These days it sometimes feels like there are apps, here, there and everywhere. And no matter how clued up you are it can get a little bewildering when you’re trying to filter through to the best ones.
Well, fear no more, the app-hunters are here! We’ve already done the searching for you, so sit back, grab your Lumia and get ready to download our top five new and updated finds of the week.
App title: EnTrance
What is it? Trance music podcast
Why we love it? It’s an app version of DJ Arnin Van Buurin’s enormously popular radio show, A State of Trance. If you love electronic dance music, we’d normally recommend you check out the show, but now you don’t have to – if you download the EnTrance app, it’ll bring the episodes to you. We love it: it’s bundled in a very swish UI; you can download to listen offline; you can hunt for individual tracks from the tracklisting on YouTube and elsewhere; you can save favourite episodes to SkyDrive so you’ll never lose them.
Who it’s perfect for: EDM fans
App title: Super Calendar
What is it? calendar
Why we love it? While we like the native WP calendar and we’re already big fans of Simple Calendar, Super Calendar has blown our app-loving socks off for sheer comprehensive functionality. It integrates with Live, Hotmail and Google calendars; it displays your appointments by day, month of year; it offers views by day, week, month or year; and, like its rivals, it offers Lockscreen and Live Tile support. Most of all, though, we love it because it fits all the info we could want about our daily appointments on-screen at once without looking too crowded or confusing. Perfect.
Who it’s perfect for: planners
App title: Benji Bananas
What is it? A platform game
Why we love it? It’s simple, fun and cute – though the gameplay is trickier than it looks. Swing Benji from vine to vine collecting bananas and avoiding dangers. Play singly or in multiplayer mode (taking turns). Aside from the on-screen ads, there’s nothing to dislike – it’s a fast and captivating game that makes good use of the touchscreen.
Who it’s perfect for: kids, gamers
App title: Zinio
What is it? A magazine subscription and reading app
Why we love it? It’s a digital newsstand service, which does exactly what it says on the tin: you set up a Zinio account and then buy digital copies of the various newspapers and magazines it offers, from Marie Claire to MacLife, and from Asimov’s to Philosophy Now. The range is huge, the interface is lovely, and the subscriptions are affordable. And the app itself, is, of course, free. Perfect.
Who it’s perfect for: all sorts of readers
App title: Super Speed Touch
What is it? A game that tests your reflexes
Why we love it? This is one of those games that sounds dumb but that’s actually frustratingly addictive. On screen is a blank grid; wait until one square turns red, and then touch it. Repeat. Repeat… You get one point for each red square you successfully tag. The screens eventually start to flash quicker and quicker, and when you hit the wring square or miss a red one, game over. The mission? Beat your own high score. We predict aching fingers before too long. It’s very basic, and there are other reflex games out there, but we defy you not to give it a go (or seventeen).
Who it’s perfect for: fast-fingered competitive sorts…
That’s our five of the best for this week. We hope you love them as much as us. But if you’ve got any other top finds you think warrant a mention, please let us know down below.