I tried IM+, but it had a confusing interface and had trouble running in the background.
I tried "Chat", but it spammed alerts whenever I lost my internet connection commuting, and required a tedious reconnection process.
Mercury is my chat app savior!
It's full featured, supporting off-the-record and image embeds seamlessly. It's also been reliable, un-intrusive, easy to use, supports Win 8.1 dynamic split-screen sizing, and looks good.
24 March 2014
Really the best gchat client. Beautiful UI; toast notifications; in-line photo and video sharing, just awesome. And as an added bonus, developers are very responsive to emails!
22 March 2014
Much better than the other google talk messenger I tried....very clean design and seems to be stable.
5 February 2014
Easy to set up and use. Cheap to boot!
10 November 2013
When this first launched it was barely functional. The devs have obviously been putting lots of effort into improvement and now this is the best chat app in the windows store. Huge kudos to the UI designers as well... this is gorgeous and perfectly suited to the metro UX paradigm. I especially like how well the snapping works in 8.1. I leave this snapped to the left of my desktop all day at work.
14 October 2013
This app is so much better than the regular Google Talk/Hangout app.
30 July 2013
I had a serious problem with the app crashing on start. The support team worked with me to debug app and find problem which appears to have been server side. They have been very kind and helpful. I highly recommend this client for those who are looking for a google talk solution for windows 8 rt, if you have a problem with the app just drop them an email and they are very helpful with resolving it.
23 July 2013
after couple of months of looking for gtalk app on W8 finally one perfectly looking and working app
19 April 2013
So much better than IM+. Come out with a version for Windows Phone 8.
6 April 2013
this app worked great for about a week. For the past 2 days, however, I've been unable to sign in. I'm prompted to check the server's status but every time I check it says the server is fine. Please fix! I really liked the app!
**UPDATE**Developers emailed me super fast to resolve the issue! Before I could write them back it started working again. Not sure what happened but I'm impressed by the service. Thank you!!!
26 March 2013
Very clean and good application. Nice Windows 8 design to!
19 March 2013
Works beautifully locked to the side of the screen or in the background. I've used a few gChat apps, but this is my new favorite.
8 March 2013
this is a good Google talk app, notifications work well and it signs in when I start windows.
20 October 2014
With Google pretty much dropping support for Google Talk on Windows, I was really glad to find this app running as a beautiful, full-featured "Modern" app in Windows 8. It allows me to stay connected to my Gmail-using friends without hassle.
UPDATE: It's been good, but every now and then messages are missed (I think due to Google's API), and the application has some stability issues on resume. There are also occasions when their server stops working for extended periods, rendering chat inaccessible.
8 April 2014
I love the app overall, I would give it five stars if it allowed me to log in to multiple accounts at the same time.
12 November 2013
If you need a solid Gchat/Hangouts messenger in the Metro interface, you can't go wrong with Mercury Chat. It has a clean interface, and it performs without noticeable issues.
Big area of improvement for me would be the rendering of messages on higher resolutions. I'm running a Surface Pro, and I can full screen the app or have it taking up half the page and I don't see any more of the conversation than I would if I had it snapped to the smallest column to the side... why is this? Why not render the messages so that I can get more than a few lines of text on the screen at a time? I do a lot of long form conversation over the service, so this is really important for avoiding scrolling up and down constantly...
12 April 2013
it's a simple and clean google talk app. I like using it better than signing into gmail for chats. I think I'd give it a full 5 stars if it supported video
24 February 2013
Recent update has made the app much more reliable. Chats now update properly.
24 February 2013
Updated Review: Updated this to 4 stars based upon the fact that this app has as many features as the other GTalk IM apps have (even Google's own native client doesn't support group chat). Additionally, the developer took the time to email me directly to discuss their work on new features. They really care. This is the best of the bunch. The weak ratings below are based upon old version. Update your reviews when the app gets better, folks.
13 March 2014
The UI/UX definitely needs some work. No reason that an app on Windows for a Google service can't have some familiar Google aspects to it. The settings screen is not responsive. If you have the app docked on a side and at it's smallest width, you only see half the setting's screen.
Would be great if it pulled past chat history as well.
4 February 2013
I would rate this app 5 stars if it had the ability to start a group chat, perhaps an update in the future could fix this.
27 August 2014
Has some cool features, too bad stability isn't one of them. Doesn't seem to have state managed properly or is simply crashing. In any case, it crashes almost any time it returns from a suspended state. Doesn't seem to have a cloud or push service to fall back on so if it's suspended or crashed, you'll miss messages. This is speaking from a Surface Pro 3. Maybe it runs better on a desktop. Uninstalling for now.
14 May 2013
This application is good, but it relies on a server hosted by the Devs. The server appears to go offline atleast once a day (maybe rebooting?) If they are going to be testing I suggest that they create a second server strictly for testing if it is going to be rebooted.
5 April 2013
Way too often when I open this app to send a message to someone it will open a chat window with someone I didn't click on mid-message. Twice now I've sent a message to the wrong recipient because it decided to open up a window with some random contact of mine. Great looking app but way too many bugs. Starting to really regret my purchase.
4 March 2013
Every win8 Google chat application I've tested, this one included, has the issue that when the keyboard comes up -in either full screen or snapped view, the chat text scrolls up and out of view... very frustrating. I will buy the first Google chat application for windows 8 metro that doesn't do this.
5 March 2015
Self Explanatory Title
30 September 2014
When it works, it works well. But that's only when it works. I started having intermittent connection issues, and as of a couple days ago, I can't even log in anymore. Their site is no longer active. I can't contact the developer as there is no way to get rid of the error message that takes over the whole screen for more than 2 seconds.
6 January 2014
After putting in my google account's password and email, putting in the secondary code google texts me, and allowing permissions, it tries to connect, then force closes about after a minute. No error, no help line, just closes the app. It might be exactly what I need, but I can't get it to connect so I'll never know.
25 April 2013
POS app, don't pay for it.
Installed on RT, & won't work right with gTalk. Constantly tells me I am not in my contacts list (well, duh), & I usually don't receive messages people send to me.
App tells me regularly it can't contact server, yet when I check the status on the website, it says server is up.
Also, there's no list for active conversations. When someone IMs, you have to search for it through all contacts (if not a contact, you're SOL). Makes multiple convos a pain.
20 July 2014
Pretty awesome!
26 March 2014
I tried IM+, but it had a confusing interface and had trouble running in the background. I tried "Chat", but it spammed alerts whenever I lost my internet connection commuting, and required a tedious reconnection process. Mercury is my chat app savior! It's full featured, supporting off-the-record and image embeds seamlessly. It's also been reliable, un-intrusive, easy to use, supports Win 8.1 dynamic split-screen sizing, and looks good.
24 March 2014
Really the best gchat client. Beautiful UI; toast notifications; in-line photo and video sharing, just awesome. And as an added bonus, developers are very responsive to emails!
22 March 2014
Much better than the other google talk messenger I tried....very clean design and seems to be stable.
5 February 2014
Easy to set up and use. Cheap to boot!
10 November 2013
When this first launched it was barely functional. The devs have obviously been putting lots of effort into improvement and now this is the best chat app in the windows store. Huge kudos to the UI designers as well... this is gorgeous and perfectly suited to the metro UX paradigm. I especially like how well the snapping works in 8.1. I leave this snapped to the left of my desktop all day at work.
14 October 2013
This app is so much better than the regular Google Talk/Hangout app.
30 July 2013
I had a serious problem with the app crashing on start. The support team worked with me to debug app and find problem which appears to have been server side. They have been very kind and helpful. I highly recommend this client for those who are looking for a google talk solution for windows 8 rt, if you have a problem with the app just drop them an email and they are very helpful with resolving it.
23 July 2013
after couple of months of looking for gtalk app on W8 finally one perfectly looking and working app
19 April 2013
So much better than IM+. Come out with a version for Windows Phone 8.
6 April 2013
this app worked great for about a week. For the past 2 days, however, I've been unable to sign in. I'm prompted to check the server's status but every time I check it says the server is fine. Please fix! I really liked the app! **UPDATE**Developers emailed me super fast to resolve the issue! Before I could write them back it started working again. Not sure what happened but I'm impressed by the service. Thank you!!!
26 March 2013
Very clean and good application. Nice Windows 8 design to!
19 March 2013
Works beautifully locked to the side of the screen or in the background. I've used a few gChat apps, but this is my new favorite.
8 March 2013
this is a good Google talk app, notifications work well and it signs in when I start windows.
20 October 2014
With Google pretty much dropping support for Google Talk on Windows, I was really glad to find this app running as a beautiful, full-featured "Modern" app in Windows 8. It allows me to stay connected to my Gmail-using friends without hassle. UPDATE: It's been good, but every now and then messages are missed (I think due to Google's API), and the application has some stability issues on resume. There are also occasions when their server stops working for extended periods, rendering chat inaccessible.
8 April 2014
I love the app overall, I would give it five stars if it allowed me to log in to multiple accounts at the same time.
12 November 2013
If you need a solid Gchat/Hangouts messenger in the Metro interface, you can't go wrong with Mercury Chat. It has a clean interface, and it performs without noticeable issues. Big area of improvement for me would be the rendering of messages on higher resolutions. I'm running a Surface Pro, and I can full screen the app or have it taking up half the page and I don't see any more of the conversation than I would if I had it snapped to the smallest column to the side... why is this? Why not render the messages so that I can get more than a few lines of text on the screen at a time? I do a lot of long form conversation over the service, so this is really important for avoiding scrolling up and down constantly...
12 April 2013
it's a simple and clean google talk app. I like using it better than signing into gmail for chats. I think I'd give it a full 5 stars if it supported video
24 February 2013
Recent update has made the app much more reliable. Chats now update properly.
24 February 2013
Updated Review: Updated this to 4 stars based upon the fact that this app has as many features as the other GTalk IM apps have (even Google's own native client doesn't support group chat). Additionally, the developer took the time to email me directly to discuss their work on new features. They really care. This is the best of the bunch. The weak ratings below are based upon old version. Update your reviews when the app gets better, folks.
13 March 2014
The UI/UX definitely needs some work. No reason that an app on Windows for a Google service can't have some familiar Google aspects to it. The settings screen is not responsive. If you have the app docked on a side and at it's smallest width, you only see half the setting's screen. Would be great if it pulled past chat history as well.
4 February 2013
I would rate this app 5 stars if it had the ability to start a group chat, perhaps an update in the future could fix this.
27 August 2014
Has some cool features, too bad stability isn't one of them. Doesn't seem to have state managed properly or is simply crashing. In any case, it crashes almost any time it returns from a suspended state. Doesn't seem to have a cloud or push service to fall back on so if it's suspended or crashed, you'll miss messages. This is speaking from a Surface Pro 3. Maybe it runs better on a desktop. Uninstalling for now.
14 May 2013
This application is good, but it relies on a server hosted by the Devs. The server appears to go offline atleast once a day (maybe rebooting?) If they are going to be testing I suggest that they create a second server strictly for testing if it is going to be rebooted.
5 April 2013
Way too often when I open this app to send a message to someone it will open a chat window with someone I didn't click on mid-message. Twice now I've sent a message to the wrong recipient because it decided to open up a window with some random contact of mine. Great looking app but way too many bugs. Starting to really regret my purchase.
4 March 2013
Every win8 Google chat application I've tested, this one included, has the issue that when the keyboard comes up -in either full screen or snapped view, the chat text scrolls up and out of view... very frustrating. I will buy the first Google chat application for windows 8 metro that doesn't do this.
5 March 2015
Self Explanatory Title
30 September 2014
When it works, it works well. But that's only when it works. I started having intermittent connection issues, and as of a couple days ago, I can't even log in anymore. Their site is no longer active. I can't contact the developer as there is no way to get rid of the error message that takes over the whole screen for more than 2 seconds.
6 January 2014
After putting in my google account's password and email, putting in the secondary code google texts me, and allowing permissions, it tries to connect, then force closes about after a minute. No error, no help line, just closes the app. It might be exactly what I need, but I can't get it to connect so I'll never know.
25 April 2013
POS app, don't pay for it. Installed on RT, & won't work right with gTalk. Constantly tells me I am not in my contacts list (well, duh), & I usually don't receive messages people send to me. App tells me regularly it can't contact server, yet when I check the status on the website, it says server is up. Also, there's no list for active conversations. When someone IMs, you have to search for it through all contacts (if not a contact, you're SOL). Makes multiple convos a pain.