blog      xbox live gamercards      about     

Archive for June, 2011

WP7 developers get early access to Mango

POSTED BY Luigi Violin ON

Yes, the time has come. And yes, it is for real.
Microsoft just announced the immediate availability of Windows Phone SDK 7.1 Beta 2, as well as confirmation of early access to the Mango OS update (build 7661).

If you’re registered for Windows Phone Marketplace, you’ll receive an invitation from Microsoft Connect that will provide access to a firmware update for your retail Windows Phone device.

So now we wait. Connect invites are being sent already and every developer should get one (for one device only) in the next few hours. Go hit that ‘F5′ key!

This is pure genious!

POSTED BY Luigi Violin ON

As a mobile developer I know how hard it is to come up with a unique idea, a revolutionary user interface, or something that’s so technically challenging that nobody could code before. I know how hard it is, but that doesn’t mean I ever got there ;)

With this post I want to highlight some of such apps that landed on the WP7 Marketplace: not all of them are for everyday use, but they surely made me think “this is pure genious” when I first seen them. If something on this list isn’t really “unique” as I thought it was, do let me know in the comments!

Contact Swap

Exchanging contact info couldn’t be any easier than this.

So What’s Today

A todo list app. But also one of the most intriguing UI/UX I’ve seen so far on WP7.

Shazam

No words needed. Pure genious!

…i’m a WP7

Check it out and {join the movement}

Shake & Charge

Ok this totally useless, and it’s a joke. But I challenge you not to shake your device when you try it out.

 

WPCounter

Tracks real numbers behind Windows Phone 7. Lovely idea, unfortunately it doesn’t make much sense unless it climbs the popularity rankings all the way to the top.

WP7applist app reviews

POSTED BY Luigi Violin ON

I love getting users feedback on my projects, and this tends to be pretty easy on mobile apps.

It’s nice and rewarding to read comments such as “best marketplace app so far”, “awesome app, much better organized than marketplace”, “thanks guys for rekindling my interest in WP7apps” (!), and it’s invalueable to find out that for some “the live tile does not update”, “the live tile is broken, never changes”, “fix the live updates for a better rating”. Yes, I can see a trend there, in fact I have a fix ready in the next update (currently under testing at Microsoft).

One thing I really love is when people take the time to write an in-depth review, exploring all of the possibilities and – in case of mobile apps – take a short clip of the app in action for a video review. There were some awesome people doing that for WP7applist, and I’d like to say THANKS to each one of them. So here are some reviews I could find so far: