So tell me about iCloud

[Ibrahim Allaf]

1) Why shall I use the iCloud email as opposed to my GMAIL which I have everything registered on? Any good reason?

2) How to set it up? I never had an Apple e-mail just my Apple ID but I don't know how to set it up

3) Does my iCloud email have the ability to access my iPhone contacts so I don't have to manually type any emails?

 

[Napoleon PhoneApart]

Moved to iCloud forum.

 

[Lon]

Stick with Gmail. You have a lot of posts on here, I think you'll be a lot happier that way.

 

[Richu75]

Stick with Gmail. You have a lot of posts on here, I think you'll be a lot happier that way.

I moved my contacts and calendar to iCloud. Still using gmail as mail only.
Your iPhone contacts will be sync'ed to iCloud.

Main reason to do so is that google is dropping EAS in the near future, but only for new devices.
If you buy a new iPhone after Januari 31st you're not gonna be able to set it up using EAS.

 

[Ibrahim Allaf]

and what is EAS exactly?

 

[Richu75]

Exchange active sync.

As far as I know the first real push protocol, and most likely the most used of them all.

Supports push sync of e-mail, multiple calendars en contacts. Just like in a real exchange environment.

 

[acosmichippo]

iCloud push syncs email, calendars, contacts, reminders, notes, passbook, photo stream, documents, and Safari bookmarks, reading list, and tabs. Unless you're saying EAS is in some way a more technically correct method of "push" that I'm not aware of, you can't really claim that as a benefit over iCloud.

As far as reasons why to use iCloud over Gmail... Google and Gmail are ad-supported; Gmail scans your emails for targeted ads. I personally don't think it's a HUGE deal (and I'm an iCloud user), but if privacy is a big concern for you, it's something to consider. Functionally speaking, I think they're both pretty similar, although Gmail is more universal. If you're neck-deep in the Apple ecosystem, it's nice to be able to login with your icloud email in settings on whatever device you're on, and have all of your icloud info right there for you immediately.

 

[Richu75]

iCloud push is not a protocol, it is a myriad of protocols like imap, carddav, caldav etc. EAS is just that... EAS, it handles mail related items in one protocol.

So yes, it's a more technical correct method of push than icloud supports. Same goes for gmail if you are using m.google.com and eas.

Only advantage of icloud over gmail as such is push over imap. Google uses imap IDLE which is not supported on iOS (but is on osx). Not sure how Apple handles push over imap.

 

[iByron]

iCloud push is not a protocol, it is a myriad of protocols like imap, carddav, caldav etc. EAS is just that... EAS, it handles mail related items in one protocol.

So yes, it's a more technical correct method of push than icloud supports. Same goes for gmail if you are using m.google.com and eas.

Only advantage of icloud over gmail as such is push over imap. Google uses imap IDLE which is not supported on iOS (but is on osx). Not sure how Apple handles push over imap.

If you mean push usage of gmail just set it up as an exchange account will sync everything like iCloud

 

[Richu75]

That's the topic iByron.

Google will be discontinuing exchange support for newly setup iDevices as of Januari 31st.

So no more push unless using the gmail.app

 

[iByron]

Oohhh I see, so if you have it now, we'd be grandfathered in? That's how mines is set up via exchange , not usin a app if that's the case

 

[Richu75]

Yes, if you are already setup it will continue to work.

 

[Ozzie5374]

Yeah. If you're already using gmail/google backup, DO NOT CHANGE. Let sleeping dogs lie. My iPhone 4 calendar/contacts/iMac stuffed around for ages when I started iCloud.