It shouldn’t surprise anyone who uses it that Gmail is the most useful, and among the most popular of all free e-mail services. Yet, if you have a mobile phone you realize how many of those great features you really miss using a mobile phone e-mail client. However, there are a select few phones that really do the whole Gmail service justice.

The most obvious of course, is the new phone from T-Mbile and Google. Since this built by Google and Google software, it just makes sense that e-mail integration with e-mail service works very well. If you want, you can use either the built-in e-mail client and access GMail via push mail, or You’ve access Gmail directly via the web browser. Personally, I think setting up Gmail using the IMAP protocol so that changes are made automatically across all devices works extremely well. This is also my preferred option, using the iPhone. (more…)

The first Android-powered phone, T-Mobile’s G1, was officially released today.  It comes preloaded with a varity of Google Applications (Search, Maps, Gmail, Calendar, Google Talk and YouTube).  The Gmail app has most of the features of the web version (labels, conversations, etc) and Maps comes with StreetView built-in.

The phone itself isn’t a slouch either.  It has a 3.2-inch TFT-LCD (at 320×480 resolution) and a full QWERTY keyboard.  It has a 3.2 megapixel camera, and 8 gigs 1 gig of storage (plus a microSD slot).  The phone does not have video capabilities, and it’s chained to the T-Mobile network.  Undoubtedly, a unlock crack will be developed quickly.

Here is a video produced by Google showing off the phone:

And here are a bunch of photos of the device.  It sure looks slick!