While Email is increasingly replacing paper mail, the Internet age means that we're receiving more parcels as we order items online rather than bringing purchases home from retail stores. Correspondingly, courier and postal firms have implemented tracking services (with varying degrees of success) so that we can track our parcels in real time. Parcel Tracker is a Windows Phone 7 application which takes advantage of these services, giving you push updates and live tiles for all of your deliveries.
It promises a lot, and in time Gun Bros could turn out to be a nice arcade hit for Xbox Live. Unfortunately many people won't find the true strength of the game because they'll avoid the title because of the freemium system, and those that do stick around around are going to find a game that needed another pass at it by the coders instead of being rushed out door onto Windows Phone.
In this busy hectic world, many people find it hard to get to sleep at nights, and many solutions have been proposed. A touch of distraction at night time is one common solution, and that's where Sleep Bug comes in. An ambient sound producer, the app should allow you to create the perfect background music to help you relax and get to sleep.
Video content consumption on Windows Phone 7 has always been a bone of contention for power users who object to the delay incurred by Zune Desktop transcoding their content. The lack of built-in support for DLNA streaming has only added to the woes of such users. That could be set to change thanks to an official application from an independent media centre company. Plex is a media streaming system similar to XBMC. For a price, unusually, your Windows Phone 7 devices can both stream content from your home server, and act as a remote control for your Plex media centre.
For some reason, getting podcasts onto a Windows Phone without using the Zune desktop has never been an easy ride. While the Mango update did bring the ability to have the synchronisation of the podcast on the handset, it still needed to be set up in the Zune PC suite in the first place. A number of applications have stepped up to try and fill the deficiency of podcasting in Windows Phone, now it's the turn of Podcast Picker.
Having become something of a phone pool game afficianado, I approached the freeware Premium Pool with trepidation, not expecting too much. It turns out to have a pretty and practical interface but is ultimately let down by the lack of challenge and lack of ball control.
An exclusive release for Nokia's Windows Phone handsets is not a rare occurrence, but the latest title, Mirror's Edge, has caught our eye. The 3d platformer comes from Nokia and EA, and we think it's their first exclusive Xbox Live title for Windows Phone. And it's a good one.
Amazon is one of the success stories of the internet, one of a handful of companies that are recognisable across the world just by their name, and everyone knows what they are for. With a goal of being there whenever (and wherever) you want to buy something, a client application for Windows Phone is a no-brainer. How does this retail experience compare to the alternatives Amazon offer?
Mush is a wonderful twist on the platform genre, and one that I'm really happy to see getting some attention. Developed in part through the UK's 'Dare to be Digital' computer games design contest for students, Mush was one of three winning games in 2012, picking up a BAFTA 'one to watch' nomination. It's great to see developers Angry Mango reach the commercial world through this Xbox Live title, and to do it with such a unique style of game.
Windows Phone is a social beast, which means lots of logging into websites and apps. Password security has been in the news a lot this year as various websites have had their password databases published by hackers. Now, more than ever, is the time to take your password management seriously. Some say that convenience is the enemy of security. As such, using the same password everywhere puts you at great risk, but it is easier than remembering a different password for every website. LastPass is the most secure solution for managing your passwords and filling in forms, and it's ubiquitous across all platforms.
