Get Your Chive On!

After a very short hiatus from the Windows Store, the popular time killing App, the Chive, is back and ready for more fun. After being yanked from the store for causing some major issues with certain devices, its revamped form is now available again for downloading.

The crazy part about the App is that you may not see it if you search the Store right now. That said, if you can't keep calm and need the App right now, you can hit the link below.

Download Link: http://www.windowsphone.com/s?appid=adf2e87a-6ca1-4348-b6f3-807c1d0dc3ae

Sent from my HTC One M8 for Windows
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Game Review: Hours Of Maddening Entertainment With The Light Game

When it comes to game play, sometimes simple is the way to go. The Light Game is one of those times where a minimalistic approach was the absolute perfect way to go. Andrea Angella took simplistic gaming to a new level when coding The Light Game for Windows Phone and the result is one of those $2 games that will get you hours upon hours of entertaining frustration as you try and score higher and higher than you did before. The concept is beyond simple. The game play is so easy a 5 year old can play it. It’s about the perfect mix of challenge and fun. The Light Game nailed it from the start for me.

 

The game play is simple. You start the game, put your finger on the line on the screen and it starts to scroll. As the game goes on, the line begins to turn more and the pace quickens. There are also various power-ups that can help you along your line tracing journey. Some just give you extra points, others give you huge advantages – like increasing the size of the line, or slowing the line down.

  

As you drift through the game, pay attention to when lines start to change color as there is a break in the line that you need to “jump” over or you’ll lose a tiny bit of your precious health. Trust me on this one, in The Light Game, there is only one thing that matters, keeping those life points intact by staying on the line. I hate to say this, but it almost seems like one of those “brain sharpening” games as well as a ton of fun.

The Light Game is a $1.99 and is only a 3MB download to get installed. If you are one of those action-puzzle-reaction-time game lovers, The Light Game is completely up your alley. I really enjoyed playing The Light Game as well as watching some others give it a crack. The Light Game is a perfect example of simplicity at its finest. Grab The Light Game in store from the link below and give it a shot. I mean, $2 isn’t even enough for a drip coffee and this will wake you up without turning your teeth yellow.

Download link: The Light Game

Using Google Services On Your Windows Phone

Probably Microsoft’s biggest struggle in the mobile market will be poaching customers from other OS’s to bring them to Windows Phone. Even keeping them going on Windows may come down to how they solve this gaping issue. You see, once you have used an Android device, Google gets you completely embedded in their system. From Google Drive to YouTube and Hangouts to GTasks, Android users have quite a few features burned into their daily lives and they just aren’t interested in alternatives, even if they are stronger in some areas. With so much of their daily life dependent on Google, how can you get a Windows Phone that includes none of it? Fortunately, thanks to third party developers, you don’t have to give many of them up and here’s how.

Google Drive – Google Drive on WP

While it isn’t perfect, Google Drive on WP gives you access to your Google Drive and all the files it contains. The better part is that it has full Office integration for opening up your docs and spreadsheets. Google Drive on WP is a free download, Give it a shot and see what you think.

Download Link: Google Drive on WP

GTasks – GTasks Plus

GTasks is a very popular to-do service that Google integrates with their calendar system. A simple check box system that syncs with your daily calendar in Android that makes life simple. One could call it the same as Cortana’s “remind me” service, but if you are used to something and use your PC for entering your calendar data, the remind me function won’t do the trick for you. Enter GTasks Plus to save the day. GTasks Plus is a perfect port of the GTask system to Windows Phone. If you are embedded in doing your tasks on your Google calendar, GTasks Plus is the perfect companion to your WP. It also works great for those with companies that rely on Google calendars and tasks in their employee environment.

Download Link: GTasks Plus (Free)
Download Link: GTasks Plus Premium ($4.99 – ad free)

YouTube – Tubecast

Probably the feature on Windows Phone I miss the most is that great YouTube experience. It stinks that Google was able to shutdown Microsoft’s brilliant App, but what’s done is done. For users that want a bit more than the stock “browser” experience, there’s Tubecast. Tubecast is a free YouTube client that really delivers on the full YouTube experience. The free version is enough for me until they build in support for my Amazon Fire TV Stick, but if you have a Chromecast, make sure to upgrade to the paid version for $1.99. The free version offers 20 casts gratis, but those cat videos will go to your big screen awfully fast, so you’ll want to plan that upgrade quickly.

Download Link: Tubecast (Free)
Download Link: Tubecast Pro ($1.99 – unlimited casting)

While there certainly isn’t an answer for everything, many of the common tasks are being handled by great Windows Phone Apps. If you have questions on a particular service, hit me up below and I’ll see what I can find to make your transition easier. Of course, don’t forget that Drive is much smoother with OneDrive and Cortana will keep track of all those tasks for you by pinning the Remind Me tile to your home page. For now though, enjoy your new found Google-ness on your Windows Phone.

Insider App Updated To Windows Preview

In advance of the soon to be preview launch of Windows 10 for mobiles or phone or just Windows 10, Microsoft has rolled out an update to their Preview App. Going forward, the new App will be called Windows Insider.

This unifies the Insider program between mobile devices and PCs, making it easier for developers keep testing the latest and greatest builds with their software. It also gives Microsoft an opportunity to let more users into the program in a controlled environment.

One thing worth noting, the App allows users to log in now, but it also has a little line about device not meeting the requirements for a preview build. Hopefully this is still in the testing phase and hardware won't be left out, but if they start opening the previews to only certain devices, it could be a bad sign for those down the road.

Sent from my HTC One M8 for Windows
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Game Review: My Hopes Were Sunk With Premium Pool Pro

 

Pool, the game of gentlemen. The game of finesse. The game of skill and planning. Otherwise know as the game that just made me want to chuck my Windows Phone across the room. At least that was the feeling I got when I tried to master Premium Pool Pro from Iceflake Studios. Yes, this game started out innocently enough, but after selecting my stick color, ball style and table color, it was all downhill for me. Premium Pool Pro definitely got the better of me, and not in a fun way.

After selecting all my colors and styles, I began the process of learning to aim and power the balls towards the pockets. It seemed simple enough, aim the stick by rotating it where you wanted to hit the ball, then look at the angle of the shot and adjust. Finally ‘pull’ the stick at the right of the screen down to shoot you shot. Simple, right? Well, let me say that after three games, it was anything but simple. I don’t know whether the developer decided to completely mess with people or what, but none of the angles that I saw were even close to where the ball was going. It was almost enough to drive me insane in the 15 minutes I played.

Of course, if you look past the slightly wonky controls, underneath, it is a gorgeous pool game with realistic sound, great graphics and variable user settings. Overall, Premium Pool Pro is one of those games that most people should enjoy. I, unfortunately, was not one of them.

   

After playing the game for what seemed like an hour, missing shot after shot – and not by much of a narrow margin if you know what I mean – I had to concede that either Premium Pool Pro wasn’t for me or there was a major flaw in the system. I want to give Premium Pool Pro the benefit of the doubt and blame myself, but I find it hard since I am so good at this sort of game, usually. Anyways, if you want to see the madness for yourself, hit the link to download Premium Pool Pro and let me know what you think in the comments below.

Download Link: Premium Pool Pro

Bank Of America Joins Chase In Windows Phone Departure

After the recent announcement that Chase was leaving the Windows Phone community, the last thing the platform needed was another major player to do the same. Unfortunately, Bank Of America will be following in Chases' footsteps and exiting the Windows Store in March.

Citing a lack of interest, BOA is giving users the option of using their mobile banking website as an alternative. The bad part about that is that many functions of the App are not available on the web and will be lost to Windows Phone users.

It's only going to get rougher for Windows fans if the Universal App idea doesn't pan out for Microsoft. We should start to see more and more major companies exit the market if Windows 10 fails to excite people and attract new users.

Sent from my HTC One M8 for Windows
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App Review: Dropbox Finds A Home On Windows

  

Celebrated Windows Phone developer Rudy Hyun has done it again. Although, this time it isn’t a popular spin off of yet another App that hasn’t made its way to Windows, it is a major hole in the App gap that is now filled thanks to Rudy. Dropbox, the uber popular online storage solution, has come to Windows, officiallly. Dropbox starts out by giving users 2GB of free online storage and can be grown quite easily by just paying attention online to offers for expansion.

As far as the basics go, Rudy pretty well nailed them. In fact, I’d say that the Dropbox for Windows App is almost as solid as the well dressed, and multiple updated Android version. The Windows version is much cleaner, though I haven’t had time to check out all the functionality quite yet. Dropbox allows you to set up various backups and file systems making it simple to organize and keep your files safe. Another advantage to the Dropbox app is that it is a Universal Windows App. It is running just fine on my Windows 10 Technical Preview device. l can’t say enough how important these UWA’s will be to the success of Windows for Mobiles or whatever the final product name will be since they are the backbone behind the moving and shaking.

Dropbox has a very straight forward interface. You open it up to find a list of files and folders. Press something to open, back to close. A quick swipe to the left from the main screen takes you to the image section, where you can turn on Auto-Photo Backup. Photo backup is done over Wi-Fi only and is set to backup when the device is plugged in automatically. This will save you from high cellular bills and a battery drain. It’s important to note that as well since you can’t delete those images from your device until you get them backed up. Make sure you have them before you remove them from your device.

Dropbox is beautifully done and Rudy Hyun has once again solidified himself as the top developer in the Windows platform. This is taking nothing away from all the other amazing developers, but I have to give credit where credit is due. Rudy simply executed Dropbox perfectly. The ultra small 3MB download should be a nice addition to anyone’s device, and the 2GB of free storage will come in very handy to those without an SD slot for saving additional data. More than anything though, go to the Windows store and download Dropbox just to show your support. It is a free download and having it downloaded in huge numbers may start spurring on others to let Rudy code for them as well.

Download Link: Dropbox

App Review: Weather Premium

 

I don’t know about you, but I really don’t think I need a fancy headline for Weather Premium because that is the name of the App by MetroStudio. Weather Premium is a clean, simple and accurate weather App with a twist of fun. Starting out from the surface, the App is very clean, very quick and has one of the best Live Tile layouts of any weather app in the Store. There’s nothing over the top and the easy to read high temperature in red and low temperature in blue tile is simple and effective. All in all, Weather Premium hits it out of the park in basic functionality.

The main App screen offers even more features. Wind speed, current temp and rainfall are all available on the first line of the App. Then the 5 day forecast can be checked on the next line. Finally a 3 hour update on the weather is listed below that. Type of weather, temps and wind speeds are included in the three hour forecast and couldn’t be more helpful in planning evening activities.

Once you’ve cleared the basics in Weather Premium, you start getting into the fun. The Clother section advises you on what you might want to wear out for the day. In this case, the wet and 39 degree day warranted a heavier coat and an umbrella. Very smart, very simple and Weather Premium does it perfectly. Then you have the ‘funny bits’ that ask questions like the one above or say things like if you want to know what the weather is, look outside. It’s a cute addition to Weather Premium and it made the App that much more enjoyable.

I’m not sure that Weather Premium offers enough over my standard MSN Weather App to switch, but I’m not sure it doesn’t either. I’m keeping them both installed in the short term to see which one works out for me better. The 7MB download is easy enough for my HTC One M8 for Windows to handle, so I’m not worried there, but I just don’t know if I can replace old faithful with something new quite yet. Overall, Weather Premium is totally worth the FREE cost that is posted on it right now. If you are in the market for a great weather App, grab yourself a download of Weather Premium today and check it out.

Download Link: Weather Premium

Why The Windows 10 For Phones Announcement Was Such A Let Down For Me

Despite all my negativity to the “big news” that is going to be Windows 10 for Mobiles, or Phones or whatever they end up calling it, I am still pretty excited to see it on my HTC One M8 for Windows and my Lumia series devices. I’m equally skeptical about what it will actually do for me on a day to day basis. To be honest with everyone, Microsoft did three things completely wrong with their Windows 10 announcement – speaking on the blending of everything we love about Windows 7 and the great things in Windows 8 to create a beautiful interface was the first problem. Second, they covered so much in the ‘it will’ department and not enough of the it does. Finally, trying to roll three products into one announcement was just crazy. I left feeling a bit empty regarding all three areas instead of feeling amazed by Windows 10.

Speaking specifically on the mobile platform, I didn’t see anything that was in my top five list of things I wanted to see in Windows Phone going forward. Hopefully there is more to come at WMC or possibly another announcement as the Developer or Insider edition comes to launch, but I’m seriously not holding my breath on a few major flaws in the OS and the Apps that it uses.

1) Google Services: Whether Microsoft wants to admit it or not, they need to go to war. The YouTube incident of 2013 is long over and it’s now time to take back the internet, one App at a time. First up, a simple addition to OneDrive that will allow access to your Google Drive folder (and it’s storage) as a native addition. There are plenty of Apps that access the majors and link them up, but this is a must have to gain converts from the Google system. Notice I did not ask for a Google Drive App, because that wouldn’t make sense to Microsoft’s plan of selling services long term. Second, get on the YouTube bus or bring on a major video streaming platform to help. Purchase MetroTube or bring back the big dog and ‘make it conform’ to the big G’s requests to show ads. Done… Finally, it’s time to make Chrome bookmarks able to be brought in to IE Mobile. How hard can it be to make this happen? People engaged in Google’s ecosystem are embedded in Chrome. Make the switch to Spartan or IE simple by just making everything import. Then offer them a huge ‘reward’ for switching to Bing – like 500 rewards points. Get them on your system and make it simple.

2) Basic Functions: If there is something I love about my Dell Venue 8 Pro more than anything, it’s the fact that Play To still exists on it. Yet, on my non-Nokia/Microsoft smartphones, I can’t use it! It’s time to open up the Lumia catalog to all users. HTC, Blu, Yezz and a few others have devices out there that are gorgeous, but are handicapped by “exclusive” Nokia software. You’ve renamed it, now bring them out and build them in to Windows 10. Yes, you talked about the camera, but what about sharing to a device? Play To? Playing media from my server? So many of the processes in Windows Phone involve buying a new app to make them happen. This is all basic stuff that should be built in. If you can’t get it done, Windows 10 is a non-starter for the media lover again.

3) USB OTG: One of the most crippling oversights in Windows Phone so far is the lack of USB OTG support. Even in the first generation of Windows Phones, USB OTG would have put it light years ahead of Android and iOS. Now, it’s on a very large percentage of Android devices and it is amazing! Take a little device like the Leef 2.0 MicroUSB adapter and 2 128GB MicroSD cards and that Lumia 1020 can shoot a ton of those 41MP RAW images to take back to your home PC to edit. It’s a simple thing, but for those locked down without an SD slot or worse yet, ones that require the SIM card ejector to get out, it is a total life save! OTG is can’t be that hard to enable as Windows 8 handles it just fine. If there’s a common kernel now, it should be easy enough to do.

4) The App Gap and EXE files: Once again, we heard the words, run the same Apps on your PC and your mobile device with “Universal Apps” in Windows 10. The problem is, the Universal App has been around for about 6 months and nobody is jumping on board with them. Windows 8 flopped and its mobile counterpart is still holding strong at about 3% of the total market. I haven’t looked this one up, but according to a prominent blogging site, none of the top 50 Apps in the Google Play Store or Apple App Store are available in a Universal App format. The other confusing factor is that many people are now assuming that you can run all your programs that work on your PC on your device. That’s not going to happen as EXE files are still only going to work on your full Windows 10 machines, not on the mobile ones.

5) The Full Experience: Yes, I’m talking start to finish… I want to experience Windows Phone in a cohesive way again. Windows Phone 7 was such a complete package that it was amazingly simple to run and even more spectacular to use on a daily basis. I was proud to get Smoked By Windows Phone and even happier to have a phone to save me from my phone. Windows Phone has become so App heavy that it has become clunky in comparison to what it once was. I understand why – almost – it had to be done, but it doing it didn’t mean breaking the OS to get there. If Windows 10 is to succeed, it will need to bring back the ‘one touch’ feel to Apps and features.

I know it seems like I am coming across a bit harsh in the last few days on the Windows front, but it’s because I truly expected the folks at Microsoft to get this right. I know we are months away from a release, and there will be tons of testing, polishing and feature changes, but it still feels so empty. Instead of innovating, they are playing catch up. Instead of trying to be more like Android, Windows needs to be something unique, something stronger, something better. Enough is enough with just getting more features built in to the OS. Windows 10 should be the time that Microsoft reinvents itself and becomes great again.

App Review: Kyms Calc – Windows Phone On The Down Low

    

I’m usually not concerned with someone looking over my shoulder at what I’m doing on my phone, but for those that love to do things with their devices that their mothers may not approve up, there’s an App for that. When I first saw the request to check out Kyms Calc, I had to admit that I really didn’t see the need for a basic calculator replacement and I sure didn’t understand why on earth it needed a PIN number from me. But, lets get going at a full look at the App, because it all becomes clear.

So, as I said, an email came in to check out Kyms Calc for Windows Phone and I always try to oblige my email requests, so off I went to find out what it was all about. The 6MB file downloaded pretty quickly and was installed moments later. When I opened it, I found a very nice calculator that was asking me to set up a PIN number. I popped in a 4 digit PIN and a reminder and let the fun begin. I punched in the digits and pressed the equals key and a whole new level of strange began to take form.

You see, Kyms Calc isn’t a calculator at all. It is a hidden gem of a completely secure dream world where you can browse the web, download files, take notes and recordings and just about anything else your device is capable of doing – all while hiding behind a very simple layer of security. Kyms Calc is simple to use, works like a charm and has the basic functions that cover just about anything a normal person would want. The built in browser worked great and the sites that I visited didn’t seem to show up anywhere else in the device.

On top of the basic “safe mode”: browsing and downloading, there are also areas to record notes, audio clips and a few other nifty tricks. Kyms Calc makes it easy to stay hidden by including a kill switch in the App. Visiting a site that Mom shouldn’t see? Press the home button and you are instantly back at your home screen and Kyms Calc is actually closed out behind you. This prevents someone from going into multitasking mode and finding out what you were doing. Very safe… Slightly annoying, but very safe. Well played.

Kyms Calc is currently free in the Windows store and runs 6MB on the download. It’s a 5 star rated App and for what it does, I would give it the same rating. It’s a very sneaky way to use your Windows Phone and it does it’s job perfectly. You can snag Kyms Calc from the link below and give it a try if you have something to hide… Or not…

Download Link: Kyms Calc

Hey Verizon, Where’s My Lumia?

Not to sound negative, but if you are a Lumia fan, the largest cellular provider in the US pretty well sucks. As of today, there were only two, yes, two Microsoft Lumia products available, one being a tablet and the other being a Certified Pre-Owned Lumia 928. Even with the giant selection of Microsoft devices available, the 530, 635, 830, 930 and even the 1520, the largest carrier in the US has none available.

It gets even worse when you consider that the only two current Windows devices that are available on Big Red are the HTC One M8 for Windows and the Samsung ATIV SE. Other than that, Windows Phone users are out of luck. Might this be that Verizon isn’t selling enough of the Microsoft devices to justify continuing to test them and the software updates? Could it be that HTC and Samsung still have enough pull to keep their devices on the shelf? It might just be that Verizon isn’t going to move to a new Lumia until later this year when the Windows 10 models arrive.

No matter what the reasoning is, the absence of your devices on such a major provider is nothing short of a travesty. If you have Verizon, are you willing to dump them to get a Lumia, are you going to switch platforms at upgrade time or are you going to wait it out and see what’s up next?

Source: Verizon Wireless

Why Is Windows Phone Still Failing The Small Business User?

Back in April of 2013, I wrote a post about how Windows Phone was failing the small business user. It covered three basic topics that would plague a business user coming from Android or iOS. The three areas that I felt Windows Phone was very lacking was the fact that there was no option to local print a file, that there was  no way to send a fax from your device and that there were no options for credit card processing. Fast forward about 2 years, and things haven’t gotten much better.

Windows Phone continues to fail in the most basic needs of a small business user. In fact, I would go as far as to say that Windows Phone just doesn’t work for the small business user. Back in 2011, I ran, and I mean completely ran my photography company from my HTC Evo 4G. From start to finish, I was able to take care of any need that the client had right from my phone. I could take credit cards with Square, I could fax invoices or contacts right from my device. I could message people from my business line with our Google Voice connection. I could even upload galleries from drives on that device. None of this is possible on a Windows Phone 5 years later.

Don’t get me wrong, Microsoft has a great OS, but to the average small business owner, there is no reason to adopt it. In fact, I had to make the painful choice to tell someone NOT to adopt it based on their needs. It was sad, but the honest truth is that Windows Phone is still not the right OS for most small business owners and here’s why.

Printing: There are a few options out there. Unfortunately none of them work very well and the ones that do will set users back a few bucks. This is something that really needs to be addressed. When I look at the ability of my HTC M7 to print from a file to my wireless printer, I think to myself, that was easy. When I use the same App on my M8 for Windows, it won’t print, in fact, it won’t do anything but scan. Which, not to sound completely dumb, is dumb. I can scan something from my scanner next to my computer to my phone that I could have scanned with the computer and saved to OneDrive which would have put it on my phone instantly. Yeah, not good.

Credit Card Acceptance: Again, none of the major players appear in this game either. It’s sad but true. If you want to take cards, Amazon, Square and every other company out there supports iOS and Android. Got WP, then you are stuck with PayPal.

Faxing: I know that faxing is a dying art, and you can always pay for a fax to email service, but who wants to spend $,05 a page to run their small business. It’s crazy that Windows ME had fax from PC capabilities almost 20 years ago, but we don’t have a basic option to do so from a Windows Phone yet.

Yes, these are the same points that I used in that article almost 2 years ago and yes, they are still a major issue for Windows Phone. If MS really wants to grow the platform beyond teenagers getting a Lumia 530 as a replacement for the iPhone they broke or a Lumia 635 for that senior that got an easy to use smartphone, then they need to start addressing these issues. Get some developers on staff that will make Windows Phone the best business OS on the planet. You did it once on PC’s, it shouldn’t be that hard to do it with a pocket PC.

App Review: Don’t Just Set A Background Photo Show Wallpaper Instead

I love taking images of sunsets, flowers and my kid to use as my M8’s wallpaper. but there have been more than a few occasions where I wish I had something just a bit different to use. Step in developer ANDREI PIKHTIN and his App, Show Wallpaper to rescue me from issues just like this. With Show Wallpaper, the perfect background is just a few clicks away. Even better, the content is pulled online so the download is only 2MB, so I’m not sacrificing any system resources to keep this amazing free App around.

Using Show Wallpaper is simple enough. Just a quick click to open, then select one of the many categories from the provided list and you are off and running through a ton of images. The categories include animals, aviation, city, holidays, love, sport and quite a few others. Simply put, there’s bound to be something to fit your mood and your need in Show Wallpaper.

 

Once you’ve selected the category you want, you can peruse through the multiple images and select the one that strikes your fancy. It’s that easy. The best part about Show Wallpaper is that is requires so little to run. The download is 2MB in size and the installed size according to Storage Sense is a measly 11.15 MB. I would say that Show Wallpaper is a great value for no cost and that little storage, but you can be the judge of that.

I wouldn’t call Show Wallpaper a must download App for 2015, but there’s no good argument against getting it. First off, the free price tag is amazing for the content that is delivered. Then there’s the tiny operating size. Pretty much everyone should have a spare 10 MB on their device that can be taken up with this great accessory. Lastly, why wouldn’t you want all these great options available for when your mood changes? I know I appreciate the fact that I can change whenever I want to and really look forward to making my Windows Phone a bit more of a Mood Phone than just a phone.

You can get Show Wallpaper for free at the Windows Phone Store. Just click the download the download link below.

Download Link: Show Wallpaper

Microsoft Announces The Nokia 215 Feature Phone

Just when you thought the mobile OS space couldn’t get more confusing, Microsoft did something that nobody saw coming – released a new feature phone. The $29 Nokia 215 has its sights trained completely on the emerging market areas, though may find a nice home with people that just don’t want to deal with a smartphone or the bill that comes with it. Now, normally I stay away from ‘announcements’ like this as it can be months or years until announced products actually become available to consumers, but this one struck me as quite an epic step from Microsoft.

First off, the feature phone has really grown up. They now offer access to your favorite social media outlets, or at least Facebook and Twitter, as well as the internet with the included Opera browser. The 215 offers 50 hours of MP3 streaming, which should be enough time to get through that 32GB of music saved on the MicroSD card you have installed. Or if you prefer, you can just chat away for 20 hours before you pop it on the charger. Overall, the Nokia 215 is what many people have been screaming for since the buyout was announced – it continues the legacy of what made Nokia great, a powerful little phone.

The Nokia 215 is expected to be available in a single SIM or dual SIM variety and should be out later this year. When you think about cutting your cell bill to $20 a month, does this thing have a chance to make it in your pocket, or are you addicted to your Windows Phone so much that it doesn’t have a chance?

Source: Microsoft Lumia YouTube Page

Giveaway Time: Win A Limited Edition Xbox Dot View Case

I love wining stuff. I love giving stuff away as well. Unfortunately, neither one happens enough for my liking, so I am starting off 2015 with a giveaway. The item,. if you didn’t guess from the photo or the headline, is the limited edition Xbox edition Dot View Case from HTC. This is my favorite Dot View color for my HTC One M8 for Windows, and it will look equally awesome on yours.
There’s no fine print, or crazy rules, or sharing needed on this one. Just simply leave me a comment below about your favorite M8 feature (works with Android as well) and then send me a photo of your M8 with the case on it after you receive it – and no, you don’t have to keep it on there.
If there are no comments by Friday, January 9th, I’m going to pass it on to a friend instead of one of you. So, if you have an HTC One M8 for Windows, or its Android counterpart and want this case, comment away!
LIMIT One Comment Per Person – If you do comment, make sure to check back Saturday morning for your name here!

And we have a Winner!  Shimon Das 

App Review: PlaceCam Shares Your Pictures Where You Are

Ever wanted to share an image and have a nifty little hashtag added to it without much effort? Well the good folks at CPDX have made PlaceCam to make it easier for you. Really being an all in one solution to sharing, PlaceCam allows sharing to social networks like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram with just one quick click.

Their templates are very simple and the editor is actually the Aviary editor that has a decent selection of tools and effects on board. When you shoot your image, you can use nearby landmarks, your GPS location or just type in a locale. You can then put a filter on the image, edit it up and post it to your favorite social networks in an instant. Of course, don’t forget to use the hashtag feature for added emphasis before you send that creation out for everyone to see.

PlaceCam seems to be a pretty decent App for the lowly price of $.99. Just think of the buck as a way to support a Dev that did some pretty amazing work with the App. While it isn’t one that will probably find a permanent home on my device, for those that are hashtag happy or editing enthralled, PlaceCam is a perfect App to keep around. Either way, take a look at PlaceCam and see how it fits with your social networking needs.

Download Link: PlaceCam

PS – Make sure you disable your autosharing from Instagram if you have any of them engaged as this will create a double post if you have them set up in your networks.

Game Review: Hit The Ice And Your Opponent In Ice Rage Hockey

We all know the old joke, “I went to the fights and a hockey game broke out.” Well at least some of us do. Anyways, that was the first thing that popped into my head when Ice Rage Hockey by HeroCraft popped up in my review schedule. This insta-classic title features a one-on-one match with your opponent on some of the fastest ice ever seen.

The controls for Ice Rage Hockey couldn’t be easier to figure out, but could be quite a bit easier to execute. This could be due to the fact that the developers wanted to make the game a bit more challenging, or they just wanted to mess with us for a bit while we learned how to skate the river like Stevie Weeks. The simple controls use the lower left of the screen as the directional pad and the lower right as the shooting button. Something to note with the shooting button, press and hold it and then aim. To shoot, you just let go of the button. Very important to know.

 

Ice Rage Hockey starts out with the puck being slid onto the screen. Your job is to get the puck, or take it from your opponent and get it into their goal. It seems simple, and by all means it should be, but the action is fast paced and the multiple levels of difficulty take the game to all new heights of frustration-ville if you aren’t paying 100% attention to it. Goals can happen super quickly, or it can end up being a defensive battle if you spend more time going after your opponent than shooting goals. For a simple game, Ice Rage Hockey is about as good as it gets.

After a few minutes of mastering my sliding, I had the game pretty well figured out, at least on the baby level. Only allowing one goal in my first game was pretty impressive, but I will keep working on getting my first shutout. I’m not sure when it will happen, but I will make it. And when I say shutout, I mean on the hard level, not the first level.

Overall, the quick action and rocket-like pace of play makes Ice Rage Hockey a great way to kill some time and have fun doing so. While it’s not an NHL title from EA Sports, Ice Rage Hockey brings a different and fun flair to hockey on your Windows Phone. The $1.99 price tag might scare a few people off, but don’t let it. The download size is only 20MB and game play is ultra-smooth. Even the installed size of 27MB is more than manageable on even the smallest Windows Phone devices. My recommendation on this one is to sharpen up those skates, put some extra tape on those knuckles and download Ice Rage Hockey from the link below, you won’t regret it.

Download Link: Ice Rage Hockey