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All posts tagged "apps"


Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Herocraft Yumsters

Posted by Nurhisham Hussein in "Windows Phone Software" @ 07:30 PM

http://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/a...c3-a0b4266feba0

Yumsters is a casual strategy game involving what I can best describe as guiding the diets of fruit-eating worms. The more they get to eat, the more points you score, and there's even a global leaderboard. Worth a look, especially at the decent price of $1.49.


Monday, March 26, 2012

WeatherPro 2.0 For WP7

Posted by Nurhisham Hussein in "Windows Phone Software" @ 02:30 AM

http://www.weatherpro.eu/wp7/weatherpro.html

WeatherPro is an app from European based MeteoGroup, covering the weather for over 2 million locations worldwide. The app can be configured to show a live tile with the current weather and a two day forecast, while within the app itself you can access radar and satellite imagery, as well as view a 7-day forecast. WeatherPro is going for about ₤2.29 in the Windows Marketplace.


Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Task Arranger

Posted by Nurhisham Hussein in "Windows Phone Software" @ 05:00 PM

http://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/a...d2-c66147ef8728

One of the biggest omissions in Windows Phone 7 is the lack of a way to manage tasks, a consequence of the Microsoft's initial decision to focus on consumers rather than businesses. You can't even sync with Outlook tasks. Task Arranger won't solve that particular problem, but it will let you manage tasks on your WP7 device, through a rather pretty interface. The developers have a sense of humour too, if you watch the video. You can download a free trial to Task Arranger through the Windows Marketplace; it currently retails for $2.99.


Tuesday, November 29, 2011

It's All About The Interface (And That's Where WP7 Shines)

Posted by Brad Wasson in "Windows Phone Talk" @ 07:00 PM

http://crave.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/why.../?tag=mncol;txt

"One company makes a beautiful, intuitive, elegant interface, and the other makes a dated, clunky interface. But now it's Microsoft showing off the thing of beauty, and Apple that's behind the times. Microsoft is the underdog and Apple is the monolithic, restrictive monopoly. Has the world gone mad?"

Rich Trenholm, over at CNet, doesn't want an iPhone any more. It's not because they are not impressive phones, and it's not because the iOS app store isn't big enough. It's primarily because he believes there are better smartphone interfaces for him to work with, ones that make him more productive without having to wade through the icon metaphor of the Apple iOS devices. His preferred interface? The Windows Phone 7 Metro interface. His editorial goes into more detail about the reasons why he prefers the WP7 interface, and it's quite interesting reading. The Read link has the complete story.


Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Gaston Lagaffe Episode 1: Superball

Posted by Nurhisham Hussein in "Windows Phone Software" @ 01:00 PM

http://windowsphone.com/s?appid=ff6...c1-6af31b55a470

"Jumping Jehoshaphat Batman, we almost hit that seagull!!" All kidding aside, this first Gaston episode (#2's already availanble for the iPhone) has our intrepid hero taking off into the clouds in search of baloons and seagulls. Angry Birds it ain't but for $2.99 I could think of worse ways to pass the time. If you're interested, hit the link to get it from Windows Marketplace (no trial unfortunately).

[UPDATE]Vetasoft has released version 1.1 of the game to the Marketplace, where you can now download a demo version


Tuesday, July 12, 2011

WPC 2011 Announcement: Four New WP7 Handsets Coming Soon And 22K Official App Count

Posted by Richard Chao in "Windows Phone News" @ 12:20 PM

http://www.neowin.net/news/microsof...owin+Main+News)

"Also announced at WPC are new hardware devices for the Windows Phone platform. The three devices shown above are a ZTE based device (far right), Acer (far left) and a waterproof Fujitsu in the middle in a waterproof case. Nothing else was revealed about the new devices."

Microsoft has just announced four new Windows Phone 7 handsets at their Worldwide Partner Conference. They will be manufactured by ZTE, Fujitsu, Acer and Samsung. Specs, pricing and availability were not part of the announcement. Although, there is speculation that the Samsung unit appeared to contain a front facing camera.

Also announced at the conference was the Marketplace is now home to over 22,000 applications according to Microsoft's metrics.


Sunday, July 3, 2011

Angry Birds Now Available For WP7

Posted by Nurhisham Hussein in "Windows Phone Software" @ 05:30 PM

http://www.wpcentral.com/angry-bird...-phone-now-live

"Yes, people. Let the taunting end tonight. Between the promise of custom ringtones and now the fulfillment of 'Angry Birds', Windows Phone 7 has had its day."

I don't know what the fuss is about - ok maybe I do. When one of the hottest mobile games of the past couple of years hits a new platform, it's news. I don't need to explain what its about do I? Just hit this link to check out the trial and purchase Angry Birds for WP7 for $2.99.


Windows Phone Marketplace Crosses The 25,000 App Mark

Posted by Richard Chao in "Windows Phone News" @ 02:52 AM

http://news.yahoo.com/report-window...-163741366.html

"Microsoft launched the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace in October with 1,000 apps. Just about nine months later, the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace has grown to boast more than 25,000 apps as of Friday."

According to numbers provided by WindowsPhoneAppList.com, the Windows Phone Marketplace is now home to over 25,000 apps. This is a good sign as it shows that despite reports of lack luster phone sales, developers are still feeling good about the future of the Windows Phone OS.


Tuesday, June 28, 2011

WP7 Screen Recorder

Posted by Nurhisham Hussein in "Windows Phone Software" @ 10:00 PM

http://www.wpcentral.com/wp7-screen...corder-homebrew

The homebrew community has been hard at work bringing some of the functionality to WP7 that we've taken for granted under Windows Mobile. Case in point is this new app that allows you to record your WP7 screens onto a PC sans wires. This would be useful for instance, if you're a corporate IT guy trying to teach executive doofus types how to manage their WP7 phones.


MTV News On WP7

Posted by Nurhisham Hussein in "Windows Phone Software" @ 08:00 PM

http://www.wpcentral.com/mtv-news-b...-music-news-wp7

"Keeping suit with the news app releases, MTV News has entered the mix bringing you all the pop culture news to your Windows Phone...Now you can keep up to date with all the news on music, movies, television, celebrities and gaming while on the go."

Not exactly my cup of tea, but if you follow celebrity news, then this app would do for starters. MTV News is available free through the WP7 marketplace.


Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Drynks Lets You Keep Stock of your Stash

Posted by Jon Westfall in "Windows Phone Software" @ 05:05 AM

http://drynksapp.com/

"Drynks is a wicked WP7 app built to give you an easy and simple way to catalogue your drynks, rate and share them."

Good Things keep coming out of the New York Phone User Group's membership. Members Fernando & Chevon have just released their newest app, Drynks, which lets you keep track of your favorite beverages and record and post your impressions of them. A really nice combination of useful infotracking and beautiful design!

Tags: apps, wp7, nypug, drynks, drinks

Thursday, June 16, 2011

eWallet Go!

Posted by Nurhisham Hussein in "Windows Phone Software" @ 11:00 AM

http://redirect.zune.net/redirect?t...ource=VSGallery

We've featured Ilium Software's eWallet before (as WPCentral is doing now) - I've used it for years, since version 4.x on the now rapidly disappearing Windows Mobile platform, as well as the Windows version on my computer. It's an indispensable tool and an occasional life saver. I can't imagine using any smartphone platform without an app like this, and eWallet Go! is available for every major platform including Windows Phone 7. If you've never tried it before, do yourself a favour and get it - at $4.99 I consider it a bargain.


Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Hipstar: Vintage Camera Effects App

Posted by Nurhisham Hussein in "Windows Phone Software" @ 09:00 AM

http://social.zune.net/redirect?typ...4c-00237de2db9e

"Now any image you take with your Windows Mobile 7 Phone can look like it was taken with a vintage camera. Light leak and vignette effects add depth and dimension, and color filters alter the mood of any photo!"

Photo "enhancing" programs have been around on mobile phones since onboard cameras started getting good enough to actually take decent pictures, maybe about 5-6 years ago. MobileMatiq's unique take on this with Hipstar is to allow you to "age" your photographs, so they'll look like you took them in the 1970s...or even further back. I used to be a huge WWII history buff, and some of the Hipstar samples look pretty convincing to me. Hipstar is available for $1.99 through the WP7 Marketplace.


Sunday, June 12, 2011

Building Mobile Health Apps On WP7

Posted by Nurhisham Hussein in "Windows Phone Developer" @ 07:30 AM

http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_...ealth-apps.aspx

"There's a huge groundswell of investment and activity around 'mobile health' --- technologies like Windows Phone 7 are helping people become safer, healthier, active and independent...We are super-excited to announce that we've just enabled Microsoft HealthVault, an online service that helps consumers manage, store and share their health information, for mobile development--- so you can be part of the mHealth Revolution."

With the Baby-Boomer generation nearing retirement, there's plenty of demand for tools to manage health and fitness. So it's no surprise that Microsoft is eager to have developers leverage on the capabilities of WP7 to enter that market. If you think that's where you want to apply your coding chops, check out this blog post for details - along with HealthVault, MS is providing guidance on how to write applications that access the info stored in the service. Now there's obviously going to be some privacy concerns here, but hey, if you haven't got your health, what have you got?


Thursday, June 9, 2011

Race And Battle: 3D Game Hits Windows Marketplace

Posted by Nurhisham Hussein in "Windows Phone Software" @ 05:00 PM

http://social.zune.net/redirect?typ...6b-78e7d1fa76f8

ATrillionGames has released a new 3D racing game featuring remote control cars battling it out with mines and rockets. The game also features a 2 player hotseat mode. You can have a look at the free version here.


Wednesday, June 8, 2011

New Policy For Bulk App Publishing On Marketplace

Posted by Brad Wasson in "Windows Phone Talk" @ 06:30 PM

http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_..._medium=twitter

"In recent weeks a handful of companies have individually published hundreds of apps in a matter of a few days. We call this bulk publishing. While these apps meet our certification requirements and give consumers a wider selection of content, we're also finding that publishing them in bulk degrades our customers' experience. By publishing hundreds of apps in a short amount of time, the popular "New" Marketplace list category fills quickly, pushing the other new apps out and reducing the diversity of the shopping experience."

An interesting article on the Windows Phone Developer Blog goes into quite a bit of detail about the rationale for Microsoft's decision to establish a bulk publishing policy. In a nutshell, the new policy limits the number of apps the Marketplace will publish at one time from a particular developer. They are setting the limit to 20 new apps per day, although a developer can submit more than that for certification at any particular time. The new policy is intended to help Microsoft retain a balance of choice and customer experience by enabling customers to see a broader and more representative assortment of new apps from the developer community when they see "New" apps every day. The Read link has additional information about the new policy.


Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Windows Phone Marketplace Passes 20k Apps

Posted by Nurhisham Hussein in "Windows Phone Software" @ 11:30 AM

http://www.wpcentral.com/windows-ph...its-20-000-apps

In the larger scheme of things, hitting 20,000 apps is a small milestone, but there's no doubt that momentum is building on the software side of things for WP7. What's remarkable is that we're barely a month past talking about hitting 10k - so things are moving. Now if only MS would do something about giving opening up access to the Marketplace...you still can't get in from outside the few countries that were available at launch.


Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Web-based Version Of The Windows Phone Marketplace Coming With Mango

Posted by Brad Wasson in "Windows Phone Talk" @ 07:00 PM

http://www.wpcentral.com/wp7-market...rts+(wpcentral)

"To better reach customers worldwide, I'm also pleased to announce today that Mango will offer a new web version of Windows Phone Marketplace. This will enable customers to shop, share and buy/download apps and games from any PC and send them directly to their phones. You get more visibility for your apps with no extra work. The Mango Marketplace will bring several new features and capabilities that Todd Brix will be expanding upon here a little later."

The wpcentral.com website is reporting that Matt Bencke has written a post about a future version of the Windows Phone Marketplace that will be accessible on the web. This looks like a very positive move to me, as exposure to the apps available for the platform will now be available to anyone with a browser. It seems that this will roll out with the Mango release, so we have to wait a bit, but it should be a nice addition that developers looking to sell apps will appreciate.


Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Microsoft Stands By "Quality Over Quantity" Strategy

Posted by Danny Simmons in "Windows Phone Software" @ 04:30 PM

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20049132-17.html

"Since the launch of Windows Phone 7 operating system last year, Microsoft has been trying to catch up to Apple and Google in the mobile-apps race. And the software giant took to its blog yesterday to share its progress. Microsoft says that there are now 11,500 applications available in its Windows Marketplace store. Out of that, 7,500 applications are paid, while 1,110 apps are generating revenue through ads, thanks to the company's Microsoft Advertising Ad Control service. On average, Microsoft says, users are downloading 12 apps each month."

Microsoft is slowly seeing the rewards of some hard work. Scratching Windows Mobile and starting a fresh new mobile OS was not an easy task. But here we are 6 months since it's debut, and we're seeing some serious signs of growth. This new OS is catching on. Share it with your friends, share it with your enemies, share it with everyone. Request that companies launch a Windows Phone 7 version of their app. This is how it will continue to grow. I don't know about you, but I'm sick of seeing an app advertised on TV only to find out it's only available on iPhone and Android. Who's going to convince these companies to take Windows Phone 7 seriously? I think it's us. Let's show them that we are growing and deserve the attention. What app do you wish was on Windows Phone?


Monday, April 4, 2011

Are The Number Of Apps WP7's Weakness

Posted by Richard Chao in "Windows Phone News" @ 01:22 PM

http://www.macworld.co.uk/business/...?newsid=3268116

"When I consider which phone to buy or recommend to friends, I'm quick to rule out Windows Phone 7, but not because of apps. The platform's lack of multitasking and HTML5 support are much bigger drawbacks."

Macworld UK has posted an article stating Microsoft's slow adoption rate is not due to the lack of apps but a lack of multitasking, HTML5 support and other features. In fact, they believe the biggest bright spot of WP7 is the amount of quality apps in the Zune market.

An interesting note is that many of the missing features cited by Macworld UK are ones that were not present on the iPhone when it was released and yet it has seen phenomenal success. Of course this is by no means an excuse for the lack of them but it does give me some comfort knowing that if a product and interface is solid, the lack of features may not be crucial to the average person. Coupled with NoDo's release and Mango coming soon it will only be a matter of time before WP7 will be in parity with iOS and Android.

Tags: software, , apps, wp7

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