So far we've had an exhaustive run down of the Nokia Lumia 800 hardware from Rafe, including the background to its development. In this, part 2a of our Lumia 800 coverage, I look in some depth at the device's camera - has the size constraint meant a compromise too many? What's unique about this particular camera design? How does it compare to other Nokia hardware? And can quality and performance be improved further with software upgrades to Nokia's first Windows Phone?
It's not Farmville, but Aalawar's Farm Frenzy 2 (a sequel to Farm Frenzy, which is naturally not available for Windows Phone) is almost as addictive, but without the overpowering sense of exploiting your online friends for more credits to do stuff. The cute farm graphics are there, but this is more a mix of arcade reactions and quick decisions to reach your goals than the careful planning and long waits of Farmville.
Plex feels old and new at the same time. This 3D puzzle game asks you to drop coloured tiles onto other tiles, and if the colours match (either horizontally or vertically), the tiles are destroyed. A simple principle, but once you wrap it around a globe, throw in some 3D graphics, and some very smart design, you have one of the best tile based games I've found on Windows Phone.
Twitter is all about the moment. It's all about getting you to your messages. And let's face it, sometimes the People Hub doesn't quite cut it (fx:cough, direct messages). Here's where having a phone built around applications can help out. Rowi is one of many third party Twitter clients, and I've almost settled on it as my Twitter client of choice. Only one thing lets it down, but I can look past that to a genuinely useful application. So should you.
The HTC Titan. It's huge, it's startlingly capable, loud and impressive, it's the best showcase for Windows Phone yet - but I'm still not convinced that I'd like to buy one. Find out why in my (equally huge) review. Despite massive improvements in component quality for this latest generation of HTC hardware and despite a comprehensive software package, there are elements of the design that I'm simply not convinced by...
I like puzzle games, so when there's one that feels like a nice twist on a good concept (in this case a mix of clearing a game grid and the use of Newtonian momentum) I'm all for it and jumping on the download. Bump Out certainly meets the initial requirement, but as I continued to play, something wasn't quite right.
Since the official client for Foursquare updated itself for Mango, many people, myself included, have been waiting for an update to the third party Foursquare client '4th and Mayor'. Now that Jeff Wilcox has updated the client, which is going to be my chosen check-in companion?
I'm not such a keen follower of games that 'Fusion: Genesis' is on my radar. Even though I've been playing though 'Fusion: Sentient' on Xbox Live for Windows Mobile, the fact that there is another title out there in the same universe with the same death dealing robots (sorry, the Sentients), which can be moved between 'Fusion: Genesis' on the Xbox and 'Fusion: Sentient' on Windows Phone has completely passed me by. What I do know, being a bit of a gamer, is that this isometric real time strategy game is right up my dark alien infested alley.
It's an established powerhouse destination on the internet, but what I love about eBay (apart from the fact that I've finally managed to land myself a Winchester Filofax) is that it continues to strive and stay at the cutting edge. That includes online payments (PayPal), ticketing (StubHub), classified (Kijiji); or making sure that no matter what you are using when you decide to buy something at the digital flea market, there is a simple and quick eBay method to use. Which sets us up nicely to look at their Windows Phone application.
Information on the go. That's what a mobile phone is good for, be it a voice call, a text, or the news headlines. The Guardian newspaper in the UK has a strong track record of innovation online, and its Windows Phone application promises its editorial content and news in a Metro UI styled interface. It delivers on that promise, and with a little bit more. But is it enough to beat its mobile website?
