I recognize the author's appreciation for the Danger Hiptop, but lack of sync with real apps (instead of just the web cloud) made it a problem for business use. Samsung Blackjack II or MotoQ were good with data sync, but despite Handango (the Windows Mobile "app store"), it was tough to find "an app for that" that worked and didn't bog down the phone.

Having owned all the above, really feel iPhone is closest to what a device should do, so not anxious to jump to Palm Pre.

Our mail and calendaring on Google Apps as well, and in near real-time sync, and I haven't "tethered" the iPhone since (granted) the last OS update.

Really enjoy having multiple and shared calendars, so I can see colleagues' calendars (in the same Google Calendar colors) on the iPhone. It's updated in near real time as they adjust their day, the changes are reflected on my iPhone.

Same for groups of Contacts, and of course all the Gmail "folders" and read/unread messages in perfect sync.

Tasks are also in OTA sync using not a "to do" list but a full GTD manager such as Things or OmniFocus.

We use Daylite for sales/CRM which syncs OTA, but some of our Windows friends use ACT! w/ iClink which syncs the full ACT! database, with notes, and tasks, and contacts, all OTA as well.

With the OTA app store, all business data OTA, and only the occasional OS update tethered, very happy with the real time OTA full bidirectional business data sync experience.