POP3, GMAIL, forwarding

Once of the things I immediately noticed with the default email app is how terrible it is. It only loads x days of messages, it doesn't sync with extra folders, the scheduled synching is terrible and breaks often and it's a drain on the device's battery.

For a work-around resolution, the BEST method (short of downloading another application) is to use the GMAIL app and allow GMAIL to check your POP3 accounts for you. When new messages arrive, GMAIL pushes the update to your phone.

To setup GMAIL to check your POP3 accounts:
Log into gmail.com from a computer. You can perform these steps from the device's browser, but they're a little different and can be difficult to manage. Perform these steps from the PC as it is the easiest method.
Click on the Settings link in the upper-right.
Click on the "Accounts and Import" tab.
Under the "check mail using POP3" section, click the "add POP3 email account" button.
Enter your POP3 account's email address in the "email address" line provided in the popup window and click Next Step.
Enter your username and password for this account. Google will attempt to automatically fill in your POP3 settings for this account. If you do not know these settings, you can try proceeding with what has been filled out. Sometimes a quick Google search will help you to identify what they are (search for your account's POP3 settings; ie: aol.com POP3 settings).
While still on this window, I recommend selecting "label incoming messages" and then label them the email address for the account that you're adding. By doing so, you will create a folder (label) for each account that you add and when you receive mail on your device, you will know where it originated from. If you select "archive incoming messages (skip the inbox), they'll still go to the label you created, but you won't get notified of the message's arrival on your phone, because it's not hitting your inbox.
Click Add Account.
Now, for the cool part about GMAIL; you can also RETURN messages THROUGH those accounts, so it appears as if you're using, say, Outlook (or some fancy email client) instead of just checking your mail with GMAIL.
Under the "send mail as" section, click the "send mail from another account" button.
In the popup window, type the name you wish to be associated with the POP3 account and the email address and then click "next step".
Select the "send mail through (yourdomain.com) SMTP servers. Doing so will prevent messages showing "email@gmail.com on behalf of email@email.com" when replying to messages.
Enter your SMTP server information (use the information from the steps that you took to setup your POP3 account). You must make sure that you have the correct port number. Enter your username and password and select SSL if required (again, you can usualy verify this information with a Google search).
Click "Add Account".
If you refuse to get rid of your current POP3 account or you absolutely HAVE to originate emails from your old email account, but you still want to use my method, you can set that "other" email account as your default:

From GMAIL click the Settings link.
Select the Accounts and Import tab.
Under the Send Mail as section, select which account you want to be your default and all of your mail will originate from that account.