No, they don't use service books.
I believe the default e-mail app is not instant/push e-mail, which means your phone would only check for new messages every X minutes or whenever you manually check.
If you used a Gmail account (and thus the Gmail app), the e-mails arrive instantly, like they do on the BlackBerry.
Also, you could use a third-party e-mail app, like K-9 Mail, which supports IMAP IDLE -- which really just means e-mails arrive to your phone as soon as they arrive to your e-mail address... just like the BlackBerry.