Get to know the winning apps from the Nokia Create contest

This past fall, Nokia Developer invited Windows Phone app developers from around the world to a new kind of “mission” in the form of their Nokia Create contest.

In fact, there were 15 missions, spread across 8 different categories, and developers from 76 countries heeded the call submitting their new or updated apps.

Yesterday, Nokia Developer announced the final winners of its Master Missions, the Do Good Mission, and of course the Grand Prize winner of the competition.

Grand Prize Winner: Pikura

Pikura (shown at right) is a free photo app and service with a twist from Spain-based developers Pablo Moncunill and Joe Fernández. The judges liked the consumer appeal of the app, the innovative approach the developers took when deciding what they wanted to create, and the way they continue to add features without cluttering the design or user experience.

As they noted in the Nokia Developer News blog, Pablo and Joe decided to develop a gamification framework within the app, and reward consumers for creating and sharing photos more widely. Using Pikura, any consumer can create a “challenge” (such as “take a picture of the biggest burger you can find”), anyone can complete that challenge by uploading a photo, and anyone can vote on a submission to help pick the winner.

In addition to the Grand Prize, Pikura won the Nokia Create Image and Photo Mini Mission for the way they added image filter processing to their app, and earned runner-up honors for their optimization for big screens.

The winning team receives a huge wealth of prizes, including an expenses-paid trip for two to Mobile World Congress 2014 in Barcelona, where the winning app will be showcased. They will also receive a device kit with loads of Nokia devices and gear, multiple promotions for their app (so expect to hear more about Pikura very soon), and 10,000 XP from Nokia’s DVLUP program.

In addition, Nokia Developer announced the winners of its eight Master Missions, and the Do Good Mission – details are below. All of these winners will receive some amazing prizes, too, including trips to Barcelona for MWC, devices and gear.

Image & Photo Master Mission: Facebook Cover Cam

Facebook Cover Cam by developer Tharaka Wijebandara from Sri Lanka is a specially designed camera app to capture your Facebook cover photo and profile picture in a single shot. The judges appreciated the unified Facebook functionality that the app provides.

Maps & Places Master Mission: Track Runner

Track Runner by The App Cauldron is a running companion app that uses SmartTrack technology to provide high accuracy GPS tracking and advanced statistics. The app is exclusive to Windows Phone, and the judges noted that it makes great use of GPS to track your workout, including automatic splits when the app detects you’re running laps. “For Track Runner, we were really pushing the limits in terms of accuracy even if it meant obsessing about little details. The result is a true running companion that supports runners in achieving their personal best,” said Sarah Fegert, CEO of App Cauldron.

Music Master Mission: Extreme Music

Extreme Music by Mirage Apps is an advanced Music Player application for Windows Phone that allows you to control your music without even looking at the device. The free app is loaded with features including Nokia MixRadio integration. Initially, many features are hidden to keep the user interface simple and easy to use.

NFC Master Mission: Imagine Cam

Imagine Cam is a versatile photo-editing app by independent developer Phạm Phương Nguyên. The judges were impressed by the developer’s innovative use of NFC tags to quickly configure all settings for your photos. You can also share images from your device using NFC.

Fun & Games Master Mission: Trouserheart

Trouserheart (shown below) by Finland’s 10tons, Ltd. is an easily accessible, lighthearted hack-n-slash action adventure game built with the Unity platform that offers great entertainment value to both first-time players, as well as veteran gamers (the latter can select harder difficulty settings and even the dreaded “perma-death” mode!). We know for a fact that this game made the judges laugh – and that is no easy task!

Work Life Master Mission: Enpass Password Manager & Information Keeper

Enpass, by the developers at India’s Sinew Software Systems, is a cross-platform app covering nearly all mobile and desktop platforms to manage passwords and other important credentials with Auto sync and AES-256 bit encryption. The app is easy to use, and does not require any sign-up to get started. There is a free desktop version of the service for both Mac and Windows computers.

Cross-8 Master Mission: To-Do Prime

To-Do Prime is an advanced to-do list app that is available for free on both Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 created by independent developer Vinod Shinde. According to the contest judges, the app offers great synchronization between mobile and desk / tablet for the work we all need to do organizing our lives. The app integrates with Outlook or Hotmail calendars, and adds to-do’s to calendar events.  You can record voice notes for your to-do’s, and set multiple alerts.

Freestyle Master Mission: Stylist

Stylist, by Montreal-based developer Ali Daneshmandi is an application to help you change your hairstyle and hair color. It contains plenty of hairstyles for both women and men with a variety of hair colors to choose, too. According to the contest judges, the app is a well executed way to see how you might look in a new hairstyle. You can edit the look of hairstyles to adapt to your face, save images for later, and share the pictures via email or social media.

Do Good Mission: The Funnies

As you may recall, the Nokia Create contest added a special “Do Good” mission, which we were running in partnership with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB). Developers were invited to create new apps that make the lives of people with low vision easier; or update their existing apps to make them more accessible.

The winner of this unique mission is The Funnies, an app by Barcelona-based Yowlu, made for the youngest members of the household. The app includes several minigames where the kids have fun and learn at the same time.  It is designed for visually impaired kids and so it has an adapted user interface along with voice instructions that will help them to get on a fantastic adventure with their new friends: The Funnies. The current games encourage the kids to play with numbers, words, animals and music. Plans are already in the works to add more games, and additional language support is coming, too (right now it is just available in English).

Please join us in congratulating all of the Nokia Create contest winners – and runners-up – for their amazing apps and devotion to the Windows Phone platform. You can see details about all of the winning apps and the Grand Prize winner on the Nokia Developer blog.