Apps

Remember the location-based social interaction game Torchbear? The creators of Torchbear, Lighthouse Games Studio, are back within another location-based game – this time exclusively for Windows Phone 8. Their new title Greed City combines the property and wealth acquisition elements of Monopoly with the real-world location and GPS elements of Four Square. It’s much more game-like than Torchbear and costs nothing to download, so Windows Phone 8 users should definitely give it a look.

We've got a quick-start guide and more impressons to share, so read on!

Nokia has pushed out a number of updates for Windows Phone. The apps affected are Nokia Music, Access Point and Network+. Unfortunately we don't have a change log for any of the three apps, but we imagine each release contains minor improvements. It's been a while since we've looked at both Access Point and Network+, but the Nokia Music+ service has been rolling out in multiple markets. 

There are a few criticisms levied against Instagraph, the third party “work around” for Instagram on Windows Phones, including price, upload limits and feature set. That last one is a bit interesting because as of right now, users can only upload photos to Instagram but they would need another app to view their friends’ feed, comment, share photos, etc.

That’s coming to an end though as Metrogram and Instagraph are air-high-fiving to bring a single use system. We’ve actually been privy to the info for awhile (shocked?) but it wasn’t our place to announce the news. But now the developer behind Metrogram, a highly stylized Instagram viewer that we recently covered, has posted a pic teasing the pseudo-merger (see above).

It looks like a busy day for app updates again as Facebook for Windows Phone has pushed out yet-another patch. This time the version for Windows Phone 8 gets raised to v4.2.1 and the Windows Phone 7.x one heads to 2.9.1. That makes this a teeny 0.0.1 update.

Hooray for more Windows Phone 8 apps! That’s our feeling every time we report on an official app getting bumped to take advantage of the latest features in our OS. Today’s app is OpenTable (www.opentable.com) the must-have service for those in big cities who want to easily reserve a table at their favorite (but busy) restaurant.

The previous Windows Phone 7.x version wasn’t too bad, but it was a bit slow and lacked any ‘wow’ factors on board. Version 2.0 though is now live in the Store for Windows Phone 8 devices and it’s certainly much better, in our opinion.

GoComics is a popular website launched back in 2005 for both strips, panels and editorial cartoons. It features virtually all of the major comics and cartoonists you can think of. And there is now an official app for Windows Phone to satisfy your comics need on the run.

Deezer (www.deezer.com) has launched an app for Windows 8. The French web-based music streaming service is available in over 180 countries and boasts over 3 million subscribers. Unfortunately, there are still no plans for a US launch, which the company surely has to achieve to compete against Spotify, Nokia Music and Xbox Music in the important market. 

If you’re a heavy user of Digitally Imported (www.di.fm) and pay for the premium version you’re going to be a happy camper with the latest update to Beem. Yeah that’s right, you can get access to higher quality streams and no ads.

Although the whole Instagram brouhaha is still going on with Windows Phone, Nokia has kindly updated their universal Windows Phone app #2InstaWithLove with a new filter.

The new effect is called HandCam and it adds a reddish hue along with saturated darks to the image it is applied too (as opposed to the more yellow Polaroid look). It still keeps with the retro-Instagram style while giving users a bit more flexibility for image creativity.

Instagraph landed in the Windows Phone Store last week. The app had a rough start but seems to be going strong at the moment, letting users upload pictures to their Instagram accounts on Windows Phone, sans iOS or Android. The one thing it can't do it, is view apps on the popular social network. Instead you've got some fairly good apps in the Store that let you view, comment and like photos on Instagram. One of those is Metrogram.  

The Nokia ESPN Hub app, available exclusively in the Nokia Collection, has been updated to version 2.6.67. The latest release introduces a number of improvements that will help users further customise the experience, as well as being notified on news and scores.

DualCamPhoto is one of the more interesting Windows Phone 8 camera apps in that you capture photos using both the front and rear cameras with a single press of the shutter. DualCamPhoto was recently updated to version 2 and adds a nice set of features to the mix to give users a little more control over the end product.

You now have post editing capabilities with DualCamPhoto to allow users a choice in how their dual photos are presented. You have the traditional side-by-side plus picture-in-picture and a split image view.