Sync efficiency: iCloud vs Gmail. Opinions?

F J Poblam wrote:

I think I am inferring your advice as, simply, "push" is better than "fetch". Right?

From what I inferred from your original post, yes. Depending on the volume of email you get, push may use more battery life. But, you get the mail almost as soon as it hits the server. For some people, Fetch is sufficient.

Honestly, I can't speak to how it all effects contacts. I don't add contacts often enough to my Google account to pay that much attention. I've been using Gmail/Google Calendar for years and I rarely have an issue with syncing. However, I only sync between Google an my iOS devices and my Android devices. On my Mac, I access everything via browser.

My experience is that, if you're using a mix of platforms (iOS, Android, Mac, Windows), Google is a better choice. If you are only using Apple devices, then it's personal preference. And, I agree with Bob, that without knowing more about your needs, it's hard to advise.

One thing I would note is that, unless you have a paid Google account, you are limited to fetch in the Mail app on the iOS devices. The way around that would be to use one of the Google apps (e.g. Gmail, Inbox) which will allow push to your iOS devices.

F J Poblam wrote:

What do you mean by *paid* Google account? Does Google apps (enterprise) work different from/better than the freebie?

Yes, Google (enterprise) will support push for email using Microsoft ActiveSync. The free version does not. If you use the built in Mail app on an iOS device, you will be limited to fetch. To get push with a free account, you need to use a Google app such as Gmail or Inbox. If you dislike those apps, you can still install them on your phone for notification purposes but still read the email in the Mail app. You'll just need to pull down to refresh when you open the Mail app.

I have not found any significant differences in the operation of updating contacts between the two, they both do a good job. iCloud uses a Dav system so changes are fast (internet connection allowing) I am not sure which specific method is used by Google but it too seems to work well.

Please tell us your definition of "efficient, robust". Both work well so the best we can do is provide opinions. You need to decide which works better for you.

I believe Google also uses Dav.