Metro

Life Goals Free Now Available in the Marketplace

May 17, 2012 | By Kevin Schaefer

LifeGoals

WinPhone Info
Life Goals will allow you to easily track and reach your goals that can span a lifetime, as well as goals that don’t have a specific end date. Examples include eating healthy, exercising daily, and stopping smoking. When you do something positive towards your goal, tap the + button; do something negative, tap the – button.

Life Goals QR Code

Life Goals automatically keeps count and updates the background color of your goals – green: you are succeeding; yellow: you are not succeeding or failing; red: you need to work harder, because you are falling behind. See how you are doing on your goals at a glance and live a better life.

For more screenshots and a link to download the free, ad-supported version, please click here or scan the QR code.

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Looking for a new car? MetroCars is your app!

March 19, 2012 | By simzz

screenshot Whether you’re shopping for cars or you’re just a car enthusiast, MetroCars, developed by SimzzDev Studios, will help you find a car. MetroCars connects to the Edmunds.com API to give you detailed price information, pictures, and specifications for almost any car. You can even pin that car to your start screen.

You can also find and pin dealerships and see recent car news. MetroCars has many Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) features like secondary tiles and social network sharing.

MetroCars is free and ad-supported.

Download here: http://bit.ly/metrocars

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Windows Phone accused of being a passionless OS

March 15, 2012 | By Surur

James Kendrick from ZDNet has posted an editorial where he accused Windows Phone of being competent but unexciting.

Claiming the Windows Phone UI lacked “pizzazz” and did not “stimulates the geek” in him like the super-customizable Android, which made him feel each Android device was made just for him, or the folders in iOS (!?!) which he found a “joy to use”, he found scrolling down a long start page particularly disheartening.

James extends his disquiet about the Metro user interface further, saying:

This could spell trouble for Windows 8 with the Metro interface. The more I use Windows 8 the more I feel the same as I do Windows Phone. It works fine but doesn’t float my boat. The Metro interface looks fine, but it doesn’t excite me in any way. Maybe this will change with time, I feel strange having no passion using a gadget. A passionless platform is foreign to me and I don’t like the feeling, or lack of it.

Metro was designed for those who see beauty in purity of form and design, without extraneous and fake decorations such as drop shadows or leather textures. While James may not see the UI as exciting, the high customer satisfaction AND usage rates I think prove that those who do in fact give the OS a real chance most often tend to love it.

Do our readers think James has a point, and the lack of cheap visual pizzazz such as live backgrounds are hurting Windows Phone sales, or are countries like Finland, where Windows Phone is zooming up the charts, proof that Windows Phone has what it takes to go mass market? Let us know below.

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Fresh Comics: Now With Even More Mutant Powers!

March 13, 2012 | By Chris Karr (Founder, Audacious Software)

Fresh Comics Live Tile First of all, I want to thank the WMPowerUser community for all of their support when I launched Fresh Comics back in January. I received a very encouraging response to the initial version of the app and a ton of great feedback for ways that I might improve the product. The enthusiasm was evident in my app download stats and I appreciate the warm reception.

I’ve returned to this community (actually, I’ve been lurking for the past couple of months) to let you know that your feedback was put to good use and to highlight some of the new features in the current shipping version of Fresh Comics (v1.5 at the time of writing):

The enormous bump in the Fresh Comics installed base from the previous post highlighted a number of crashing bugs and other issues. There’s nothing like a ton of users banging on your software to expose the warts. While I haven’t been able to replicate and address all the issues, I continue to strive to make Fresh Comics the most stable app I can.
You demanded a Live Tile and you now have it. When you create a favorite in Fresh Comics, that issue’s cover is added to a rotation of images that are displayed on your home screen throughout the day.
Fresh Comics shipped with support for displaying this week’s comics as well as last week’s. Due to popular demand, Fresh Comics now includes next week’s releases as well.
The nearby shop finder now includes images of the storefronts of your local shops (where I could find them) as well as support for events those stores are hosting within the next couple of weeks. If you visit your local shop every week for new releases, please let the proprietor know that I would like to include their artist signings, sales, and other events across the various Fresh Comics apps.
You can now save cover images to your local picture album for use elsewhere on your device. Fresh Comics has become my go-to place for wallpaper every week. “Infestation 2: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2” is my background this week.

Thank you again for the feedback and support that helped me get the app this far. Given that it’s now in a somewhat stable state feature-wise, I’m now looking for good ways to spread the word and to tell more mobile users about Fresh Comics. In addition to any additional feedback that you may have, I’d also appreciate any suggestions of sites that I might contact to help get the word out about this app.

I’ll be exhibiting at Chicago’s C2E2 convention next month, and I’m working on boosting the app’s installed base as much as possible so that I can convince shop owners that it’s worth their time to send me their events to advertise in the Fresh Comics users in their neighborhood. If you have any ideas about how I can spread the word, I’m listening.

Thanks once more! (And if you haven’t tried Fresh Comics yet, you can find it on the Windows Phone Marketplace.)

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Tile Attack lands in the WP7 Marketplace!

March 5, 2012 | By rossant

This fast-paced and addictive game is a variant of the well-known Tetris Attack game on Super Nintendo. Colored tiles fall and you must eliminate those with the same color by grouping them. Make chain reactions and combos to boost your score!

Tile Attack offers beautiful, fast-and-fluid 3D design freely inspired by the Nokia Lumia advertisings, nice sound effects and an addictive gameplay.

Give it a try for free!

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Microsoft’s own app doesn’t follow Metro guidelines… looks like an iPhone app

March 3, 2012 | By andrewbares

Apple’s iPhone interface has invaded Windows Phone, courtesy of Microsoft themselves.

Microsoft Research recently released a new app called Dotastic, with an interface ripped straight from the iPhone’s default app styles. The iconic bottom bar with the glossy bevel is present, and is clearly identical to the iPhone.

Why can’t Microsoft’s own employees follow Metro guidelines? This is pretty amusing, considering how heavily Microsoft is pushing Metro onto everything. Of course things happen and departments inside Microsoft aren’t always in-sync, but this is pretty embarrassing!

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The Securifi Almond Touch Screen Wireless Router better work great with Windows Phone and Windows 8

February 25, 2012 | By Surur

Almond-Router-Gear-Patrol

There are some who say that the rash of metro-like designs showing up all over the place are simply the natural progression to less chrome and a greater emphasis on content, rather than a direct copy of Windows Phone 7.

I would find this argument hard to believe when it comes to the Securifi Almond Touch Screen Wireless Router. The $70 router features a 320×480 touch screen which walk users through setting up and maintaining a network all on its own.

The design and icons clearly pay strong homage to Windows Phone Metro, and I think will make the router a shoe-in for consumers after Windows 8 hits the market. Hopefully such products will also feedback into a greater familiarity with the Windows Phone 7 design and also better sales.

Via Gearpatrol.com

Thanks Ken for the tip.

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RIM, please stop flattering Windows Phone

February 14, 2012 | By Surur

gsmarena_001

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, in which case the Windows Phone design team must feel pretty flattered, as it seems RIM stole their Live Tile idea whole-sale to implement in their new Blackberry OS 10.

Of course Windows RIM did not just steal from one source. The copied ideas from Apple and Android also, meaning the result is a pure mess of styles (like digitally authentic live tiles backed by grass?)

Dearest RIM, if you are going to compete with your own unique OS, which just happen to run Android apps, at least try and be a bit original, else you might as well just be another bad Android skin.

Via GSMArena,com

Thanks Rohit for the tip.

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Google shamelessly steal Metro (again) for new website

February 6, 2012 | By Surur

Solve for X.htm_20120206225324

Either Google has decided to start promoting Windows 8, or they have once again decided to steal Microsoft’s new UI paradigm to make their website look a bit more hip and modern. This is of course Matias Duarte’s idea, and he is delusionaly convinced he did not get his inspiration from Metro.

Hopefully we cam help keep him a bit more honest.

See the new site here.

Thanks Kamal for the tip.

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Three new apps for Indian WP users

January 28, 2012 | By vinodunny

This is just to inform you of three apps we’ve published for WP users in India.

The first app, Delhi Metro, is a fare and route calculator for the Delhi Metro subway system. The app allows you to get the latest stations as well as calculate the exact fare and route on the subway system, including the changeover stations.The app is available here(or scan the QR Code) and there is a trial version available with the only limitation that you cannot expand the detailed list of stations on the route. qrcode

The second app, Flight Status India, lets you view the status of domestic flights in India by airline or airport. We currentlu support 3 major airlines and 4 major cities with more coming up in later versions.You can find the app here(or with the QR Code) and there is a trial version too that has the limitation of being able to select only one airline (Jet Airways) or airport (Delhi). qrcode

The third app, EMI Amortization, is a mortgage calculator meant for both individuals and bank loan agents. The app allows you to enter the details of the loan and it calculates the mortgage amount (EMI) and the entire amortization schedule for you. If you’re a bank loan agent, you can even send these details to your client by way of an SMS or email directly from within the app.EMI Amortization is available at here(or with the QR Code) and the trial version doesn’t save the data or allow sending via SMS/Email. qrcode

You can also find more detailed information about the apps and their usage here

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Fresh Comics: Putting the ‘Metro’ back in Superman’s ‘Metropolis’

January 27, 2012 | By Chris Karr (Founder, Audacious Software)

As a regular comic book reader, finding out what issues are coming out every Wednesday is the highlight of my week. Unfortunately, there are not always good apps to scratch this itch, so I created Fresh Comics last year to solve this problem.

Previously available on Apple and Android devices, Fresh Comics made its Windows Phone debut earlier this month as a completely rewritten native app using the Metro design language. By taking advantage of Metro’s affinity for print layout and content, Fresh Comics for Windows Phone incorporates the cover images from each week’s 150+ new comics to implement a dynamic interface that highlights the newest covers every week. An innovative tagging feature allows you to follow your favorite series, publishers, and creators. Never miss a new issue from your favorite artist again.

The app not only includes the week’s newest comics, but it also takes advantage of WP7′s location features & Bing Maps to help you find the nearest local comic shop. The Fresh Comics store database includes thousands of shops in the US, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. Need your weekly comic fix while travelling? Not a problem.

The app includes no ads and is completely free. New issues for the upcoming week are typically updated each Friday or Saturday. You can download Fresh Comics for Windows Phone from the Marketplace.

Thanks giving my first WP7 app a look and I’ll be sticking around in the comments to answer any questions and to collect any feedback that you may have. I’d love to heard what you think!

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Developers: 31 Days Of Windows Phone Metro Design From Microsoft UX Designer

January 2, 2012 | By Pradeep

We all know about the Metro Design from Microsoft. Its spreading quickly across other product teams inside Microsoft and also within design communities. Arturo Toledo, Senior User Experience Designer at Microsoft for the Windows Phone Design Studio is going to blog about Metro Design for 31 days. It should be more valuable to Windows Phone and Windows 8 developers for designing their own apps. Today he blogged his first post on #1 Metro Design Principles and Metro Design Language.

According to him,

Metro is defined by two things: Metro Design Principles and Metro Design Language.

The Metro Design Principles are the pillars (usually abstract concepts) that guide the creation of experiences for Windows Phone.

The Metro Design Language is a set of concrete user interaction, visual design, motion and application flow elements and rules.

Its definitely an interesting read if you are new to Metro design world. Keep an eye on his blog for rest of the posts in this series. If he posts anything that interests general consumers, I’ll post about it at WMPoweruser.

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The Design Around Windows Phone App Bar Icons Explained

December 14, 2011 | By Pradeep

In a Q&A session during the Windows Phone Design Day in Stockholm, Petter Silfver, Interaction designer questioned Microsoft on why Windows Phone app bar icons have circle around it. He even did a blog post claiming Microsoft’s inconsistency in design and made some interesting points on why the circles around the icons should be removed. You can read his post here.

Here is the Microsoft’s response to his claims from Arturo Toledo, UX Designer at Microsoft. Microsoft has two graphic things in their design, icon buttons(circled) and icons.

We use icon buttons for enabling interactivity and icons for communicating a message one-way.

For example, the out-of-the-box phone app uses icon buttons with a phone icon next to the calls in the call history list – these are buttons, not icons. Another example of the use of icon buttons, in the text messages app – when you want to add a new person to send a text message you get a little button with a plus sign icon but again, this is a button – not just an icon.

We use icons as graphics that provide information to the user one-way (they are not interactive, thus not buttons). For example in the status bar these are truly notification icons and they do not use a circle (they are not buttons). For example in the email app we use little icons (not buttons) to communicate to the user that there’s an attachment in an email or that there’s a high priority email (flag).

You can read more on this here.

Its always exciting to see the level of detail in Windows Phone Design ! !

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