Google Talk on Mango Phones

By Alex Angove

Last updated 06 September 2011

Google Talk (GTalk), if you haven’t heard of it, is an instant messaging (IM) service that supports text, voice and even video, depending on what harder and software you’re using. It comes stock standard on most Android devices and now, as long as nothing unforeseen happens, it’ll be making its debut appearance on the quickly growing Windows Phone platform.

With Windows Phone’s first major update, named “Mango”, in the not-too distant future we’ve heard word that all Mango phones will now be able to support this popular IM service.

Windows Phone is a great OS, but it does currently (in its pre-Mango form) have a few issues with lack of functionality. One such missing function is a decent IM, we’ve also seen a distinct lack of Google Apps for WP devices.

Google Talk is a great IM for mobile devices for a few reasons:

Push notifications
Can be installed on a computer or a mobile device
Support on both Android and WinPho means a huge range of people’s devices will support it
Anyone on a home computer that is logged in to Gmail can talk to you
Off-the-record conversations for sensitive conversations
Custom tiles for contacts that can be placed directly on the Start Screen for WinPho

The Windows Phone version of Google Talk has even had a Metro makeover, giving it an appearance that suits the rest of Microsoft’s mobile OS.

Basically this isn’t huge news for Windows Phone users, but it’s definitely good news all round. We’re not sure yet if this iteration of Google Talk will support voice or video calls, as some Android devices do. But even a simple IM like this should be enough to help Windows Phone and Android compete with Apple’s iMessenger service. Especially considering that it’s now a cross-platform service.