NotYingYang
Newbie
I have an option to "push messages" on my HTC Desire. What does "push messages" mean?
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Well, text messages should always be pushed.
For email, there is two ways to get email on your phone, push or pull. If you use the Gmail app with a gmail account, it is push. That means when an email gets to your gmail server, the server pushes the email to your phone immediately.
Other email types, like a yahoo account, must be pulled. That means the phone logs into your email account at a predetermined time (can be every 5 minutes to once a day) and checks for new emails. Obviously, pulling emails uses WAY more battery, because it is constantly using the internet to check for new emails, where push email uses literally no battery.
Oh, and do you know how to push messages for Yahoo like gmail does?

Obviously, pulling emails uses WAY more battery, because it is constantly using the internet to check for new emails, where push email uses literally no battery.
Push email uses battery too.. your phone has to listen for connections from the gmail server which still uses battery. Receiving the emails themselves also uses battery. Most people report that push email uses more battery than a sensible polling time with a pull email client.
E.g. an email client that pulls email every 2 hours would be better than a push email client, but an email client that pulls email every 15 minutes would be worse.