There's probably a reason why Google shut its 'Reader' product down halfway through the year - the majority of normal people just don't need - or want - a RSS aggregator, something to trawl hundreds of web sites and gather 'new' things. They have social networks to alert them of cool happenings, news sites to browse through over breakfast, etc. However, the outcry from bloggers and journalists showed that this particular user niche used Google Reader extensively and the continuing search for a replacement has resulted in the take off of Feedly as a service and, in the absence of an official Feedly client for Windows Phone, a number of third party clients - including Phonly here.
In my first review for AAWP, I look at FreeCaddie Golf GPS, a cross platform free (ad-supported) application for displaying the distance to the green. The developers claim to have data for over 22,000 courses worldwide, with the ability for users to add their own courses if they are not listed via their website. There is also a pro version of the application which offers additional functionality, which I'll hopefully look at shortly.
How about a platform game that's trapped inside a technical drawing? A game that is as challenging as it is artistic? And a game that the iOS and Android clans would love to have on their platform. Well tough, 'The Machine' is ours!
Now we finally have the official word on an Instagram app (thanks to Stephen Elop's keynote at Nokia World this week), we know we only have to wait 'a few weeks' to have the client from Facebook's social network for images. But Instagram fans on Windows Phone have long known that Rudy Huyn's third party client, 6tag, is the way to go to interact with Instagram on your handset.
Since it was reviewed around this time last year, MetroSpec has continued to be improved, with new code asked for by interested parties, bug fixes for the countless options and configurations available to the app, and of course the addition of elements that developer Glenn Edwards has added to the app, a labour of love and one of the best ZX Spectrum emulators for Windows Phone.
Rule The Kingdom, from Game Insight, has a difficult task to manage. The developers have set out to make a huge sprawling RPG, that can be played not just for a few days, or a few weeks, but for months. Skipping to the end, they have achieved that, but if you were to strip out the timers that encourage you to pay into this freemium title, you might be able to complete every quest in the kingdom in about nine days.
CJ stands for City Jumper, and CJ: Strike Back from developers Droidhen takes the infinite running genre and mixes it with a bit of retro styling to provide a comforting action game that's quick to play, but perhaps a bit too heavy in the revenue generation for a free title.
With so much focus placed on music by the modern smartphone there's a fundamental issue that can muddy the waters, namely the gap between the handset and your ears. The speakers on a handset are mostly okay, the bundled headsets won't do a bad job, but if you love your music you're going to switch to something else. And one option is the Sabotage Royale headset from Degauss Labs.
Some knights save the girl. Others save entire kingdoms. In Angry Mob Games' latest title you are none of these. All you are compelled to do is capture muffins. A lot of muffins. Can you manage that, rescue your one true love, and level up to be a better hero? You can in Muffin Knight.
While the majority of people using Facebook on their Windows Phone are looking to work with their own personal account, read messages, and the notifications they receive, there are others who need to have access to Pages on Facebook, be it for side projects, fan clubs, or business needs. They're not served well by the official app, so the smart thing to do is to install Facebook Pages Manager.
