When you get a new phone – or a new service provider for that matter – one of the most annoying things in the world is making sure your contacts are up to date. The Official Google Mobile Blog made a post today explaining how Android syncs your contacts with GMail to ensure the most painless and seamless process possible:
The whole syncing with Google/Gmail thing is great and all… unless GMail isn’t your primary account and/or you don’t keep all your contacts in Gmail. Sure… its awesome if you’re already an avid Google user but can be irritating otherwise.
However, it does give you a good system moving FORWARD and thats part of Google’s plan with this whole Android thing…. to get you engrained in Google’s services and at some point become reliant/dependent on them. Because lets face it – if you switch back to a phone that DOESN’T have Android later on… aren’t you recreating the same problem?
So the idea is for Google to become your hub for communication with the world and to be honest, its a great strategy. Lets not pretend its totally revolutionary or anything. Afterall, pretty much every carrier offers a contact backup system (although they are paid) but it usually is easy to simply port your contacts from one phone to another.
Android however, offers a new level of integration between your contacts, calendar, address book and all that jazz. Thats the idea. To get a new level of effectiveness from your mobile form. It comes at the expense of being more reliant on Google. At least they make it easy to become reliant on them as opposed to someone else (or nobody at all).
Here is the “new level” of effectiveness we’re talking about:
So there you have it – 2 way syncing of your data in real-time. From your phone to your computer and your computer to your phone, everything is consistent and up to date. Me likey.
I’m not a huge GMail user right now. To be honest, I WANT to make the switch but just feel anchored to my Yahoo account. This is what will push me to do the legwork to GET IT DONE. Because as you can clearly see… GMail, Android and other services combine to offer you more.
And that my friends… is mobile synergy.
[Via Official Google Mobile Blog]