I'm Not sure if its my phone or gmail itself. I've noticed that my gmail doesn't refresh. I have to do it manually. I remember you used to be able to set the time intervals in the options. Now that is gone. Did they take this away with a update ?
Google Cloud Messaging... it's basically push notifications, so rather than GMail having to periodically go out and check for new messages, GMail is notified that there is a new message available and then goes out and grabs it.
Well. I guess all I had to do is post a thread about it. A few hrs after posting this thread originally, my gmail started coming in like normal. WTF. Thanks to anybody who commented.