Two Windows Phone 7.8 updates have been pushed out in close succession recently, with the final build number for the most recent version resting at 7.10.8862.144. While this update has fixed the issues associated with Live Tiles not updating on the platform, a user on Reddit has discovered that it's no longer possible to sync your Google contacts and calendar after resetting your phone.
The difference in Google account settings between the latest WP7.8 build (left) and WP8 (right). There are no checkboxes available in WP7.8
User blorgon, with a HTC Radar, hard reset his device (removing all of the phone's data) before updating to the latest version of Windows Phone 7.8 through Zune. After the process was complete, he discovered that he could no longer sync his Google contacts or calendar when setting up a new Google account to sync. The checkboxes normally present in the settings for existing users have simply disappeared.
This is likely a by-product of the decision by Google to drop support for adding new Exchange ActiveSync-synced accounts after July 31st, with the company preferring you use IMAP, CardDAV and CalDAV for email, contacts and calendar syncing. Windows Phone used EAS to sync Google accounts, and Microsoft is working to support these different protocols in Windows Phone by the time EAS support is fully dropped.
What's odd here is that Microsoft has removed support for making new EAS-synced Google accounts in Windows Phone 7.8 before the cut-off, and without adding in any other system for contact and calendar syncing, and using IMAP for email sync. It's unclear at this stage if another update is in the works for WP7.8 that will bring CardDAV and CalDAV support to the legacy operating system, but for now it's advised not to reset your freshly-updated WP7.8 device if you value full Google account sync.
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