Our 5 favourite new Windows Phone apps of the week
Music, sports, games, weather and, um, household utilities: we’ve got a wide range of goodies for you this week!
Welcome, everyone, to our weekly app round-up: the place where you’ll find our top five apps of the week, including both brand new downloads and recently revamped versions of old favourites. Well, don’t linger here – scroll on down and get ready to raid the Windows Phone Store!
Spotify
What is it: a music streaming service
Why we love it: Hey, we’re big music fans, so of course we love Spotify (though it’s got to share top-billing with MixRadio, of course!) This update introduces Spotify Free for Windows Phone, which is what most users have been angling for: it means you’ll now have free (ad-supported) access to the Spotify archives, including playlists, browsing, Discover (recommended tracks and artists based on your listening history) and Radio (playlists based on tracks you’ve enjoyed). The only catch is all this is shuffle-based, so you can’t curate your own lists for free. Pretty good nonetheless, though! The update also includes a few more languages – Russian, Hungarian and Turkish – which our international readers might appreciate.
Who it’s perfect for: music fans
Defuser
What is it: a puzzle game
Why we love it: Ever fancy life as an army sapper? Or an electrician for that matter? This is a set of timed experiments with wires and switches that will put you to the test! Do everything in the right order according to the instructions, or else your house will explode! It’s harder than it sounds… Addictive right from the start, but easy to play in bite-sized chunks, this is one that will while those hours at the bus stop.
Who it’s perfect for: gamers of all ages
FreeCharge
What is it: a bill payment app for the Indian market
Why we love it: It’s a secure way of paying bills and recharging your prepaid mobile account from within the phone itself. It’s secure, it works for multiple merchants (Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance, Tata Docomo, Idea, Aircel, BSNL Dish TV, Sun Direct, Videocon d2h and more) and you can use it to get discount vouchers for local retails and food vendors. This is version 2.0, but since the previous incarnation was just a web-wrapper, it feels like brand new to us!
Who it’s perfect for: mobile users in India
Appy Weather
What is it: a weather app (surprise!)
Why we love it: We know we spent last week singing the praises of AccuWeather (which we still love), but we might be converted… Appy Weather has a very basic interface: simple icons and short sentences giving you weather headlines for your location in clear, everyday English: there’s no Met Office jargon or coloured charts to interpret. The best thing is, though, that the app tells you what the weather will feel like compared to current conditions (colder, hotter, wetter) and the toast notifications will tell you when a current rainstorm is forecast to stop, as long as that storm is set to carry on for over twelve hours. Minimal, friendly and useful: this mightn’t suit hardcore weather nuts, but we think it’ll do us just fine. The app costs hard cash but there’s a free three day trial so you can give it a whirl in advance of shelling out.
Who it’s perfect for: everyone interested in the weather…
NFL Now
What is it: a video-based news app for NFL fans
Why we love it: If you’re a fan of American football and keep an eye on the NFL you’ll like this; it’s basically a massive repository for videos about the different teams and players, including game highlights, analysis and news, and it will let you create special channels so you can focus on your favourites. The app is free, but not all the content is, so watch out for hidden costs (as well as your data expenditure).
Who it’s perfect for: NFL fans
So, how do you feel? Excited? Full of anticipation? Or have you already downloaded these beauties and given them a good whirl? Let us know what you think in the comments below! And, of course, tell us which apps are floating your boats these days; that’s the stuff we live for!