It’s the end of the week, which means that once again it’s time for us to roll out our weekly app recommendations: five of the best and most exciting new (or newly updated) apps available for WP7 or WP8. Read on, and you’ll see how your Windows Phone can help you work, rest and play.
App title: Euro Taxi
What is it? An app that lets you book a cab in a huge number of European cities without having to actually phone up or negotiate the language…
Why we love it? It’s just so massively convenient! Type in your address, or select from a list of places (tourist attractions in your city, etc) or airports, select the correct currency, and a list will pop up of service providers, telling you the cost of the taxi and how many people the car will hold. You pay in the app and it’s all-inclusive, so when you ride turns up, it’s all sorted. Two caveats: one, you must book at least two hours in advance, and two, running a local search tour nearest airport, we can tell it’s not pulling up the very cheapest rates—but as a tourism device, it’s still top-notch. Really handy, easy to use, looks good; a winner!
Who it’s perfect for: tourists or business travellers
App title: Riddle Me That?
What is it? A riddle game
Why we love it? It’s silly, but it’s fun; a series of increasingly tricky riddles. Sophie’s mother has two sons and a daughter; if the sons are called John and George, what’s the daughter’s name? It’s not the most fiendish set of puzzles we’ve ever seen, but it’ll keep you entertained on the commute home, and it’ll give you a round of applause when you’ve cracked each round.
Who it’s perfect for: riddlers
App title: Basketball Challenge
What is it? Shoot the hoops, increase your stats, win prizes!
Why we love it? It’s very simple, but the graphics are great: there’s a basketball forecourt and a basketball—you swipe the screen to shoot and score. Play against the clock, for accuracy, or pick ‘free play’ mode for endless tries at the basket. We scored terribly, but that’s definitely not the games’ fault… Plus, for the more competent players amongst you, it’s affiliated with Prizealot, so you can set up an account to play for real-life prizes. Nice!
Who it’s perfect for: wanna-be Michael Jordans
App title: Piehole
What is it? A Vine app that lets you watch random videos
Why we love it? Piehole works with Vine and twitter, so when you switch it on, it’ll want access to your twitter account; once you’ve sorted that, it’ll pull up a random selection of Vines (six-second videos users have uploaded for sharing, for those not already in the know). The interface is lovely—the Vines appear in a scrollable list like Polaroid photos. The fun thing about this use of Vine is that you’re not seeing videos from people you already follow, so there’s always fresh material.
Who it’s perfect for: social media and video folk
App title: Yammer
What is it? Microsoft’s social network for businesses
Why we love it? It’s a way of accessing Facebook in work, for a start! What it actually does, though, is hook you up with all your colleagues. When you set up an account you must use your work email address. It’ll check your contacts for co-workers, and then, when you’re in, it gives you access to a secure social media environment tailored to your specific work network. Microsoft’s investment in Yammer in 2012 seems to have paid off: it’s an elegant and functional system that even your boss ought to like. This update updates the inbox view so that it looks quite a lot like your WP email inbox—very handy.
Who it’s perfect for: employees
This week, we think we’ve unearthed a little something for everyone, but which of our fab five do you like the look of best. Let us know down below.