Will WP do these for me?

[Shadnic]

Hey wpcentral guys! I'm currently an android user and have been for almost two years (my contract will be up sometime late spring). Over the past 5 years or so I've tried out blackberry/webOS/android/iOS (via ipad), and I'm dying to give WP7 a try. I always enjoy each operating system I'm using, but I've never really "loved" one, and WP seems like something I could love if it works as well as it seems to.

There's just a few things that happen to be extremely convenient about android that I'm sure I'll miss if I switch, so I wanted to ask about those things. A lot are related to google services..

The biggest is google talk (gmail chat) integration. I use google talk a LOT. A lot of people I talk with regularly are on it all the time. Google talk is, of course, incorporated right into android, but not just in the google talk app! When I open my text message inbox, I see green (or orange) dots next to the people who are online. If I scroll through my contacts in the contacts app I notice the same thing. If I'm reading an email that happens to be from someone who uses google talk, I'll see that they're online or offline just within the email header as well. I absolutely love this and use it more than the google talk app itself to see what people are online when I need to talk to them.

Google+, while admittedly not the huge success google wanted it to be, is still something I use. I follow a completely different set of people there than facebook, and it's almost like a secondary news site for me, where I follow people who write blogs that I'm interested in and stuff. Is there even a google+ app for WP7?

This is a slightly different question, but how many windows based services would I need to convert to? I "have" a windows live account, but it's because our email system at my college is based on windows live (so for all I know it will cease to exist once I graduate later this year). I don't use MSN, I don't use hotmail, I don't use skydrive, I don't use zune...etc. Will WP7 aggregate all my pictures from picasa or will I need to transfer all those to another service? What about my songs stored on google music and amazon cloud drive? Are there apps to take advantage of those? Will I need to transfer my music to yet another cloud service?

I'm on sprint so who knows when I'll even get a chance to get a windows phone, but here's hoping! Also last question but is windows phone 8 supposed to coincide with the release of Windows 8? Is it supposed to be a huge change? Will windows 8 and windows phone share a marketplace, or are those just two completely separate entities?

 

[enahs555]

Google services integration is very lacking. Not by Microsoft choice, but because Google is blocking them legally. It really pisses me off, because if Microsoft was blocking google from using its products, Google would disappear over night; as well as people would scream and cry foul as to what Microsoft would be doing. But it is somehow OK for Google to do it to Microsoft.

It might be a serious problem for you.

 

[koolkid09]

Google services integration is very lacking. Not by Microsoft choice, but because Google is blocking them legally. It really pisses me off, because if Microsoft was blocking google from using its products, Google would disappear over night; as well as people would scream and cry foul as to what Microsoft would be doing. But it is somehow OK for Google to do it to Microsoft.

It might be a serious problem for you.

You can't really expect Google to play ball with Microsoft with what Microsoft are doing to Google's manufacturers.

 

[falconeight#IM]

gtalk works great with I'm plus but it sounds like you might want to stay with android for now.

 

[Shadnic]

Well that's kind of a bummer...but I could be content with IM+. That's what I used for gtalk on my ipad. It's not "perfect" but I could live with that.

I have several months to decide so I still have a good while to weigh my options. Thanks for the help so far!

 

[jdevenberg]

I too was heavily invested in Google services. So far, I prefer SkyDrive to Picasa. Zune player (not ZunePass music service) blows the Android music player out of the water. You will have to use the Zune desktop program (or WP Connector if you use a Mac) to sync your music to the phone, but you aren't required to actually sign up for zune or buy zune music. It is just used as an interface between your phone and computer, instead of using drag and drop like Android. I find this helps me keep my music more organized. There is not a Google+ app for WP, and this is entirely Google's choice. Google Talk is not integrated the way you are wanting, but you can chat using IM+.

 

[MastrMeatWad]

IM+ works well. I am able to chat via twitter, facebook, IM, windowslive chat, and send messages to mulitple people at once. You can set your status as well and can group chat through those mediums. Works very well but will be a little different than what you are used to.

I used to be heavily invested in Google services as well, but now found my way on WP7. I do not miss google and in fact prefer bing for search and collecting bing points for free MS points, gift cards, etc for searching is pretty awesome.

I didn't know much about zune before because I used itunes. I now find zune to be the best player imo, especially over itunes and everything from my intunes account moved to zune. I love having stuff on my computer, xbox 360, and phone. The zune pass is nice addition as well.

You might be able to use a wp7 phone for 30 days depending on where you live, nokia, I believe had started this in some areas. I could be wrong.