Featured Editorial Content
Recent Editorial Content
Review: Pixel Blocked
Pixel Blocked is fantastic. You can go and read the rest of the review if you want (and I bet most of you will) but I know I've found the first puzzle game on Windows Phone that I really connect with. It may already be available for the Xbox Console and on the PC, but I've found it on Windows Phone, so it's Windows Phone Puzzle Game #1 in my mind! Here's why.
Nokia Q4 2011 - in the heart of transition
Nokia has released its Q4 2011 results, reporting an operating loss of €954 million, with net sales of €10.0 billion (down 21% YoY). Nokia's Devices and Services division's profits were €203 million. Margins in devices and services were 3.4% (down from 12.7 % on Q4 2010 and up from 3.1% in Q3 2011). Total smartphone device sales were 19.6 million, compared with 28.6 million units in Q4 2010 (down 31% YoY) and 16.8 million units in Q3 2011 (up 17%, QoQ).
Review: Text Twist 2 (Xbox Live)
Word games seem to be under-appreciated in the gaming genre. Notwithstanding the huge amount of praise they get from reviewers and the general public, it's tough to think of a gaming title that has had success outside of the Scrabble-sequel Words By Post/Words With Friends style of gaming. Unfortunately, Text Twist 2 is not going to change that.
Review: Doodle Pool
I have to confess that I'm something of a connoisseur of pool games on handhelds and smartphones, running firstly on my Palm Tungsten T3 early in the last decade and then on my Symbian smartphones. I've played more frames of virtual pool on handheld devices than you've had hot dinners. Discarding any prejudice about the cartoon 'look' of Doodle Pool, what really matters is whether it's a great pool game or not.
Review: Weave (RSS Reader)
For all the shiny Metro squares, flowing graphics and sleek presentation, your Windows Phone still needs to get on the Internet and find the information you want. If that's browsing websites to get the latest news, you'll be wanting an RSS reader that fits in with the UI, but still gets you all the text you need. Have you considered Weave?
Review: Running Dude
The "running" game genre has a number of variants for Windows Phone (we've looked at one recently in Tsotsi), but Running Dude is a step above others that I have seen. Why? Because it manages to be impressive in three different areas... control, game-play, and presentation.
What are the "must have" applications for Windows Phone?
Instagram... there's a lot of speculation out there about the popular iPhone social network photography app, that it will make the jump to Windows Phone before it goes to Android, but it's all rather nebulously attributed back to a site that runs the story with an unattributed quote (hence the story not popping up in our Flow section). Still, it makes for some feel-good headlines. But it has got the AAWP office thinking... what apps would we like to see ported over to Windows Phone?
Review: Sky News
Using the Metro design language as much as possible, the Sky News application brings you, errr... the latest news from Sky. It joins a number of news centre applications (including The Guardian and The Metro Newspaper), it's great to have a choice of publishers - it's rather like selecting a paper in the newsagent each morning. Sky News matches up in quality to the other apps so let's take a closer look at what you get.
AAWP Insight #11: patents, post-CES
In episode eleven of the All About Windows Phone Insight Podcast, we start with a discussion about patents, prompted by the news that Sisvel has acquired 450 patents from Nokia. Our second topic is about the media reception to Windows Phone at CES, which leads to our third topic where each member of the team shares an area where they think improvements can be made. We finish, as usual, with an app pick from each of the team.
Review: Battlewagon (Xbox Live)
Battlewagon is a frustrating Xbox Live title. It looks fantastic, with clear cartoon graphics, maps and cut-scenes reminiscent of the Amiga and Atari ST days, and it all feels consistent and right. Yet at the same time the game is stunningly simple in terms of complexity and level construction. There is a good game here, but it's not one that you can find without the developers working at another level.
