apple?). In a perfect world Google would have made Gmail more compatible with other mail systems, seamlessly handling labels as folders and stars as flags. In a perfect world, Apple would actually handle things like stars/flags in the built-in Mail app. But keeping with the pragmatic theme of this post, and acknowledging how annoying separate email apps are on Android, I’d still like a native Gmail app for iPhone and iPad. If it gets decent push notifications built in, like the Google Mobile app, I won’t even have to worry about iOS not having a “set default mail client” setting.

Also want:

• Google Navigation When Android got this for free we heard rumors iPhone would be getting it as well. Then not. Then again. Then not again. Google, just do it.

(If you could somehow get Apple to add those newfangled vector graphics to the Google-powered, built-in Maps app, we’d appreciate that as well).

Microsoft: Office

Documents to Go is great. QuickOffice is grand. Even Google Docs is usable over the web. But Microsoft, baby (can I call you baby?) none of those are Office. Sure, Office is a beast of a suite, as frustrating as it is fantastic, but it’s the standard and it belongs on iPhone and iPad. You’ve built it for Windows Mobile. You’ve built it for Windows Phone. You’ve even built it for Mac and are working on it for Nokia. You know how to do Apple and you know how to do mobile, so it’s time to do Mobile Apple. Sure you lose a differentiator for your own OS, but you had no problem doing that for Exchange, did you? Microsoft, stop teasing us and make 2011 the year of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for iPhone and iPad. Okay?

Also want:

• Outlook ActiveSync is okay but for hard core Exchange users a native Outlook app is every bit as important as a native Gmail app is to Googlers. Let’s get that sync’ed.
• Zune Pass Apple hasn’t done subscription music yet but they have sold a gazillion iOS devices. Get those users on Zune Pass before iTunes.com launches.

RIM: BlackBerry Connect

CrackBerry Kevin already laid out why, in a post Kik-world, RIM would be better off owning the cross-platform instant messaging space than sitting on the sidelines while some third-party service breaks the crack off from the berry, so I’ll just echo his sentiments here. BlackBerry Connect used to bring BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) to other devices; it could do the same again. Do I expect to see Big Mike bound across a WWDC stage any time soon? No, but Apple did announce a Microsoft ActiveSync license at the iOS 2 event in 2008, so announcing a BlackBerry Connect license in 2011 wouldn’t be unprecedented.

Also want:

• BrickBreaker. Kidding! Give me BBM and I’m good.

Your picks?

Those the top 5 big name apps I’d like to see come to iPhone and iPad in 2011. What are yours? (Besides Facebook for iPad, of course!)

Google has posted an update to their blogger account notating some new changes to their mobile version of Gmail.  From the looks of it, scrolling looks to be much improved as far as smoothness goes.  Before the pages seemed to be a bit more choppy and the distance it would scroll wasn’t always very accurate.  That problem appears to be fixed.

They’ve also added a floating toolbar that will remain static even when you scroll.  This should make it a lot easier to jump around your mailbox instead of having to scroll all the way back up a long thread in order to return to your inbox or another folder.  Google is noting these updates are compatible with devices running iOS 4.0 and up.

They’re also asking that if you have suggestions or comments, you should feel free to visit the Google Support Forums or tweet it and mention #gmailmobile.  Do you guys use the web version of this app at all? I personally just have Gmail set up as exchange.  Seems a lot less work to me.  What do you guys think?

Google has a nifty update ready for users of their Finance web app, and while it won’t work on iOS (of course), we’re sure many in the US will appreciate the new Google Voice integration with Gmail as well. Here’s the low down on Google Finance Mobile:

We heard your feedback and are please to announce we’ve launched the new Android/iPhone edition of Google Finance for mobile! The markets don’t stop when you leave your desk, so we’re bringing the markets to you. Our new design gives you a unified experience across desktop and Android or iPhone phones, offering nearly all the same features and functionality on both. You can easily access the new site when you do a Google search for stock tickers or company names on your mobile device, or when you tap the “Finance” tab on the Google mobile homepage.

For more on the new Google Voice in Gmail, we refer you to the video… after the break.

[Google Finance, Gmail, via Android Central]

Google continues to rapidly reincarnate their iPad Gmail web app, this time introducing Apple Mail-style stacks into the mix. Back when the iPad optimized version of Gmail was launched, Google emphasized their new code base would allow for just this kind of fast feature development, and now hot on the heels of the new compose screen, stacks will allow for easier grouping and organizing of mail. They also gave Google’s team a chance to play with CSS transitions to try and get closer in look and feel to native apps.

Our question is — how many of you are using Gmail via the web browser on iPad rather than via GoogleSync or IMAP in the native mail app? Are the extra features like labels and star worth the lack of notification and native performance?

[Google, Mobile Blog thanks trevor!]

So how’s iOS 4 Active Sync working for you? iOS 4 allows multiple ActiveSync accounts, meaning iPhone users can finally have their work Exchange setup alongside Google Sync, for example.

I’ve got both Exchange (2003) and Google Sync (Google Accounts) set up on both an iPhone 4 and an iPhone 3GS, and both mail and calendar are working fine (I don’t sync Exchange contacts, never mind the mess that is Google contacts — I use MobileMe for that).

Some users over on the Apple Support forums aren’t having as much luck. Calendars in particular seem to be giving them problems where they weren’t under iOS 3.x.

I did notice that, on my iPhone 3GS, the first time I added the second ActiveSync account the phone got hot and the battery started to drain so I deleted it, rebooted, and added it back and it hasn’t happened again — battery life has been surprisingly good.

What’s your experience with ActiveSync under iOS 4?

[discussions.apple.com, thanks Sagar!]

When you add an IMAP-based email account (including MobileMe and Gmail) to iPhone OS 4 (iPhone 4.0), in addition to the previous options you now get a toggle for “Sync Notes”.

Notes syncing was famously listed as an iPhone 1.0 feature but then mysteriously vanished only to return in iPhone 3.0 as an iTunes-limited option (i.e., not push or over-the-air).

Apple’s desktop Mail client includes special folders that serve as repositories for notes, so perhaps this is now (finally) being echoed on the iPhone.

Whether or not this gets tied in to the actual Notes app remains unknown (it doesn’t seem to right now, but it may just not be working yet). It also doesn’t seem to be an option for Exchange accounts (yet?).

If you discover anything else about iPhone 4 Notes sync, let us know!

[Thanks anon for the tip!]

Google continues to lead the pack when it comes to web apps, so we’re not surprised to see them announce an experimental Gmail site up and optimized in time for the iPad release.

We’re releasing an experimental user interface for the iPad built on the Gmail for mobile HTML5 web app that we launched last year for the iPhone and Android devices. Those devices have large screens compared to other phones, and tablets like the iPad give us even more room to innovate. To take advantage of the iPad’s large display, we’ve created a two-pane view with your list of conversations on the left and messages to the right.

Some other Google web apps will present iPad-optimized versions, while a few will retain their desktop look. Google fired up their iPhone 3.2 SDK for iPad simulator, checked things out, and decided what worked best.

When you get your iPad give it a shot and let us know how they did!

[Google via MacRumors]

Gmail may only be the 3rd most popular email service on the planet (behind Yahoo! and Hotmail) but it ranks first in the hearts of geeks everywhere and can be used in a variety of ways on the iPhone:

• IMAP (or POP if you’re really old school) right from the iPhone Mail app. With its prominent place, and huge button, on the Account Setup page, it’s a default for many users. While it (still!) doesn’t support IMAP-IDLE push, plain old IMAP will keep all your accounts in sync, even if Google’s implementation is eccentric to say the least. (Labels mapping to multiple folders, simultaneous connection limitations, etc.)
• GoogleSync right from the iPhone Mail app. It licenses ActiveSync from Microsoft and fills up your lone Exchange slot on the iPhone but it does provide push if that’s what you need (even if it’s been a tad error prone).
• Gmail Web App from Mobile Safari. It supports all the Gmail goodness like labels and stars and threads and thanks to HTML5 it even has local storage and an almost native app-like feeling to it, even if it’s not a snappy as the real thing.
• As a spam-filter for another email account. May sound strange, but some people merely forward their Gmail to a different IMAP or webmail account, using Google’s excellent spam filtration but wanting a different service or front end for the actual mail.

Of course, some no doubt wish there was better built-in support for the unique Gmail attributes within iPhone mail, or a separate Gmail app like on Android, but given Apple’s App Store policies we don’t see that coming any time soon. So, given the choices above, how are you using Gmail on your iPhone? And if you have any pro-level or ninja tips for iPhone Gmail, let us know!

Google Sync, the nifty ActiveSync-powered service that lets iPhone and iPod touch users get instant, “push” access to their Gmail, Google Contacts, and Google Calendar seems to be suffering a bit lately. According to Google:

As many of you have noticed, Google Sync is having some difficulties due to an extended problem with one of our datacenters. This has been going on over the weekend, but it’s got significantly worse today, so I’m just letting everyone know what’s happening.

None of your information has been lost, and you will still be able to get your data through Sync, but you will find that Push isn’t working very well. This is because we’re batching up fetch requests to be able to cope with the traffic we’re seeing while this problem is ongoing. As soon as we’ve got the problem fixed, push should seamlessly start working properly again.

We’re working flat out to get this fixed, but unfortunately we don’t have an ETA at the moment. We’re doing everything we can to improve the situation in the meantime, and I’ll post here again when I have more news.

Finally, I want to apologise to everyone – we’re feeling your pain too, and we will get this sorted out as soon as we can.

If you’re having problems with your Google Sync, let us know!

[DailyMobile.se via WMExperts]

Documents to Go with Exchange Attachments is all grown up, has changed its name to Documents to Go Premium [$14.99 - iTunes link], and now offers support for PowerPoint and Gmail attachments for iPhone and iPod touch:

• Edit and create Microsoft Office PowerPoint presentations
• Edit/add bullets and text in Outline mode (changes reflected immediately in Slide view)
• Edit/add speaker notes
• Sort/add/dupe/delete slides
• Edit/view Gmail attachments

About the only thing missing is a dedicated, multi-app accessible file repository on the iPhone akin to what the photo app does for images. Get working on that, would you Apple?

Meanwhile, it’s a free update for existing users so if you buy it or just upgrade it, and you try out Docs to Go’s new PowerPoint or Gmail features, let us know how they work for you!

Roughly 3 weeks ago Google (finally!) added Gmail to their Google Sync service, allowing iPhone users to add push email to the previously available contacts and calendars. It wasn’t a solution for everyone, since it used Microsoft’s ActiveSync, which allows for only one account per device, and many users already had a business Exchange server in that slot. For those without Exchange, however, it’s awesome, right?

Or is it? We’ve had many readers tell us it works great, and others who’ve had some problems — enough that we want to ask, how’s Google Sync working on your iPhone?

Let us know in the poll above, and elaborate as needed in the comments!

(And we’ll insert yet another plea to Apple and Google to give us Gmail via IMAP IDLE in the Mail app already!)

Google’s official mobile blog has just (and finally!) announced Push Gmail support for the iPhone!

Integrated into their existing GoogleSync service, which up until today supported only contacts and calendar:

Using Google Sync, you can now get your Gmail messages pushed directly to your phone. Having an over-the-air, always-on connection means that your inbox is up to date, no matter where you are or what you’re doing. Sync works with your phone’s native email application so there’s no additional software needed. Only interested in syncing your Gmail, but not your Calendar? Google Sync allows you to sync just your Contacts, Calendar, or Gmail, or any combination of the three.

One big caveat remains, however. GoogleSync is powered by Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, and most devices — including the iPhone — can only handle one (1) EAS account at a time. So, if you’re already using Exchange ActiveSync for your corporate email, that slot is taken and GoogleSync is useless to you.

For everyone else — joy! And if you try it out, let us know how it works for you!

[Thanks to mattshall for the head's up!]

The iPhone’s Mail app connects to Google Gmail — and it’s paid version, Google Accounts — via the IMAP protocol [Wikipedia link]. Until Apple and/or Google get off their duffs and provide built-in push Gmail (or absent that, Google Sync Gmail for those not otherwise using their single Exchange ActiveSync slot), IMAP is all we have. (And IMAP IDLE may be what we have for push Gmail as well…) So what’s the problem?

Gmail was born of and for the Web, and admittedly Gmail for the iPhone’s Mobile Safari web browser is among the very best WebApps on any platform. However, many people still use, and even prefer to use, local clients like the iPhone’s Mail app, and for that or any local client, Google’s IMAP implementation has always been a second-class citizen.

Forgetting for now for the mapping of labels to folders results in multiple copies of the same email being stored on the local side, one of the major issues with Google’s IMAP implementation is their ludicrous 10 simultaneous connection limit. This might not seem particularly strict, but given that every client can and does typically open multiple connections and having your iPhone, desktop, and laptop all open at the same time can cause Gmail to error out.

On a daily basis, users have to carry the mental overhead of carefully and conscientiously closing email clients on one machine before turning on another, or enabling or disabling a VPN connection (which then treats the mail client as a new set of connections).

By contrast, MobileMe and Exchange/ActiveSync have no problem with this usage pattern. Add to this random “invalid certificate”, “unable to find mailbox: inbox”, “over capacity”, and other errors, and the state of Google’s IMAP implementation is really called into question.

For iPhone Gmail users, the lack of quality error messages (likely something that needs improving on Apple’s side) makes it particularly frustrating, as many of the different problems listed above simply result in an “incorrect password” pop-up box. (See image at the top of this post).

Personally — and I’m not alone in this — I’ve pretty much abandoned front-facing Gmail. I still use the unmatched excellence of Gmail’s server-side filters, but then forward the mail itself to MobileMe. (The irony of the once-plagued MobileMe service now proving more robust over IMAP than Gmail isn’t lost on me and should be lost on Google).

For those who maintain Gmail is free and we shouldn’t complain, Google Accounts — which is paid for — exhibits the exact same problems on a regular basis.

Gmail is arguably the best webmail on the internet. It could easily be the best email period. Google’s finally taken the humorously long-standing “beta” tag off the service. It’s gone prime time. It’s time to make the IMAP implementation live up to that level of standard.

UPDATE 2: GPush’s developers posted in the comments with the following info:

On Saturday August 8, 2009 GPush made it into the App store. We are currently experiencing a server issue and have temporarily pulled the app from the store while we work on the problem. This is an issue with our servers not the application and we will not need to go through the approval process again. If you have already downloaded the application, please know we are working to resolve the issue as soon as possible.

UPDATE: According to the developers on Twitter:

GPush made it to the App Store, we are aware of a server issue & we temporarily pulled the App off the store while we work on the servers

ORIGINAL: GPush [$0.99 - iTunes link] provides a work-around for Gmail push notifications for iPhone 3.0 users. GPush is not an email client in its own right; it serves only to notify a user via sound/vibrate, text alert pop-up, and/or numerical badge, but the user still has to manually launch the iPhone’s built-in Mail app to actually download and interact with the email.

We’ve only had a chance to try it very briefly, but it worked well, notifying us incoming GMail messages very quickly. Job. Done.

Unlike Boxcar, for example, which provides similar intermediary push notification for Twitter clients, GPush doesn’t have the option to automatically launch Mail when you get an alert (only an “okay” button, not a “view” button). We also couldn’t get it to work with Google Accounts, the paid version of Gmail that uses custom domain names. (GPush makes no mention of Google Accounts support, but if it occurred to us to try it, we figured it would occur to readers as well).

Lastly, GPush keeps asking to know our location. Why does it need that information? (Update: per the developers comments below, location is used to determine the closest and hence fastest push server for the service).

All in all, GPush does exactly what it claims to — it provides near instant notification for Gmail for iPhone users. Until Google adds Gmail to Google Sync, or Apple and Google get off their duffs and build IMAP IDLE into the Mail App proper, if you want “push” Gmail on your iPhone, check out GPush and let us know what you think.

More pics after the break!

[Thanks John-Fox for the tip!]

Our sibling site, Android Central, brings word we’d almost given up faith at ever being brought’ned. Google apps, including the Gmail, Calendar, Docs, and Talk we love so much on the iPhone (and iPod touch), are out of beta and high on life! Google’s own blog explains-ish:

We’ve come to appreciate that the beta tag just doesn’t fit for large enterprises that aren’t keen to run their business on software that sounds like it’s still in the trial phase. So we’ve focused our efforts on reaching our high bar for taking products out of beta, and all the applications in the Apps suite have now met that mark.

Makes the kind of sense that doesn’t, but whatever. Opaque, non-standard definitions of beta aside, it’s still good news. What’s next, announce a second operating system or something?

Anything but Push Gmail, right?

Okay. Fine. Our bestest buddies over at PreCentral.net are crowing over the rumor-revelation that the Palm Pre will support “push” Gmail via IMAP IDLE [Wikipedia link]. Not as robust as BlackBerry or Microsoft ActiveSync, they say, but yarly enough. And good for them.

Of course Google’s own mobile OS, Android, also enjoys push Gmail. Also fine and good and all that.

But where’s ours?

Gmail has been on the iPhone since day one — when Yahoo! offered push email to the iPhone — and has trucked along through year 2 — when Apple offered MobileMe and ActiveSync push in iPhone 2.0, and even Google offered ActiveSync for everything except Gmail (?!).

We’ve been patient. We’ve been true. We’ve used the freebie and the paid Google Accounts version. We’ve suffered Gmail’s ludicrous 10 simultaneous connection limits, its certificate errors, its “unknown email box (Inbox)” shenanigans. We’ve earned it, Google.

So, how about Apple board member Eric Schmidt stroll up on the WWDC stage — just like he did at Macworld 2007 — and announce push Gmail over either ActiveSync or IMAP IDLE (for those of us who already use our only ActiveSync account for a work-related Exchange server). Or put it out in a press release, or one line throw-away from Joz or Forstall. Really, we don’t care. Just give it to us.

Please?

Daring Fireball has been looking into Google’s new Gmail WebApp for the iPhone and the technologies behind it. We already know the iPhone packs a version of Apple’s Safari Web Browser which is, in some ways, even more advanced than desktop Safari on the Mac. SQLite database caching, for example, for example users continue to archive or star messages even when there’s no internet connection. What’s more interesting to him, us — and likely users — is how that technology improves functionality.

Says Gruber:

I use the native iPhone Mail app to read email on my iPhone, but I’m tempted to start using the Gmail web app for one reason: I waste a lot of time switching back and forth between Mail and Safari after tapping a URL in an email. When using the Gmail web app, tapped links simply open in a new Safari tab. The iPhone Mail app needs a built-in web view, like what most popular iPhone Twitter clients offer.

Google’s Alex Nicolaou has blogged about the process.

We once wondered what the future of WebApps would be in a post-native apps world. Looks like Google expects — and is out to prove — things still look very bright.

Anyone else considering ditching the built-in mobile Mail app for some web-based Gmail?

Says Google‘s blog:

Today we’re happy to announce a new and improved experience when you access Gmail and Calendar through the browser of your iPhone and Android-powered devices. What’s new? For Gmail, we’ve improved the user interface to make it easier to message on the go, and we’ve introduced “Floaty Bar,” which makes sure common actions such as archive and delete are only a click away (check out the video tour below). You can also start the application, compose mail, and open recently read messages even when you’re offline. With the new Calendar, you can edit or respond to an event and, like Gmail, the app is accessible even without a network connection. To quickly navigate between Gmail, Calendar, and other mobile applications, you can use the classic links that now always appear across the top of the screen. The “more” menu provides easy access to the full list of applications. To read more about what’s new, take a look at the Gmail and Calendar posts on the Mobile blog.

Google claims they’re focusing on WebApps over native apps because they’re faster to iterate which makes sense, especially if they want to leverage their work across all WebKit mobile devices (iPhone, Android, and soon Palm Pre). Still, we have to ask…

Where’s our native push Gmail?!

While Google‘s Gmail is still in “beta”, they done a lot of good stuff for the iPhone including a quirky but usable IMAP implementation so we can keep mail synced on our mobile, desktop, and cloud. But Gmai’s quirkiness isn’t restricted to IMAP, the whole concept of GMail just “thinks different”, from it’s April 1st, everyone-thought-it-was-a-joke launch, to its labels rather than folders, stars rather than flags, and flat search rather than hierarchical sort.

All this leads some to consider a separate GMail client for the iPhone, rather than leaving it bundled into Apple’s own MobileMail app. The Google Android G1 goes this route. You have one app for Gmail and another app for all your other mail. Would we ever see this on the iPhone?

Ars Technica spoke with Gmail Product Manager Todd Jackson, who had this to say (or rather, not say):

he did leave the possibility of a dedicated iPhone client on the table

But what would this mean?

If we look at Gmail strictly as a mail service, my vote is to keep it in mail, do a better job mapping labels to folders, map stars to flags (and enable flags, Apple!), and let iPhone 3.0′s built in search access the Gmail cloud store as well.

If, however, we look at Gmail as some new-fangled cloud-communications service, with email, IM, and Video Chat built in, then maybe some equally new-fangled, and dedicated app is and will be increasingly necessary. That or keep it on the Web with offline access?

Meanwhile, more than better Gmail integration or a separate Gmail app, I’d still like Push Gmail, please. We know Google has licensed ActiveSync for calendars. Go on and throw the switch for email. And while you’re at it, give some IMAP IDLE love for those of us who already use Exchange for work and — due to the 1 account per device limit, thanks Microsoft! — couldn’t take advantage of it for Google.

What do you want, one of the above? All of them? How do you want your Gmail handled on your iPhone?

[Thanks to Phil from WMExperts for the tip!]

We asked what else Google could possibly give iPhone users this month to add to the incredible list of Gmail Tasks, Latitude, Google Books, and Google (Active)Sync, and Google Docs spreadsheet editing, and pretty much everyone said: push Gmail.

Turns out we zigged and Google zagged, because they’ve whipped up offline Gmail instead.

What’s that and what does it mean? Offline WebApps use HTML5 standards and SQLite to keep your data open and available when you have no internet connection (like on most airplanes still). When your connection goes off, the data is kept live on the local machine, and when your connection comes back, it’s re-synced back to the cloud.

Okay, so IMAP already does this in MobileMail and other mail clients, fair enough. But Google’s IMAP is notoriously strange (and I’ll say it — shoddy), and many people prefer using the web interfaces anyway as it allows for a more consistent experience from device to device (a browser is a browser).

iPhoneBuzz thought offline Gmail looked ready for prime time, but says it’s still a proof-of-concept at this stage, and there’s no info yet one when Google might release it to the masses.

So, something you need? Something you want? Or should Google devote their Gmail time to push already?

Here’s a welcome surprise for you: Google has now created Google Sync for iPhone so that you can sync up your Google Contacts and Google Calendar. They are doing it by making their data look like an Exchange server — meaning that if you’re not already using Exchange on your iPhone for work, you can point it at Google’s servers (see full instructions here) to get your contacts and calendars pushed out to you. Nice? Nice.

Of course, if you’re already using Exchange for work but still want to get your Google data on your iPhone, you’d going to need to get a solution to sync your Google data down to your desktop and then get it from your desktop to your iPhone either via USB tether or via MobileMe. You can learn more about how the two work together in Rene’s excellent article on that very subject.

Now, Google, just get Gmail to look like Exchange and we’ll be happy campers. Actually, you know what, just fix IMAP, that’ll be enough.

Quick Update: As I just noted over at WMExperts, Google licensed Exchange Active Sync (EAS) from Microsoft, which is a shot at RIM but also, maybe, a shot at Apple. Rene just pointed out to me that given all of Google’s recent moves with the CalDAV/iCal system, they might have kept on pushing to make the stuff that Mac uses the industry standard. Instead, Google and Microsoft are suddenly working together on using EAS.

[Video note: Interesting to see the Google iPhone in the video above is missing the iTunes and App Store icons... and the YouTube App (YouTube being, you know, owned by Google). Google Mobile App got a prime spot though!]

Still catching up on the Google news, and this one is more confusing to us then most. A while back we mentioned — regretfully — that Google had stopped offering their iPhone optimized version of iGoogle because, to be blunt, they wanted to offer every handset a similar experience and few other handsets could match the quality of the iPhone version.

Now, however, Google has announced that while they aren’t bringing the iGoogle page back, they are adding an iPhone optimized version of their bare-bones Gmail Tasks WebApp:

starting today, you can manage your task list from your iPhone or Android device, and access it from any xhtml enabled phone. (Mine’s always with me, in whichever jeans I’m wearing.) Just go to gmail.com/tasks from your phone’s browser and log in. If you already use the version of Tasks in Gmail Labs, you’ll see the same task list that’s always in sync. We focused on making it super easy and fast to update your Gmail task list — you can add new tasks and check off completed ones, no matter where you are (like in a meeting or at the grocery store) even when you’re in the bathroom.

Inconsistent but potentially appreciated. But will Tasks on the iPhone be the glory of Gmail email, or the fail of Gmail contacts? Anyone tried this out yet? Let us know how it works for you!

It’s been some time since the 2.2 firmware dropped, yet we have not heard of any developers getting their hands on the next version. So Dizzy wants to know, when is iPhone 2.3 firmware coming? That is a very good question, so check out that thread and let him know what you think…

Next up is a thread regarding the sharing of a single SIM card between your iPhone and another phone on the AT&T network. I’ve done it previously with no issues, now it seems like AT&T is tightening the screws just a bit. Have you tried sharing your iPhone SIM with another phone? Let us know how it’s worked out for you.

Forum member, EnterpriseGlobe, has started a fun thread – where did you get your iPhone? I stood in line for 2 hours or so on July 11th at my local Apple store. To kill time I emailed pictures and updates to Dieter while he was in line at the Providence, RI Mall. Oh the memories.

I know what you are thinking, this is an iPhone site, so why feature a thread about the upcoming Palm Pre? We all love competition, it just makes products better. Or at least that is the idea. To cut to the chase, what are your feelings regarding the recently announced Palm Pre? Is this real competition for the iPhone or is it simply one last ditch effort by Palm to try to stay afloat?

Finally, spidermanroach wants to know, Yahoo or Gmail? Which one do you think is better and why? Get in the forums and let him know!

Remember, before you can get in on any of the TiPb forum action be sure to register! It’s free and will only take a minute of your time.

See you on the forums!

Rejoice iPhone Gmailers, for Google has yet again bestowed goodness upon us! According to the Official Gmail Blog (via iPhone in Canada):

manually configure IMAP using the “Other” menu option by following the instructions this video [...] From then on, the iPhone’s little trashcan icon will archive your mail. You might notice that messages you archive on your phone are actually being added to a new “Deleted Messages” label in your Gmail account — but they’re right in “All Mail” and searchable, just the way you want them.

If you’re a hardcore Gmail user, let us know what you think of this, and how it’s working for you!

I noticed 3 messages stuck in my Gmail outbox post-OS 2.2 upgrade. Just sitting there. Mocking me. “Sending” but never getting “sent”. Following a comment by Matt, I re-typed my password and voila, the intertubes they were cleared.

Not sure if this will work for everyone, either by itself or with a reset, but give it a try and let us know.

UPDATE: scottb helps out earnie in the comments with a Google link for unlocking display Captcha to overcome an invalid sender address problem. Our readers rock!

Any other trouble-shooting tips? Keep ‘em coming!

The Reviews of the Android G1 Phone on T-Mobile are out and the verdicts are generally as follows: Partly Cloudy¹, but forecasting big things to come. We’re not going to try to hit every point just yet, but there’s one point where this “Sidekick for Grownups” has what appears to be a real advantage over everybody else: dead-simple cloud setup.

So compared to the iPhone, just how good is the setup on the G1? The answer is: Depends on whether or not you’re a Gmail type of person.

Yeah, “depends” isn’t exactly a clear answer, so follow us after the break for a bit more on whether the G1 is PIM Push Paradise compared to MobileMe’s Mechanized Movement of information.

(¹Sorry, could help myself with that pun)

Android vs. iPhone for Gmail Users

Gmail and the G1

With the G1, you simply punch in your Google credentials and wait a few and boom, you have push Gmail, Push Contacts, and Push Calendar. If you’re already a Gmail lover, this is pretty much la creme de la creme. The Gmail client on the G1 is getting very high marks, works just like Gmail on the web, and is generally tops.

Unfortunately, the other two parts of Gmail’s Sync — Contacts and Calendar — aren’t as hot. Engadet notes that what Google does to your contacts is a crime: it mucks them up by first being difficult to work with on their web-based contact manager and mucks them up double-time by automatically adding email addresses of people you’ve sent mail to more than a couple times.

The result (and I know this from personal Google Contacts Syncing experience) is your address book pretty much becomes a hellacious mess. Your only options are to either be eternally vigilant about the state of your contacts or to just let the darn thing go and hope that you can search through it fairly quickly.

The calendar app on the G1 is also getting mixed reviews, as folks are finding it better for viewing than they are for data entry. In this sense, it’s not all that different than the iPhone.

Gmail and the iPhone

We’ll start this with a caveat — we’re not going to count Google’s excellent iPhone-centric web interfaces here, just the native stuff. Although I still think that the G1 won’t stop Google’s iPhone fixation and that means continued iPhone support and improvements, we want to compare (ahem) apples to apples.

Up until the introduction of the G1, the best mobile email client for Gmail has been the iPhone — bar none. Gmail’s famously wonky IMAP rarely gives the iPhone fits (though it certainly does happen from time to time) and the iPhone’s rather clever method of only loading a folder when you enter it (and only loading the most recent 25 at that) mean that it doesn’t suffer from the tragic “All Mail” problem). In all — Gmail on the iPhone is great.

Except, that is, if you’re looking for push email.

Pushing Gmail to the iPhone is basically an invitation to suffering because there are only three email systems that push email to the iPhone: Yahoo!, MobileMe and Exchange. If you want your Gmail pushed, you need to forward a copy of all messages to a Yahoo!, MobileMe or Exchange account and then set that up on your iPhone. There are then nasty hacks to get your “from” address right, but still no good way to deal with folders/labels.

Now — contacts and calendars are also a world of fun. If your stuff lives in Google, you are going to need to find solutions to sync them to your desktop. Once that happens, however, you’re golden as you can set up MobileMe on both PC and Mac to push the info out to your smartphone. It’s not an ideal, direct-push solution, but it works pretty well for most people.

On a Mac, you can sync the address book directly to Google (with the above-mentioned pain) and for Calendar you need to use something like the excellent Spanning Sync software for calendars.

On a PC, check out OggSync for calendars. For Contacts iTunes itself will let you sync to Google.

In both cases, where you really need to start is at our how-to article “ Switching to iPhone: How To Move Your Contacts, Calendar, Email, Bookmarks, and Photos to the iPhone“

So as you can see by the length of this section, if your data lives in Gmail, the G1 is a lot better.

Advantage: G1

Android vs. iPhone for MobileMe or Exchange Users

MobileMe or Exchange and the G1

Okay, we’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: one huge advantage the iPhone has is that while Google loves the iPhone and provides a huge number services for it, the G1 gets nothing in return from Apple. So, in a way, every iPhone user gets the best of both worlds (four worlds if we count Exchange and Yahoo!). That’s a pretty compelling competitive advantage. 

So, if your data lives in MobileMe or Exchange/Outlook and you want to get it onto the G1, things are going to be dicey for awhile. There is no default sync client out yet, though 3rd parties like Funambol are creating ways to sync In the short term, here are your options of you don’t want to just switching everything over to Gmail:

With email you have two choices:

1. Forward to Gmail for Push, but use Android’s IMAP email program (yes, it’s separate from the other email client) to send. You may also be able to use the G1′s Gmail program to send if the Gmail program works with Gmail’s “Send As” feature (we don’t know yet).
2. Just settle for Android’s IMAP email program for both receiving and sending. In this case, you’re giving up push email.

So that’s not ideal. For contacts and calendar, you’re actually going to be in the same boat that iPhone users are in with regard to Gmail — namely finding a way to sync your desktop information up to Google so you can sync it down to the G1.

MobileMe or Exchange and the iPhone

Despite the well-known early issues with MobileMe, everything’s pretty-well shaken out now. You enter in your sync information, you wait a tic, and boom, everything from Email to Contacts to Calendar is sync’d and pushing.

Now, setting up either MobileMe or Exchange on the iPhone isn’t as simple as the one-time process on the G1, but it’s still pretty straightforward. Once again, TiPb has your back:

1. How to Set up Exchange ActiveSync on the iPhone
2. How to set up MobileMe on the iPhone.

Advantage: iPhone

Android vs. iPhone for Everybody Else

What, no push email solution for you? Love Yahoo? Love Hotmail? What’s the over/under in this competition?

Everybody else and the G1

Basically your best options for email are the ones we laid out for MobileMe or Exchange and the G1: Use the G1′s sub-par IMAP email client or forward stuff to Gmail. To sync the other stuff, find a way to sync it from your desktop to Google as described above in the Gmail and the iPhone section.

Here’s the notable thing with the G1, though: since it’s a completely open platform, there’s no reason that Yahoo or Microsoft or, well, or anybody couldn’t create push and sync solutions for the Android Platform. It’s entirely feasible that Yahoo could create a version of Yahoo Go! for Android that would seamlessly sync your email, contacts, and calendar the G1. It hasn’t happened yet, but don’t be surprised when it does. (Though we won’t hold our breath waiting for Apple to develop a MobileMe solution for the G1…)

Everybody else and the iPhone

Here the situation is also not great, but it’s pretty good. Yahoo users can get their email pushed out to the iPhone, everybody else can just set up email manually. Those folks won’t have push, but thankfully the iPhone’s email client is pretty good.

For contacts and calendar, well, you’re either going to have to sync manually via iTunes or buy into MobileMe or Exchange in some way.

We’re going to call this one a Tie with a possible KO in the future if Android sync apps come out. Syncing desktop to Google can be a pain for some whereas the iPhone at least gives you the option of wired sync.

Advantage: Tied (for now)

Conclusion

For Google-lovers, the G1 clearly offers better cloud and sync. For MobileMe and Exchange, the iPhone clearly wins out. If you want the trifecta of Google and Exchange/MobileMe goodness, the iPhone also has that edge. For the rest, it’s a bit of a (ugly) tie, but the way things look platform-wise the G1 has more potential there. In all, the best way Apple can close that potential gap is to open up the iPhone to more syncing solutions from other companies. We’re not holding our breath. We are holding out a little bit of hope, though: if Andoid really does take off, Apple just might feel compelled to respond by opening up their platform.

One last footnote: Why do Apple and Google hate ToDo and Notes? Back when Palm invented the Palm Pilot, Personal Information Management (PIM) was a 4-legged table: Contacts, Calendar, ToDo, and Notes. While we’re more than happy to see that Email has been added to that equation, when are we going to get those forgotten PIM essentials on modern platforms?

More Blackberry Bold coverage? What are we, CrackBerry.com? Fair point. But come on, RIM’s latest/greatest did just launch in North America yesterday, so it’s only polite that we pay it some attention. How does RIM repay us, however? It’s not enough they iClone our glossy black and silver edged form factor, now they’ve got to iClone our 3G network connectivity issues as well?

I mean, we’ve gone on, and on, and on (or should it be off?) about the reports of the iPhone suffering from a string of perplexing 3G connection problems. Blame has been laid with the carriers and their networks, with chip manufacturer Infineon and their hardware and drivers, and with Apple and their 2.0h-no firmware. But thus far, while 2.0.2 supposedly addresses some issues for some users, no widespread solution has yet appeared.

However, reports are also now surfacing of the brand spanking new BlackBerry Bold suffering from very similar sounding problems. Says Electronista:

[Citigroup investment analyst Jim Suva] also notes that the BlackBerry suffers from the same problems of the iPhone, including 3G connection problems; the device will frequently drop 3G in favor of a slower, 2G EDGE link when downtown. Suva speculates that the flaw may likewise stem from rough software and that AT&T may have delayed its launch primarily to stabilize 3G performance.

Of course, our friends over at Crackberry HQ would likely point out that, as usual, truck-sized grain of salt should ship standard with every analyst report, and that AT&T due to the size and perhaps complexity of their network, does a whole heaping lot of testing.

But misery — and lack of connectivity — does love company, doesn’t it?

For my part, other than Gmail on the iPhone continuing to make my life miserable, 3G is a little slow in connecting at first, but then seems to be working fine.

(Thanks Bad Ash for the tip!)

Ed Baig over at USA Today (via Daring Fireball) is reporting that:

Apple (AAPL) acknowledged Tuesday that a software update for the iPhone partly fixes the connection snags that have caused a global firestorm for the new iPhone 3G. Though mum on details, Apple spokeswoman Jennifer Bowcock said on Tuesday, “The software update improves communication with 3G networks.”

Really?

As I mentioned previously, yesterday in Downtown Montreal, it looked like I was unable to connect to the 3G network at all. Last night in the suburbs of Montreal, however, I was able to connect (though it took a while). Today, downtown again… nadda. Or so I thought. I switched back to WiFi and still couldn’t connect… to Gmail.

Yup. While I’d tested Gmail, MobileMe, ActiveSync, and MobileSafari yesterday, sometime since then I’d made the mistake of just hitting Gmail in MobileMail.app to see if a connection would pop up. Turns out that was really shoddy testing on my part. See, Gmail on iPhone says I haven’t had any messages since 6pm last night. Gmail on the desktop however, while continuously giving me “Server error: too many simultaneous connections (Failure)”, shows 50+ more, right up to this very minute. Now, I’ve Twittered nearly constantly about problems with Gmail IMAP lately, from invalid certificate errors, to server connection problems, to the mail outage they had a week or so back (not coincidentally the same time MobileMe was out… again).

So what’s going on? Are their network connection problems or is Gmail IMAP that really buggy (according to Twitter again, it’s buggy enough to make some iPhone developers abandon it entirely)? And has this been adding to, or merely confusing my 3G network connection problems?

My guess is the former. Intermittent 3G network connection errors, and Gmail IMAP still really isn’t ready for prime time. (And why that doesn’t get the blog-focus MobileMe gets, aside from the admittedly free nature of the beast, is a bit perplexing).

I plan to run more (and better) tests today, and hopefully get something of a less obscure picture.

Sorry PC Users. And non-iPhone users. And we’re not sorry for you having to think about an upgrade to Vista or Windows Mobile 6.1 either. No, we’re sorry because Google loves us iPhone users more than you. Google has an iPhone Fixation. The newest evidence? The latest and greatest update to the Mac OS, 10.5.3, just came out today and it has a new feature: syncing of contacts with Google. Gmail already works better with the iPhone than it does with any other mail app, now it works better with the iPhone when plugged into a Mac, too.

Odd that it would only work if you have an iPhone, though, innit? If you’re not “one of us” (Google! Goggle!), you can still sync your contacts up with Yahoo, who still is also the only way to get Push email pre-iPhone-2.0.

Read Via

Update: Ars Technica chimes in with a hack for your forlorn non-iPhone-owning Mac Users. For my part, I very much want to apply 10.5.3 but I have a policy of waiting at least a week before installing it. Crazy? …Or crazy like a fox?

Can’t wait till iPhone firmware 2.0 to get your corporate calendar on your iPhone? Here is a great trick to get your enterprise appointments onto you’re your iPhone.

What you will need:

• Novell GroupWise (tested, though should work with other mail applications)
• A Google Account with:
• Gmail
• Google Calendar

For the bonuses, you will need:

• A calendar that can subscribe to .ics files (iCal) I found the basics of this idea here, but have elaborated it to iCal which works great for me.

Ever since I purchased the iPhone I have longed for a way to get my GroupWise calendar onto my iPhone. I use a PC at work and an iMac/PowerBook G4 at home. I sync my iPhone with my iMac. Since I don’t actually sync with my PC, how can I get the calendar on my iPhone? The answer: Google… to the rescue!

What you can do is configure a rule in GroupWise to delegate (forward) a meeting to your Gmail account. When Gmail receives, this, Google automatically adds it the Google Calendar on your account. You can then subscribe to the Google Calendar Feed in iCal. Then, sync your iPhone! You instantly have all of the calendars you are currently syncing with but now you have your “work” appointments too! There is a downside; you can’t add appointments to the read-only calendar from Google. However, this has not proved to be a huge roadblock for me. Also, if you want to take full advantage of this, don’t use Posted Appointments, only Appointments. This way you will have all of the appointments you make delegated (more on this later).

There are added benefits too. I have Google send me a daily agenda and SMS reminders. These items are based off of the appointments delegated to my Google Calendar, so I am always in touch with what is going on for the day.

Now, let’s discuss how to set this up in more detail…

Step 1:

From GroupWise, create a rule like this:
”When event is Filed to Calendar folder and if condition is Appointment, Add Action to Delegate to: name@gmail.com Comments to recepient:GWDelgate”

Step 2:

From Gmail, create a filter where the search criteria is from your GroupWise email address, name@source.domain, and has the words GWDelegate.

Step 3:

Set the action to “Delete it”.

Step 4:

On the computer that can subscribe to .ics files (preferably the computer you sync your iPhone with, for this example, iCal on a Mac) open Google Calendar and click on the options for your “work” calendar.

Step 5:

Find the iCal icon and click on it, this should open iCal for you to subscribe.

Step 6:

Accept the settings in iCal, but make sure you set the calendar to refresh on an interval you find acceptable.

Step 7:

Make sure that you configure the reminders and email options in your “work” Google Calendar to the criteria you want. I have it set to email me a daily agenda at 5:30 AM and send me an SMS reminder 30 minutes prior to a meeting. I then added the text number from Google to my Address Book and I now have an SMS thread called “Google Calendar”.

That is it! You are done! Place your iPhone in the cradle and sync. Of course, you may have to manually add the calendar in iTunes for syncing with your iPhone.

For an extra cool tip, if you have an Apple .Mac account or if you have your own FTP server, AND if you publish your personal calendar from iCal, you can subscribe to it in Google Calendar and have all of your calendars online! This works great for me and comes in very handy; I can access all of my appointments on ANY web browser. Keep in mind that this does only sync Appointments and Meeting Requests; tasks and notes are not included. We will have to wait for Apple to add note and to-do syncing functionality to Mail and the iPhone for that.

Your mileage may vary based on the Enterprise mail/server client and configurations you are using. There is already an Outlook sync tool from Google, but it does not sync Meetings, bummer. So, this solution is currently more useful. Post your comments if this works for you, or you got it working on another client other then GroupWise!

One of the most interesting stories at Macworld hasn’t gotten a lot of attention in the larger press – namely that Google was around at Macworld a lot more than most people realize. It’s not just that they have a medium-sized booth featuring both their Mac products and new iPhone-compatible web offerings. No, the real story about Google at Macworld is that it’s very clear that Google has the iPhone on their collective mind in a big, big way.

Google’s services will continue to be great on the iPhone even after their Android OS hits the market. Read on to find out why!

Google In Line for the Keynote

Michael Ducker and I covered the Macworld keynote this year¹ – we lined up at 3am and were lucky that we did – I spoke with somebody that lined up at 5am and was forced into the overflow room.

I mention this because there was a large pack of Google employees at the very front of the line. There were about 20 at a time, “working” in shifts, so that there was a grand total of around 40 or 50 employees there who came in line when the keynote started. That probably caused some grumbling amongst those in back. The Googlers went so far as to have stockpiles of pizza, coffee, and even a tent (originally three until the cops said no) for sleeping.

The interesting thing, though, as Valleywag reported, was that this was a regular and company-sponsored sort of effort, right down to Google’s Vice President, Search Products & User Experience Marissa Mayer leading the charge. What’s her explanation?

“The man gives a great presentation. Hopefully we can learn something.”

…that’s a very nice and understated way of saying something else: Google seems to have a fixation on the iPhone.

It’s not just the line at Macworld, it’s that as we waited in line a Google employee got bored and did a survey of how many people in line were using iPhones – both actively and whether or not there was one in their pocket. It’s not just the booth at Macworld where Google was showing off their new iPhone-optimized services, it’s that they come out with iPhone optimized services on a regular basis. They update these services on a regular basis. These services work really well on the iPhone.

Case in point: Gmail, more specifically Gmail’s new IMAP service. I’ve used Gmail with a browser on my desktop, with Mail.app, with Thunderbird, with Outlook, with Windows Mobile Outlook, Versamail on PalmOS, and a few others. I’m not exaggerating when I say that no client, desktop or otherwise, does Gmail IMAP better than the iPhone. I say this as a person who generally thinks the the iPhone’s email client sucks. But every other client has bogged down or otherwise acted weird with Gmail’s IMAP. Not so with the iPhone, it’s as good as email gets on the iPhone. That’s either serendipity or Google thinking very seriously about the email client on the iPhone when they designed their (quirky) IMAP implementation.

…A popular phrase among developers (especially, believe it or not, among Windows Mobile developers) is “eating your own dog food.” The idea, basically, is that if you’re working on something you need to use it. It seems pretty clear to me that there is a large portion of Google employees who are eating the iPhone-brand of dog food. I’m guessing that Google’s apps rock on the iPhone because they want those apps to rock on the iPhone because they use them on the iPhone.

Android

Which leads us to Android, Google’s upcoming Smartphone Operating System. We here at Phone different never really believed that Android would compete directly with the iPhone and the more I hear about Android the more I think it’s aimed at a broader (read: cheaper) market. Back in November, Mike wrote:

Google’s use of webkit as the browser on Android reinforces Apple, and by the time Android phones are actually released, iPhones will be even farther ahead in terms of features — Android doesn’t even support wi-fi or bluetooth yet. It could easily be that Apple is trying to grab the high-end customers and Android is aiming for everyone else.

…While we should admit that these days the “high-end” is getting bigger and pushing more into the mass market than we may have expected, the point still stands. Google is putting development resources into quality web apps for the iPhone. Even if we grant (as we should) that development is easy for iPhone web apps, resources are resources. Yes, even for Google. Those resources, presumably, could have been redirected at Android either to make it better or to keep the iPhone from having a great Google experience.

No doubt about it, Google hearts the iPhone.

So when Steve Jobs was asked about Android, his take was almost spot-on:

“I actually think Google has achieved their goal without Android, and I now think Android hurts them more than it helps them. It’s just going to divide them and people who want to be their partners.”

There are basically two options here, and I see them as equally likely:

1. Google is trying to be the uber-service to everybody, everywhere, on every device possible. They’re a bigger giant now than even Microsoft of the 90′s and their plan for world domination includes offering great services even on “competing” devices. They will overcome the problem Jobs mentions through sheer size and resources.
2. Google does not foresee a time when Android would “divide them and people who want to be their partners” because, as far as the mobile space goes, the only thing they’re trying to win is the low-end space. They want Microsoft and Nokia’s pieces of the commodity pie, not Apple’s media-centric market.

I’ll take the easy out and suggest that it’s mostly option 1 with a side of option 2. There may be a day when Android competes directly with the iPhone and Google finds itself in the awkward place of deciding whether or not to favor one over the other. Given the timeline of Android development, though, that day is a long way off. In the meantime, it’s a safe bet that Google will continue to do a great job supporting the iPhone. And vice versa.

¹ Ducker took our photos and I gotta say I think they turned out better than most others’ (see his Macbook Air gallery, for example).