So I had a look in the elementary OS online accounts for a Google plugin (what you'd expect to find in Gnome Online Accounts) but there are none available - so i'm making an assumption that this plugin has yet to be finished or is in a unstable format at the moment.
Is there a way to use Gnome Online Accounts (as a temporary workaround) instead? or is there a beta version of the Google Online Account plugin for elementary OS that can be installed manually?
I've been using Evolution for email and it looks great under Loki (though I wish it had the icons of Pantheon Mail and a few additional tweaks...).
Evolution will not sync with Google Contacts as it needs OAuth02, which is what Gnome Online Accounts provides when installed (+Google Drive support). Even Gnome Contacts won't work in elementary OS as a standalone app without it (it doesn't even boot on elementary OS for some reason).
I won't use Pantheon Mail as it can not handle a large back end of email and has no contact support. Evolution is more fully featured at the moment - but needs the conversation view, a better contacts layout and a more attractive calendar week view - but it's pretty good otherwise).
Any options here? I haven't been able to find answers in any of the community forums as yet.