Google Sync finally adds push email

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 22 Sep 2009 at 17:27

Google has brought push Gmail support to iPhones and Windows Mobile smartphones, the company has announced.

Google Sync was introduced last year, offering people the ability to synchronise their contact and calender information with their smartphones courtesy of Microsoft's Exchange ActiveSync protocol.

However, the one notable omission was push email from Gmail accounts, a situation the company has rectified with the latest version which offers the service to all the major handset brands, including BlackBerrys and Nokia S60 smartphones.

"Using Google Sync, you can now get your Gmail messages pushed directly to your phone," writes Google software engineer, Douglas Gresham.

"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."

Push email is free for Google Apps customers, and will be automatically enabled for anybody using Google Sync already. However, customers will be able to decide through the control panel which of their Google services they want to sync.

There is a caveat, which is that iPhone users with an Exchange account already set up won't be able to use Google's service because the iPhone only supports one Exchange account at a time.