Windows 7 Phones have landed in Ireland and Microsoft has opened an app store to go with them. JOE brings you the top five essential applications.
By Leo Stiles
The Windows 7 Phone Marketplace has only been open for a week but already there are more than a thousand apps available with more flooding in every day. Many of the apps are typical of a brand new technology and are a bit rough around the edges, just as they were at the start of the iPhone App Store and much as they still are in the Android Store.
As ever, the most immediate problem for any new Windows phone users will be finding and choosing the best apps when there are so few user reviews or recommendations. Here at JOE we feel your pain and have taken up the challenge of trawling through the Marketplace to find the first five essential apps that no Windows 7 Phone user should be without.
Rocket Riot
€6.49
A part of one of the most entertaining games on Xbox Live Arcade, Rocket Riot is a 2D game similar to Worms where you have to manoeuvre around the screen while unloading a spectacular amount of firepower in the direction of your opponents. The spin on things here is that you can zip about the screen without waiting for your turn, making for a frantic and hilarious multiplayer blast.
The look of the game on the Xbox is faithfully reproduced and the game is fully supported by Xbox Live for online multiplayer, leaderboards and achievements. The touch-screen controls work well and the addictive nature of the gameplay all adds up to make this the best game on offer in the marketplace at the moment.
You Tube
FREE
Windows 7 Phones don’t have Flash support yet (don’t worry, it’s coming soon) which leaves you high and dry as far as internet video goes. Fortunately, Google have solved much of this problem with their dedicated and free app that will let you browse and view any video in the You Tube archive and thus ensure that you will never be without ‘double rainbow’ or ‘bedroom intruder’ when you are away from your laptop.
Twitter
FREE
The Windows 7 Phone has Facebook pretty much built into everything it does and while there is an official app for the social network, you honestly don’t need it. Far more essential is the Twitter app which despite having appeared on every other phone known to man, has never looked better as it does on a Windows 7 handset and once downloaded you will have a live feed for just about everything from Jedward’s latest bowel movements to the latest political scandals.
Microsoft My Phone
FREE
This app is an absolute essential download and as it’s free you really have no excuse for not installing it immediately. The app is pretty simple and allows you to back up your phone wirelessly to a secure website hosted by Microsoft which once done will make sure that you never lose any of your data again. The back-up is so complete that even if you were to vaporize your phone (unlikely, we know) you could restore your old phone’s data to a new handset right down to the smallest of settings. The best part about the app is that it isn’t dependent on a computer and can be used anywhere and at any time.
Adobe PDF
FREE
We know that Adobe is hard at work with Microsoft on a version of Flash for the Windows 7 Phone, but that hasn’t stopped them from throwing together this handy little application which lets you view, edit and even create PDF documents. To top it all off it works with both the web browser and the email apps of the phone. Simple, basic and essential – what more could you ask for?
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