All of this was possible before through a smartphone's web browser (and Google Sync has been available on Blackberries for months), but if you were looking to push update your phone to various Google-stored information through the iPhone or Windows Mobile, it was pretty much a read-only experience. Now you can treat Google's calendar and contacts like any push service, updating your phone to the cloud in real time.

And I'm way too excited about this development. [Google Sync via lifehacker]

UPDATE: I'd mentioned that Gmail was included. It is not.

The G1 will be the first phone to offer push Gmail, which is something we're expecting to see on the iPhone in the not too distant future. Gmail also features a Google Talk presence on Android, thanks to the fact that Gmail gets its own mail app while all other mail services are relegated to a simpler one. You can sync you contacts and appointments with the G1, but only via Google's services; no Outlook and Exchange support here. In fact, you must have a Google account to use this phone, according to Walt Mossberg.

Google Maps offers street view that you can control using the built-in compass, turning the phone around and looking around like you're actually there. A neat gimmick, but we'll see how useful it actually ends up being.

Here's a video Google released on Google Mobile Apps integration:

Today, the first day of Macworld, Google announced new improvements to the integrated Google experience on iPhone. The previous version, launched just over a month ago, brought together our suite of web applications—including Search, Gmail, Calendar, Reader, and more—into one easy-to-use interface. Since then, we've streamlined the interface even further, making the applications faster and improving their usability. Some of the improvements announced today include:

* Improved UI: The applications look and feel slicker, and they are easier to activate, navigate and use via a touch-screen.

* Customization of default tabs: Now Google users can have easy access to their favorite applications by customizing the applications that appear on the Google.com menu bar. Users simply choose their favorite Google applications to bring them to the front menu, ensuring that they'll be close at hand whenever they're needed. Switching between applications is effortless, as users only need to sign in once to access their Gmail, Calendar, Reader, Docs, and Picasa accounts.

* Speedier Gmail: New emails will automatically show up so there's no need to manually refresh inboxes. And the new auto-complete feature for contacts makes composing emails faster than ever.

* Speedier Calendar: With our new month view, users can glance at an entire month of appointments.

* iGoogle: Now Google users can access their iGoogle gadgets on the iPhone. Everything they've customized on their iGoogle homepage including weather, stocks, and news feeds now appear on their iPhones. To go to iGoogle, simply click on the iGoogle link on the Home tab. You can customize your iGoogle page on your computer at www.igoogle.com.

These new features provide iPhone users with a desktop-like Google web application experience in terms of ease-of-use, speed, and feature richness but optimized for the iPhone. This experience is made possible by the iPhone's general usability and the capabilities of its web browser, combined with Google's innovative mobile web applications. We plan to expand this experience to international versions of the iPhone and to other platforms that offer similar usability and browser capabilities. One of our goals is to support platforms that are fulfilling the promise of the mobile web - like the iPhone - and to ultimately deliver unique and compelling mobile experiences that improve people's daily lives.

To get the new Google experience on the iPhone, users simply navigate to www.google.com on the iPhone Safari browser. To see the full range of mobile products and services available from Google, visit mobile.google.com. If you'd like to learn more about today's announcement, Google's mobile initiatives or if you need screenshots, just let us know. And if you're at Macworld please stop by our booth (number 1268 in the South hall) for a live demo! We'll be there at 11:30 am on Tuesday and 10:30 am on the other days.

This all sounds well and good, and I'm all for supplying African nations with better technology, but aren't all these apps free already? I mean, what exactly is Google doing here that's so great ? It doesn't seem like they're providing, you know, computers connected to the Internet that are able to utilize these services or anything. It seems like that would be a lot more helpful than merely not charging for personalization of their services. It seems like it's merely an exclusive deal that benefits Google more than the institutions they're trying to get good PR by "helping" to me. –Adam Frucci

Google announces partnership with Rwandan Government and Kenya Education Network to provide free communications applications [Google]