Everything you need to know about setting up, backing up, restoring, and updating your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad with iCloud

With iCloud, you no longer need to plug your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad into iTunes on your Mac or Windows PC to set it up for the first time, to keep it backed up, or to upgrade the software. Now you can do all of that, and more, faster and more easily, over-the-air (OTA) on your local Wi-Fi network. Because routine tasks, like backups, happen automatically, you don't have to worry about forgetting them and then finding out you don't have one when you need it most.

• How to set up your new iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad with iCloud
• How to create an Apple ID
• How to set up a new iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad with iCloud (clean install)
• How to restore your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad from an iCloud backup
• How to backup your iPhone with iCloud
• How to manually trigger an iCloud backup
• How to delete an iCloud backup
• How to manually manage what gets backed up to iCloud
• How to buy more iCloud storage
• How to downgrade your iCloud storage
• How to update your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad software over the air (OTA)
• How to remove an iCloud account from your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad

How to set up your new iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad with iCloud

When you turn on your new iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, you'll be greeted with a Lock screen that simply says "iPhone", "iPod" or "iPad". That's where we start.

1. Swipe to unlock to start setting up your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.
2. Choose your language. Your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad will show you the most common languages for the area in which you bought it, but you can tap the downward arrow icon to see all the choices. Tap the blue Arrow button to continue.
3. Choose you country or region. Again, your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad will show you the region where you bought it, but you can tap Show more... for additional options. Tap the blue Next button to continue.
4. Choose whether you want to globally enable or disable location services. Location Services use GPS (on an iPhone or iPad 3G/4G), cell-tower triangulation, and Wi-Fi router mapping to determine the approximate location of your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad . This feature is used for turn-by-turn navigation (like Navigon, check-in games (like FourSquare), social networks (like Facebook), geo-tagging (like in the Camera app), and utilities (like Find my iPad), etc. Unless you have a particular need to globally disable it, you'll want to turn on the Location Services feature at this point. You can change your mind or selectively disable or enable these services later on in the Settings app (e.g., turn off your Camera app’s geo-tagging, but leave on TomTom’s turn-by-turn navigation). Tap the blue Next button to continue.
5. Choose your Wi-Fi network. Even if you're on 3G or LTE, your iPhone or iPad wants Wi-Fi because there may be a lot of data to move around and blasting through your data cap on setup is no fun. Enter your network password and tap the blue Next button to continue.
6. Wait for Apple to activate your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad . This could take a few minutes.
7. Choose if you want to setup your iPad as new, restore from iCloud backup, or restore from an iTunes backup on a PC. Tap the blue Next button to continue.

How to create an Apple ID

In order to use iCloud, you need to have an Apple ID. An Apple ID can be an iTunes Store/App Store account, me.com email account, Apple developer account, FaceTime or iMessage account, etc.

If you already have one of those, skip ahead to the next section. If not, you'll have to create one.

1. Choose **Create a Free Apple ID**
2. Enter your Location and Date of birth

3. A new window will open asking you to use an existing email address or create a free @me.com address

4. You can use any email address you like, including an existing gmail, Yahoo!, hotmail, etc. address. If you want a new email address, however, to take advantage of Apple's free push email service, select get a free @me.com email address
5. Fill in all your details and tap Next
6. Accept the iCloud Terms and Conditions

That’s it done, you now have a new iCloud account all set up and ready to go!

How to set up a new iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad with iCloud (clean install)

While you can always restore your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad based on a previous backup of the same or different iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, you can also set it up as new. If it's your first device, or if you simply want to start fresh to ensure optimal stability and battery life, setting up as new should be your go-to.

1. Choose sign in with your Apple ID.
2. Enter your Apple ID to login. (Enter your full email address as the username.) Tap the blue Next button to continue. (If you change your mind, you can logout of iCloud, or login under a different account later.)
3. Agree to the terms and conditions of service by tapping the blue Agree button on the bottom left.
4. Confirm your agreement by tapping the Agree button.
5. Choose Use iCloud. You need to do this or none of the other cool stuff will work.
6. Choose Use iCloud Backup. This way you won't have to worry about backing up your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad manually to a computer.
7. Choose use Find my iPhone/iPod/iPad. This way, if you lose your device, you can track it down more easily.
8. Choose if you want to automatically send Diagnostics to Apple. It's anonymous and helps make Apple make better products, but if you're uncomfortable with the idea, choose Don't send.

Your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad will now be set up. Because it's communicating with Apple's iCloud servers, it could take a few moments to complete.

How to restore your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad from an iCloud backup

If you have an old iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad and need access to your old data quickly, or dread the idea of starting from scratch again, you have the option of simply restoring your new iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad from a backup of your old device.

1. Choose restore from iCloud backup.
2. Enter your Apple ID to login. (Enter your full email address as the username.) Tap the blue Next button to continue. (If you change your mind, you can logout of iCloud, or login under a different account later.)
3. Agree to the terms and conditions of service by tapping the blue Agree button on the bottom left.
4. Confirm your agreement by tapping the Agree button.
5. Choose your backup. You'll see your Latest iPhone/iPod/iPad Backup listed. This is usually the one you want to choose. You'll can also see older backups, and backups of your other iOS devices on the same iCloud account.

A progress bar will show you an approximation of how long it will take to download your backup. Once it's done, your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad will reboot.

Once your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad reboots, all your previous settings will be back in place, and you'll be asked to re-enter all your passwords (as a security measure, iCloud will not restore passwords).

Once that's done, your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad will start re-downloading all your apps. You will need to stay on Wi-Fi for any file larger than 50MB to re-download.

How to backup your iPhone with iCloud

iCloud will automatically back up your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad whenever you plug it into a power source and it is connected to a Wi-Fi network. iCloud backup requires power so it doesn't run the battery down while backing up, and it requires Wi-Fi because of the potentially large amount of data it will transfer.

How to manually trigger an iCloud backup

If you need to replace or restore your phone, or you know you’ll be traveling for a while and want to make sure the backup is done before you go, You can initiate a manual backup.

1. Launch the Settings app
2. Tap on iCloud

3. Tap on Storage & Backup near the bottom

4. Tap on Back Up Now at the bottom.

Depending on the speed of your Wi-Fi connection and how much you have to backup, it could take a while to complete. When it's done iCloud backup will be up to date.

How to delete an iCloud backup

Since you only get 5GB of free storage with iCloud, if you don't want to upgrade and pay more, you might want to delete some older backups, or backups from iPhones, iPod touches, and iPads you no longer use, to save space.

1. Launch the Settings app
2. Tap on iCloud

3. Tap on Storage and Backup

4. Tap on Manage Storage

5. Check out your current backups stored on iCloud. (Here you can see two iPhones, including one replaced at the Apple Store last week and so no longer needed).

6. Tap on the backup you want to remove from iCloud
7. Tap on Delete Backup

8. Tap on Turn Off and Delete

That’s it, that backup has now been removed and the space reclaimed in iCloud.

How to manually manage what gets backed up to iCloud

If you don't want to, or simply can't delete an entire iCloud backup in order to save space, you can still control what gets backed up. For example, backing up the Camera Roll can use up a large amount of your iCloud storage. Since Photo Stream captures a lot of that data anyway, and isn't counted against your total storage usage, turning off Camera Roll backup can save you considerable space.

1. Launch the Settings app
2. Tap iCloud near the bottom
3. Tap Storage and Backup near the bottom
4. Tap Manage Storage
5. If you have multiple devices on the same iCloud account, tap on the name of your device
6. You'll see a list of apps currently being backed up to iCloud. Not all apps will be shown immediately. Too see them all, tap Show All
7. For any apps you don't really want or need to be backed up, switch the toggle button to Off

The Camera Roll above is 35GB. That could cost you quite a bit in iCloud storage fees!

How to buy more iCloud storage

If you run out of free space, and there aren't any backups you want to delete or apps you want to stop backing up, you can choose to buy more iCloud storage.

1. Launch Settings

2. Tap on iCloud near the bottom

3. Tap on Storage and Backup

4. Tap on Buy More Storage
5. Select your storage increase option -- 10GB for $20, 20GB for $40 or 50GB for $100 per year.

6. Enter your iTunes password to charge the increase to your iTunes account.

If you change your mind, you have 15 days to contact Apple and cancel the storage increase. If you're happy with it, you'll be billed the same amount, once a year, for as long as you keep the selected storage tier.

How to downgrade your iCloud storage

If you eventually change your mind and decide you no longer need extra iCloud storage, and don't want to be billed for it again when it comes time for renewal, you can downgrade to a lower tier, or back to the free version.

1. Launch the Settings app
2. Tap iCloud near the bottom
3. Tap Storage and Backup near the bottom
4. Tap Buy More Storage
5. Tap Downgrade Options near the bottom
6. Login with your Apple ID password
7. Choose your new plan from the available options

The downgrade will take effect at your next billing cycle (one year after you bought the additional storage).

How to update your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad software over the air (OTA)

Whether you've bought a new iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad and an update is already available, or one comes along months later, applying them over-the-air (OTA) via iCloud is faster and more efficient than the old-school iTunes method.

If a software update is available for your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, a popup notification will let you know, and a red badge will appear at the top righthand corner of your Settings app.

1. Launch the Settings app
2. Tap General
3. Tap Software Update
4. If there's nothing new, you'll be told just so. Otherwise, you'll be presented with all the details about the update.
5. Tap Download and Install
6. Agree to the Terms and Conditions
7. Watch the progress bar (This part depends on the speed and quality of connection. Don't be alarmed if it takes a long time, speeds up or slows down, or appears to jump around -- be patient.)
8. Once it's finished downloading, you'll be prompted to instal (and restart) your device. If you don't explicitly hit Later or Install within a few seconds, it will install on your behalf.
9. Agree to the Terms and Conditions yet again.
10. Apple will verify the install.

How to remove an iCloud account from your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad

You can remove an iCloud account from your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad at any time. When you remove the iCloud account, all the associated data will also be removed from your device. It's not deleted, however, and if you add the iCloud account back, it will restore the data to your device.

1. Launch the Settings app
2. Tap on iCloud
3. Tap on Delete Account at the bottom.
4. Tap on Delete to confirm.

If you change your mind, you can always log back into that iCloud account again.

How to get more help with iCloud

If you still need help with setting up, backing up, restoring, or updating your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, or any other iCloud feature, head on over to our iCloud Forum and ask away!

• How to set up and use iCloud mail, contacts, and calendars
• How to set up and use iTunes in the Cloud
• How to set up and use iTunes Match
• How to set up and use Photo Stream
• How to set up and use Documents in the Cloud
• How to set up and use Find my iPhone
• How to set up and use Find my Friends

Ally Kazmucha, Chris Oldroyd, and Gary Mazo contributed major sections of this guide.

Introduced alongside iOS 5, iCloud was the subject of Steve Jobs' final keynote appearance and the way Apple finally "cut-the-cord" to iTunes and kicked off their Post-PC era. For the first time, iPhones, iPod touches and iPads could be set up, backed up and restored and updated over-the-air (OTA) without having to be plugged into a Mac or Windows PC. In fact, iCloud solved the age-old problem of getting users to backup and update in an entirely new, and even easier way. I used to be terrible when it came to backups, now they just happen. (I still don't update, however, due to jailbreak

Along with PC-free, iCloud also formalized the ability to re-download App Store apps and games, and iBookstore iBooks, and added the ability to re-download Music in the Cloud, and now TV in the Cloud and Movies in the Cloud (where they're available). If you don't mind spending an additional $24.99 a year, you can even get iTunes Match and have your entire music collection scanned and store on Apple's servers, with any low-quality songs that are available on the giant iTunes catalog replaced with Apple's higher-quality versions. Then you can re-download those from up to 10 devices on the same Apple ID as well.

Photo Stream tries to provide a seamless way to have any photo taken on your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, or in iPhoto or Aperture on your Mac stored on iCloud and pushed down to every other device on your Apple ID. It works much better now that, thanks to iOS 5.1, you can delete individual photos (or photo bombs!).

Documents in the Cloud intends to replace our local files and file systems with a worry-free online repository. There, our Pages, Keynote and Numbers files just kind of hang out until we need them. Unfortunately, Apple hasn't updated iWork on the Mac to support iCloud, and it looks like we'll have to wait for OS X Mountain Lion before any of that "just-works". What I was most excited about -- the idea that my Angry Birds levels on iPhone would simply sync to my iPad so I could game interchangeably on either one -- hasn't happened yet either. Hopefully we're getting there and it's just taking a little time.

MobileMe's Mail, Contacts, and Calendars have moved over to iCloud. I don't use them, but they're free now and they seem to be quite reliable lately as well so for many people they're a good option. Find my iPhone, which lets you track down a missing or stolen device, is also part of iCloud now. It is joined by Find my Friends, which may let you track down a missing or stolen friend but is really meant as a way to keep track of family or meet up with friends, if such a thing doesn't creep you out the way it does me.

iCloud isn't even 6 months old yet, and Apple has been adding new features like TV Shows and Movies in the Cloud, and if it's as important to their future as it seems to be, no doubt that will continue. So here's where I go back to my original question -- are you using iCloud? If so, which features? Vote in the poll up top and then tell me how you're using it -- and liking or not liking it -- in the comments below. And for more, jump into our iCloud Forum and have at it!

If you just got your new iPad, you're going to want to set it up and get it working just as quickly and effectively as possible. With iCloud you can do that right on your iPad, with no computer or cables involved. If you prefer the old-school approach, you can also set up your new iPad using iTunes on your Mac or Windows PC.

For most people, most of the time, we recommend iCloud, but we'll walk you through both of them below.

How to setup your new iPad

When you turn on your new iPad, you'll be greeted with a Lock screen that simply says "iPad". That's where we start.

Note: None of the default choices pre-checked for you. You can't simply keep hitting Next to speed through. You have to look at the choices and tap one to check it before the Next button will even activate. Apple is forcing you to pay more attention than is often required on the web or in apps.

1. Swipe to unlock.
2. Choose your language. Your iPad will show you the most common languages for the area in which you bought it, but you can tap the downward arrow icon to see all the choices. Tap the blue Arrow button to continue.
3. Choose you country or region. Again, your iPad will show you the region where you bought your iPad, but you can tap **Show more...* for additional options. Tap the blue Next button to continue.
4. Choose whether you want to globally enable or disable location services. Location Services use GPS, cell-tower triangulation, and Wi-Fi router mapping to determine the approximate location of your iPad. This feature is used for turn-by-turn navigation (like Navigon, check-in games (like FourSquare), social networks (like Facebook), geo-tagging (like in the Camera app), and utilities (like Find my iPad, etc. Unless you have a particular need to globally disable it, you'll want to turn on the Location Services feature at this point. You can change your mind or selectively disable or enable these services later on in the Settings app (e.g., turn off your Camera app’s geo-tagging, but leave on TomTom’s turn-by-turn navigation). Tap the blue Next button to continue.
5. Choose your Wi-Fi network. Even if you're on 3G or LTE, your iPad wants Wi-Fi because there may be a lot of data to move around and blasting through your data cap on setup is no fun. Enter your network password and tap the blue Next button to continue.
6. Wait for Apple to activate your iPad. This could take a few minutes.
7. Choose if you want to setup your iPad as new, restore from iCloud backup, or restore from an iTunes backup on a PC. Tap the blue Next button to continue.

How to set up your new iPad as a new iPad (clean install)

To set up your iPad as new (basically like doing a first or clean install of your computer):

1. Choose whether you want to sign in with your Apple ID or create a free Apple ID. If you're not sure what that is, and don't know if you already have one, it can be any of the following: iTunes Store account, , me.com email account, Apple developer account, FaceTime or iMessage account
2. If this is the first time you've ever used an Apple product or service or just want a new one, you can create an Apple ID.
3. Enter your Apple ID to login. (Enter your full email address as the username.) Tap the blue Next button to continue. (If you change your mind, you can logout of iCloud, or login under a different account later.)
4. Agree to the terms and conditions of service by tapping the blue Agree button on the bottom left.
5. Confirm your agreement by tapping the Agree button.
6. Choose if you want Setup iCloud. If you're not sure, choose to setup iCloud. The basic service is free and makes your iPad infinitely more usable. Use iCloud.
7. Choose if you to use iCloud Backup. Again, you really, really do. It keeps all your data safely backed up and let you restore or easily switch to a new or additional iOS devices later. Use iCloud Backup.
8. Choose if you want to use Find my iPad. Also free, also incredibly useful to track down your iPad if you ever lose it or have it stolen. If in doubt, Use Find my iPad.
9. Choose if you want to automatically send Diagnostics to Apple. It's anonymous and helps make Apple make better products, but if you're uncomfortable with the idea, choose Don't send.
10. Wait while iCloud is setup.
11. Start using your iPad!

How to restore your new iPad from an iCloud backup

For the smoothest experience and longest battery life, we always recommend setting your new iPad up as new (see above). If you have an old iPad or other iOS device, and need access to your old data quickly, or dread the idea of starting from scratch again, you have the option of simply restoring your new iPad from a backup of your old device.

1. Choose restore from iCloud backup.
2. Enter your Apple ID to login. (Enter your full email address as the username.) Tap the blue Next button to continue. (If you change your mind, you can logout of iCloud, or login under a different account later.)
3. Agree to the terms and conditions of service by tapping the blue Agree button on the bottom left.
4. Confirm your agreement by tapping the Agree button.
5. Choose your backup*. You'll see your Latest iPad Backup listed, and this is usually the one you want to choose. You'll also see older backups, if available, and if no iPad backup is available, backups of your other iOS devices on the same iCloud account.

A progress bar will show you an approximation of how long it will take to download your backup. Once it's done, your iPad will reboot.

Once your iPad reboots, you'll be asked to re-enter all your passwords (as a security measure, iCloud will not restore passwords).

Once that's done, your iPad will start re-downloading all your apps. If iTunes in the Cloud is available in your country, it will also re-download iTunes music, movies, TV shows, and iBooks. will restart, all your settings nicely back where you left them, and iTunes will begin to re-download all the apps you had installed when the backup was made.

You will need to stay on Wi-Fi for any file larger than 50MB to re-download.

How to update the software on your new iPad

Depending on when you buy your new iPad, there may be software updates available. Small updates might simply fix bugs and improve performance (for example, iOS 5.0.1). Medium updates might add a few new features or support new devices (for example, iOS 5.1 released in March of 2012 with the new iPad). Large updates might add significant new features (for example, iOS 5, released in October 2011 with the iPhone 4S).

If a software update is available for your new iPad, a popup notification will let you know, and a red badge will appear at the top righthand corner of your Settings app. If you connect your iPad to iTunes on the Mac or Windows, iTunes will also popup a notification to let you know when there's a software update waiting.

Just like setting up your new iPad, you can either do software updates directly on your device, over-the-air (OTA) or by plugging into iTunes on your PC.

OTA on-device updates are faster and more convenient since your iPad will only download the changes and update in place, so once it's done and rebooted, you're good to go.

iTunes updates backup your iPad, download the entire software install from Apple (typically over 500MB), replace the entire operating system, then restore from backup.

• How to update your iPad software over-the-air (OTA)
• How to update your iPad software with iTunes

More new iPad how-tos

Setting up your new iPad is only the beginning. You still need to get apps and games, books, TV shows, and movies, set up your email, get iMessage and FaceTime up and running, and much much more. iMore has tips, tricks, and how-tos for all of them.

• All new iPad help and how-to guides

Need help?

If you run into any problems or need any extra assistance, don't hesitate to ask. We've got a special, dedicated thread set up in our forums to deal with any issues you may have.

• New iPad setup help

Curious how to setup an AT&T account on Apple's iPad Wi-Fi + 3G? Dieter's going to take you through it, step by step, in fine video form after the break.

1. Either tap the popup that asks if you want to setup a 3G on startup, or tap the Settings app.
2. Go to Cellular Data
3. Tap view account (and then wait, it takes a while).
4. Enter your user personal info and credit cards details and create a login.
5. Choose your plan, $14.99 for 256mb or $29.99 for unlimited
6. Remember, it rolls-over automatically so you'll get billed again next month!
7. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the terms of service (seriously?) and tap to agree.
8. Add international data if you're a traveler.
9. Wait for them to notify you when it's complete.
10. Once you get the notification, you are good to go!
11. (If you want to, you can go back to Settings and make changes to your account).

Done? Done! Let us know how it worked for you!

YouTube link

I have to admit, at first I was thinking that this seems a little complicated and a lot of steps to just connect via Wi-Fi... but wait, it is all-goooooood.

So, I get my text message and it tells me that I now have access and that it is renewable every 24 hours. Cool. Now, why is this exciting and post-worthy? Well, If you have tried to connect to an AT&T Wi-Fi access point before, say, via Starbucks, you connect, but as soon as your iPhone goes into sleep mode, you loose the Wi-Fi connection and you have to reconfigure it all over again!

With this process, this does not happen! I can only assume it adds your MAC address to AT&T's service. So everytime your iPhone goes into sleep mode, you don't have to worry about turning it back on! It automatically connects (well, for 24 hours anyway). How great is that! I say kudos to AT&T in taking the extra time to ensure that the free Wi-Fi experience on your iPhone is flawless. Good job.

Check out the gallery below!

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?