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Showing posts from September, 2014

Conquering the Windows Phone App Gap using Official and Third Party Alternatives

These days, it seems that any time an article mentions Windows Phone, the one topic that always inevitably comes up is the dreaded "app gap" issue. It's not without due cause, after all, anyone planning to spend any sum of money on not just a cell phone, but an ecosystem should definitely do some research first.  Therefore, reading about this "app gap" was a powerful motivator that pushed me to purchase a Windows phone device. I had developed a pure curiosity about the app ecosystem, and to be honest, while it's far from perfect, it is also not as bad as I have seen in the past, earlier attempts of the mobile operating system. This article is a list of most of the popular apps and services that are available on Windows phone either via official apps or third party apps.  Many popular services are covered, and surprisingly, many big name game developers are onboard.  Honestly, there is a lot more in terms of gaming than I thought there would be. The bi...

Missing features that I'd like to see added to Windows Phones

Over the last week and a half, I have been living in a dual OS world where I carry both my trusty Nexus 5 , and my recently acquired Nokia Lumia 822 as daily drivers.   Both phones are running the latest OS versions offered by their respective manufacturers without carrier interference.  Admittedly, Windows phone has grown on me, but compared to both my Android and even iOS devices, there are some baffling things missing especially considering that this is an OS from Microsoft aimed at both business and casual users. I understand that some of these features may be added in a future update, perhaps most of them will be added when Windows Phone and Windows RT are merged in the near future, but, at the moment these features are not in any current version of the OS provided to end users or even developers.  1. Mouse and Keyboard support. When I think about Windows, one of the first things that comes to mind is getting work done.  Sure, Windows is also a ...