I'm not entirely clear why I/we weren't aware of Duplex Media Player here at AAWP, but it's been around for a while, is a full Windows 10 UWP, plays all audio and video seamlessly, has Chromecast support, and can stream from OneDrive or media servers directly. Yes, it's a commercial application, but it's only £1.70 if you grab it in the next 12 hours and, with one small caveat, it's really, really slick.
A 'different' (and somewhat pricey) accessory here, but one which should be of interest to almost everyone who drives. It's a dual port power bank for your smartphone and a powerful torch - that's also an emergency car starter. Up to 30 times over. It's well conceived overall, but the power bank side is poorly implemented.
Instagram (as far as I can see) has always been a bit quirky. Sticking to low res VGA images for so long stopped me taking it seriously. And even today, simple features like being able to download photos you like seem to be missing. Probably partly for copyright reasons, but mainly to keep the content 100% under Instagram's control. ProGet Universal (a UWP app for all Windows 10, of course) solves the image acquisition issue - and in some style.
Back in 2012, Ewan reviewed the ebook reader Freda for Windows Phone 7.x, i.e. back in the dark ages(!) But this is 2018 and the UWP version for all Windows 10 devices has been out for a while. Which means that it's time for the formal review treatment here on AAWP. Freda+ is a cracking app that opens up whole new worlds of content, so read on...
The search for a great Bluetooth keyboard - for on the go 'real' typing - has been going on for years. Full size and reduced size keys, one-piece and folding, gapped and continuous key layouts, membrane and full travel keys, I've tried the lot. Have I found my perfect accessory this time? Not quite. But it's still the best darned pocketable Bluetooth keyboard on sale in 2018, I think.
Only ever mentioned in passing here before and with all the SpaceX goings on awakening public interest in all things astronomical, I wanted to feature NASA Picture Galleries UWP in all its glory, for all Windows 10 Mobile handsets, Windows 10 hybrids, and so on. It's not a first party (i.e. NASA) application, but it does a cracking job of 'raiding' the NASA image archives in app form.
Although designed mainly for Windows 10 on laptops, hybrids, even Hololens, Audials Radio UWP also works pretty well under Windows 10 Mobile, as you might think. A direct competitor to TuneIn Radio UWP, this covers similar ground, handling live Internet radio streams and podcasts, but with a few twists of its own.
OK, I say this every time, but... we have a new winner. In the power bank stakes, at least. The combination of input and output flexibility, capacity, ruggedness, coupled with a camping-grade torch, all make the slightly cheesily named EasyAcc MegaCharge D20 the accessory to beat at the moment. Just a fabulous bit of kit.
Vector graphics is, it's fair to say, something that's a little specialist - you may well encounter examples in everyday life, in documents, even web pages, but you'll never be required to know what you're seeing. Vector images and formats are vital to how office infrastructure works though, and this is a handy UWP conversion utility that runs on any Windows 10 phone, hybrid or laptop.
Veering definitely towards form over value is the cosmetically stunning Blitzwolf BW-AS1 20W stereo Bluetooth speaker, styled in machined aluminium to fit right in with Apple Macbooks, Microsoft Surface Pros, and so on. At £60 or so, it's not cheap, but it's in for review, works well, and will appeal to many from a stylistic point of view, I suspect, price being no object...
