graphic by Artem Mostovoy

One of the only true Gmail disappointments over the years has been the service’s lack of Push support for most mobile devices – including the iPhone. We’ve been lamenting this missing functionality for some time, but today, our laments are no more. 

Push Gmail is now a reality!

iPhone and iPod touch users can add Push Gmail to their handsets as long as they’re running the OS 3.0 or above.  Push service is available via Exchange, so when you set up the account in the Settings menu, be sure to select Exchange as the email service. 

For details on how to set up your iPhone with Push Gmail, click here.

Hotmail – or as it’s now called Windows Live Hotmail – has never worked with the iPhone.  Users with @hotmail.com or @live.com email addresses could not configure the iPhone to check their email because Hotmail did not offer POP3 or IMAP support.  If you had an iPhone and a Hotmail account, you’d have to use Safari to log into the webmail system and grab a nearby magnifying glass.

Happily, this is no longer the case!  Microsoft has added POP3 support for Hotmail, meaning that iPhone users can now set their smartphones to work with Hotmail.  Best of all, our test iPhone and iPhone 3G had no problem automatically downloading the configuration details (POP server, SMTP server, SSL settings etc.) when adding a Hotmail account in the iPhone’s Settings menu.  There’s no Push support, sadly, but you can set the iPhone to fetch Hotmail every 15, 30 or 60 minutes.

If your iPhone doesn’t play nice when you attempt to add your Windows Live Hotmail account, here are the manual settings:

POP server: pop3.live.com (Port 995)  
POP SSL required? Yes
User name: Your Windows Live ID, for example yourname@hotmail.com
Password: The password you usually use to sign in to Hotmail or Windows Live
SMTP server: smtp.live.com (Port 25)  
Authentication required? Yes (this matches your POP username and password)
TLS/SSL required? Yes

We’re calling it quits for the next few days for the Christmas holiday.  Site updates will resume on December 26, 2008.  We wish everyone a wonderful week!

…but you’ll still have to go to an Apple store to pick up your iPhone 3G, make payment and activate the handset.  We’re still totally confused as to why Apple (or AT&T Mobility) won’t allow users to have the iPhone 3G shipped to them for home activation, but the lockdown mentality of Apple knows no bounds. 

Visit http://www.apple.com/iphone/buy/ to place your order.  You’ll have the opportunity to set up an appointment at an Apple Store, your credit check will be conducted, and you’ll be on your way to a 3G iPhone.  Please let us know how this works out for you.

Thanks for stopping by.  The iPhone Edition News Center is now online and will soon contain Apple iPhone related news, updates, software release information, reviews, how-to’s, tips and more.  Check back soon for new content.

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