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bestfivewindowsapps

Greetings, app lovers! Once more, it’s Friday, and once more, we’ve donned our high-tech detecting garb and dug out the hottest, most must-have, best of the best new apps to showcase especially for YOU! Though it was mighty difficult to take the time away from Uno & Friends, which we’ve been playing non-stop since last week… Still, here we are, and there are treats in store!

App title: Active Fitness

What is it? An activity tracker fitness app

Why we love it? Like many fitness apps, this lets you choose your exercise of choice (from cycling to rollerblading) and it logs your stats: distance, time, route, etc. It works offline and doesn’t run down your battery, which is a big plus when you’re out and about. You can hook it up with your favourite social media apps, add friends and compete with them and on a global leaderboard—or just, if you’re as out of breath as us, get inspired by others’ achievements. The UI is lovely, and while it’s a free app, you can choose to pay to add training plans to the bundle, which we reckon is a neat, if not an essential, feature. Oh, and it’s a Nokia exclusive.

Who it’s perfect for: exercise fans

Activefitness

App title: ESPNcricinfo

What is it? A news app for cricket

Why we love it? Hey, we love cricket, and this is a cricket-only news zone: what’s not to love? Despite a distinctly uncatchy name (taken from the popular website from which this app has evolved), this app is right on the money (and it’s free, to boot). Load it up and you’ll get a list of live cricket matches happening now from across the globe (e.g., right now we’ve got one-day international and a youth one-day international, with a couple of twenty-twenty matches coming up later on). Swipe right for more in-depth cricketing news (headlines, features, details on the different series) or left for a more detailed menu, with ESPN cricket-related blog entries, world rankings, records, and more. Exhaustive! This version of the app boasts a revamped UI, so now it’s a better fit with the Windows Phone experience. We’re impressed.

Who it’s perfect for: cricket fans

cricinfo

App title: Bing News

What is it? A news aggregator powered by Bing

Why we love it? It grabs word headlines from various different news sources (Sky News, Reuters, The Guardian, The Independent, Gizmodo), which is handy, of course, but because it’s developed by Microsoft, it’s also really nicely integrated into the WP8 environment, which we think makes it stand out amongst the competition. Choose which news topics interest you, whether or not you want Breaking News notifications, and whether you want the app to update only via wifi connections. It’s part of a larger Bing package, including Bing Weather, Sports and Finance, so grab the lot for the full experience.

Who it’s perfect for: news junkies

bing

App title: Wells Fargo

What is it? A banking app for Wells Fargo customers

Why we love it? Joining the growing legion of mobile banking apps, here’s Wells Fargo’s long-awaited contribution. One for US Windows Phone users, really, but a welcome addition to the stable. Check your balance, pay bills, transfer money between accounts, deposit cheques (!) and find an ATM—all the usual range of options and some fancy extras. And the interface looks clean and efficient, too: bonus!

Who it’s perfect for: Wells Fargo users (surprisingly enough!)

Wwllsfargo

App title: Drawtopia

What is it? A fiendishly difficult and addictive puzzle game

Why we love it? This beats Uno for sheer bloody-minded addictiveness. You’ve got a ball and you have to guide it towards a target. Draw a line (or lines) onscreen with your fingertip to create platforms for the ball to roll along, and when you’ve set out the track, which ought to let you avoid all the obstacles while still letting you collect all the bonus stars, press play. The ball will start to move, and you’ll see if your planning and engineering skills are up to scratch to get it to its destination. It’s like bowling crossed with Lemmings and man, does it get hard. Move over Uno, there’s a new game in town!

Who it’s perfect for: physics students and gamers.

drawtopia

Another week another five cracking new and updates apps for Nokia Lumia lovers. Question is which ones best rocked your boat. Let us know downstairs.

Image credit: Harish Kumar