The problem is you need a separate app for each of them and not all services provide one. On the iPhone, the generic email app allows me to consolidate my Yahoo, Hotmail, GMail, Exchange, and any other IMAP or POP3 email account (up to 4 accounts) into the one app. I can likewise download separate apps if that works better. With the Android platform I *MUST* create a GMail account and I *MUST* register and use it for many different uses, even if I already have several email accounts and don't want to use GMail (which I don't). With the Apple platform (Gah, I am already starting to sound like a fanboy, yuk! - <washes mouth out with soap....comes back to finish typing>) I do need to create an Apple account for the iPhone/iPod Touch, but then I don't need to ever use it again (except for any iTunes/app store "purchases"). All email communication comes in on any email service I prefer, and in fact I have no Apple email service at all.-steeladept
The app on mine will manage all my email accounts if I want.
Android does require a gmail account (& Google Checkout) for the Market. No different to Apple in that. No need to use it. All email can be through any service you want. And I suspect you can get manage it differently, and outside Google, if you want.
Maybe the Android phone you had wasn't the same as mine.
As for the apps that claim to sync, I don't recall Fliq, but I know CompanionLink is VERY expensive ($40+ USD) and really doesn't fully sync. I think it syncs emails, but my main concern was with contact lists and calendars and it didn't do calendar syncing at all IIRC. Must have been thinking of a different app I tried. However, to make it even more expensive, not only is this app $40, but then you needed to get DejaOffice on top of that. Don't know how much more that would cost.
Just looking at Fliq real quick already shot it down. Need a Fliq account and must sync with the account, not just between Outlook and the Device. I can already do that if I am willing to go through GMail and use that as the common hub instead. Guess I really do need to read closer. But this app too is quite expensive. If I had seen it when I had my android device, though, I might have given it a whirl and seen if that would have satisfied my needs.
-steeladept
DejaOffice is free (approx $10 to for no adds). But it isn't actually required if you are happy to sync with the Android apps & Google. $40 is quite a lot - but they charge the same for the iOS version.
These apps are quite expensive in app terms - but no different to the standard pricing for WM programs really. And only a small part of the price differential between Apple and Android.
I'm quite happy having a lot of things going through my gmail account and that works out free. I have some email accounts I keep completely separate, so I do that too. If I used Outlook, I could set up a system to sync with that too if I wanted. The only point I'm making is that there is no reason to be locked into Google just because you have an Android phone. And, because it is OpenSource, I'm sure that all needs will be met by someone as the Android App market develops.
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