Just out on Monday, from the wonderful people over at the Google Labs, is a new Beta called Google Sync (http://www.google.com/mobile). This new service allows, for free, the instantaneous and wireless syncing and backing up of your Google and phone’s contacts and calendars. Those familiar with the Microsoft Exchange protocol should be comfortable with the new Sync service, as it is based off the Exchange framework. Although Push email support is not active as of right now, it should be in a in the near future. Current supported platforms include iPhone (iPod Touch), Windows Mobile, Blackberry, and several other handsets.

iPhone users will be familiar with the MobileMe service offered by Apple for the price of $100 per year, similar to the Sync service. Although the MobileMe does offer the push email, as well as a limited number of service for the computer, you may consider saving a few dollars and seeing how Google Sync works out for you.

Preliminary tests with an iPhone 3G put push synchronization at under 1.5 minutes, with full calendar and contact support (including categories). Although the push email function is not enabled, email can still be retrieved manually or at set intervals. Setup was easy, and required to simply create a new account selecting Exchange as the protocol instead of Gmail. Push worked in all methods attempted, including to and from phone, web interface, and an Apple and Windows computer. Although Google warned of contact and calendar deletion, addition of Sync services kept all previous information intact; regardless, a backup is suggested in the event of problems.