It's quite simple. Forget the built-in gmail app. It pales in comparison to using the browser to access email. You can create a shortcut icon to it for your main menu. It autologs in everytime you click on that icon. You can actually read your email, because the font is larger (responds to your droid general font size settings). It doesn't do pinch and zoom (why, I don't know), but what's great is that you can select text from it. And it has a better menu layout than the standard gmail app.
1. First, just access gmail in your browser (it's a special mobile version, with a unique menu, but it does everything the pc version does). After you sign in once, it will remember your login info and next time you access, you will go right to your account.
2. Next, while viewing your mail, bookmark it (press hardware menu, then "more" and choose "add bookmark"... name it gmail).
3. Then, create a shortcut for that bookmark (long press on empty spot on your home screen, choose "shortcut," then choose "bookmark" and pick that "gmail" bookmark you just made.) You can create home screen shortcut icons for other browser bookmarks too, now that you know how to do this.
4. Now you have a new icon on your home screen that says "gmail" (just move your old gmail app icon back to the app bin).
Using your browser gmail -
--- Easier to read. The browser font display font for emails is much larger and easier to read than the gmail app.
---- you have full select text capacity (because you are using the browser to read your email).
--- If you see a phone number just long press on it and it copies it and puts you into your dialing app.
----To select any text just press hardware menu, then "more" >and choose "Select text." It puts you back in the email you were viewing and doing a long press, you just move your finger to select text (highlights it) and when you release it you see a message "text copied to clipboard."
--- now you can paste that into any field in another app just by long pressing in the field and choosing "paste,"
--- check out the menu system in your new browser gmail app... far superior (you can do anything you can do in your pc).