apps

We've heard this all before, developers skipping Windows Phone or not viewing it as worth the investment to develop an app. It's an issue Microsoft has had to battle against since the company originally launched Windows Phone 7 back in 2010, but we're seeing Redmond (and Nokia) pouring more funds and time into getting developers interested. Bloomberg is now reporting that Microsoft is paying developers up to $100,000 to get apps on Windows Phone 8.

You may think to yourself that you’ve heard the name WebApps before. You’d be correct in thinking exactly that as we’ve covered the interesting suite previously. It’s a superb concept, enabling Windows Phone owners to check out apps that aren’t currently available on the official store. These aren’t native apps, however and are instead web app counterparts.

The team behind this incredibly useful app are preparing to unleash a rather important update to introduce Live Tile support.

Nokia has gone into some detail about how the company uses anonymous data collection from consumers who utilise its location services to help improve the overall HERE experience offered. A number of data sources are relied upon to maintain and update mapping, as well as innovative tools that can detect changes and trigger action points. Sounds like the creation of the Matrix, right?

I guess this is more about being funny than actually useful to most of you guys. Nokia just released an interesting app for Lumia 920T users on China Mobile. The app only does one thing: to lock the phone to either 3G or 2G network.

This may raise some eyebrows, since normally one could select what kind of network he wants in the system settings of Windows Phone 7 and 8. But no, that doesn't apply to China Mobile's Lumia 920T, which stays on 3G network by default. The 2G/3G/4G switch was removed by request of the carrier, probably in order to keep as many users on its 3G network as possible.

Amazon.com has just updated their beloved mobile app with some bug fixes, performance improvements and a couple new features. Version 2.1.80.27 has added extended screen sizes and higher resolutions in order to display more product information on the screen and better product images. The update also allows you to refresh the Lightning Deals page at any time, to see the latest offerings.

If you're not already aware of the online Windows Phone store, which is available over on the official Windows Phone website (www.windowsphone.com), it's useful way of checking out Windows Phone content when at a computer. As well as browsing apps from developers, consumers are also able to look through and install OEM apps that are listed in the Nokia Collection, Samsung Zone and HTC Apps.

Prior to this feature it was only possible to check out the latest content from each manufacturer on a device.

We've got some bad news, folks. Remember Joe Belfiore teasing a new Windows Phone app the other day? Unfortunately it turns out that the app isn't quite ready for release yet, so it has been pushed back slightly. Are we any wiser on what to expect? No, but we're still eager to see what Belfiore is getting rather excited about.