Roll up, roll up, it’s App O’Clock! Scroll down to read all about our best Windows Phone app finds of the week—from games to cameras and calendars, we’ve got it all! Here’s five of the best new and updated apps for Windows Phones that have come on the market in the past seven days…
App title: Rando
What is it? An experimental new photo exchange app
Why we love it? We’re head over heels with the sheer, yes, randomness of this: you take a picture and upload it to the app, and minutes later you’re sent a picture in return from another anonymous user. You get no identifying info (except location, if the other user has enabled it) – just a photograph. No social media, no comments, just a user-to-user exchange. It’s like having a bunch of anonymous pictorial pen-pals. Fascinating.
Who it’s perfect for: Guerilla photographers
App title: Simple Calendar
What is it? An alternative calendar app for your phone
Why we love it? It’s considerably more customisable than the native calendar app. The original version was easy to use and navigate, but v2.0 is even better, with excellent lock screen and live tile integration. It syncs with your various other calendars (Windows, Google) and uploads to the Cloud so you’re never out of date. You do have to switch back to the MS calendar to edit entries, but for checking your diary, this is one of the nicest alternatives we’ve seen.
Who it’s perfect for: Busy folk
App title: Wordness
What is it? A word game that rivals Scrabble
Why we love it? Who doesn’t love wordplay? This is like a mash-up of Scrabble, Boggle and Risk. There’s a set of letters on-screen, and when it’s your turn you make words from them and gain points. You ‘own’ the tiles you’ve used, and your opponent ‘owns’ the tiles she’s used, and the aim is to steal back as many tiles as you can, block your opponent from grabbing more tiles, us up all the tiles, and get a load of points. It’s a little tricky to get used to, but then very addictive, because of the combo of spelling and strategy that it involves.
Who it’s perfect for: dictionary geeks
App title: SwapChat Free
What is it? A picture chatting app
Why we love it? SwapChat’s not new to the market, but this free version is, and we can put up with a few ads in return for free access. For those not already in the know, SwapChat is an unofficial Snapchat client for Windows phones. You take a picture, add a caption and send it to your friends; the trick is, you get to set a time limit on how much time those friends will have access to your pics. It’s a colourful, intuitive app and a welcome addition to the Windows world.
Who it’s perfect for: social media users
App title: Camera360
What is it? another funky camera app
Why we love it? Windows 8 phones are pretty blessed with camera apps, and this is another sweet alternative. It’s got six easy preset modes/filters (Auto, Portrait, Scenery, Food, Night, Microspur) and it lets you focus manually and preview various effects and frames. We love the Photo Diary feature and the Touch Shoot option – the latter is new in the latest version. Overall, it’s a good and useful camera tool, and the UI is probably a little less intimidating for the novice photographer than some of the other apps out there.
Who it’s perfect for: photographers
That’s this weeks fantastic five. If you can think of any other new or updated apps that deserve some Nokia Conversations love, please let us know in the comments down below.