Windows Phone Thoughts - Daily News, Views, Rants and Raves

Be sure to register in our forums! Share your opinions, help others, and enter our contests.


Digital Home Thoughts

Loading feed...

Laptop Thoughts

Loading feed...

Android Thoughts

Loading feed...





All posts tagged "app"


Thursday, June 21, 2012

Do Apps Look Better On iOS or Windows Phone?

Posted by Brad Wasson in "Windows Phone Talk" @ 05:00 PM

http://pocketnow.com/2012/06/17/whi...d-windows-phone

"A while back, Apple Co-founder Steve Wozniak said about Windows Phone that "I'm kinda shocked how every screen is much more beautiful." So we thought it would be fun to look at a few popular iOS apps and how their Windows Phone counterparts compare in the looks department."

Here is a delightfully fun little exercise. Hit the Read link and test whether you like the look of a selection of popular apps on an iOS device or Windows Phone better? This is an unscientific test, but as you look at each image ask yourself to consider things like typography, clarity, ease of use, and overall appeal. Do you suspect people tend to like the look of apps on their own device platform simply because they are more familiar with their style, or do you think they actually do think they look a bit better? It's subjective, but I do like to the look of this OpenTable app on Windows Phone.


Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Create Your Own Live Tiles From Any Web Page

Posted by Brad Wasson in "Windows Phone Talk" @ 07:30 AM

http://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/a...8a-f008eea42d7e

"Web Tiles enables you to create live tiles out of any web page. You can select the area of the page that will be shown on your live tile. You can also choose how often your tiles will be updated. This is great for example for weather or stock graphs and image feeds."

Here's what appears to be a very effective app for WP7. Do you really like live tiles? I bet you do and now you can create a tile from any web page. You can configure the tiles to update in a number of ways, or force one to update every 15 minutes by tapping on it. A trial version is available, which limits you to three fixed addresses, but that should be enough to win you over. Give it a try!


Monday, February 20, 2012

proSearch: You're All-In-One Search Client

Posted by Nurhisham Hussein in "Windows Phone Software" @ 02:00 AM

http://bytenine.com/Home/tabid/55/E...dows-Phone.aspx

"All search-sites in one! Beautiful, superfast search app, with all the biggest sites, and many categories for each site. It's the fastest way to find what you are looking for."

Ever been frustrated by Bing? And don't have the patience to install and use all the different search clients? Well proSearch might just be what you've been looking for. proSearch aggregates in one app most of what people would normally use, including Bing, Google, and Yahoo as well as Facebook, eBay and Amazon. There's still some rough edges like no user settings or live tiles - strictly no frills - and it would be nice to be able to search multiple providers at once. If you're interested, the price is reasonable (free!) and you can have a look at the app on the Windows marketplace.


Friday, February 10, 2012

InstaCam: New Photo App For Windows Phone

Posted by Brad Wasson in "Windows Phone Talk" @ 07:30 AM

http://www.wpcentral.com/instacam-w...nstagram-client

"InstaCam is a Windows Phone Instagram client that just hit the Marketplace yesterday. It allows you to take pictures on your phone, add different effects, and then share them via Facebook, Twitter or email. You can log into your Instagram account to check "likes" and comments on your uploaded content. You can also view other people's photos and leave comments, or follow them if you're a fan of their work. The search function can find photos based on key words in pictures' tags. Not an Instagram user? No worries, you can still use InstaCam to browse content anonymously."

Instagram is a very popular iPhone app and service. While Instagram is not currently available for the WP7 platform, this new app enables Windows Phone users to get in on at least some of the fun. Hit the Read link for additional details, but be aware that with this version you cannot actually upload photos to the Instragram service.


Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Google+ Coming To WP7 This Week?

Posted by Brad Wasson in "Windows Phone Talk" @ 05:30 AM

http://www.technobolt.com/2011/07/1...ming-next-week/

"Google+ is Google's new social network to compete with Facebook. Till now Google has done a good job in creating a huge buzz around people for this new social service. Google+ app is available for Android, there are no words from Google on when Google+ app will hit App Store for iOS users but Google will release it for Windows Phone 7 devices next week."

The Google Plus Blog posted this article last week suggesting that we might see a WP7 app for Google+ as early as this week. I have been experimenting with Google+ for a few days and I like the new paradigms of Circles and Huddles. It will be interesting to see if this new social networking service takes off.


Sunday, July 10, 2011

Ultimate Guitar Tabs Comes To WP7

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

http://app.ultimate-guitar.com/ugt/wp7/

"When the inspiration strikes to pick up your trusty six-string, Ultimate-Guitar.com is making sure you've got the music at your fingertips. Whether sitting in your room at home or traveling across the country, practicing your favorite riffs has never been easier with the latest groundbreaking application created by the wildly popular music site."

Wielding an axe just got easier - Ultimate Guitar Tabs brings the one of the largest collections of guitar tablature to WP7. You also gain access to bass and drum tabs, and a reference for guitar chords. The app is now in the Marketplace for $2.99 (link).


Thursday, June 16, 2011

Official Evernote Client for Windows Phone 7 Released

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Windows Phone Software" @ 11:03 AM

http://blog.evernote.com/2011/06/16...hone-7-is-here/

"Evernote for Windows Phone 7 lets you save and find your ideas and memories any time, anywhere. As you would expect, it seamlessly syncs with every other version of Evernote you use, but there's so much more. In fact, this is the most feature-rich debut we've ever had. Not only is it packed with capabilities, but it's also beautiful-taking advantage of the innovative Windows Phone 7 Metro interface and its Pivot panels. And, as always, Evernote for Windows Phone 7 is free and available now from the App Hub."

Much love Evernote dev team, much love. I've been using Evernote at an ever-increasing pace over the past six months (after barely using at all for the first year), and the missing piece has been being able to use it on my Windows Phone. No more! Well, soon enough - I just checked and it's not available for me in Marketplace yet, but it should be soon. The Evernote team has created an app that utilizes unique assets to Windows Phone, such as the deep Bing integration. Premium subscribers will get to store their notes offline - that's a must-have feature for me - so I'll definitely be renewing my Evernote Premium subscription when it comes up next month. This is a big deal for the platform - Evernote is one of those services that, if there's no official app for it, some people simply won't consider that platform a viable option.


Friday, April 22, 2011

Official Groupon App Now Available

Posted by Richard Chao in "Windows Phone Software" @ 07:45 PM

http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_...home-depot.aspx

"Deal hunters rejoice: the official Groupon app for Windows Phone arrived today in Marketplace."

Groupon joins the Official Home Depot app in the marketplace. Groupon is a free download and is available now.

Tags: software, app, groupon

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Windows Phone Marketplace: Why Can't This Just Work?

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Windows Phone Talk" @ 01:02 PM

Is anyone else getting a bit fed up with the fact that Windows Phone Marketplace can't seem to do what it was designed to do on a consistent basis? Every time I go into Marketplace I'm never quite sure what will happen. I haven't had the problem of it crashing on me yet, but the above photo is a new issue that I can't seem to get past: moTweets Pro and the Facebook app won't update and instead give me an error about the license. It starting happening over the weekend and despite daily variations of tap and hold/tap here, I'm not able to get the apps updated. I've deleted the downloaded apps and re-downloaded them in an attempt to get the problem fixed. No joy there. A device reboot hasn't helped either.

I've had various glitches with Marketplace since getting my first Windows Phone 7 device, but this has to be the most frustrating. The Facebook app is free, so why would there be a license issue? And I purchased the moTweets Pro app, so one would expect I'd have a license to update it. Anyone else seeing similar issues with these, or other, apps?

I have no experience with the Android Marketplace, but when I compare the Windows Phone Marketplace to the Apple App Store, it simply doesn't measure up. In owning an iPod Touch and purchasing apps for it over the past three years or so, I've only ever had one app download/install go a bit wonky - and it was easily fixed by rebooting the device. Microsoft's Windows Phone Marketplace has to get significantly more reliable if people are going to trust it and purchase apps with confidence.


Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Sugarwatch App Helps To Monitor Your Glucose Level

Posted by Richard Chao in "Windows Phone Software" @ 03:00 AM

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/robmar/arch...-diabetics.aspx

"Sugarwatch provides an easy to use intuitive way to record your blood glucose readings, insulin doses and activities. It provides warning indicators that show when you go beyond your ideal glucose range. Sugarwatch provides graphs that show you glucose trends over multiple days to help you identify changes you can make to your regime along with graphs that show averages and glucose mapped against activities. All the graphs you need to help you self manage your condition"

If you or someone you know is diabetic, you may want to give Sugarwatch a try. Sugarwatch makes recording glucose levels easier. It allow you to set a lower and upper ideal range. Once set, the application will highlight when you were out of range. There are also plenty of other entry fields which means this application allows for the recording of fairly detailed information. Once data has been inputted you can get a quick view of past glucose levels in graph form.

Sugarwatch is free and available in the Zune Marketplace.


Thursday, February 17, 2011

MSN Video App Now Available

Posted by Richard Chao in "Windows Phone Software" @ 12:00 PM

http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_...videos-app.aspx

"MSN Video for Windows Phone 7 is now available in Marketplace. The free app provides video clips from more than 40 popular sources, including Access Hollywood, Animal Planet, CNBC, Consumer Reports, Discovery, FOX Sports, HealthDay, Howcast, Kiplinger's, MSNBC, Stupid Videos, TODAY, and more."

In case you didn't know, Microsoft has a few MSN apps in the marketplace that are pretty spectacular. MSN Movies allows you to see theater play times, trailers in HQ over 3G, buy tickets, read descriptions, etc. MSN Money allows you to follow the stock market, create customize stocks list, charts, and catch up on the latest business news. Now, Microsoft has added a new app to the expanding MSN apps portfolio...MSN Video.

MSN Video allows you to watch videos from special events, MSN original programming, programming by 40+ first level providers and many other sources. You have the option to toggle HQ on or off. Best of all it integrates with the Video + Music hub.


Sunday, January 23, 2011

Need For Speed Undercover: Rocking, Racing Fun!

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Windows Phone Software" @ 09:51 PM

"Real cars! Real fast! Designed just for Windows Phone 7. Enabled for Xbox LIVE. earn achievements and track leaderboards as you power 20 of the worlds hottest high-performance cars through 24 undercover missions and eight challenging modes of hot-pursuit action!"

What do you get when you combine Windows Phone 7 and a potent racing franchise? You get Need For Speed Undercover, a fast-paced racing game that takes full advantage of the hardware horsepower we have in our Windows Phones. The graphics are superb, using up the full 800 x 480 screen resolution - I'm honestly not much of a racing game fan, but this game had me hooked from the first few seconds. The game mechanics are simple: your car automatically accelerates to maximum speed constantly, and your job is to steer, hit the brakes, and apply a nitro boost to gain some extra speed. Read more...


Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Windows Phone 7 + Azure + T-Mobile + Developer = Family Room

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Windows Phone Software" @ 06:00 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDgV...player_embedded

"T-Mobile USA, a leading provider of wireless services, wanted to create new mobile software to simplify communications for families. The company needed to implement the application and its server infrastructure while facing a tight deadline. T-Mobile decided to build the solution with Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Professional and base it on Windows Phone 7 and the Windows Azure platform. By taking advantage of an integrated development environment and cloud services, the company completed the project in just six weeks. Using a cloud platform instead of maintaining physical servers has also simplified management. As a result, developers have more time available to focus on enhancing the application. Customers will benefit from a streamlined, reliable communications solution with strong security, and T-Mobile is already designing new features for users to enjoy."

What happens when you put Windows Azure, Windows Phone 7, T-Mobile, and a creative development company together? An interesting application dubbed "Family Room" - think micro-social networking. I think it's a brilliant concept, because although it's yet "another" venue for communication, the fact that it's so focused can make it quite useful to the right groups of people.


Did Someone Order a 3D Browser for Windows Phone 7?

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Windows Phone Software" @ 04:15 PM

http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/29/...eeded-so-despe/

Hmm. I'm somewhat dubious about the necessity for an application like this, but I applaud the developer his creativity. On a new platform, every app counts, to keep cranking out those apps developers!


Pageonce Personal Finance App for Windows Phone 7

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Windows Phone Software" @ 02:00 PM

"If you find it difficult to remember the username and passwords for all of your online accounts, or are looking for a solution to help corral all of your accounts in one place to make online management an easier and less stressful experience - look no further - Pageonce Personal Finance is the answer to organizing your online life! Aggregate your bank accounts, portfolio information, credit card transactions, Netflix information, cell phone usage and even flight information onto one easy to use dashboard. Say goodbye forever to the hassle of going to multiple websites to keep an eye on your accounts!"

If you're looking for an application to help you corral a bunch of different financial data points into a single interface, Pageonce Personal Finance is worth considering. I've been playing with the app on my phone, and it's quite slick - though I can't bring myself to actually give it my bank account information. Am I alone on that point?


Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Snuggle Up To Paramount Digital Entertainment With Your Windows Phone 7

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

http://www.slashgear.com/windows-ph...nment-14119465/

"Geremie Camara, Vice President of Product Development for Paramount Digital Entertainment had the following to say: "Through our relationship with Microsoft, we're able to provide consumers new, enhanced ways to enjoy movies from anywhere on Windows Phone 7. Using Silverlight technology and adding interactive and social networking features, our enhanced movie apps transform the movie viewing experience into a true entertainment experience.""

Paramount plans to release some individual movies, as apps, on Windows Phone 7. Slashgear is reporting that each of these individual movie apps will provide not only the full movie content, but also additional bonus features and "unique experiences" found only on Windows Phone 7. Two of these features are reported to be the ability to create custom clips and to view the movie with pop-up-trivia. Microsoft's Silverlight technology underpins the new apps, which will provide interactive and social networking features. Hit the Read link for additional details, and prepare to reserve some time curled up on the couch with your phone and a mobile movie.


Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Windows Marketplace Registration Opens

Posted by Darius Wey in "Pocket PC Developer" @ 09:50 PM

http://developer.windowsmobile.com/

"In the latest update to http://developer.windowsmobile.com, developers can now Register to participate in Windows Marketplace for Mobile. This marks another milestone in providing Windows Mobile Developers a clear path to develop, test, certify and distribute their Windows Mobile applications via the Windows® Marketplace for Mobile. Throughout the registration process, links to key documentation for distributing apps through Windows Marketplace for Mobile are provided."

Developers, if you haven't registered to participate in the Windows Marketplace for Mobile, now's as good a time as any to do so. You'll have to pony up an annual subscription fee of $99, but doing so will net you assistance with the development, certification, and distribution of your app. Check out the FAQ, if you have any queries. It's worth noting that participation is optional. You may consider the cost or the policies of the Marketplace to be too restrictive, in which case, you're still welcome to develop your app and distribute it through third-party storefronts as you're probably already doing so in this pre-Marketplace era.


Friday, March 20, 2009

Microsoft to Charge Developers a Submission Token/Fee Per App Update?

Posted by Darius Wey in "Pocket PC Talk" @ 06:00 AM

"On a related note, the presentation confirmed that the new Windows Marketplace for Mobile will apply application updates directly on the device. However it also appears application updates will require developers to resubmit their application for approval which would then cost a submission token or fee and take time to process."

Allow me to place Long Zheng's words (quoted above) into context. When Microsoft unveiled the Windows Marketplace for Mobile a week ago, it outlined details pertaining to program enrollment and the application submission process. To join the program, developers pay an annual registration fee of $99. That fee includes five application submissions per year. When a developer consumes all five submission tokens in a given year, each additional application submission within the same year costs $99, whether it's a free or paid application.

Now, this probably wouldn't restrict the average developer too much, as he or she is unlikely to release five new applications in a given year. However, a real problem emerges once these submission tokens are applied to application updates as well as new applications, which is actually the case, if Long's words speak the truth. It's not uncommon for developers, especially those who actively respond to customer feedback, to release more than five application updates in a given year. But who can blame a developer for being discouraged when they're being slapped with a $99 fee per update after the fifth update?

Read more...


Reviews & Articles

Loading feed...

News

Loading feed...

Reviews & Articles

Loading feed...

News

Loading feed...

Reviews & Articles

Loading feed...

News

Loading feed...

Reviews & Articles

Loading feed...

News

Loading feed...

Reviews & Articles

Loading feed...

News

Loading feed...