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...)

Our good buddy George Ponder over at sibling site WMExperts tells us Microsoft Windows Live Hotmail, officially slated to get ActiveSync support sometime this summer, might just be already up and running:

Liveside.net is reporting some users are having success in syncing their Hotmail accounts through ActiveSync. Through trial and error, the server address has been identified as m.hotmail.com, SSL should be enabled, and you leave the domain blank. Obviously you enter in your username and password accordingly.

It's not official, so it could break or just not work or stop working at any time, but if you've been dying to get Hotmail on your iPhone, especially push Hotmail, here's your chance to taste test.

(And remember, iOS 4 will let you have multiple ActiveSync accounts, so work Exchange, Gmail, and Hotmail can all live and push together in beautiful, blasphemous, harmony).

If you try it out, let us know how it works for you.

[Liveside.net via WMExperts]

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?

Macworld is reporting that Lotus Notes and Domino 8.5.1 will finally get IBM off of their current WebMail solution (see video above) and onto real support for real push email to the iPhone:

Early last year, Apple licensed ActiveSync so that businesses could push their corporate Exchange e-mail messages to iPhones. Since the ActiveSync client is already embedded in the iPhone, adding ActiveSync to the Traveler product was a good way to enable push Notes e-mail to the iPhone, [Ed Brill, director of end-user messaging and collaboration for IBM Lotus software] said.

Good on IBM.

We only have one question -- hey, Google, if they above is true and ActiveSync client is just sitting there waiting, where's our push Gmail?

(Apologies to IBM for the tangent).

Ask and ye shall receive, dig deep into the code and ye shall find fresh-baked Apple-y goodness.

No sooner did Apple drop iPhone 2.0 SDK Beta 5, than the developers began scouring it for any hint of what's to come, and as usually TUAW serves up what they found:

A certain, unnamed individual sent us some pictures of the latest build of the iPhone firmware showing .Mac push e-mail. The picture shows the main Settings page with a new button: "Fetch new data." When you click the button, you are taken to a list of your mail accounts, where you can choose between either "fetch" or "push." According to Mr. Anonymous, while .Mac is offering push e-mail, you are currently not able to do contact or calendar syncing.

Check out TUAW's gallery for the pics.

Boy, Apple is pushing the features fast and furiously. We already knew about "push" via the Microsoft licensed ActiveSync, which offers full Exchange support, but complementing that with .Mac for non-Exchange users? Very nice!

(Of course, much as I love Back-to-My-Mac, iSync, iDisk, and other .Mac features, it really needs a more competitive feature-set upgrade -- Imagine Google-like offerings and capacities with Apple's ease of use and integration! -- especially for the rather steep $100 a year.)

June really can't come fast enough!