Take to the skies this Christmas (Photo credit: olga.palma)
Time for the final 'big' smartphone platform's stocking filler apps for Christmas. After iOS and Android, it's the turn of Windows Phone. Rapidly on the rise, there are going to be a lot more Microsoft mobiles under the Christmas trees around the world. What apps would make a great addition to a new smartphone?
THis was one of the first flight simulators that was published for Windows Phone, and it has continued to be improved over 16 months since I first played it. With realistic flight models for 13 aircraft, multiple liveries, autopilot, HUD or virtual cockpits, and two detailed geographic areas (around San Francisco and Los Angeles), there's a lot hear for Si-heads. Using the accelerometer as your yoke and various on screen buttons for the rest of the controls, this isn't your basic arcade flyer.
The Windows Design Language seen in Windows Phone (and Windows 8) leaves a lot of people wondering just how much information you can get in the screen while following the UI rules. Quinn Damerell shows not only how to get all of Reddit under the UI formerly known as Metro, but the skill of the lone developer using Windows Phone.
As to the use of bacon in the title? You either Reddit or you don't…
While many people loved Instagram for its social network, others believe the real winning strength was in the basic editing through filters, borders, and cropping that the app could do. Well of the many alternatives on Windows Phone to the latter, I'll recommend Pictures Lab. It's not the most comprehensive, but it has the right number of filters, and more importantly they are far easier to browse through than with other editing apps. Need that final push to make your smartphone pictures wonderful? Pictures Lab is my recommendation.
More than other phones, I feel that Windows Phone is geared towards staying in contact, and that makes the LinkedIn client very important. Yes you can add your LinkedIn network to the personal address book and the People Hub of Windows Phone, but sometimes you need to have direct access to the network without the sprawling website. The Windows Phone client does just that, feeling unique to LinkedIn and fitting in with the UI around the rest of the phone. Its a web service app done correctly.
And finally, as they say on the news, where would I be without the BBC? The ability to stream the leading stations of the UK to any Windows Phone handset, along with programme information and alams, is one I've treasured when travelling. Feeling a touch homesick at LAX, and then streaming the Shipping Forecast into the lounge just before boarding? That was amazing, personal, and magical all at the same time. From a simple substitute for a bathroom radio to keeping in touch from the other side of the world, this is one of the first apps I always install on a new device.
So there are your stocking filler apps for Windows Phone (and let's not forget Android and iOS have their own stockings as well). Which apps would you recommend?
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