exclusive

Igneous Software, not content with making their excellent BBC Podcast Lounge are surely striving for greatness with their upcoming launch of the BBC Radio Player. We had previously reported on their plans but were finally able to get hands on demo of it at last night’s Windows Phone User Group (WPUG).

The new player will improve on the previous version in a number of ways. The UI has been updated to closely follow that of the official apps on other platforms. Igneous have taken great care to replicate the colours and visual cues from the iPlayer whilst taking advantage of Metro’s inherent slick delivery of typography and graphics.

In addition to announcing the availability of the new Pink Lumia 900, AT&T today have also confirmed that the Tango update (either build 8773 or the slightly newer 8779) will also be coming to the Lumia 900. From the AT&T blog:

“Nokia is also bringing a lot of new enhancements to the Lumia 900. Nokia Lumia users will begin to see software updates for Windows Phone 7.5 Refresh in the coming weeks, which will add several new capabilities to their devices including flip-to-silence.”

We detail some of those new capabilities here in a previous post--in short, enhancements to MMS including multiple messages, voice notes and some minor fixes are included. In addition, AT&T reiterated that Nokia will be bringing a usage tracking counter and a new contact sharing feature in the near future as well, continuing Nokia’s trend to “fill the gaps” in Windows Phone for its customers.

Finally, it has been confirmed that those super popular Zynga games—Draw Something and Words with Friends—will be coming this fall exclusively to Nokia Lumia phones for the first 60 days. While these exclusivity agreements often annoy non-Lumia owners, the 60 day wait should not be too bad of a wait and seems fair to us (assuming Nokia was vital to the deal and assisted Zynga financially).

Overall, not bad news at all and it at least the Lumia 900 is continuing to get direct support from Nokia. 

There’s no word if other AT&T Windows Phones will be getting Tango as well but seeing as the Focus S, Focus Flash and unlocked Dell Venue Pro already are we’re confident that the HTC Titan II and Titan I will as well. If you haven't received an update for your Samsung device, you can try our guide here to get it now.

Source: AT&T; Thanks, Alexander, for the tip

Nokia is the first to bring Kaliki to a mobile platform

Nokia is back at it again, giving customers the most bang for their buck by releasing two more exclusive apps today in the Nokia Collection for Lumia Windows Phones. Today’s apps include the Batman Origins comic and the truly unique Kaliki.

Batman Origins is a straight up prequel comic to the new movie Batman: The Dark Knight Rises due in a few weeks. There’s not much to the app as it’s just a straight up digital comic featuring two sides—Batman or Bane—and you can just go through and read it. The gorgeous artwork is provided by DC Comics of course and it’s a fun little read, especially for you fans.

What’s more, under “Links” for the app there is evidently another app coming called “The Dark Knight Rises: Prologue”. That app is not yet available but we imagine it’s just a matter of time. This marks the third app from Nokia featuring Batman with the other being the TDKR App, now this origins-comic and soon a Prologue.

Next up is the even more interesting Kaliki app from Nokia. This was something we did not see coming and boy is it cool.  In essence, it’s a news app that reads the news to you but not in some mechanical robot voice. No, Kaliki takes highlight news stories from various sources like the NY Times, CNN, USA Today and has a professional voice actor narrate it to you, making all news sound much more epic.

If you like Audible and/or National Public Radio, this app is for you.

Kaliki includes various types of news including headlines, sports, celebrity, science & technology and more too, so you have a wide selection of headlines to choose from.  The app requires a data connection and you can’t save any of the recordings for offline use—heck, there are basically no options within the app. But for you commuters with constant data connections, Kaliki is killer.

Kaliki is actually a new service not exclusive to Nokia (but they have the app first). The company (http://www.kaliki.com/) wants to be “Pandora for magazines” and will be coming to other platforms. But as far as we can tell, Nokia and Windows Phone is the first mobile iteration of the new service which hasn’t officially launched, until today.

No doubt both apps will continue to cause consternation amongst those who don’t have a Nokia Lumia phone, but for those who do, you’ll be quite pleased with both offerings.

Pick up Batman Origins here and Kaliki for Lumia Windows Phones here in the Nokia Collection.

Nokia has finally released an "exclusive" video game for their Lumia line of Windows Phones. But no, it's not Angry Birds: Space or anything from EA, it's a little indie title that they had on Symbian awhile back called Climate Mission 3D.

Sounds like a bad 80's movie to us. That or an episode of Captain Planet.

Regardless of Cartman-like reaction it's not half bad. The 3D graphics are well done and the music is chill enough without being annoying. You basically have three mini games--Iceberg, Ants and Trees--which keep you occupied with little tasks like making bigger icebergs, forcing slave ants to do you bidding by collecting pine needles or populating the earth with fruit launching trees.

Although we jest at the theme of the game, considering it's free it' s not a terrible time killer. While the initial levels are dead simple (to train you) it does get a little challenging. There are also things to unlock and do around the globe and we guess the message ain't too bad albeit tacky.

But hey, free is free so if you're on a Nokia Lumia phone go and grab Climate Mission 3D  now in the Nokia Collection. Thanks, Kay O., for the tip

Another day, another exclusive app from Nokia available to all Lumia owners. Today, the Finnish company released Goal.com 2012 Finals. The app is a must have for those who watch soccer...errr...football as it will deliver "breaking news, exclusive interviews, video clips, team profiles, player profiles and 'Road to Euro 2012' which looks back at how each nation qualified for the tournament".

The app has multiple Live Tile support as you can pin your team to your Start screen with updates reflected on the tile (under Settings). It can even remind you when a match is about to start which seems extremely convenient to us.

Overall, the app is smooth and nicely laid out and while we not huge football fans here in the States we can see many of our European friends being thrilled with another great Nokia release.

Pick up Goal.com 2012 Finals for your Nokia Lumia device here in the Marketplace.

Last month we broke the news that Philadelphia-based, Microsoft BizSpark featured startup AboutOne (website), a family organiser service, was set to launch an exclusive app for Windows Phone. Without repeating what we wrote previously, the service enables families to view information and personal details broken down in a digestible interface. The app is now available on the Marketplace.

The free app, backed by a tier-plan (2GBs free) cloud-based service, offers users a mobile companion to the AboutOne web interface. Functionality includes organising memories, todos and household paperwork in a single accessible location. The service builds on calendar and address book tools users are already using, enhancing both with document filing and reporting tools. It's a neat startup, that's for sure.

Of course, there's much more than what we've covered, so be sure to give AboutOne a look over should you need something with similar functionality. You can download AboutOne for free from the Marketplace.

via: Windows Phone Blog; thanks Rodney for the tip!

Nokia has today announced in a press release that a number of apps and games are to be exclusive to Lumia Windows Phones. At CTIA Wireless 2012, the manufacturer has focused on creating original app experiences to Lumia customers by building relations and forming partnerships with developers. Marco Argenti, SVP, Nokia Developer Experience, added the following comment.

"We are focused on delivering great, locally relevant apps, and importantly, those which offer unique, exclusive and original experiences. With Nokia Lumia smartphones now available in 48 markets, developers are rapidly recognizing the business opportunities and creating their best work for our consumers."

Nokia has already built a strong arsenal of apps in their OEM collection, including the likes of Nokia Drive, Transport, Maps, Music and the recently unveiled City Lens. Crawford Del Prete, EVP, Chief Research Officer, IDC, had the following to comment on Nokia's progress with moving to Windows Phone and building developer relations.

"Nokia has achieved much in a short space of time when it comes to key brands and partners creating apps for Nokia Lumia customers. We believe developers are now moving away from simply porting, to create new innovative and high-design apps that fully leverage the Windows Phone Metro UI and features such as live tiles. With new and exclusive apps launching on a regular basis, and Nokia Lumia rapidly expanding into new markets, Nokia and Microsoft are demonstrating meaningful differentiation for consumers, developers, operators and retailers."

So with al lthis talk of exclusive apps and games, partnerships and developing progress, what's on the horizon for Lumia Windows Phone owners? Check out the summarised list below of content that's destined to be exclusive for Nokia devices (and Windows Phone owners as a whole).

Well, well, well. Colour us surprised (pun intended) with what the above image could point to, but if it holds true we could see the Executive Caddie heading to the Nokia Collection of OEM apps. Of course, should this happen, we'd expect to see the original app remain available for all Windows Phone owners, but it would be interesting to see unique variants of the app (available for free) tied to which Lumia 900 you purchase.

Executive Caddie is a popular golf app on the Windows Phone Marketplace, and rightfully so as it's quite simply gorgeous. Functionality includes highly accurate golf course database, on-course GPS and scorecard functionality (for up to four golfers). Reviews have been positive from users and it has been with us since the beginning (released in December 2010). Microsoft has reportedly given the developers the nod with eligibility for a "Showcase App" promotion. It would seem as though Nokia has caught wind of this positive aura.

The above photo shows two Lumia 900s running Executive Caddie with a unique theme / colour scheme that matches the device pigmentation. The Lumia 800 in the middle is using the default app that's currently available on the Marketplace. Could we be seeing exclusive versions of the app hitting the Nokia Collection or just an updated version? Could well be, and perhaps there'll be a few extra features thrown in for good measure.

On a humorous side note: someone rescue the poor Lumia 800 being patronised by size sitting in the middle. Executive Caddie is available on the Markeplace for free (usually $29.99), which has had its price tag slashed since Christmas.

Thanks Michael for the heads up and the image!

EA Mobile Games has released a video teaser highlighting eleven (if my count is right) gaming titles that will be heading to the Nokia Windows Phones. We first heard about the exclusive partnership during Nokia World and again during the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show.

The titles spotted in the minute long video include:

• Tiger Woods PGA Tour
• Monopoly
• Spy Mouse
• Yahtzee
• The Game of Life
• Spy Mouse
• Vampire Rush
• Mirrors Edge
• SIMS Medieval
• Parking Mania
• 2 Real Racing
• Picnic Wars.

The video doesn't show much of each title but just enough to spark your interest. Nokia is due to have over twenty titles for an exclusive period available for their Lumia Windows Phones. It will be interesting to see what the remaining titles will be.

source: YouTube; Thanks, pedenske, for the tip!

Update: Additional upcoming titles from EA Games include:

• FIFA 12
• Madden 12
• NBA Jam
• Dead Space
• Bejeweled 2
• Connect 4
• Risk
• Trivial Pursuit
• Bop It!

We've got an all out discussion on these titles over in the forums that you can find here.