There's a certain class of mobile game that's often ignored. One that gets overlooked in favour of all-singing, all-dancing 3D-rendered RPG slash-em-ups and orgies of feathered destruction. It's not - quite - casual games. It's not - quite - sports games. It's not - quite - board games. Though many of those titles qualify. I'm talking about infinite games. By which I mean mobile games that you can happily play every day - forever - literally.
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?
One of the integral parts of the Windows Phone experience is the Zune Desktop. Being Microsoft, it's only available for Windows - but our Mac OS X readers can relax, they haven't been left out in the cold, Steve will look at the Mac's Windows Phone 7 Connector in the near future. Unfortunately, Linux users might need a bit more magic (or a dual booting computer) to get connectivity. Those issues aside, if you're new to Windows Phone, here's a quick look at what the Zune Desktop can do.
40,000 applications publicly developed for Windows Phone is an impressive number, but you know what we really need to know? Not if the big hitters of Spotify or Instagram are available, not if there is a strong spread of attractive games, but which application is the most expensive application for Windows Phone. Rafe took the All About Windows Phone credit card out of my wallet, and sent me into the Marketplace to find out.
Nokia has made a huge impact with its design of the Lumia 800 Windows Phone, drawing glances of lust and envy from every quarter. With Windows Phone inside, it has a strong and stable OS platform to build on. There's more to making the Lumia range stand out than smart hardware design, and one of those areas is software. Nokia Music is one of the key differentiators in the software line up - with today's update to the software, Nokia Music is ready for its UK retail release tomorrow. Let's take a closer look.
Marko Ahtisaari, Senior Vice President of Design at Nokia, and Albert Shum, General Manager of the Windows Phone Design Studio, held a panel at Nokia World 2011. They explained how the design teams from both companies worked together to bring the Lumia 800 to fruition. Each designer talked about the way in which their teams had designed their products, and how well the design values of the two companies matched. Whether you're into design or not, it was an interesting insight into how both software and hardware designers form and refine their ideas.
I blame Apple. Although it didn't invent the 'app store' (that was Nokia, back in 2006), Apple was the company that really popularised the idea, to the point where something doesn't really 'exist' now unless there's 'an app for that'. Which is totally unfair, since many Internet-centric functions work just as well using what the web site throws at your smartphone. Here's a case in point: watching YouTube on your Windows Phone smartphone.
Amid all the anticipation and speculation surrounding Nokia’s Windows Phone handsets, you’d be forgiven for thinking you have to move with the times and give up your staunch Symbian sidekick. Don’t be in too much of a rush though; while Windows Phone will improve over time, things aren’t all that rosy on the Redmond side of the fence.
Microsoft are rightly proud of the work they have done in the People Hub to make it relevant to the users of Windows Phone, but that doesn't mean you can rely on Mango to talk to your social networks. There are more networks than the ones you can talk to out of the box, and in some cases you need more functionality than Seattle has provided. So where should Social Network junkies turn to? Here's our five picks.
It's a fact of life that much as we want out smartphones to have their own games, to stand out on their own, and to be unique, we also want comfort, familiarity, and games that we recognise. Windows Phone, and specifically the XBox Live games provide both. While we're looking out for the exclusive Windows Phone games that will become classics and make people want to be part of the Xbox Live experience, what are the games that we know from other platforms that have made it into your phone?
