Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

IOS 4.0: Any reason to use Google IMAP Sync instead of Google Sync?

B

bjdraw

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 24, 2008
605
17
Tampa FL
Since I already had an Exchange account configured on 3.0 I never tried Google Sync, but now 4.0 allows multiple Exchange account. But 4.0 also has new and improved IMAP Sync features like the ability to sync Notes and the Calendar.

So my question is, are their any benefits to IMAP Sync over Google Sync on the iPhone 4.0? It appears that Google Sync is better because it will also let you sync contacts as well as shared calendars, but I'd like to know if there are any disadvantages before I mess with my contacts etc.

*Update* it appears that you can only sync Notes with IMAP Sync.

Thanks
 
Hmm... I've been using Google Sync because of the calendar and contact syncing primarily. Right now, all of my contacts are in the cloud being synced with my iphone and my mac, but I did notice the new features when playing around in the Mail settings...

Other than manually syncing my contacts when I connect to iTunes, is there another way to get wireless contact syncing?
 
bjdraw said:
But 4.0 also has new and improved IMAP Sync features like the ability to sync Notes and the Calendar.

So my question is, are their any benefits to IMAP Sync over Google Sync on the iPhone 4.0? It appears that Google Sync is better because it will also let you sync contacts as well as shared calendars, but I'd like to know if there are any disadvantages before I mess with my contacts etc.
Click to expand...

I am a Gmail user. I switched from IMAP to Exchange (Google Sync) as soon as I discovered this enhancement with iOS 4. I have two reasons.
  1. Exchange supports push natively.
  2. Sending mail via Exchange is a LOT quicker than thru SMTP (at least for me).

I later learned about Notes sync, so I re-created an IMAP account for Gmail and only enabled Notes there. Best of both worlds. :)

BTW I do not sync contacts via Google Sync, because it looks like some fields are not fully compatible with Google contact. I also lost full-size contact pictures when I synced with Google contact.

[EDIT] I can't sync groups in the Google contacts, either.
 
If you scroll all the way down to the bottom of your Gmail inbox when using IMAP, it gives you the "Load More Messages..." option so that you can keep going back further to older emails. When using Google Sync (or any Exchange account), scrolling down to the bottom of the inbox does not give you the option to load more messages. You're limited to the mail you've received that falls within the timeframe you set for "Mail Days to Sync" in the account settings. You can set this setting to "No Limit", but I have far too much email to select that option. The longest option available besides "No Limit" is 1 month.

Every once in a while I need to get to an email in my Gmail account that is older than a month, so I set my Gmail stuff as IMAP for Mail / Calendars / Notes and set up a separate Google Sync account just for Contacts and set that to fetch instead of push. I can live without getting my mail from Gmail pushed to my iPhone... every 15 minutes is good enough for me.
 
Why pick?

I use them both right now.

IMAP for Notes Only.

Exchange for Mail and Contacts.

(I don't currently use Google Calendars for anything)
 
PoitNarf said:
If you scroll all the way down to the bottom of your Gmail inbox when using IMAP, it gives you the "Load More Messages..." option so that you can keep going back further to older emails. When using Google Sync (or any Exchange account), scrolling down to the bottom of the inbox does not give you the option to load more messages. You're limited to the mail you've received that falls within the timeframe you set for "Mail Days to Sync" in the account settings. You can set this setting to "No Limit", but I have far too much email to select that option. The longest option available besides "No Limit" is 1 month.

Every once in a while I need to get to an email in my Gmail account that is older than a month, so I set my Gmail stuff as IMAP for Mail / Calendars / Notes and set up a separate Google Sync account just for Contacts and set that to fetch instead of push. I can live without getting my mail from Gmail pushed to my iPhone... every 15 minutes is good enough for me.
Click to expand...

I recommend using exchange for Mail/Calendar/Contacts, and use IMAP for Notes only.

Then, if you ever need an older email like you're talking about, just use http://mail.google.com in safari for the occasional use. The web app is actually really nice and fast (probably a bit faster than IMAP "load more messages"). Check it out if you haven't.
 
TroyBoy30 said:
and this is better than simply using the gmail email setup option?
Click to expand...

It's not necessarily better or worse. It's personal preference. For example, I think it's worse, for the reasons I listed in my earlier post. Some folks might think it's better because it specifically addresses a need for them.

The only benefit I can see is that it pushes e-mail and syncs OTA. All the other things it does are worse/not as good as IMAP (e.g. no search capability built into Mail.app, worse battery life, no draft-saving capability in Mail.app, far, FAR more limited information saved in Contacts.app, etc.).
 
Didn't see this one posted here. The biggest reason for me to choose imap or exchange for Google is that delete email issue.

If you use it through exchange, then any email you delete (hit the trash icon or swipe across the message in your list) will simply be archived and not deleted.

Through imap, you have an option in the settings on whether to archive or delete message.

I prefer to have my emails fully deleted and not archived, so imap for me until that is resolved.
 
Far, far more info for contacts in IMAP?

bripab007 said:
The only benefit I can see is that it pushes e-mail and syncs OTA. All the other things it does are worse/not as good as IMAP (e.g. no search capability built into Mail.app, worse battery life, no draft-saving capability in Mail.app, far, FAR more limited information saved in Contacts.app, etc.).
Click to expand...

What is the difference of the data/information saved in contacts.app via IMAP vs Google Sync? I haven't used IMAP for contacts, but am curious to use it if there is more data saved in the iphone other than just the often mentioned low-photo quality that results from google sync?

Thanks, in advance.
 
skinsjake said:
What is the difference of the data/information saved in contacts.app via IMAP vs Google Sync? I haven't used IMAP for contacts, but am curious to use it if there is more data saved in the iphone other than just the often mentioned low-photo quality that results from google sync?
Click to expand...

As far as the contact pictures are concerned, I don't see any difference between the IMAP and Exchange methods. Either way, you lose the full-size contact pictures once your contacts are synched with Google.

Groups are not compatible with iPhone either, no matter which method. Those two things make syncing contacts with Google totally useless for me.
 
My iphone was setup as : Mail, Calendar, Contacts through Exchange Sync because I didnt care about notes.

But now, I found out that I need to use an IMAP gmail account in order to send mail as different alias users (using http://www.cjo20.net/blog/?p=24 instructions)

How can I get the best of both worlds?

Use exchange for all its syncing capabilities and be able to send mail as different aliases (rather than my personal gmail)

Thanks
 
schindyguy said:
My iphone was setup as : Mail, Calendar, Contacts through Exchange Sync because I didnt care about notes.

But now, I found out that I need to use an IMAP gmail account in order to send mail as different alias users (using http://www.cjo20.net/blog/?p=24 instructions)

How can I get the best of both worlds? ---Use exchange for all its syncing capabilities and be able to send mail as different aliases (rather than my personal gmail)

Thanks
Click to expand...

I think it could be done with mobileme, but I really dont want to pay for something that google gives away for free ;)

And sorry about hijacking the thread...
 
Another attempt at hijacking the thread, sorry OP.

I use Google Calendar extensively and have a few folders. After the iOS4 release, my folders are gone. I was using IMAP for calendars and it was working fine. After trying exchange and imap, my folders dont show on the phone. I have used google sync for them to be synced.

Anyone have ideas?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back