Gmail Comes to my Cell Phone... Unexpectedly

Thanks to a heads up from TechCrunch about the launch of Gmail for Mobile, I found myself trying to figure out if my semi-web savvy cell phone could do it. I have an Audiovox CDM-8940 and pay $5/month to Verizon for simple web service that I don't use for much beyond movie times and sports scores.

Geez. Google's got some good stuff going on here. I followed the simple instructions on mobile.google.com and literally in a matter of a couple of minutes I was sending email back and forth between my Gmail account on my phone and my regular email account on my computer. Very impressive and user friendly. (Also, if you've never checked out Google's amazing SMS text message information service, it's quite amazing and sometimes very useful.)

I still lust after a "smart phone"... I woulda already bought a Moto Q if it was Mac compatible. I've considered the Blackberry Pearl, but I don't trust the Mac sync on that either, and don't want to leave Verizon. A Palm Treo is too big for me. So I guess I'm set for now. Truthfully, I really don't want to do email when I'm out of the office anyway, but it's nice to know that it's there now, if I need it. And I'm happy not to be paying the extra $40 or so a month for a "real" (fast) mobile Internet connection.