14 DAY TRIAL // With more than 4,000 apps available for download, the Windows Phone 7 marketplace is said to have the potential of becoming one of the largest app stores in about one or two years.
Even though the number may not seem that high now compared with AppStore and Android Market, Microsoft is constantly improving the tools needed to create apps for its latest mobile platform.
Channel 9, a place where Microsoft meets developers in a nonconformist environment, has just presented a new line-up of 5 of the hottest Windows Phone 7 apps for this week.
Discussed weekly in an Internet show called Hot Apps by producer and host Laura Foy, the apps are mostly chosen based on the users’ suggestions. HotApps has been aired for the first time on November 16th and has been showcasing 5 Windows Phone 7 apps weekly ever since.
In this week's episode, five apps from categories such as Gaming, Photo Animation, News, Productivity and Fun are recommended in a short 4-minute video.
Developed by Sunspark Labs, Morfo enables users to upload common 2D pictures and animate them into 3D talking characters. In addition, users will also be able to add various expressions and animations. Screenshots with the 3D characters can also be saved and sent through email.
News360 is an interesting newsreader that delivers headlines and back stories from more than 300 newspapers and magazines. Specific people or companies can also be tracked by adding them to Favorites. The application uses sophisticated linguistic algorithms to collect a wide range of political, cultural and social stories. Sharing feeds with friends via Facebook and Twitter is possible, as well.
Hangover Helper is a simple app that tells users where they are, what time and day it is, when they launch the application. All the information comes in handy when the user is waking up somewhere unknown, with a hangover, after consuming a large quantity of alcohol. Other nice features of the app include the possibility to send a message to a friend to let him know where the user is now, or it can generate excuses in case the user missed a meeting.
Cardmobili is a free service for consumers, which allows users to manage their cards, ensures remote backup and allows sharing with friends and getting exclusive offers from service partners. The service features more than 1500 cards worldwide, which makes it one of the most extensive membership and loyalty card database.
Glow Artisan is a logic puzzle game where players have to combine the three colors of light to create specific patterns. The main objective of the game is to re-create an image, which should be simple, considering that players have to use only three colors across a 5x5 grid. However, the multitude of options is challenging and makes the game one of the cleverest on the market. Combine the three primary colors to re-create the image in the smallest number of moves possible.
Stay tuned for more hot apps for Windows Phone 7.
