Do all apps get saved in gmail ??

They are not 'saved' in gmail. They are saved to your gmail profile. Ad not physically, no. Google stores information about the apps you have installed so that you can easily reinstall them when you change your phone or hard reset the current one.

 

Open up the "Market" app and hit menu>downloads

Only apps you download from the market will be "saved" to your account.

 

No.

When you get the new phone, go to the market and the list will be there. You can then dl them onto the new phone. (apparently this only works for PAID apps).

 

Is Google actually doing this action? If it's a true synch is it wiping apps off the list that have been deleted or does it keep a running history of some sort?

 

As long as you install/uninstall from the market the list is in sync.

Pay apps that are removed are still tracked (two strike rule), but I do not think free ones are once removed from the phone.

 

That's how I thought it SHOULD work but I did a factory reset and lost all my apps and all but 2 apk's were loaded from the market. I started thinking that perhaps it did a sync on my new phone right off the bat after the wipe and it saw I had a couple resident apps and that became my new app profile? Anyway, same thing happened using Appbrain too. All my stuff was gone. I ended up having to restore all by memory. I'm thinking I must have done a step wrong along the way or just didn't understand the philosophy correctly.

 

Only paid apps will show up in the Market when you switch to a new phone. To ensure you have a list of your apps, use Listables! (free) or AppDragon and email a list including QR codes to your gmail (or other email) account.

 

good to know. doesn't make any sense, but good to know

 

In a perfect world, the Market would save a list of your apps when you move from phone to phone, but right now it only does paid apps. I've tried Listables! and AppDragon with much success. I back up my list every few days to the drafts folder in my gmail account.

AppBrain, in my experience, was wiped when I tried to sync my updated phone to it, so I wouldn't suggest using AppBrain to back up lists of apps. It is better for sharing app lists with other Android users and finding new apps.

 

Just to correct a few comments, the first time you open the Market after setting up a new phone (with the same Google account) you should see all your apps free and paid. The next time you go into the Market you will only see your paid apps so make sure to re-install all the apps you want back the first time you go into the Market.