Our 5 favourite new Windows Phone apps of the week
Move over, football, it’s Wimbledon season! Or, better, we could all get two televisions, side by side, and have actual wall-to-wall sports coverage.
On the other hand, if that doesn’t sound appealing, we could all download a selection of top-notch non-soccer, non-tennis apps to our WP8 devices and have some geeky fun! Now, that’s entertainment. Here’s our favourite five apps from the past seven days. What do you think?
Levitagram
What is it: a photography app
Why we love it: This is a photo-editing tool that lets you fake levitation shots. Sure, it’s a gimmick, but it’s a pretty funny one, and it’s easy to use as long as you have a steady hand: take a photo of a person – standing on a chair, say – and then another photo of the same scene but with the person and the chair removed. Then use the app to delete the chair, and the app will swap in the background from the second picture. Presto – levitation! Impress your kids for hours at a time with your magical floating kills…
Who it’s perfect for: aspiring photo magicians
FN8
What is it: a fitness app
Why we love it: We know that the Windows Store is full of fitness apps, many of which impress us greatly, but this is a decent addition to the regime. It’s particularly designed for people with very little time (the titular 8 stands for its eight-minute routines). It comprises an 80 second warm-up followed by seven sets of exercises in a fixed order. You can check the instructions for the written version, and at each stage the screen will display visuals to help you out. The actual exercises aren’t very complicated (push-ups, squats), so it’s easy to get the hang of, and the built-in audio cues mean you won’t have to keep looking down. Simple, quick, and yet tiring – fitness awaits!
Who it’s perfect for: fitness fans with little spare time
Scribd
What is it: a digital reading app
Why we love it: Scribd is an immensely popular digital library service that gives you access to an enormous range of old and new books, which you can read on your Windows device, and, if you like, because it’s cross-platform, sync with your other supported gadgets or your PC. While the app is free, you’ll need Scribd subscription to get going – it’s a monthly fee, but a very affordable one if you’re a heavy reader, considering all the texts they’ve got. The only downside is that there’s no offline option, so make sure you’re on a WiFi connection or those data charges could get scary.
Who it’s perfect for: readers
Hues
What is it: a puzzle/card game
Why we love it: If you’ve seen your pals on other platforms playing Threes, and felt sad that there’s no WP version, then dry your eyes: Hues is a pretty close approximation. Join three cards of the same colour on your virtual board and you’ll unlock more hues. With different gameplay modes (all addictive), cute graphics and entertaining characters back-stories, it’s bound to be a hit. We’re hooked, anyway.
Who it’s perfect for: puzzle fanatics
Adobe Photoshop Express
What is it: a photo-editing app
Why we love it: Photoshop is the overlord of image-editing software and so we’re ridiculously excited to see, at last, a WP8 version. Except for a couple of functions that are locked up as in-app purchases, this free app offers anything you might want from a well-designed editing app: crop, straighten, red-eye reduction and other basic adjustments; slider controls for colour-correction; a good selection of filters for quick effects; and various sharing options for social media.
Who it’s perfect for: photographers
That’s our lot for another week! Captivated? Unimpressed? Drop us a line in the comments to let us know, and please shout if you think we missed a good one. Next week, we’ll be featuring our usual monthly Top Ten Games as well as the apps round-up, so stay tuned for extra downloading!