Thursday, October 21, 2010

Test Run of 5 of Your Windows Phone 7 Apps

by John Papa via JohnPapa.net on 10/21/2010 11:31:00 PM

I think it is great that so many developers are putting the effort into creating apps for Windows Phone 7 (especially with Silverlight!). So today I sent a call out on Twitter to tell me about Windows Phone 7 apps people had written and put in the marketplace. Here are my quick thoughts on the first 5 I received after playing with them for a short bit. Keep in mind I spent about 5 minutes on each app, so by no means is this a comprehensive review of the apps.

I’ll try some more in a future post, since I received a few extra links to apps. Thanks everyone!

I used the trial versions of the apps that cost money (because I am cheap).

Password Padlock – $0.99

Link provided by - @gcaughey

Basically a password storage tool. We all have something like this for our hundreds of passwords . You set up a master password in the app and then you can log as many passwords as needed for you to remember them. Took about 2 seconds to load, nice startup. I like it, very fast, was able to add several passwords very easily. The app itself has a blah UI, but hey, its for passwords. Its fast, is very intuitive, and does the job. Worse things you could spend 99 cents on. I might actually use this.

Would I buy it? Undecided

Would I recommend it? Yes

Krashlander – $0.99

Linked provided by – @JeffWeber

Took about 5 seconds to load, including splash screen. Also took about 5 seconds for me to die about 3 times. My kids enjoyed watching me crash into the mountain, especially given the cool sound effects of the skier when it smashed into the rocks. let’s just say I am not very good at this game. But seriously, the game is pretty cool and I had to force myself to stop playing after 3 minutes, so I could move on. I like it, easy to use, good fun, only 99 cents so why not!

It did seem a little less responsive than I had experienced with some other games. I don’t know if its this game or my phone or what, but it is fair to note that despite my fondness of the game. Perhaps its just my fingers

Would I buy it? Yes

Would I recommend it? Yes

Pictures Lab  - $1.99

Link provided by - @rschu 

I was looking forward to this one since it is written by one of our Silverlight MVP’s, Rene Schulte. It’s a picture app that allows you to modify photos. Loaded up in about 2 seconds, nice and quick. You can take a photo or grab an existing one off your phone and apply effects to it. I took some photos of my son and applied some effects, it was all very quick and the result was nice as expected. I also tried to tombstone the app since Engadget reported that this caused the phone device to crash on them. I did not believe them since Silverlight is isolated, but I figured I would give it a shot. I had no problems tombstoning the app and coming back to it. In fact, coming out of tombstoning only took about 3 seconds.

Overall, very nice app, good UI, snappy (which was a surprise to me since it does a lot). I may pick this one up as it adds some nice effects for photos taken with the device. I’d like it if it had some more features too … hey, I want it all and I know Rene can deliver!

Would I buy it? Yes

Would I recommend it? Yes

Instant Rimshot - Free

Link provided by - @YousefED

You press a button and a drum/symbol sound plays. That’s it. Looks like the “easy” button from Staples commercials. It’s free, gave me about 5 seconds of entertainment and confusion (if that was all it does). Then I laughed.

Would I get it? No.

Would I recommend it? No

iheartRadio - Free

Link provided by - @ogitreV (Vertigo)

It took 6 seconds to start up including the time the splash screen appeared, so it doesn’t really feel like 6 seconds. I skipped the log in options, not a big fan of that myself. Went right to the stations and featured channels. Clicked on the Maroon 5 radio and waited about 7 seconds before I started to hear the station (not bad). It comes through nice and clear, no skips, pretty smooth. Shortly Led Zeppelin was streaming. App icons are nice. A little bland in the colors, not very sexy, but overall a good and intuitive UX. I did not try the integration with Facebook, not a big fan of linking accounts form everywhere, but it looks like you can share your song choices and channels with Facebook. In short, a nice and snappy app to listen to some tunes. Especially for free.

Now, my conclusion is that I would not get this but that’s not fair since I don’t stream music. I use my music almost exclusively.

Would I get it? No.

Would I recommend it? Yes