Can you expand on this? I'm curious why you think push mail is a pig?
It's my understanding that when using push mail ("As items arrive") the Exchange server creates an entry w/ the IP address of the device, then both sides (client and server) sit and wait until a new msg arrives. Exchange then pushes the msg to the client.
When a schedule is defined, lets say for 15 minutes, then every 15 mins your device is opening a data connection and checking to see if new mail has arrived. With this method, regardless if there is new mail or not, a data connection is opened every 15 mins.
With push mail, however, if you dont recieve mail for an hour or two, then your device never opens a data connection to check. It simply waits until the server notifies it.
There are of course other areas where "push mail" may open a connection, for example, when you update a contact that is saved in outlook, etc... however, my experience has been that push mail is a battery saver, not a pig.
But maybe I am missing the point here?