It’s almost the end of July! The kids are on their summer holidays and you’re spending every free moment trying to entertain and/or wrangle them into some sort of joyful family fun-time—so when are you supposed to research the hottest new apps in the Windows Store, eh? Don’t worry: we’ve got that covered! Each week we let you know about our favourite new releases and app updates, so that you’re never left behind. And, wait—what’s this, down below? Only this week’s top five apps, ready and waiting!
App title: HD Photo Viewer
What is it? A new way of browsing through your phone’s photo albums in full HD.
Why we love it? Obviously there’s nothing wrong with the native Windows Picture Hub, but there’s no harm in exploring alternatives. The big plus with this app is that it doesn’t reduce image resolution to speed things up; it retains the original shiny HD resolution that makes your smartphone’s camera so desirable. It also lets you do some editing and file-sharing, which is handy. The only note of caution we’d sound is that 512MB phones might struggle to cope—it’ll work on them, but there might be speed issues and the occasional crash.
Who it’s perfect for: photographers
App title: wpTorrent
What is it? A brand-new torrent app for downloading files to your phone
Why we love it? It’s the first native Torrent client for Windows phones. Browse, view, share and use downloaded files, just like you’d do on your laptop or desktop. About time, too, we say, given the audio and video capabilities of most smartphones. Like most torrent services, wpTorrent is a little tricky to set up and get used to if you’re new to that way of downloading media, but there’s a wealth of info online to explain it all, and it’s worth the effort. A slightly more linited version is available as a free trial.
Who it’s perfect for: Shareaholics
App title: Wead
What is it? An app to add weather info to your photos
Why we love it? It’s slightly gimmicky, and other apps perform similar functions, but we like the easy, cheesy fun that we get from Wead. Open a photo from the Picture Hub and select Wead as an editing tool; pick a font colour, then type in your location and hit + to add weather; the app uses your location to pull up the current weather conditions and temperature where you are and adds this info to the photo. Very nifty for making your friends jealous of your holiday in the sun…
Who it’s perfect for: travellers
App title: Papirus
What is it? A collaboration service, or organising tool, for business teams
Why we love it? It lets you create tasks, lists, upload files and more—basically, you can cut out the tedium of fifty emails a day when you’re trying to coordinate a busy team of office professionals. It’s been a cloud-based service for a while, so the WP client is the logical next step. We found it impressively robust and comprehensive for a mobile app; serious thought has gone into this. While it’s probably a little OTT for a general user who just wants a simple to-do list, it’s fantastic for more complex team-work situations. And if your business has fewer than 25 team-members, the free version will suit you down to the ground.
Who it’s perfect for: wannabe business tycoons
App title: Swipe Tunes
What is it? A new, intuitive gesture-based way of navigating your stored music.
Why we love it? Brand new to the market, this is hands-down our favourite app of the week. Swiping and tapping anywhere on the screen gets you from track to track and all the rest (full info in the Help menu!) – no messing about looking for the menu button. It automatically imports all your stored tunes and makes full use of your smartphone’s sensitive touchscreen. Simple as that. You can also customise the app’s theme and Live Tile appearance to your heart’s content.
Who it’s perfect for: music fans
With photography, weather, music and life tools, we think we’ve got something for pretty much everyone. If you think otherwise, we’d love to hear what we’ve missed in the comments below