Google has no doubt done some amazing things in the past decade. I still remember making the switch to their search engine and wondering why I ever started at yahoo.com. Wow! Look at all the white space and nothing but that little search box and logo in the middle. At the time, that was cutting edge and Google has managed to surprise me time and time again with their creative and different approaches to daily life and the internet. Best of all, almost everything they release is FREE.
I did pay for one Google product and that was the G1 (Google Phone). I was amazed at how simple it was to sync my contacts from Gmail with my address book on my phone. The process took all of 10 seconds and I was up and running. I had two thoughts immediately:
- WOW!! What a cool thing to have on my phone.
- That really stinks for everyone else! (non-G1 owners)
For years and years, through at least 4 different cellular phones, I had gone through the tedious process of keeping all my contacts up to date and then transferring them when I bought a new phone. This time I did not have to make that transfer. My contacts were already in my Gmail account and all I had to do was provide a user name and password. Boom! Everyone was there. Better yet, I now have their phone number and email address on my phone. Now I can call, text, email or even chat with anyone right from my phone.
What about everyone else? Until recently, I thought that G1 users were the only ones that had access to this wonderful technology. Turns out I was wrong. Thanks to an article on Mashable.com (we’ll touch on that in a minute) I was prompted to do some research. I stumbled across Google Sync. This FREE tool is available for all of the major smart phones, like the iPhone, BlackBerry, Symbian and Windows Mobile devices. There is a great video on the Google Sync site that explains it all. If you have one of these phones, you can take your address book and your calendar with you everywhere you go without ever connecting them to your computer. It’s completely wireless.
Google Sync
But wait, that’s not all. Sounds like an infomercial, doesn’t it. As of this morning (October 1st, 2009), via Mashable.com, we now have real syncing of our searches as well. Now, if I log in to Google.com on my home computer (laptop, tower, etc.) and perform any searches, those same searches will show on my mobile phone browser. I just have to log in to Google.com there as well. I tested it right after reading the Mashable article and it worked perfectly. If you are interested in more about this, follow the link over to the Mashable article: http://mashable.com/2009/10/01/google-suggest-mobile/.
I’m sure there will be many more features like this in the near future. For now, I am really excited about the ability to take my address book and searches with me everywhere I go. Never know when I might get trapped somewhere with nothing but my phone and a few minutes to kill. Something tells me I’m not the only one that thinks like that.
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Tags: Address Book, Calendar, G1, Gmail, Google Sync, iPhone, Searches, Symbian, Windows Mobile
