apps

Windows Phone 7 is right around the corner and the Marketplace is already full of 1,000+ apps to choose from. But what do you choose first? Do you go with titles that have carried over from Windows Mobile or do you start from scratch?

We've seen applications being added to the Windows Phone 7 line-up over the past several months and over the next few days, we'll share which apps will end up on our Windows Phones first.

Follow the break and find what my top seven apps for Windows Phone 7 will be.

Oh, speaking of applications, we'll start posting Windows Phone 7 software reviews shortly. There will be plenty of apps out there to keep us busy but if there's a particular title you'd like to see reviewed, feel free to suggest it through our Contact form.

We ran across three new apps for Windows Phone 7 that are working their way to the Marketplace.

ezyTip from donNetProfessional is a tip calculator that not only calculates your tip but can adjust it based on service, split your bill if your going "dutch" with friends, and even email them if they duck out on you.

ProjectThumba brings you the photo editor, Thumba. As a photographer, any app dealing with photography catches my attention and Thumba looks interesting. Thumba allows for image adjustments such as cropping, rotating, adjusting brightness/contrast, color balance and much more.

The "Where is my car?" app from StevenMeyerGVA is just what you think it would be, an app to help you keep track of where you parked your car. The app uses your Windows Phone 7's gps to mark where you parked your car and lead you back to it when the day is done. The app also has a feature to keep track of Parking Meter time, enter voice notes, and attach a picture of where you parked your car.

All three apps look interesting and we'll be eager to take all three out for a test run when they launch. In the meantime, hit the break to see video demos of all three.

via mobilitydigest

Okay, we think we understand what Warnygo is and coming for Windows Phone 7 soon, and we'll try to explain it.

Basically it's a way to send out "alerts" based on certain categories and using geolcation. Some of those categories are:

• Accidents
• Actors
• Weather alerts
• etc.

So lets say you're in midtown Manhattan and you notice a building is on fire or something really important happening, you can send a "warny" out and people using the same network and in the area will get the notification/alert on their device. You can also subscribe to your favorite "zones" or areas of interest, for example if you want to follow any "warnies" in your hometown while you are away.

It's like a localized Twitter feed which you don't have to subscribe to or follow. We can totally see this taking "social networking" to another level (and even have socio-political implications). The big question though is will it catch on? (Anyone who has tried Google's lame 'Open Spot' will know how lonely this can be) Too early to tell, but it's an interesting idea and coming to WP7 soon.

See the video of the app in action after the jump.

[via Twitter]

Easily one of the biggest concerns about Windows Phone 7 is not so much the initial limitations, but rather how often Microsoft updates the OS to address those. Fact is, Microsoft does not have a track record to go by, leaving many potential power users here...skeptical.

Today we have some good news in this regard as Microsoft has already updated the developer release of the OS via the Zune software as evidenced up above (from MobileTechWorld). Of course we won't know how often this will happen after release, but it goes to show how easy the process should be in theory. Looks good to us.

The other good news is that Microsoft is populating the store with more apps, including  "NY Times Reader, Yelp, YouTube, AT&T Uverse, Stocks, Weather, Translator". The rest can be seen in the collage below. Before there were maybe 3 or 4 apps (some of which were recently demoed), so this is an improvement for sure. Also worth noting are the icons, there seems to be two themes: basic Metro and full on color.

The image and info comes via Justin Angel (who still doesn't have a device, but has "hacked" his way this to this point).

[Thanks, Daniel G, for the tip!]

Nielsen's has some interesting stats just released regarding mobile OS trends, specifically the average number of applications users have installed on their phones.

Broken down by OS, we see Windows Mobile near dead last, just edging out BlackBerry but far behind the iPhone and Android. Not too shocking but it does exemplify the dire straights Microsoft is in when it comes to the mobile world--we just edge out feature phones!

Average number of apps: Smartphone: 22, Feature phone: 10

• BlackBerry: 10
• iPhone:37
• Android: 22
• Palm: 14
• Windows Mobile: 13

Also worth noting is that 21% of the cell phone market is now smartphones, up from that 14% cited so often from 2008. Microsoft, time to update your slide again.

What's your number?  Take the poll!

We've confirmed what Sascha Segan reported earlier: Windows Phone 7 Series is leaving a lot of power-user functionality by the wayside in the name of stability and battery life, to wit:

• "True" multitasking. 3rd party apps simply can't run in the background - the only crack in this policy is that some apps will be able to take advantage of the built-in hub services to run - the touchstone case is Pandora in the Music Hub but Microsoft also mentioned photo sync a few times.
• Sideloading. The only way for consumers to get apps on wp7s is to get them through marketplace. The only exceptions: developers, developers releasing beta versions to a limited number of testers, and enterprise apps distributed within a corporation.
• Removable storage

Microsoft maintains that they're just balancing user demands and there's no doubt that nixing the above simplifies and improves the overall experience for many - if not most - users.

To make up for the lack of multitasking, Microsoft is following in Apple's shoes by offering push notification as a substitute for the vast majority of apps. One problem: although they're not interruptive like on the iPhone, they just appear and go away and there's no unified place to view all notifications.

To make up for the lack of sideloading, Microsoft has promised radical transparency for the app submission process to their marketplace. Good news: Microsoft has no problem with competing web browsers, email clients, map clients, and the like. They're all welcome. The bummer is that it doesn't appear right now that you'll be able to change your 'default' apps - for example, tapping on an address in email wouldn't be able to be set to open Google Maps. 

To make up for the lack of removable storage, well, we have the excellent Zune client. However it looks like there won't be a common file area that all apps can access - each app will have access to its own file storage area and be able to use high level APIs to access stuff like music, photos, and the like. So in addition to there not being removable storage, it doesn't look like you'll even be able to access the on-board storage directly as a USB disk. It all goes through the Zune client.

That's a lot of doom and gloom above, so we'll back off a bit and say that the apps really do look great and nobody can accuse Microsoft of only going halfway towards their vision of rethinking what a mobile platform and mobile apps should be. Until the phones are out there we won't really know how much the above limitations will chafe.

Calling all Windows Mobile developers: Interpret's looking to get to know you better, and to do so they have a short survey they'd like you to take. In exchange for doing so and leaving your information, you'll be entered to win an HTC Touch Pro 2.

Click here to take the survey and be entered to win.

(Bear in mind that this survey is being run by Interpret; not everyone who takes the survey may be eligible to finish it. But if you don't, never fear. We're giving away a Windows phone of your choice next week for the Smartphone Round Robin. Just take part in any Round Robin forum thread for your chance to win.)