In general, the Google stuff syncs very nicely with the iPhone, probably second only to Android I would say, and until Google decided to launch a phone, I think they allowed Apple quite detailed access to allow this. You can for example sync up to 25 calendars to the iPhone.

Email

On the iPhone, go to the Settings app, and then into the Mail, Contacts, Calendars tab. Tap on Add Account. Choose Microsoft Exchange, and in the Email tab goes whatever you want to name it, mine is Gsync. In Server, you put m.google.com Domain is left blank, and in username goes your email address, so xxxxx@googlemail.com (do not put gmail.com, it needs to be fully spelled out). Password is fairly obvious :-) Use SSL is ON.

All you then need to do is flick all 3 tabs Mail, Contacts, Calendars to ON (assuming you want all 3) and then choose Mail Days To Sync, mine is 1 week. Last tab is Mail Folders to Push, and I only choose my Inbox, but you can select several in here. That is it, you will now have your Googlemail in the iPhone Mail App, and your Calendar info in the iPhone Calendar App, plus of course all your Google Contacts in the Contact App.

Now, come back out to the main Email, Contacts, and Calendars screen, and scroll down to make adjustments to the various settings, such as font size, default Calendar etc.

Contacts

Setup is taken care of above.

Photo's sync both ways, as of course do contacts, change a contact on the website and it changes on the iPhone, change it on the iPhone and it changes on the web, and almost instantly. Photo's can be changed on iPhone where you can use the camera to take a photo, and as soon as you press "done" on the iPhone, that photo is sent to Google and appears on the contact on the website.

Calendar

Setup is taken care of above.

You can sync up to 25 calendars with your iPhone, to select which ones sync, open the Safari browser on your iPhone and go to http://m.google.com/sync and sign in with your account details. You will see all your phones you have ever activated for Google Sync, (scary number for me :-) Select the iPhone, and choose which calendars to sync. Of course, sync is both ways, all changes happening almost instantly.

Why would you want or need to do this? Well, with the coming of the iPad, there will be some US only apps you might want, or of course need. I decided to do it to get a Zinio reader for my iPhone, and a couple of US only audiobooks. Please keep in mind Apple do change things, so I can not guarantee this wil always work, best bet is to do it now while it does (as of posting date)

1) Open up iTunes and go to the iTunes store

2) Make sure you’re not signed in to your UK account (Sign Out)

3) Scroll to the bottom of the store and make sure the US flag is showing on the bottom right. If its not click the flag and choose US. (It will likely show UK so change it to US)

4) Buy any free iPhone or iPad app from the US store (Double check it is the US store)

5) When you are asked to login DO NOT USE UK LOGIN, Rather choose create new account and follow the instructions (enter a US address, which you can get from any US Real Estate company search)

6) Enter a US address and choose “None” for payment method

You can now download any free Apps, remember not all US apps work in UK, mainly the TV ones like ABC etc.

When you need to actually pay for an App, you can use this site (HERE) and purchase an iTunes card (you can go anywhere actually, this is who I use) and again making sure you are logged in to your new US account, you can then REDEEM the code you got in email, which will credit your account and then you can buy apps (and music, books etc) at will.

REDEEM is in iTunes is at the very bottom of iTunes Store page under the MANAGE heading.

It was £90 all bar a penny, and that included a £10 top up, automatically on the SIM when it arrives, and the current offer on the T Mobile website gives you a free 6 months unlimited internet ("fair" use 1GB although Customer Services just told me it is 3GB!) worth £20 included. I also got £10 casback from the Topcashback website.

Now, if you send the package back, you do not get the £10 back, so you lost the £10, add about £6.50 as you have to use Special Delivery, so in this case I think it makes sense to keep it, and use the SIM to see just how much data is available each month :-)

Am also changing my mind a little bit about the Pulse Mini, it could have its place as a second back up, or "pub" phone, and the real send and end buttons also unlock the phone, which is quite good.

Will try and do a mini review, of err the Mini as I use it a bit more. 

UPDATE: Prob will never do the review, just sold on eBay for £70 :-)

Kev

It has always been a fine application, with regular updates, and unlike some companies I could mention (hell, its Memory Map, lets just say it), they do not expect you to update your maps with every major release of the app.
Just lately, I have been looking at the various mapping apps for the iPhone, and I did purchase one just a few weeks back, Outdoors North West, from Roadtour. Now at £14.99 for the whole of the North West of England including the Lake District, which is where we have spent almost all of our annual 4 weeks holiday for the past 12 years, I think it is pretty good value, but it is not Viewranger, which as well as doing what this app does, is much, much more.
The best feature for me of Viewranger is the panorama feature, which shows you in graphic details just what that hill in front of you is, but this software is just jam packed with features, and if you do any walking outdoors at all, you should probably get this app.
Now, just how much of this will end up on the iPhone, I am not able to say, but I for one can not wait.
However, for now, think about this, a Nokia 5800 is around £170 brand new, so, if you load on the Nokia Free forever Ovi Maps with Navigation, you will have a superb platform to also run this application. 
I would say that I have asked the guys in support at Viewranger over 20 times to change my device, and not once did they question me, or ask why I had so many devices, or suspect me of any wrong doing. 
They also answered me really late at night, at a weekend, and this week after I saw the iPhone version was coming soon, and wanting a play around with VR now, I asked them if I could please use the maps and software on TWO devices at the same time, and to my amazement, they have activated me for the 5800 and the N95 8GB with the only proviso being that its for my personal use (which it is), and that is amazing to me. In addition to this, and at cost to them no doubt, they today sent me a custom map I purchased off them several years ago and had lost, all at no cost, and no fuss!


I know with a lot of Sat Nav software, piracy is a huge issue, and I have no idea if this company suffers from it, but I sincerely hope not, they are a truly superb outfit, and deserve to prosper. If you are reading this, please consider support them, now if you have S60, where I must just say a Touch device with a larger screen really elevates this software, it really is worth thinking about a 5800 (or 5230 at £99 I guess?) just to run this and the free Ovi Maps, or indeed, sign up on their website to get updates on when the iPhone and Android versions are ready.


Viewranger Website

Kev

What was in the running

About 5 months ago I was pondering my next move. I had an Nokia N82 which had lasted me some time and was beating away all pretenders to the throne. It had proved a very capable phone with it's highly regarded camera and the stability of S60 3rd Edition. That said I had wanted a change for a good while only nothing that came along was managing to get my pulse racing. I had been thinking iPhone 3GS was next on my list but to be sure I liked an all touch screen device I decided to test the water with a Nokia 5800. I had mixed feelings about the device and whilst I knew the iPhone had a much slicker UI I felt very unsure about no hardware keys. So when the N900 was announced I thought Nokia may have just pulled me back. There was no way I was going to try the much maligned N97, and the HD2 whilst packing a punch, as a Windows Mobile device and I just cannot bring myself to go there. Like many commentators have said "If it had been an Android device" then it could have been a real contender.

Overall though, Android still seems to be lacking a strong device although I think the Motorola Droid/Milestone is a clear step in the right direction. I didn't consider Blackberry at all. Why did I choose the device? My needs were for a smartphone that has some wow factor as I'm a bit of a gadget guy. I wanted something that will multitask (when you've used Symbian for a good few years it's pretty hard to go linear!)

Reading Ewan McLeod's Mobile Industry Review post recently about his frustrations over iPhone lack of multitasking vindicates some of my reason for not taking Apple too seriously.   I have recently purchased bluetooth headphones in the form of Nokia BH-504 and a key feature would be for any new phones to work with them so I was amazed when I read that although the iPhone has A2DP it would not allow me full functionality of Next/Previous buttons since it does not implement AVRCP correctly. Having bluetooth headphones and then having to take my device out of my pocket, unlock, navigate to the media app and then choose next is a complete no-no. I cannot believe the inventor of the iPod has not got this licked.   I do a good bit of web browsing on my phone and so the lure of the fully functioning desktop-like browser on the N900 was a big attraction.

Reading the blurb on flash in smartphone browsers throughout 2010 and the fact that Apple are not on the radar was only another concern for the iPhone. I'm sure I could live without it but it was just going to be another niggle that suggested the iPhone was no longer the cutting edge device I was after. For me Apple will need to break some new ground again before I get really interested but, I imagine that just isn't their bag so perhaps I'm just not in Apple's demographic which I guess is understandable.  

Finally, I wanted to be able to rip a DVD to divx or whatever codec and watch on my N900. I was reading more and more about how flexible the N900 was in this regard which gave even more feathers in it's cap. Actually, not finally as the price was a bit of a factor here as I got the N900 for £499 from Nokia Store and that was with £50 cashback at Quidco meaning £450. The iPhone would have been pretty much £100 more although I know I could get a discount again through Quidco. I couldn't see why I would pay more for the iPhone. Had it been £100 cheaper than the N900 it would have been a tougher decision.    

What has been my experience so far? On day one (Christmas Day) I was so chuffed to be let loose on my new toy that I went a bit mad and installed app after app from the repositories. I was seeing anything with a hint of usefulness and thinking "ohh cool" without a thought to whether A) I would use it, and B) Where I got it from. I went all the way through Maemo Extras, Extras-Testing and Extras-Devel (the apps you really shouldn't be playing with!) stuffing my face full of plug-ins!   Eventually, the inevitable happened! The browser crashed and when I went to reboot the device and open web again, nothing. Not a peep. I went to the Application screen and started web, it opened and then waited 20 seconds before self closing. I tried the cut down browser Midori which was ok and then I had a brainwave. I know I'll install Firefox beta! Now given that it was almost certain that the reason my device had crashed in the first place was due to unfinished apps perhaps I would have been warned off another Beta. But no, this was the answer to my problem so I ploughed on and installed.   Now Firefox mobile or "Fennec" is supposed to be another world beater in the browser stakes from what I've been reading. However, one of the first sites I tried was Brizzly.com. Admittedly this is not the simplest of sites to chuck at a mobile browser but I had been testing it out on my netbook and thought I'd go for it. Actually, I was disappointed. MicroB, the default browser on the N900 handled Brizzly very well. It was a touch slow but I can understand that.

However, Firefox was making a real mess of how it rendered the page and misplaced items. It's not as if you could criticise Brizzly's webmasters for their coding given that MicroB had no real issues showing off the page as intended.   So I realised I had to get the main browser back. I tried a few reboots before resorting to Google for some answers on reverting to factory settings. The only real answer seemed to be to reflash the device with the firmware. I was not overly keen on this prospect but another side of me liked the tinkering aspect of it. It was late on Christmas Day and so I decided I'd look at it in the morning. Boxing Day morning I brushed up on reflashing. Actually, it turned out to be pretty simple. I downloaded the firmware for the UK device and the command line flasher application and followed a few lines of simple instructions. The reflashing took less than 5 minutes and whilst it did knock out all the applications I'd installed, it kept all my user files in place on the 32GB storage. I didn't exactly change the habit of a lifetime. Learning from the failings of day one I headed back to the repositories and kicked off round 2 of the download world championships.

Not a real shocker then that when MicroB crashed in the evening it would not restart and I knew another reflash was on the cards. This time I was onto it like a flash (hoho) and by being a bit more worldly wise about what apps I installed third time around it was probably only an hour of tinkering before I was back in full flow.   At first this did put me off the N900 as I was worried I'd spent a wedge on a device that was going to crash all over the place and leave me frustrated. I even checked the returns policy at Nokia and looked at whether I was within the 14 day cooling off period. I wasn't! I reasoned I could sell it on eBay and not really lose out (a quick search of completed listings showed there are enough keen buyers out there to mean a good price would be had.) I though, maybe I should have got an iPhone 3GS after all. I'm sure the iPhone would not have been crashing like this!   After I thought it all through though I realised that actually the reasons I chose the N900 in the first place still hold true.

The iPhone has a maturity out there that would give me good stability and performance. The trouble is it would have been a bit safe, a bit boring and not at the cutting edge anymore. Not to mention the fact that the basic things the iPhone is crap at would driven me crazy (multitasking, AVRCP, lack of flash support and inability to play back just about any video file). Equally, I like things that are ground breaking. I'm sure I would have loved the iPhone 3GS had it been the first incarnation but now whilst it has the power I'd want it still lacks some features that are key to daily use for me.   For now then I'm happy with my N900. I've noticed a few niggly bits like the awkwardness of using the keyboard (but not as awkward as a touch-screen keyboard) and also the fact that the screen lock toggle switch feels like it's in the wrong place. For example, if I make a telephone call and want to lock the screen before replacing the device in my pocket I cannot do that with one hand. I might manage it at a push but I would be highly likely to drop the device as it requires more dexterity than my hands possess! That said the main reason I have this device is not for making phone calls so I can live with that.

I've now managed to take a few Xmas photos (camera did a decent job, similar to other Nokia 5mp cameras, a notable improvement over the 5800 3.2mp) and share using pixelpipe worked nicely (once I'd logged in correctly!). I've set up gPodder to go and get my list of audio podcasts. Streamed music over my home network from my main PC (can be done over the net too with Knots2), played video files streamed from the main PC to our TV via the TV-Out cable supplied. That worked really well and meant the family could enjoy old footage captured on previous Nokia devices that they had not seen for some times. Whilst they are easily accessed by the geek of the family, the N900 is making some things more accessible! I've sideloaded a program downloaded from iplayer. I used my netbook to download the WMV file and then copied it to the device and it plays flawlessly, listened to 5Live football commentary direct from the BBC Sport webpage using the MicroB browser. The N900's FM Transmitter was not a feature I considered important as my experience of these in the past has been poor. However, here it worked perfectly and a few choice tunes in the car made a change from my wife's radio choices! I'll use it more for podcasts when driving to and from the station on my daily commute.   Gavin Culverhouse Dec 2009 The N900 is certainly not the mass market device that will kill the iPhone. I think iPhone competitors are far more likely to come in the shape of Nokia devices late 2010 once Symbian rocks up with Qt and perhaps Maemo 5 has a slimmer more polished device or even Maemo 6. However, at this point in time the N900 is going to allow me to satisfy the majority of needs my mobile life demands and give me the feeling I have something different to the crowd that can perform some impressive party tricks to boot. Maybe I will buy an iPhone one day. I certainly have to thank them for raising the bar on expectations of a mobile device user interface but, for now it still comes just short of being my number one choice. Another big plus point for me will be the integration of social media via the Conversations application which threads SMS, Tweets and IMs by user. Combining this with the hardware keyboard means I feel mich more engaged and willing to pass comment and share my thoughts. On a T9 device it always seemed like too much hassle to navigate to the appropriate app or web page then tap in a comment whereas now it's so quick and easy I think I'm going to be a lot more active.  

That is not to say it will of course, and I will post lots more here over the next few days. If you are planning to buy one of these in the UK, maybe you can help me out a little and click here to get one at a good price and help me at the same time :-)