How well does WP7 play with Gmail?

[Candide yams]

I'm very much planning to switch to WP7 once my contract ends in the spring. I was wondering how well WP7 plays with Google services, namely Gmail (and its contacts) and calendar? Since Gmail uses labels, how does that work with WP7? I currently have a Windows Live account due to Xbox so I'm not concerned with migrating/syncing my contacts and the like, but it'd be good to know what to expect.

 

[archer75]

I've been looking into this as well. It will only support one of your google calendars. I hear there are hacks to make it support more.
Gmail works fine though I have no idea about labels.
There are google voice type apps. Nothing official but they look good.

Not sure how it imports google contacts.

 

[Candide yams]

Apparently labels turn into folders but I'm curious how this syncs, especially if you use multiple labels on one message.

 

[thed]

Apparently labels turn into folders but I'm curious how this syncs, especially if you use multiple labels on one message.

If a message has multiple labels then it will appear in both folders. Deleting it from one folder removes that label.

 

[Candide yams]

Oh that's very good to know, thanks!

 

[thed]

Yeah, it works pretty well with Gmail but there are a few limitations. You can't apply multiple labels to a message on the phone, so you'll have to use the web browser or set up rules to do it.

Starring works the same way, since apparently starring is basically just applying a hidden label to the message. So you can move a message to the Starred folder, but that will remove the label for the current folder and put the starred label on it. So if you move an email from the inbox into the starred folder on the phone, it will show up in the starred section on the web email page but it will no longer show up in your inbox.

These things don't bother me too much so I'd say it works fine. It really depends on your normal usage though.

 

[Candide yams]

Thanks thed! And obviously contact sync works fine too?

 

[jesdt]

Contact sync with Gmail is flawless. Loading, creating, editing contacts on the phone works like a charm. Changes through the Gmail website are promptly updated on the device as well. No problems with multiple phone numbers, email addresses or locations. Even the Gmail contact picture is used. Live Mail sadly doesn't have an option to add custom pictures on the webservice (only saved on the phone).

 

[Jake_M]

It doesn't delete the email from the server when you delete it on the phone.

 

[archer75]

It doesn't delete the email from the server when you delete it on the phone.

Did you setup imap for gmail? If it doesn't you're likely still using pop3.

 

[Jake_M]

Did you setup imap for gmail? If it doesn't you're likely still using pop3.

Uh...on my WP7 it says "Server: m.google.com"

On Gmail it says "Status: IMAP is enabled"


I was able to delete from the server from my webOS phone, and I've seen other people on here say they cannot delete from the server too.

 

[thed]

It doesn't delete the email from the server when you delete it on the phone.

That's true, deleting it on the phone just removes the Inbox tag. Google designed it to work this way.

Recommended IMAP client settings - Gmail Help
"Messages that are deleted from an IMAP folder (except for those in [Gmail]/Spam or [Gmail]/Trash) only have that label removed and still exist in All Mail."

There is a way around it that I've noticed. If you move the message to the deleted items folders it seems to completely disappear from GMail, bypassing even the Trash.

But what I do is run a search every once in a while to clear out those messages is run a search on the GMail page. If you type this into the search it'll find all the messages with no labels, so you can delete them all at once.

-label:{Inbox Chat label1 label2 ...}

Replace label1 label2 ... with all the labels that you use. Sure it's kind of a pain to do at first if you have a lot of labels and you have to update it whenever you add a label, but it gets the job done.

 

[Cyterio]

It doesn't delete the email from the server when you delete it on the phone.

Maybe I'm not understanding you correctly, but anytime I delete an email from my phone, it gets deleted from Gmail (webmail) almost instantly.

 

[Sogeman]

No it doesn't. It just removes the inbox label and puts it into All Mail. The button should say archive and not delete. It's misleading.

I started using the crappy mobile version they give us because of that. At least that one works like the web version and does everything I need.

I don't want newsletters and other mail I dont want to keep cluttering up my Mail.

It even uses totally different folders. So even if you put the email manually in deleted items, they still don't end up in the trash folder on Gmail because that deleted items folder only exists on the phone.

It's a shoddy implementation because it ignores Gmails quirks. You can't even star emails. Everything else about Gmail works fine but mail is horrible.

 

[thed]

I decided to do some research into why GMail does it this way and I found out that they recently added some options for IMAP.

I went to settings -> Forwarding and POP/IMAP. I set Auto-Expunge to off, which then allowed me to set "When a message is marked as deleted and expunged from the last visible IMAP folder:" to "Move the message to Trash".

The result? Now when I delete a message from the inbox on my phone it moves into the Trash on GMail. BUT BE CAREFUL, when I delete a message from another folder, it completely disappears from GMail and does not get sent to the Trash.

Still, I think it's an improvement. It's nice that Google now gives us the option. Now if MS can show the Trash and allow proper starring I'd be completely happy.

One note: I'm still not sure what setting Auto-Expunge to off actually does. But it seems you have to do it to change the other option. I'll report back if I find anything new.

 

[Umm Yeah]

For multiple Google calendar syncing, you have to have Mango and thanks to Google purposefully dragging its feet, you have to do a workaround to allow syncing multiple calendars. Mango is fully able to sync with multiple calendars but Google isn't allowing it by default. Maybe by Spring, things will have changed.

The details of the workaround are here - Mango Tip: Sync Multiple Google Calendars with Windows Phone

 

[thed]

Another thing I found. If you must use the mobile site, take a look at this.
Quick Tip: View the iPhone/Android optimized Gmail mobile site on your Windows Phone 7!! | My Windows Phone Story

 

[archer75]

For multiple Google calendar syncing, you have to have Mango and thanks to Google purposefully dragging its feet, you have to do a workaround to allow syncing multiple calendars. Mango is fully able to sync with multiple calendars but Google isn't allowing it by default. Maybe by Spring, things will have changed.

The details of the workaround are here - Mango Tip: Sync Multiple Google Calendars with Windows Phone

It works in OSX iOS and android. However you can't sync any in outlook or live mail. Are you sure it's a google issue and not a Microsoft one?
Microsoft won't turn on exchange for desktop clients other than their own.

 

[Sogeman]

Another thing I found. If you must use the mobile site, take a look at this.
Quick Tip: View the iPhone/Android optimized Gmail mobile site on your Windows Phone 7!! | My Windows Phone Story

I just wish we could use the real, current html5 site. But even acknowledging the real gmail folder structure would be enough to make the current email usable.

Guess I'll just always use my ipod touch for mobile email reading/deleting.

 

[dtreo]

Another thing I found. If you must use the mobile site, take a look at this.
Quick Tip: View the iPhone/Android optimized Gmail mobile site on your Windows Phone 7!! | My Windows Phone Story

Thanks for that link. After reading it and this one especially, I am keeping my EVO and not going to WP7 even with new mango phones out. There is still much left unbaked even with mango.

mywpstory.com/2011/07/things-i-hate-about-windows-phone-7-mango-edition/