[fuffalo]

Good Afternoon. I've been using the HTC 8X for a while now, and there's certain things I really like, but certain things I'm missing from Android. The purpose of this thread is not to start a debate over which is better, but simply a place where I'm hoping some people can offer me some insight in to getting over a few of my issues.

Keyboard: The biggest thing I miss about Android is swype (or the Google equivalent). I've searched this issue, and it seems not only is there no swype, but there is no keyboard alternatives. Is this true? Also, is there any way to get it to auto correct while in input fields? I understand why they did it, but I'd much prefer it the other way.

Search: Is there any way to make the search button use google for search results? I tried to change my default search provider in IE, but the only options are Bing and Yahoo. I'd like to use google if possible.

Google push services: I've set my email to update every 15 minutes so this isn't a huge issue, but is there anyway to configure gmail to be "pushed" to my phone?

Google+/gChat: I know Google doesn't have any offical apps for these on WP8, but is there any 3rd party alternatives?

Contact merging: I've got a ton of contacts from my MSN account, facebook and my google contacts. Is there some way to "merge" contacts? I've got a lot of people where I have 3 separate contacts for each person, which is fairly annoying.

Camera button: I love the fact that I can launch the camera app with a physical button so quickly, but I've found that using it to actually take pictures is a bit difficult as I end up shaking the camera. Is there any way to set this up so tapping the screen snaps the photo?

Aside from that, is there any other apps/features that might make transitioning from a Google environment more seemless?

Thanks in advance!

[Elephant2000]

Hi.

Keyboard, No

Search, Try to pin Google to your start screen, Pin things to Start | Windows Phone How-to (United States)

Google, Google+, G Chat, Search results for "google" | Windows Phone (United States)
Windows Phone and Google Services do not play nice together. If Google is that important, change phones!

Contacts, Contacts | Windows Phone How-to (United States)

Camera button, Settings, Applications, Photo+camera, check tap screen

[fuffalo]

Thanks a lot, you just solved a number of issues for me!

[Elephant2000]

Sure thing. Hit up the forum or PM me if you have any other questions or need app recommendations.

[Elephant2000]

BTW, this may help you.
http://forums.windowscentral.com/win...-live-com.html