GMail/GCalendar on Windows Phone 7

JoshP

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Hi all,

I'm wondering if someone could provide an overview of how GMail and GCalendar are integrated with WP7?

I've tried to find an article online that goes into more depth than simply adding gmail to your phone, but have come up empty handed.

I am a heavy user of GMail & GCal (both for personal and corporate use), and rely heavily on labels, stars, threaded email etc. So far, I haven't seen any indication that GMail on WP7 is anything more than just a view into a standard mail inbox, and it appears as though all of the features unique to GMail get lost.

Can anyone go into more detail about this? I realize I could use the browser to view my gmail, but that lack of integration would be a huge drawback from what appears to be a very "fluent & integrated" OS...

Oh, and to preface this all, I'm about a week or so from purchasing a new phone, and have recently played around with Android 2.2 & WP7. I love the interface with WP7 and believe most of the shortcomings will be addressed in OS updates, just as they were with Android & iOS. Android's interface, in comparison looks stone-aged, but is more feature rich, and more expandable. The Google Apps integration is a critical deciding factor for me. I was a bit disheartened to hear that MS has locked down the API's ability to integrate with the hubs - otherwise I would think it would be fairly easy to develop a GMail app that provides mail + unique gmail features?

Thanks for all your help.
 

Daniel Rubino

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Kinda like what you said:


  • Supports Gmail natively, but no advanced features (threading, starring, labeling)
  • Supports calendar and contacts

Although I like WP7 much better than Android, there's no debate about Gmail: it's much better on Android, as you would expect. That's one area that Google has closed-source programming on Android as they put a heavy emphasis on that functionality.

Having said that, it's still a kludgy UI. Google needs a class on aesthetics and usability IMO. WP7 email looks much better than Gmail on Android, but Android is more feature rich at this point.
 

JoshP

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That's kinda what I thought - go with feature rich Android, or interface rich WP7.

I guess the biggest question I have to answer is how much I think updates to the OS will improve the features of WP7.

Anyone got a crystal ball?

(If I am honest, I must confess its looking like Android :/)
 

subarunut

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Josh, I was in the same boat. I was dieing to get off the iphone and was looking between both. AFter getting my hands on the WP7, it was hands down the one I wanted. I love the OS, even with it's 1.0 flaws. The think about Android is there is no guarentee that you will get updates. I have heard that people have been clammering for updates for certian devices, but it is up to the oem AND carrier (not in all cases though) to let the updates though. The fragmentation that android has just killed it for me. But don't get me wrong, Android has some killer devices on the market and it is from my perspective, better than ios.

Though I do have Gmail and now WP7 and they work great together, almsot like they were ment for each other ;). I really think that there will be some great improvements comming in the first update, and it is only MS that has control of the updates.

Either way, I think you are making a good decision.
 

JoshP

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Josh, I was in the same boat. I was dieing to get off the iphone and was looking between both. AFter getting my hands on the WP7, it was hands down the one I wanted. I love the OS, even with it's 1.0 flaws. The think about Android is there is no guarentee that you will get updates. I have heard that people have been clammering for updates for certian devices, but it is up to the oem AND carrier (not in all cases though) to let the updates though. The fragmentation that android has just killed it for me. But don't get me wrong, Android has some killer devices on the market and it is from my perspective, better than ios.

Though I do have Gmail and now WP7 and they work great together, almsot like they were ment for each other ;). I really think that there will be some great improvements comming in the first update, and it is only MS that has control of the updates.

Either way, I think you are making a good decision.

I thought the same thing, however it appears as though the fragmentation on WP7 isn't as glossy as initially thought:

We build updates for all Windows Phone users, but must certify them with the carriers. They?ll happen on a regular cadence like they do on the PC. If a carrier wants to stop an update they can. But they will get it out on the next release.

Updates are cumulative. If one [carrier] doesn?t get their testing done in time, the next push date comes and it goes out then. Carriers could in fact block updates to sell you a phone. That can happen. But we don?t expect that to happen. We are not going to push updates onto carrier networks that they have not tested. Microsoft is being very trusting of the carriers here. This is very different from the situation with Windows Mobile where every phone was very different. With Windows Phone, there is no impact on OEM code, network code, and so on. Yes, there are upgrades that will require a full test pass. But most will not.

From: Windows Phone 7 Microsoft Updates Can Be Slowed By Carriers

Doesn't bode all that well for solving the fragmentation issue. Granted, Carriers & OEM's integration with the phone is at a much higher level than it is with Android, and there shouldn't be many reasons why a carrier would block an update (except to coerce people into buying new hardware), it could happen.

Also, at least with Android you can usually root the device, and get the updates yourself.


How are you finding GMail on WP7? Don't you find the missing labels, and other "gmail-only" features to be a bit of a downer? I could live with these features for a while, but looking at the development API, it looks like only Microsoft add those features and keep the deeply integrated mail experience that is stock. Taking that power out of the developers is really unfortunate - I'm not foolish enough to wait for MS to implement features unique to gmail :/
 

subarunut

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I used to use them when I used the web client, but found that when I moved to using Outlook and my previous phones (winmo 5.x, 6.x, iphone, symbian, blackberry) and at the times I used them, none of the features were supported. I stopped using them and haven't looked back since and don't miss them at all now.
 

Daniel Rubino

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I thought the same thing, however it appears as though the fragmentation on WP7 isn't as glossy as initially thought:

Doesn't bode all that well for solving the fragmentation issue. Granted, Carriers & OEM's integration with the phone is at a much higher level than it is with Android, and there shouldn't be many reasons why a carrier would block an update (except to coerce people into buying new hardware), it could happen.
There was a lot FUD going around about that "update" nonsense.

Let it be clear: there won't be fragmentation anything like Android. The carrier's can block them thing has gotten way out of hand and I wrote an editorial on it here.

Don't let that dissuade you from the platform.
 

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