Windows phone apps

[Ksandra]

Couldn't seem to find a thread for this (if so will merge). I know a few here have had windows phones for a bit, and since I just got the lumia, I am pretty sure I will have a bunch of questions pop up about apps.


Anyone find a decent gmail talk app? I don't mind paying for one, but I don't want to pay for it, then not have it work. I've tried the free versions of gchat and jichat, but they don't seem to update receiving messages. Which is kinda weird because both state the free version should as well as give notifications. They will if I'm actually currently in a convo, but as soon as I don't talk for about 2 minutes, I no longer receive messages.


It's not a huge issue, if needed I can stick to facebook messaging (just nice that I can switch from comp to phone using the same program, rather than switching to text messages). Would be nice though in case someone messages me through there.

Also, any random fun apps you've gotten that I should look into? :D I got this game called Puzzle Craft that I am super addicted to.

[Ratatapa]

Google is not providing a Gmail app for Windows Phone users, and the company recently revealed it has "no plans to build out Windows apps" beyond a search app available on Windows 8 and Windows Phone. "We are very careful about where we invest and will go where the users are but they are not on Windows Phone or Windows 8," says Google Apps product management director Clay Bavor. Meanwhile, Apple's situation is fine for iOS users as the company hasn’t opted to use Exchange ActiveSync by default and CalDAV and CardDAV are both supported natively. If Microsoft wants to fix Gmail support in Windows Phone, the company will need to provide CalDAV and CardDAV support to sync calendar and contacts. Alternatively, Microsoft could simply remove support for Gmail calendar and contacts sync on Windows Phone 8, but that would alienate Gmail users who wish to use Windows Phone and render the OS useless for anyone who requires Google’s ecosystem of services.

Would probably have to add an IMAP account from the default mail app but not 100% sure

[Ksandra]

I don't need like a legit app from google itself. There's a bunch of 3d party ones though and the two I've tried don't update received messages. So was seeing if anyone found a 3rd party one that works decently enough before I buy something I don't need.

[Egon]

I have an exchange email account and an outlook.com account. These work very well with WP8. Also, the skydrive is amazing. Other than that, there really isn't a huge offering of apps just yet. The lack of a logmein.com app is lame, but the remote desktop app that I got works very well.

[Ksandra]

I ended up trying another one: IM+ (includes googletalk, aim, facebook, etc.)

Works super well and seems to have solved my issue.

Only odd thing about it, is I couldn't find a "always update messages even if not in the app" setting anywhere. But after loading it twice I got a pop up saying if I wanted to activate that setting (obviously said yes). Once that was turned on everything seems to be working great.

So if someone else was looking for something similar, give IM+ a shot.