Windows Phone / Windows 8 App recommendations

senordingdong · 14-03-2014 5:59pm

ablelocks wrote: »

Nokia Refocus was announced as now being available for all lumias but for some reason it's not available to install on my 820 - anyone else having this issue?

More specifically it was announced for all 'pureview' lumias.
Does the 820 use pureview?

theothernt · 14-03-2014 10:06pm

senordingdong wrote: »

More specifically it was announced for all 'pureview' lumias.
Does the 820 use pureview?

Originally yes, but now it is available for ALL Lumias... with a camera

http://conversations.nokia.com/2014/03/14/depth-charge-refocus-rolls-lumias/

If you're having issues downloading it, wait a few hours and try again.

senordingdong · 27-03-2014 10:32pm

Can anyone recommend a good weather app?

I'm not finding bing weather to be too reliable or accurate.

beauf · 27-03-2014 10:54pm

I though bing weather is ok. Not significantly different to the Android and Apple devices I've compared it with.

Fingleberries · 28-03-2014 8:25am

beauf wrote: »

I though bing weather is ok. Not significantly different to the Android and Apple devices I've compared it with.

+1 for Bing Weather. It's generally quite accurate (especially the hourly forecast) and shows local weather too.

bidiots · 28-03-2014 10:41am

Cant beat the Weather Stone to be honest

The_Gatsby · 28-03-2014 11:04am

senordingdong wrote: »

Can anyone recommend a good weather app?

I'm not finding bing weather to be too reliable or accurate.

I like Bing weather but since you don't I'll actually answer your question.

The Weather Channel app is pretty good.

Also there's an app called 627.am which is like an alarm clock/weather/todo list app. It's one of the best designed apps I've come across, it's really beautiful. Not so much weather detail but it does give you a summary on the live tile and there is a more detailed forecast in the app itself

Davy · 28-03-2014 11:43am

The_Gatsby wrote: »

I like Bing weather but since you don't I'll actually answer your question.

The Weather Channel app is pretty good.

I was going to suggest that yesterday and forgot

I have found it pretty good.

New one rising is the Amazing HD app, its €1.99 but you can try it first:> http://www.windowsphone.com/en-ie/store/app/amazing-weather-hd/c7ac43c5-5d99-4e65-913d-e92e253e9e99

senordingdong · 28-03-2014 9:28pm

Brilliant.
Thanks lads.

g0g · 30-03-2014 4:18pm

Another great recommendation I got from WP Central:
Hexic
Absolutely addictive game on either W8 or WP8! It's a puzzle rotate-block game but a bit different from the norm.

wheresmybeaver · 30-03-2014 4:43pm

I use an app called Forecast, its modern and customisable but more importantly always seems to have pretty good forecasts. Data comes from Norway i think.

senordingdong · 01-04-2014 10:06pm

Hmmm, perhaps bing just isn't giving me the readings I want!

Fingleberries · 02-04-2014 6:29am

g0g wrote: »

Another great recommendation I got from WP Central:
Hexic
Absolutely addictive game on either W8 or WP8! It's a puzzle rotate-block game but a bit different from the norm.

Great game and I like how they've updated it from the old 360 game. Although they just have been aiming at the Lumia 1520 with some of the UI text - even on the Lumia 920 it is almost unreadable (Dead Rising on SD TV small ðŸ˜Š)

mark_m360 · 08-04-2014 9:10pm

The NTA have released their official Journey Planner app. Be sure to download and review to show other Irish companies/developers that there is an Irish userbase to aim their official apps at.

http://www.windowsphone.com/s?appid=f2f29435-baa1-4d63-8263-4993ecc4ab13

bidiots · 10-04-2014 10:57am

mark_m360 wrote: »

The NTA have released their official Journey Planner app. Be sure to download and review to show other Irish companies/developers that there is an Irish userbase to aim their official apps at.

http://www.windowsphone.com/s?appid=f2f29435-baa1-4d63-8263-4993ecc4ab13

I installed this yesterday and since then, my battery drained like a bloody sieve, missed my alarm this morning because of it

Must be one hell of a drain bug in it somewhere, all ok now since I uninstalled it...

GarIT · 10-04-2014 11:26am

bidiots wrote: »

I installed this yesterday and since then, my battery drained like a bloody sieve, missed my alarm this morning because of it

Must be one hell of a drain bug in it somewhere, all ok now since I uninstalled it...

Me too

senordingdong · 10-04-2014 1:59pm

Does it have to constantly run in the background to work properly?

Can't you set it to only access info when you open the app?

delos · 10-04-2014 2:50pm

senordingdong wrote: »

Does it have to constantly run in the background to work properly?

Can't you set it to only access info when you open the app?

I set mine up just using the default (on an HTC 8X). It doesn't run in the background and I didn't notice any change in my battery life.

Having said that, I only use it to check how late the bus is going to be....

bidiots · 10-04-2014 3:12pm

When I checked running apps, it didn't appear. I installed the app, used it once, killed all running apps and my battery died with a few hours. Charged my phone before I went to bed, set alarm, woke up late because bloody phone died. Got rid of app, charged phone and now all back to normal. There is a drain bug in the app, where or what or how, I've no idea.

Fingleberries · 11-04-2014 8:18am

mark_m360 wrote: »

The NTA have released their official Journey Planner app. Be sure to download and review to show other Irish companies/developers that there is an Irish userbase to aim their official apps at.

http://www.windowsphone.com/s?appid=f2f29435-baa1-4d63-8263-4993ecc4ab13

I must have done something wrong, but the App won't actually find any locations (if I want to look for Departures or plan a trip). It just spins for a bit and then says "No matches have been found. Please try a different search term".

I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling the app (just in case I missed some prompt for location services). No joy.

Anyone else have this problem?

delos · 11-04-2014 3:52pm

Fingleberries wrote: »

I must have done something wrong, but the App won't actually find any locations (if I want to look for Departures or plan a trip). It just spins for a bit and then says "No matches have been found. Please try a different search term".

I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling the app (just in case I missed some prompt for location services). No joy.

Anyone else have this problem?

Again, the app seems to work fine for me. Given your experience and the issue that bidiots and GarIT have I must just be very lucky or about to have some real grief come my way

Over the weekend I'll contact the developers by e-mail (just in case they don't pay attention to the reviews) and alert them as I'd hate for the app to fail.

GarIT · 11-04-2014 3:57pm

It's really weird, without the app installed I get 5 days battery, with it installed I get 1 day. Charged the phone two days just before I slept woke up one morning with 95% battery left and the other with 50% battery left.

The strangest thing is that apparently it doesn't even want to run in the background. It's not on the list of apps that want permission to run in the background.

youcancallmeal · 11-04-2014 8:54pm

GarIT wrote: »

It's really weird, without the app installed I get 5 days battery, with it installed I get 1 day. Charged the phone two days just before I slept woke up one morning with 95% battery left and the other with 50% battery left.

The strangest thing is that apparently it doesn't even want to run in the background. It's not on the list of apps that want permission to run in the background.

5 days!? What phone do you have?

GarIT · 11-04-2014 10:53pm

youcancallmeal wrote: »

5 days!? What phone do you have?

Lumia 920, I've 1 app installed I think, I removed all the crapware that comes with it and the battery seems to last forever. To be honest I don't use it at all lately, it could sit in my pocket all day somedays without me even checking the time on it. When I am actually using it I only get about 2 days.

bidiots · 12-04-2014 12:39am

I've the same phone and battery life is very good as we'll. battery fully charged 26 hours ago and it's reading at 79% at the moment. That's with bit of browsing,texting,few calls,Bluetooth on....

Czarcasm · 12-04-2014 8:20am

delos wrote: »

Again, the app seems to work fine for me. Given your experience and the issue that bidiots and GarIT have I must just be very lucky or about to have some real grief come my way

Over the weekend I'll contact the developers by e-mail (just in case they don't pay attention to the reviews) and alert them as I'd hate for the app to fail.

Hi delos, I'm just thinking perhaps the issue is with specific brands of devices? I'm a fairly heavy user of my Lumia 625 anyway, the battery monitor app says 11% drain per hour, but when I installed the Journey Planner app, battery drain shot up to 23% per hour! I uninstalled the app and as Gar and bidiots have observed, things went back to normal.

What's the advantage of this app over HERE Transit anyway?

theothernt · 16-04-2014 4:00pm

Czarcasm wrote: »

What's the advantage of this app over HERE Transit anyway?

In theory, they are both supplied the same info so it really comes down to which features or design you prefer.

Nokia Transit tries to be minimal with it's UI, whereas the NTA app gives you a ton of features (like the iOS and Android equivalents).

delos · 16-04-2014 9:49pm

For some reason Here Transit won't play nicely on my HTC.

I get a "Sorry. The SIM card in your phone and this version of the application won't work together."

Anyone else able to use it with a 3 Ireland SIM?

Czarcasm · 16-04-2014 10:10pm

delos wrote: »

For some reason Here Transit won't play nicely on my HTC.

I get a "Sorry. The SIM card in your phone and this version of the application won't work together."

Anyone else able to use it with a 3 Ireland SIM?

I'm actually with Three Ireland delos and have no issues using HERE Transit on my Nokia Lumia 625.

bidiots · 16-04-2014 11:24pm

theothernt wrote: »

Nokia Transit tries to be minimal with it's UI, whereas the NTA app gives you a ton of features (like the iOS and Android equivalents).

Transit is minimal compared to the NTA app? Nonsense.

mark_m360 · 16-04-2014 11:50pm

For those of you who have had battery issues with the Journey Planner app, they have completed their benchmark tests and it's showed that it uses less battery than the HERE app.

They were only able to test the app on a limited number of devices so they will do further testing on more devices to see if they can resolve the issue. It works fine on my 1020.

bidiots · 17-04-2014 12:29am

mark_m360 wrote: »

For those of you who have had battery issues with the Journey Planner app, they have completed their benchmark tests and it's showed that it uses less battery than the HERE app.

They were only able to test the app on a limited number of devices so they will do further testing on more devices to see if they can resolve the issue. It works fine on my 1020.

I use the HERE apps and know for a fact that there is a battery drain with the journey app. I've sent my batt stats to the developer....to be honest, Here Transit is far more impressive anyway.

delos · 17-04-2014 12:54pm

Czarcasm wrote: »

I'm actually with Three Ireland delos and have no issues using HERE Transit on my Nokia Lumia 625.

That's interesting. I'm assuming that it's not because I'm using an HTC - previously I wouldn't have been able to download the HERE apps from the store. I wonder if it checks the location (I'm based in Cork) and as from what I can see the coverage in Ireland is restricted to Dublin. Even so, it's a bit of an odd error message if that is the case....

Maybe I should ask them

Czarcasm · 17-04-2014 1:14pm

delos wrote: »

That's interesting. I'm assuming that it's not because I'm using an HTC - previously I wouldn't have been able to download the HERE apps from the store. I wonder if it checks the location (I'm based in Cork) and as from what I can see the coverage in Ireland is restricted to Dublin. Even so, it's a bit of an odd error message if that is the case....

Maybe I should ask them

It sounds like the only difference here delos is the phone manufacturer as I'm based in Limerick City and it pulls in all the regional bus timetable information, train timetables, etc. I wonder could it be your SIM card needs to be replaced as I know with some of the HTC models they required a software update before the 4G could be operated on the phone? Might be no harm to call into a Three shop and try a new SIM card first.

PadelCreekMan · 19-04-2014 12:20pm

bidiots wrote: »

I use the HERE apps and know for a fact that there is a battery drain with the journey app. I've sent my batt stats to the developer....to be honest, Here Transit is far more impressive anyway.

The NTA Windows app has real time departures for bus. HERE haven't added that yet.
The NTA release note mentioned that Real Time for LUAS and Irish Rail is being added shortly along with fares info.

The Nokia HERE app is powered by the same data as the NTA app. Here is where to get that data http://www.transportforireland.ie/transitData/PT_Data.html

bidiots · 19-04-2014 12:33pm

PadelCreekMan wrote: »

The NTA Windows app has real time departures for bus. HERE haven't added that yet.
The NTA release note mentioned that Real Time for LUAS and Irish Rail is being added shortly along with fares info.

The Nokia HERE app is powered by the same data as the NTA app. Here is where to get that data http://www.transportforireland.ie/transitData/PT_Data.html

I'm aware of all that, I prefer the Here app.

PadelCreekMan · 19-04-2014 12:51pm

bidiots wrote: »

I'm aware of all that, I prefer the Here app.

Good stuff. It's like the buses. Nothing for ages and then 2 come together!

kmart6 · 19-04-2014 1:31pm

Not really, Here Maps has been around a good while!

PadelCreekMan · 19-04-2014 1:45pm

kmart6 wrote: »

Not really, Here Maps has been around a good while!

Ah yes Kmart. But HERE Transit with PT data for Ireland has been only around for 11 weeks. I posted a note on Boards about that launch.

Google Transit had Ireland PT in first back in November last.

Yahoo Maps also includes Ireland PT data (11 weeks ). Don't forget about hittheroad and GetThere who actually beat even the NTA putting out PT online info services.

theothernt · 20-04-2014 12:10am

PadelCreekMan wrote: »

The Nokia HERE app is powered by the same data as the NTA app. Here is where to get that data

That's the best news for developers - we can now use all that data (officially!) to make our own transport times apps

PadelCreekMan · 20-04-2014 11:02am

theothernt wrote: »

That's the best news for developers - we can now use all that data (officially!) to make our own transport times apps

The NTA offer free use of APIs for the journey planner and real time. I got a username and password by emailing passengerinfo@nationaltransport.ie.

unkel · 20-04-2014 8:58pm

Aerize Explorer

Finally a free file explorer that works! Get it while it is still free!!!

Must have 8.1 installed

kmart6 · 20-04-2014 10:16pm

Not showing up in the store for me.

unkel · 20-04-2014 10:20pm

Just clicked my link and it's working fine for me. I actually searched for it in the store on my phone and downloaded it that way. Just checked it now and it's still there. Type in "aerize" in the search and it comes up as the last item on the list. Did you make sure you spelled it correctly if you tried that?

kmart6 · 20-04-2014 10:35pm

Wasn't showing up when I searched the store, followed the link and I nowhere the notice saying not available for the device based on country/region!

BabyMonkeyy · 20-04-2014 10:37pm

Vieather is a pretty good looking weather app. Definitely give it a go

unkel · 20-04-2014 10:45pm

kmart6 wrote: »

Wasn't showing up when I searched the store

Try again, type slowly

kmart6 · 20-04-2014 10:51pm

Did you read the rest of my post?!

unkel · 20-04-2014 10:56pm

kmart6 wrote: »

Did you read the rest of my post?!

The first bit of your post was more important. Try again on your phone in the store. It is there!

kmart6 · 20-04-2014 10:59pm

I searched the store on my phone. It is there by following your link! Revert back to post #96 for the rest of the issue.

Windows Phone / Windows 8 App recommendations

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