Difference between ChatON, Messages, Messaging and Talk applications

[k4t13]

Sorry for such a n00b question but what is the difference between these 4 applications:
-ChatON
-Messages (appears to collate my text messages and voicemail)
-Messaging (appears to be my text messages)
-Talk (looks like my Google Chat buddy list but it always shows my name and all my contacts as offline, even though I see some of my contacts are online when I access my Gmail from my laptop)

Basically I'm trying to figure out how to use my Google chat (which I normally use on my laptop) on my Samsung S4. Which app should I be using? Also, does it matter that I dont have a Google+ profile? I'd like to avoid that at all costs.

Thanks so much for your help!

Posted via Android Central App

 

[Darnell0216]

- ChatOn is Samsung's proprietary messaging, similar to iMessage or BBM, If you let it auto-search, any contacts who create a profile in it will automatically be added to the app's buddy list. It supports text messaging as well as video chat.
- Odd that you have Messages and Messaging. On mine, I only have Messaging which is for text messages.
- Talk was replaced by Google+ Hangouts. I don't know how much longer it will be before Gmail is force-upgraded to Hangouts. Last I saw, it still asked to try the new experience. Your G+ profile is auto-created just by having a Google account. It just basically sits dormant unless you actually use it. There's no official way to use GTalk anymore unless you're on the web with an account that isn't upgraded.