Soldato
- Joined
- 10 Sep 2008
- Posts
- 11,973
- Location
- Bangor, Northern Ireland
Thought I would start one of these officially official threads as Windows Phone seems to be gaining quite a bit of traction on these forums, so we deserve a place to discuss and share our favourite apps and games, show off your homescreens (no wasteful second thread, typical of Android 
) and probably some other things too.
Since most Tech review sites seem to think that Windows Phone only has around 5 apps, and all of them are apparently useless, perhaps we could prove them wrong? What have you got and how do you rate it?
I shall obviously start because im creating the thread and it seems like the first logical step, so here is my simple homescreen:
With regards to apps, aside from the plethora of frankly excellent Nokia Apps here is my currently installed list:
Weather View (Free) - Only free weather app ive tried so far that has a high res live tile image (looking at you Accuweather) and isnt emblazoned with logos like The Weather Channel's app. Clean and simple.
Youtube (Free) - Just a link to the mobile site, but I use it a lot and is handy to have on the homescreen, works well.
Flixter (Free) - Movie Trailers, cinema listings and reviews. Great app, much less fiddly to navigate than the IMDB app in my opinion.
Engadget (Free) - Im sure you all know Engadget, app is visually great, nicely laid out and has all the features you would expect. Podcasts are able to be listened to straight from the app. Comments on articles can take a long time to load though, apart from that, top stuff.
The Chive (Free) - If you are familiar with the chive, its much better than their mobile site, although it can struggle occasionally to load the odd image.
Cyanide and Happiness Tile (Free) - Daily dose of C&H comics, the tile is a bit terrible looking and low res, but the app itself is quick and easy.
XKCD Viewer (Free) - Triweekly XKCD comic reader, not terribly polished but works flawlessly and includes the "hover over" comments.
Netflix (Free) - Its netflix...its awesome and if you subscribe to Netflix you need this app.
Skydrive (Free) - Nicely integrated into WP8, works superbly and you get a generous 7GB of storage.
Wordament (Free) - YOU NEED THIS GAME! I had this game on my old Lumia 710 and it is supremely addictive. Chain letters together to form words and compete against all the other players in 2 minute rounds. Look out for CrapFarm (my XBL) ill probably by near the top of the leaderboards
Spotify (Freeish) - If you use Spotify Premium, the WP8 app was finally released today! Havent had much time to play around with it but it seems to work flawlessly so far.
Kindle (Free) - Read you Kindle books on your phone, log in with your amazon account and it will sync the books you choose and you can get reading. Again works flawlessly, but im not a huge fan of reading on such a small screen, you can change the app brightness and font size etc etc which helps.
TVShow (£0.99) - Brilliant App for tracking your TV shows and air dates, quick and easy to compile your library and the Live Tile will alert you when new episodes are going to air, also can alert to your lockscreen. Seriously good app and much better than any of the android ones I used to use. There is a free version but you lose the alerts and live tile, just spend the 99p and get the full version you peasants!
Connection Tiles (Free) - This app gives you homescreen shortcuts for WiFi, Data, Bluetooth and Aeroplane Mode, sharpest icons (there is a choice of a few for each) than the others I tried. Unforunately none of the apps seem to be able to just turn stuff off from the homescreen, they just take you to the relevant section in the settings. Still quicker and easier than manually going there yourself each time.
Timer (Free) - Handy little timer app if like me your oven timer is broken, can programme multiple timers and keep them for quick access later, even has a nice live tile and it looks like an official Metro app even though its a third party one.
All Recipes (Free) - Nice app with thousands of user uploaded recipes with good instructions, ingredient list and reviews. Dinner spinner is nifty and searches for recipes based on what you want to cook, what course and how long you have to cook it. Not on homescreen as its not used an awful lot, but its very useful.
Ringtones (free) - This is the Wami Apps version as there seem to be a few with the same name. Download and use free ringtones just search for what you want, my old phone had a great alarm tone called "Topic" and I was able to find that no problem, also because im boring I managed to find a proper "ring ring" style ringtone as the Lumia 920 only has one and its a bit poor. Should also add that deleting the app will not remove the downloaded ringtones.
Well thats my lot, im not a huge app whore (at least I dont consider myself one, perhaps you might feel differently...) I obviously dont expect you all to write your posts as I have mine, I just thought id put in a bit of effort
So, anyone else?
*If any Android fans make nasty comments ill be sure to kick and scream and throw a man strop. Also I may tell on you.
) and probably some other things too.Since most Tech review sites seem to think that Windows Phone only has around 5 apps, and all of them are apparently useless, perhaps we could prove them wrong? What have you got and how do you rate it?
I shall obviously start because im creating the thread and it seems like the first logical step, so here is my simple homescreen:
With regards to apps, aside from the plethora of frankly excellent Nokia Apps here is my currently installed list:
Weather View (Free) - Only free weather app ive tried so far that has a high res live tile image (looking at you Accuweather) and isnt emblazoned with logos like The Weather Channel's app. Clean and simple.
Youtube (Free) - Just a link to the mobile site, but I use it a lot and is handy to have on the homescreen, works well.
Flixter (Free) - Movie Trailers, cinema listings and reviews. Great app, much less fiddly to navigate than the IMDB app in my opinion.
Engadget (Free) - Im sure you all know Engadget, app is visually great, nicely laid out and has all the features you would expect. Podcasts are able to be listened to straight from the app. Comments on articles can take a long time to load though, apart from that, top stuff.
The Chive (Free) - If you are familiar with the chive, its much better than their mobile site, although it can struggle occasionally to load the odd image.
Cyanide and Happiness Tile (Free) - Daily dose of C&H comics, the tile is a bit terrible looking and low res, but the app itself is quick and easy.
XKCD Viewer (Free) - Triweekly XKCD comic reader, not terribly polished but works flawlessly and includes the "hover over" comments.
Netflix (Free) - Its netflix...its awesome and if you subscribe to Netflix you need this app.
Skydrive (Free) - Nicely integrated into WP8, works superbly and you get a generous 7GB of storage.
Wordament (Free) - YOU NEED THIS GAME! I had this game on my old Lumia 710 and it is supremely addictive. Chain letters together to form words and compete against all the other players in 2 minute rounds. Look out for CrapFarm (my XBL) ill probably by near the top of the leaderboards
Spotify (Freeish) - If you use Spotify Premium, the WP8 app was finally released today! Havent had much time to play around with it but it seems to work flawlessly so far.
Kindle (Free) - Read you Kindle books on your phone, log in with your amazon account and it will sync the books you choose and you can get reading. Again works flawlessly, but im not a huge fan of reading on such a small screen, you can change the app brightness and font size etc etc which helps.
TVShow (£0.99) - Brilliant App for tracking your TV shows and air dates, quick and easy to compile your library and the Live Tile will alert you when new episodes are going to air, also can alert to your lockscreen. Seriously good app and much better than any of the android ones I used to use. There is a free version but you lose the alerts and live tile, just spend the 99p and get the full version you peasants!
Connection Tiles (Free) - This app gives you homescreen shortcuts for WiFi, Data, Bluetooth and Aeroplane Mode, sharpest icons (there is a choice of a few for each) than the others I tried. Unforunately none of the apps seem to be able to just turn stuff off from the homescreen, they just take you to the relevant section in the settings. Still quicker and easier than manually going there yourself each time.
Timer (Free) - Handy little timer app if like me your oven timer is broken, can programme multiple timers and keep them for quick access later, even has a nice live tile and it looks like an official Metro app even though its a third party one.
All Recipes (Free) - Nice app with thousands of user uploaded recipes with good instructions, ingredient list and reviews. Dinner spinner is nifty and searches for recipes based on what you want to cook, what course and how long you have to cook it. Not on homescreen as its not used an awful lot, but its very useful.
Ringtones (free) - This is the Wami Apps version as there seem to be a few with the same name. Download and use free ringtones just search for what you want, my old phone had a great alarm tone called "Topic" and I was able to find that no problem, also because im boring I managed to find a proper "ring ring" style ringtone as the Lumia 920 only has one and its a bit poor. Should also add that deleting the app will not remove the downloaded ringtones.
Well thats my lot, im not a huge app whore (at least I dont consider myself one, perhaps you might feel differently...) I obviously dont expect you all to write your posts as I have mine, I just thought id put in a bit of effort
So, anyone else?
*If any Android fans make nasty comments ill be sure to kick and scream and throw a man strop. Also I may tell on you.
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