Now we can synchronize our contacts and calendar with GMAIL Contact and Google Calendar using PUSH technology. It really easy to setup that in your iPhone. Just select Microsoft Exchange when adding new account. For iPhone and Windows Mobile devices, Google Sync allows you to get your Gmail Contacts and Google Calendar events to your phone. Once you set up Sync on your phone, it will automatically begin synchronizing your address book and calendar in the background, over-the-air, so you can attend to other tasks. Sync uses push technology so any changes or additions to your calendar or contacts are reflected on your device in minutes. The connection is always on so you don’t have to manually sync your phone after Sync has been set up. This means that when your colleague changes the time of the TPS report cover sheets meeting, you’ll know about it right away.

Since Sync is a two-way service, you can make changes on your phone or in your Google Account. Your calendar and contacts are always up-to-date, no matter where you are or what you’re doing. Also, since your data is automatically backed up to your Google Account, it’s securely stored even if you lose your phone.

Sync: Set Up Your iPhone or iPod Touch

Important! Google Sync uses the Microsoft© Exchange ActiveSync© protocol. When setting up a new Exchange ActiveSync account on your iPhone, all existing Contacts and Calendar events will be removed from your phone. Please make sure to back up any important data before you set up Google Sync.

Agile Messenger is the worlds most feature rich and user friendly all-in-one MSN®, AIM®, Yahoo!®, ICQ® & GoogleTalk® instant messaging client for your iPhone!

Send instant text and picture messages to anyone on your MSN®, AIM®, Yahoo!®, ICQ® & GoogleTalk® contact list directly from your iPhone! Save money on SMS: Agile Messenger sends all messages through your data-plan, there is no per message charge!

You can find Agile Messenger in the App Store now.  It’s currently priced at a ‘special introductory price’ of $9.99 for its first 30 days.

So, what’s with the new iPhone 3G?

Well, it’s pretty much the same iPhone as before — except now it’s down to $200, and has way faster 3G data, A-GPS (which is even better than regular GPS), as well as a flush headphone jack (which is great for anyone who doesn’t want to use Apple’s bundled headphones). Oh, and it’s also a little thinner around the edges, and a little thicker at the center. If you want to know what it was like to try out, check out our iPhone 3G hands-on.

How’d they get the price so low? The iPhone used to be crazy expensive.

Actually, depending on how you do the math it’s not actually cheaper. Now, in some countries the iPhone is free when you sign up for service, and in the US you’ll pay $200 for the 8GB model — half what it was a month ago — so you’re definitely paying less up front. But the data plans cost more now, so you might wind up spending more money over the long run.

Read the rest of this entry »

Google Reader is a hot ticket for iPhone and iPod Touch users lately. We saw a native attempt at Google Reader, which worked quite well actually. There is just nothing like the real thing though right? So here it is, Google has finally brought full support of its RSS reader, Google Reader, to the mobile Safari browser. The service says it is still in beta, but it seems to be working very well.

“This new version is designed to offer many of the same features as the desktop, while making it quick and easy to act on items. If you’ve used list view, then it should be familiar to you. Scan the titles for an item that interests you, tap and it expands in place. Starring, sharing, and keeping unread are done in place, so you never have to leave the list view or refresh the page. We think it’s a very fast way to power through your reading list.” - Google Reader Blog

The application looks to bring a more desktop like Google Reader experience to the mobile Safari browser. To access the new Google Reader, just visit http://www.google.com/reader/i/ on your iPhone or iPod Touch. The service is still in beta and you will not be redirected to that page just by visiting Reader, so bookmark it for future use.

[Via Google Reader Blog]

As the iPhone continues to march across the globe, Google’s special (and slick) interface that was introduced in mid-December has been limited to English speakers. However, yesterday the company rolled it out to 33 countries in 16 languages, including Chinese–despite the fact the handset is not available through any Chinese carriers.

More importantly, Google continues to create special mobile variations of its other pages, which now includes Google News and support for users of Google Apps. Google Apps users can now check their mail using the same interface regular Gmail users have been enjoying, with the added benefit of being signed in to use the other mobile Google services.

The updated news viewer allows users to browse by the front page or by section, and features a built-in search tool. It’s still essentially a link repository to other third-party sites, but it’s now far easier to parse through on smaller screens than its original format.

What really makes the updated News page shine is that it integrates YouTube videos in the related stories. If there are videos for a selected subject, you can view them as thumbnails, which when clicked will jump you to the handset’s built-in YouTube viewer. Short of actually having Flash, this is the closest you’ll get to being able to casually watch Web videos while browsing other news networks. You could also use a conversion tool like vTap or Avot mV, but this new system requires one less step.

I still think most iPhone users will be inclined to use Safari’s built in-search tool, which can be set to use either Google or Yahoo without having to venture to a search page first. With the speed of EDGE, I often find myself skipping any unnecessary page load when it comes time to search on the go, something that won’t be fixed until the purported 3G version of the handset comes out later this year.

The recently released iPhone SDK Beta 3 continues to give up juicy hints as to Apple’s intents for the handset’s next major update; not only has the 3G chipset been identified but new code referring to stereo Bluetooth headset support, suggestions of GPS and new functionality for mobile Safari and Google Maps.  There are also signs that Apple may not be taking the ongoing hacking of the iPhone lying down, with the inclusion of a “BRICKED_AND_LOCKED_SIM_STRING” that suggests the handset could seize up should an unlocking attempt be made.

In terms of Bluetooth, A2DP has been included in the code as well as “HeadphonesBT” that indicates wireless stereo capabilities, long requested for the handset.  Bluetooth remote control is also mentioned.  The new beta also references “RoleGPS”, which many have assumed will mean either in-built navigation capabilities or at least compatibility with an external GPS device (likely connected via Bluetooth).

The library also includes a mention of “Printers”, a new addition, while reference to Nike+ sports monitoring equipment have been deleted.  The suspected integration of the currently standalone YouTube app into mobile Safari is also present, via a “YouTubePlugIn.webplugin” component, and “Google411″ - the search company’s directory enquiry service - is now associated with Google Maps on the iPhone.

Finally, there are suspicions that Apple will require official activation of an iPhone via iTunes before Firmware 2.0 is permitted to install.

by Jonathan Cassell - Editorial Director and Manager, Public Relations
via iSuppli

What do you call a mobile phone that owners employ for voice communications less than half the time they are using it?

Apple Inc. calls it the iPhone, and iSuppli Corp.’s latest consumer survey research indicates that U.S. owners of the popular product are spending their time enjoying all its capabilities, i.e. voice, data communications and multimedia entertainment, rather than exclusively using it for traditional voice calls.

Owners of all types of mobile handsets use their phones for voice communications 71.7 percent of the time, according to research from iSuppli’s ConsumerTrak survey of U.S. residents. In contrast, iPhone owners spend just 46.5 percent of their time with the product engaged in voice calls. So what are consumers doing with their iPhones instead of talking?

U.S. consumers said they spent 12.1 percent of their iPhone usage time accessing the Internet, a stark contrast with 2.4 percent for all mobile phones on average. Furthermore, iPhone owners spent 11.9 percent of their usage time listening to music or other audio, compared to just 2.5 percent for all mobile handset users.

“This usage pattern shows Apple has succeeded in producing a true convergence product that consumers like to use for multiple purposes,” said Greg Sheppard, chief development officer for iSuppli. “Apple has come as close as anyone to achieving a balanced convergence in mobile-handset features and usage.”

The attached figure presents the breakdown of average time usage for iPhone owners as well as for all mobile handsets.

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By Sean Michael Kerner on March 19, 2008

All right here’s the question everyone wants to know - What’s better - Apple iPhone or Google Android?

According to Andrea Gazzaniga, software development manager at mobile open source vendor Funambol the answer is not entirely clear. In a rambling overflow presentation at AjaxWorld’s iPhone Sumitt, Gazzaniga attempted to outline the differences and similiaraties between iPhone and Android.

“iPhone is cool and that’s what’s bringing us all here,” Gazzaniga said. “With Android the claim is that it will be open and we’re hoping it will overcome the closed nature of current mobile development.

Gazzaniga had a few other (not so startling) points such as Android is based on Linux while the iPhone is based on Mac OS. For the most part Gazzaniga implied that Android from an app developers point of view behaves much the same as iPhone, though he did point out a few serious limiations to the iPhone (from what he could tell from the iPhone SDK).

According to Gazzaniga iPhone does not allow in its SDK for background processes. That is an app must close when the users leaves it. The obvious question resulting from that issue then is - how does an application listen for a network event after a user leaver it ? (for instant messaging or sync operations).

There is not official email integration in the iPhone SDK which begs the question  - is it possible to deliver email other than with Apple’s client and built-in protocols?  Gazzaniga also noted that developers of iPhone native applications will need Apple to distribute their applications. As an example Gazzaniga commented that you can’t get Skype for the iPhone today.

Overall though in my view, Gazzaniga’s presentation left the audience with more questions than answers. It will be interesting to see as the iPhone and Android SDKs mature and gain adoption, precisely what the differences between the two are from a practical point of view.

Google’s new GData Objective –C Client Library adds support for the Google Contacts Data API and YouTube API. So essentially, any applications written in Objective-C (including those created for the iPhone) will be able to take advantage of features such as uploading video to YouTube account or directly editing their Google account contacts.

According to Google blog post, GData Objective-C Client library is 100% compatible with the iPhone SDK.

“Perhaps you want your iPhone software to send photos to a Picasa Web Albums account, or keep a journal of phone calls automatically in Blogger. Maybe your iPhone application accesses a database of information from a Google Spreadsheet or from Google Base. With the Google Data APIs Objective-C Client Library, creating software for these tasks is straightforward.”

“If you are writing iPhone software, just drag the “GData Sources” group folder from the GData project file into your iPhone project, and use the GData APIs as you would when writing a Mac application.”

More information on GData Objective-C Client Library can be found at the project page. [Via iPhone Atlas]