Gmail problem with phone

Question 1. I have a Huawei U8815 phone. I don't have 24/7 internet, only rely on free wifi.
This works fine with everything except Gmail.
When I try to access Gmail I get a message at top "Waiting for sync".
Also in the middle of screen "Your email will appear shortly".
After that it freezes and eventually times out.
Have checked accounts & sync setting. Background data and auto-sync are both ticked.
Sync is on on my gmail account.
When I click on my gmail account all boxes are ticked (although I only use Gmail).

Question 2. As I don't use Books or Picasa is it safe to untick them?
When I do I get a message "Do you really want to remove this account. Removing it will also delete all messages, contacts and other data from this phone".
When I cancel out of that and choose "sync now", nothing happens.

Am I best to delete my account and create a new one?

Don't know much about phones, any help would be appreciated.

You have a bit older technology phone and Android has came a long way in the last 2 to 3 years. Your phone was released with Android 2.3. There are upgrades for that phone for certain markets to Android 4.0 (but I would think that phone would run very slow on 4.) Bottom line is that phone needs to be as "clean" as possible to get the best performance.

With that in mind, I would backup my contacts, photos etc., reset the phone and start over. Once it has rebooted, before you start adding your contacts, email etc., I would disable and/or uninstall everything you don't plan to use. Then, and only then, would I sparingly add your accounts and data. Don't use or run any app you don't absolutely need.

That will give you the best chance for success with any gremlins you've been facing.