The software is mainly helpful for its tight integration. It's potentially ideal if you have multiple Google accounts, since it's easy to switch between them. Contacts likewise gives you a consistent interface between your phone and the web, and it ties closely into third-party apps like Facebook. The most recent version has also added automatic suggestions for contact info and can merge duplicates. There's enough here that it might be worth giving Google's approach a try, even if it's just to confirm that you prefer another app.