Skip to main content



GLOBAL – Phones would be nothing without apps. Well, they’d still be phones, but that’s it. We demand so much more from our phones these days that we expect them do almost everything. From helping us get through the day with meeting alerts, or just helping us relieve some stress with a medley of games at the end of the day. Today we look at three of our favourite apps from developers SPB Software.

SPB Software has been in the mobile software market since 1999, winning dozens of awards and has millions of customers worldwide. With over one million downloads from Ovi Store so far, SPB Software has developed all types of software ranging from games and productivity apps to business and communication apps.

SPB Weather, £12.99

Knowing the weather is a big deal for many of us – me included – so here’s something to keep us well-informed. As far as weather apps go, this has everything you’d need. You can add cities, remove cities and set one as your home city, as you’d expect. Flicking from left-to-right will bring up the next weather forecast and pressing the city name will show you some more weather details. Such as wind speeds, wind direction and the humidity. If you look to the bottom of the app, you’ll see a globe, which will take you to the overview of the world. Your favourite cities are pointed out – in case you forgot where they were – but the interesting bit is the layer tab on the bottom left. This shows you world temperatures, using the blue-to-red colour scale, cloud coverage and rain patches in a 3D environment using up-to-date data from several weather sources.

SPB Shell, £26.99

This app is a little different to others you’d usually find. It’s not a small app and it’s not a pocket-money purchase. But it pretty much takes over your phone. It looks like an operating system, but it’s not. Once loaded you’ll notice, and it will be hard not to, that almost everything you do on your phone will be done within SPB Shell. The homescreen you’re used to will be gone and replaced, with new ones – lots and lots of them. You get up to five customisable screens for widgets and nine more in the fancy 3D selector. You’ll still have the usual features as it supports Nokia’s regular widgets, but you’ll be given some more too. You’ve got the option to put up a photo frame, a bigger analogue or digital clock or a birthday widget that lets you know well in advance when it’s someone’s special day. This app looks really polished and you can tell a lot of time has been spent making this work. It’s great for customisation as it offers so much. If you want to drastically change the look of your phone, this app will do it.

Here’s a video to show SPB Shell in action.

SPB Puzzle, £4.00

SPB Puzzle is a puzzle game, as the title suggests. Pre-installed with 10 images of classic paintings to get you started, you’ll need to piece the pictures together. Once the image is complete, the app will tell you a little bit about the history of the painting. You’ll also be able to use own images from your gallery to cut up, and stick back together again. I’ve reviewed another puzzle game before, and this was something I thought was missing. The ability to take an image of your someone you know, makes this a much more personal game that you and your friends can enjoy. This feature will be especially welcome for the children you share your device with.

Downloaded any of SPB Software’s apps? Tell us what you think of them, below.