Have we got a treat for you! Developers of Rando, the experimental photo exchange platform that lets you send images anonymously to somebody completely random, have provided you with an exclusive insight into the thought process behind developing Rando on the Windows Phone platform and how they went about it. Enjoy!

Markus Persson
I’ve been working with development for 6 years, starting with game development for PC and console and for the past years focusing on mobile app development. I worked with Symbian, UIQ, Motorola, and Sony Ericsson, then continued with development for iOS and Android. I’m now exploring the new and upcoming Windows Phone.

Rando WP8 – Not just a port

It’s been over three months since we initially launched Rando on iOS. A couple of weeks later we followed up by launching on Android. Since then we’ve seen over 350k downloads on both platforms with over 8.4 million randos shared through the application.

We’ve quite literally been blown away by the success of Rando, so to keep the journey going, the next step was to launch Rando on Windows Phone, which was much more than porting an existing app.

Shift your mindset

We went back to the drawing board and approached the project with fresh eyes in order to give users the best experience possible. Simply porting from one platform to another wouldn’t have been the best way forward, as we really wanted to make the most of the interactions for Windows Phone 8.

An example of this was the pull to refresh feature seen in the first version on iOS 6, and as it was part of the native UIKit framework, it initially made sense to use it. However there’s no native support for Windows Phone 8, so we thought about it differently and made a quick implementation where we forced a newly-received rando to be added straight into your timeline, instead of having to interact directly to get your next rando.

We then produced an internal release and gave handsets to different people in the studio for user testing. The feedback we got was amazing, so much so that in the end, it turned out that the new interaction we tested got implemented both on iOS and Android (in a forthcoming update).

Look around you

In this particular instance we started development on a platform that was pretty much new to us, so we had a good look around before we started.

Top tip is if you’ve already got an app out there on one platform then get access to that code if possible. The aim is to keep native behaviours and not to rewrite the logic. By looking at the code for other platforms it means you don’t need to re-invent the wheel.

Following on from this, is there a library you can use? Is there an open source component you can use? A lot of the time you are free to use what other passionate people have created and released as open source or by using another license. A great place for this type of information is NuGet - it has a lot of different libraries and packages, which are all free to use.

Our thinking was there’s no reason to create something from scratch that someone else has already done and more importantly at already such an impressively high standard. For us, it made sense and made things a whole lot easier.

Define a feature set

Always make sure you define a feature set before starting the development process on another platform. Make sure you keep focused and stick to the feature set – don’t change it. Once you have a feature ready, release it to your team and test it together. Really ask yourselves if there’s anything you can change or anything that would make the whole experience better. Then make those changes.

Try new things together

Try to find new ways to do things and try to learn as you go. For example we decided to use as few assets as possible. It’s too easy to fall into the trap of spending an entire day scaling existing assets, but that’s not a fun experience for anyone. So what we did was to sit down and create our UI components “by hand” in code using Expression Blend.

Expression Blend for Windows Phone is a great tool. It is like pair programming with your designer. You sit at one computer and draw your components and the tools will generate the XML for you. Another benefit is that you only have to create your components once. It will automatically scale with all screen sizes and resolutions. No more scaling assets for 3 or 4 different sizes and resolutions.

Using Expression Blend will also help you get instant feedback on any changes you make. You build and run it on a device straight from the tool for you all to have a look at while developing. It lets you get an immediate feel for the app. Maybe there’s an interaction that needs changing? Maybe there’s a UI component that doesn’t fit with the current design? By catching these issues early and making adaptations you are one step closer to making the whole experience better.

Finally

By using the tools provided by Microsoft and following some of the tips we’ve included here, it’s much easier to create an experience that ultimately falls inline with the design principles of Windows Phone:

• Pride in craftmanship
• More with less
• Fast and fluid
• Authentically digital
• Win as one

Download Rando on Windows Phone, iOS or Android.

The post How do you develop an app like Rando? appeared first on Alphalabs.

Want to know where your children, partner, friends or even parents have disappeared to? It’s easier to find out than you may think. Thanks to Shayne Boyer, aka Tattoo Coder, you can now keep tabs on them all with one simple but handy app: I’m Here.

I’m Here is a location map that allows you to keep people in the loop with your whereabouts at all times. It is useful both when you’re trying to track someone down and when someone’s trying to track you down. It is therefore an ideal app if you too are fed up of constantly having to update people when you’ve reached your destination.

You might think ‘I can do just that by sending a SMS from my Windows Phone’, but I’m Here gives you more options to choose from than simply attaching your location. It  takes your GPS location and lets you send it to your contacts via SMS, email or social media (Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn). Once sent, the person you’ve shared it with will get a message saying ‘I’m Here’ with your approximate postcode, your exact latitude and longitude, and a link to the Bing map with your location.*

Best of all (especially if you’re going to encourage your children to use the app) it offers much more privacy than other location based apps, such as Foursquare, as it will only share your location with who you want, when you want.

App reviews on the Windows Phone Store commend the app for its simplicity (easier than using Facebook or Twitter to share location), clean design and clear UI.

* We can confirm, after talking directly with the developer, that due to some very rapid changes being made as a response to the feedback the app has received, the next version of the app will be available on the Windows Phone Store within the next few days. It will include new features such as: WhatsApp support and a direct link to Nokia HERE maps (instead of Bing maps) to allow better non U.S. support for link locations.

Download from the Windows Phone Store here.

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Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 for WP Developers, 8 June 2013

Organised by Microsoft UK Ltd, this event is a great chance to meet other Windows Phone Developers to discuss your thoughts and ideas on Windows Phone app development. Register here.

Windows Phone to Windows Phone 8 App Porting, 8 June 2013

This event will be held at Modern Jago, Microsoft’s pop-up space in Shoreditch, and will help developers to make the transition from Windows Phone to Windows Phone 8. Register here.

Windows Code Camp (Belfast), 12 June 2013

This code camp will provide an introduction to the Nokia Developer platform, involve a Windows Phone 8 build an app demo and an app building challenge. Register here.

MiniBar x Qualcomm x Nokia, 13 June 2013

This special MiniBar meet up will see Qualcomm (Qualcomm Developer Network) and Nokia (Nokia Developer) come together to inform developers and start ups about how to develop apps for the new generation of Nokia phones running on Qualcomm chips. Register here.

Windows Phone Dev Camp – London, 15 June 2013

The Windows Phone Dev camps provide an introduction to Windows Phone app development for anyone interested in developing for the platform. To see the full agenda for the day, take a look at the events page. Register here.

Iris Classon & Pepper, 19 June 2013

This month’s WPUG meeting will be held at Nokia’s new offices in Paddington. It will feature talks from Iris Classon, Microsoft MVP and Technical Evangelist for Telerik, and David Hamilton, co-founder of music based social network app: Pepper. Register here.

Wales & West Windows Applications Group meeting, 19 June 2013

This will be the fourth Wales & West Windows Applications group meeting, and amongst other things, will take a look at a number of code samples for lock screen integration on both Windows Phone and Windows 8. Register here.

0 to 60 in 10 seconds, 24 June 2013

This London Windows Store App Developers meet will involve two keynote speakers: Iris Classon and Andrew Spooner, as well as a Q & A session for any developer related issues. And best of all, make it to the venue before 6:30 and there will be pizza and beer waiting for you. Register here.

Image by adactio. 

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Not that you need any more reasons to begin developing on the Windows Phone platform, but Microsoft has a handful of new ways you could benefit from being a Windows Phone developer.

Earlier this month, Todd Brix (Senior Director of Windows Phone Apps Team) posted a number of enhancements on the Windows Phone Developer Blog to help you expand your app distribution reach and revenue opportunities.

Diverse phone offering and distribution

Nokia has begun shipping the Lumia 720 and 520/521 phones across the globe, which will give customers additional choices in form factor, phone capabilities, and price points. These price-friendly phones will be available in new markets and distribution channels.

Six new developer payout markets

Six new developer payout markets have been added: Afghanistan, Iraq, Montenegro, Serbia, Timor-Leste, and Ukraine – bringing the total markets supporting developer payout to 122. This will allow developers in these 6 markets to submit both free and paid apps to the Windows Phone Store to reach customers in 191 markets.

New Mobile Operator Billing Connections

There is now a total of 25 mobile operator billing partners in 19 markets.  Mobile operator billing gives consumers a payment option with significantly higher conversion rates than credit cards (developers earn 3x more on a paid app published in a mobile operator billing-enabled market).

Simplified app submissions

The Dev Center team recently enabled cancelling submissions, rotating screenshots and automatic screenshot resizing. The next update will add the ability to review your app submission, to enable you to check everything before the app is submitted.

As stated by Todd: there’s never been a better time to develop for Windows Phone. So if you’re ready to take on the challenge, visit the Dev Center to download the SDK and get started.

Image by Leeks ‘N’ Bounds. 

The post Learn how to expand your app distribution reach and revenue opportunities appeared first on Alphalabs.

Keep The Cash is an offer as simple and rewarding as it sounds. You publish the app and keep the cash:

1. Publish your app(s) in the Windows Store and/or Windows Phone Store from March 8th to June 30th, 2013

2. Enter up to 10 apps per Store and get a $100 virtual Visa card for each that qualifies (up to $2000*)

It is open to all developers aged 18 or older who are U.S. registered Windows Store and/or Windows Phone Store developers. The promotion excludes cloned variations from previously published apps and is limited to the first 10,000 qualified entries until June 30th. Have a look here for the full terms and conditions.

Sound good? Sign up here for the chance to receive a $100 virtual Visa card for every qualified app you enter. If you’re eligible to receive the offer, you’ll be notified by email.

We hope something similar will soon be available for UK developers to get involved as well.

Image by 401(K) 2013. 

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Soon to be available on Windows 8, Effectual is the latest Windows Phone task management app waiting to organise your entire life into one single app. If you have a lot of things to factor into each day and need to work out what’s a priority and what can wait another day, Effectual will be your new best friend.

To get started all you have to do is log into your Microsoft account, which allows it to synchronize your Effectual data across multiple devices. Once logged in you can ‘brainstorm’ everything on your to-do list, from walking the dog to preparing for an interview.

With the option to ‘Show me around’, it is a very user-friendly app with simple but highly useful features. When creating a task with Effectual you can decide the value (low-critical), urgency (low-critical) and status (open-complete) of the task. The higher the priority is the bigger stack of bars it will have next to it on the right hand side of the task. You can then add a description for the task, set a reminder date, due date and expiration.

You can also assign tags to each of your tasks as a way of grouping them into categories (i.e. work), which makes it easier to find them later on. It may sound like there are too many options at this point but the app allows you to view tasks through different filters to make it simpler:  ’By Due Date, Next Seven Days, Past Reminders, By Date Created, By Tag Created, On Hold, Expired, Completed and Cancelled’.

The live tile updates offer a running count of your open tasks as well as highlighting some of your most important tasks on your start screen. I’ve found this to be very handy as it reminds me of the number of tasks I have left to complete without having to filter through the app.

We agree with Windows Phone Central that this one of the best to-do apps available for Windows Phone 8, but would also love to see lockscreen support available in the next app update. We can however confirm the next update waiting for approval includes offline use.

Download here.

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The Windows Phone ‘Meet your Match’ Experience, 4-5 May 2013

Windows Phone Dev Camp May – London, 11 May 2013

This camp will provide an introduction to Windows Phone app development for anyone interested in developing on the platform. This event is currently sold out but you can register for the waiting list if you are still interested in attending. Register here.

C# & Mvvm – Developing apps for Android, iOS and WP, 13 May 2013

This will focus on the MvvmCross toolkit used with Windows Phone, Windows Store, Xamarin.Android and Xamarin.iOS. It will feature a mixture of developer talks from mvvmcross authors and users, and will also offer a separate space for hands-on coding. Sponsored by Nokia Developer. Register here.

Mobile Monday Wales, 13 May 2013

Less of a meet up between app developers and more of a mobile networking event. It’s free to attend and you will be able discuss mobile developments with like-minded individuals in the mobile industry. Register here.

New Realities for Mobile App Tracking and Attribution, 16 May 2013

This webinar will discuss life after the UDID, various mobile ad tracking technologies and what technical decisions will impact your ability to measure and optimize your app marketing programs. It will also provide you with access to the widest range of advertising options. Register here.

Nokia Music & demo showcase, 20 May 2013

If you’ve released a new app this year or updated one to add WP8 specific features, the demo showcase is a great chance to show it off as the best app receives promotion in the store. Pedro Lamas will also be discussing the Nokia Music API, the Nokia music app and answering questions on his Cimbalino toolkit. Register here.

Technical Update for the Microsoft Platform 2013, 20 May 2013

Black Marble is offering you a Microsoft roadmap across the whole platform, from Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8, via Visual Studio 2012 and Windows Server, to Azure, SharePoint and Office 2013. Register here.

Windows Phone User Group North West, 21 May 2013

The next WPUG North West is open to anyone interested in the Windows Phone and Windows platform as usual and all developers, designers, gamers, professionals and hobbyists are welcome. The agenda is still to be confirmed. Register here.

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The Microsoft UK App Builder Rewards Programme is aimed at those developing Windows Phone and Windows Store apps. It offers a range of rewards from an XBOX 360 wireless headset to a two night deluxe Paris cuisine break for 2 when you publish your app(s) in the Windows Phone store or Windows Store.

The more apps you build, the more points and rewards you’ll be able to gain, including: a brand new Nokia Lumia 920  and Windows 8 RT Slate. You can collect bonus points for developing your skills and building some added extras, such as migrating your Windows Phone app to Windows Store and vice versa.

The prizes are categorized (by the number of points received) into four groups: first 20 Devs to reach 100 points with Windows Phone Apps Only, first 50 Devs to reach 150 points with Windows Store Apps Only, first 10 Devs to reach 200 points with Windows Phone Apps Only and first 3 Devs to reach 400 points with Windows Store Apps Only.

How it works in four simple steps:
1. Register yourself on the UK App Builder Reward Programme website
2. Build and publish your original and unique app
3. Claim points by telling them about the app you’ve published and you’ll be awarded points accordingly
4. Redeem your points for a range of fantastic prizes and gadgets

This is a great chance for you to get recognised and rewarded for building your original apps.

If you want to get started but not sure where, have a look here first: http://www.windows-appbuilder.co.uk/.

Find out more here.

Image by sayamindu.

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The Windows Phone Developer Blog has uploaded a video you may just want to check out. Microsoft’s senior product manager Larry Lieberman talks to Microsoft Windows Phone evangelist Matthias Shapiro about Windows Phone code samples and how to begin sifting through them.

If you’re unsure of what Windows Phone code samples are available to you, how many there are and how to get them, ‘Inside Windows Phone – code samples‘ will be able to answer all your questions. The video provides a great overview of 30 different samples which are split into 9 different topics (including; speech, background and proximity) according to which features they deal with inside Windows Phone. For example, if you’re looking for something for camera or photos you can see which samples deal with that best and so on.

This saves you having to do random searches for samples online and instead allows you to find everything you need in one place to help you view all your options.

And to make it even easier for you, all of the resources discussed in the video are listed in the blog post for you to have a look at after.

Image by Sh4rp_i. 

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Fed up of not knowing how much battery you’ve got left on your phone before it dies (usually at the most inconvenient of times)? Well look no further, Battery Sense Free for Windows Phone 8 is the answer.

Battery Sense Free, developed by Bonny Vasan, is a great app to help you monitor your phone’s battery life with a range of helpful statistics, including: current battery rate, average discharge rate, time to full charge and longest battery life time. All of which will help you to make your battery usage more efficient by allowing you to track your battery status throughout the day.

The app will also keep track of battery usage and present it in a graph to show a history of your battery charge percentage. You can zoom in and out of the graph to see previous usage up to 2 days.

What do we like about this app?

• The Battery Sense Free live tile shows the battery percentage as it increases and decreases, which is very handy as you don’t even need to open the app to see how much battery is left (even though it only updates every 30 minutes, it’s still incredibly useful)
• The option to add the battery percentage to your lock screen to show the correct percentage of battery, days and hours left
• The colour of the tile can be adapted to represent the current battery status, for example: green (50-100%), orange (25-50%) or red (0-25%)
• It notifies you when the battery is fully charged or lower than 25%
• It supports voice command (hold the start button down) to allow you to ask the current status of your phone battery

We’re really hoping that the next version of this app includes some information on what’s using up the battery in a breakdown of the power usage, that way it will be even more accurate.

The post April’s app of the month – Battery Sense Free (Windows Phone) appeared first on Alphalabs.

Ingram Micro Mobility and Windows Phone 8, 11 April 2013

Held at Microsoft headquarters in Reading, this is a great event to learn about Windows Phone 8, its key features and benefits. You will also get a hands on session (and training) with the latest devices. This is a business based event which is a good opportunity for both a sales and technical member of your business to attend. Register here.

Microsoft & Nokia Windows Phone Dev Camps, 13 April 2013

New to Windows Phone app development? Windows Phone Dev Camps provide an introduction to the Windows Phone platform for developers. It will have a number of short, snappy sessions to introduce the phone devices and development platform and tools. Register here.

 Wales & West Windows Application Group, 17 April 2013

This is the third meeting of the Wales and West Windows applications group which will cover Windows Phone networking with Microsoft Evangelist Andy Wigley discussing the ‘WP8 Networking Survival Kit’. Register here.

Windows Phone User Group London, 23 April 2013

After a few months away they’re back again at Modern Jago in Shoreditch. Details are still to be confirmed for this WPUG event but it expects to have speakers from Microsoft, Nokia and beyond. It is also a great opportunity for any developer that has released an app this year (or updated one to add WP8 features) to provide a demo of  it to the group. Register here.

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We’re really pleased to bring you the next installment of Windows Phone top tips from our friends at Matchbox Mobile. Enjoy!

Following our recent ‘3 Top Tips’ post, we wanted to talk about three more important aspects of Windows Phone development. Ranging from the practical to the theoretical, these useful steps will make your apps behave better and look great.

1. The Store Test Kit Is Your Friend

Few things are more nerve-wracking for a developer than submitting your creation to the app store, and waiting for approval. What could go wrong? How long will it take?

Luckily, the Windows Phone Store Test Kit has most of the answers. The Test Kit is a handy tool built into Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows Phone, and helps you understand your pre-submission checklist, kicking off automated tests and organizing manual tests. The Test Kit covers:

• Correct capabilities being set
• Imagery and metadata for eventual store submission
• Performance of your app on the phone, via the Windows Phone Application Analysis wizard
• Correct navigation, management of phone events (like incoming phone calls), lock screen behaviour and more

The Store Test Kit should be an integral part of your development and test plan, as it can save you days of suspense and submission attempts by helping you spot and squash problems before you upload to the store.

Go here for a demo of the Store Test Kit in action.

2. Learn the design language of Windows Phone

Formerly known as Metro, the Microsoft design language moves away from superfluous eye candy, instead focusing on accessible, personalized content. Showing only what is useful, and striking out the unnecessary is core to the Windows Phone UI. This does not mean that your screens should be sparse and forbidding – on the contrary. The use of font size, negative space, and alignment together are powerful tools for leading the eye and providing focus and context onto actions and supporting information. Thoughtful combinations of colour, photography and imagery provide meaning to the UI and inject the brand message in a refined way.

Check out this two-part talk from Microsoft’s Jeff Fong for an exposition on the power of the Microsoft design language, and how to apply it in your app.

3. Live Tiles

The link above will also touch on Live Tiles. Live Tiles look great, are genuinely useful and give your app a boost with little effort. Here’s why:

• Surfacing content: Live Tiles link to content inside the app, and can show the user important information without launching the app. Coupled with the ability to pin and rearrange tiles, a well-designed Live Tile can make your app more useful and valuable, and more likely to be kept at the front of the user’s mind (and screen)
• Deep linking: You can have more than one Live Tile. Secondary Live Tiles can link to specific pages or reports inside your app. This means that a user may want to pin a section of the app and have a way of a) knowing what is happening in that one section, and b) going directly to that section. This is called deep linking, and is a very powerful way of speeding up tasks for the user and allowing non-gimmicky, actually useful personalization and customization of the phone
• Push notifications: Live Tiles can reflect information in the cloud using push notifications. For breaking news, unread message counts, and any live, fluctuating data count, you can send push notifications from a cloud service that will update the Live Tile’s counter or background images
• Scheduled notifications: Live Tiles don’t have to rely on remote server infrastructure. If you are not yet thinking about cloud services and providing push notifications, you can still create useful Live Tiles via a scheduled background agent that can run every half-hour to refresh the data and then update your tile

Windows Phone Geek offer a practical developer’s guide to Live Tiles here.

That’s it for now – thank you for reading, and good luck with your Windows Phone projects!

The post Matchbox Mobile: 3 More Windows Phone Top Tips appeared first on Alphalabs.

Microsoft’s Windows Phone Dev Center app gives Windows Phone developers a better handle on their app’s performances, with the ability to view download and crash trends, view user reviews and payment information on the go.

It provides the developer with data about how their app is doing in the real world to help them identity any potential issues. A great advantage of using the app is that the user reviews are translated to a language of your choice to avoid any communication barriers between you and your user.

The app requires a Windows Phone Dev Center account as all the data information is made available through the Windows Phone Dev Center website.

With a 4.5 star rating in the Windows Phone Store and a majority of the 148 reviews commenting on how useful they’ve found the app to be, why not try it yourself. Download free here.

Image by kodi_tanner. 

http://www.wpcentral.com/monitor-your-apps-better-microsofts-dev-center-app

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The Windows Phone 8 Emulator Skin Switcher, developed by Geert van der Cruijsen, allows developers to manipulate the look of their Windows Phone 8 emulator when developing apps on the device.

Developers are able to choose from 17 different skins, including; HTC 8S, Nokia Lumia 820, Nokia Lumia 920, HTC 8X and Samsung Ativ S. All available in a variety of colours (depending on the handset itself) to ensure each skin replicates your phone of choice. The developer is able to select up to 3 different skins at a time (one for each resolution) as it also allows for you to choose from different screen resolutions as well.

Once downloaded you simply choose the desired skin, restart the emulator to load up the chosen skin and the default emulator will then resemble a Windows Phone.

Geert van der Cruijsen is happy to add to the number of skins if there are others you want to test on, therefore we can expect to see more skins added to the skin switcher.

Read on here, or download it now.

Image by Ian_Tunbridge.

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Here is another great guest post from the team at Matchbox Mobile, who share with us their time at Mobile World Congress 2013 and anything you missed if you weren’t able to attend yourself. Don’t forget to have a look at their other posts – The Journey to Windows Phone from iOS & Android, Vegas Report on the CES and 3 Top Tips for Windows Phone App Development.

We were pleased to join tens of thousands of telecoms professionals on our 6th annual pilgrimage to Barcelona for Mobile World Congress 2013.

Every MWC attendee has two basic needs: how to find your next meeting, and where to find the best lunch. Multiply that by 72,000 attendees at #MWC2013 – this was a record-breaking attendance – throw them all into a new venue and you can picture the bustle and excitement.

Our first priority was to find good coffee. We found the much sought-after Daisy Rollo serving the very best of the black stuff at the Spirent stand in Hall 6. Following a busy first day of meetings we spent Monday evening with our friends and partners from Buddy, at Carmelita’s, a Matchbox favourite just off Las Ramblas. Buddy – who provide a set of mobile APIs for Windows Phone and all major phone platforms – had just been announced as a Microsoft partner, so we were only too happy to toast their success.

Tuesday’s highlights included a Barcelona vs. Real Madrid clash, courtesy of Amazon, and a Nokia party at the Sotavento beach club, where we joined our friends from Bing to reflect on an illuminating day in the mobile sphere.

Despite no major announcements at MWC, we saw Mozilla and Tizen getting plenty of buzz. Whereas Samsung went for size and visibility with an enormous stand, Nokia’s presence was very much about showing the love for mobile developers, with plenty of space to break out on beanbags and enjoy the free refreshments.

Mobile payments, connected cars, and machine-to-machine (M2M) were three hot topics, with many competing and complementary ideas and systems jostling for attention. The importance of the mobile cloud for app developers was made clear by the volume of mobile cloud services on offer.

MWC 2013 certainly reflected a change in industry mood and a more positive outlook. Whereas recent years saw a hard-nosed attitude towards value for money and the limits of engineering possibilities, this year was different: marketing and advertising directors, people from outside the traditional R&D or tech departments, are flooding in with new ideas and enthusiasm. This is a promising sign that we will see more innovation and exciting mobile projects this year. And we take some comfort that the “mobile web versus native app” debate has survived another year and looks healthier than ever.

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Kami LeMonds, merchandising manager for the Windows Phone Store, has a great post on the Windows Phone Developer Blog to help you learn about how to get your app promoted in the Windows Phone Store.

There are three areas they look at when assessing overall quality of the apps:  functionality, utility and enjoyment. All of these are discussed further in the post to help you improve the likelihood of your app being promoted. It also provides existing apps as examples for each of the three qualities to give you a better understanding of what’s required.

Find out more here.

Image by Key Foster. 

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The clue is in the name, Lomogram is the Instagram of Windows Phone.

Developed by DevRain Solutions, developer of Undead Carnage, Bug Invasion and many more, Lomogram is a photo-editing app with 42 different filters, 72 lightening effects and 49 borders.

As you’d expect it is very easy to use with the option to upload a photo from your photo library or take a new one. Once you have chosen your photo, you can begin flicking through the various high quality filters to find the one you want, and with 42 of them it’s hard to find one that you don’t like. A great personal touch to the app is that each filter is given its own name, for example; Alfred, Lynn, Paul and Benjamin.

Like any other photo editing app, you can edit the image by cropping it, rotating it, adjusting the light or by adding a border with the classic film roll and polaroid borders included.

It is available in 10 different languages (English, Russian, Italian, French, Spanish, German, Swedish, Portuguese (BR), Hungarian and Ukrainian), and is integrated with Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Tumblr and VK to make sure you can share your photos with your friends (as it doesn’t have its own community).

Better than Instagram? You’ll have to decide that for yourself but with over 1 million downloads, a 4.5 (out of 5) star rating from 497 users and it currently being featured as a top free app in the Windows Phone store at number 9, it can’t be that bad can it?

It is available to download (free and ad-free) for both Windows Phone 8 and Windows Phone 7.x devices, so give it a go.

If we haven’t convinced you enough already, watch the official video here.

The post March’s app of the month – Lomogram (Windows Phone) appeared first on Alphalabs.

QCon London 2013, 4-8 March 2013

QCon London is the seventh annual London enterprise software development conference. It is a great event to attend if you can, it’s designed for developers (amongst others) with talks including ‘next generation mobile apps’ which will explore the latest features in iOS 6, Android 4, Windows Phone 8 and mobile web browsers. Register here.

Microsoft Campus Visit, 11 March 2013

There is a limited number of tickets left, so you’ll have to be quick but this exclusive site visit will give you the low down on Windows 8 game app development and the commercial opportunities that go with it. Register here.

Windows Phone 8 lock-in – building apps for young people, 16-17 March 2013

This is one you don’t want to miss. Microsoft, Nokia and Foolproof are running a Windows Phone 8 lock-in looking at building apps for young people/kids. Nokia will be bringing prizes and developer resources for the best app, fastest build, craziest and biggest outstanding failure (and others). Microsoft Windows Phone 8 developers will also be present to help out. Register here.

Introducing Windows Phone 8 development with Matt Lacey, 19 March 2013

Matt Lacey (founder and organiser of the Windows Phone User Group) will show all the exciting new features of Windows Phone 8 in a demo packed session. It will include an overview of the platform, the key new features and and why you might be interested in developing for it. Register here.

Windows Phone User Group North West, 19 March 2013

As always it is open to anyone interested in the Windows Phone and Windows platform, including developers, designers, gamers, professionals and hobbyists. This meet up will be held at TechHub Manchester at 18:30 – 20:30. Register here.

Technical Update for the Microsoft Platform, 20 March 2013

A ‘Microsoft roadmap’ across the whole platform, discussing Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8, via Visual Studio 2012 and Windows Server, to Azure, SharePoint and Office 2013. Register here.

Image by Howdy, I’m H. Michael Karshis.

The post Take a look at our calendar: Meet-up in March appeared first on Alphalabs.

Research recently conducted by YouGov shows Nokia‘s consumer loyalty is growing as levels of customer advocacy significantly increased at the end of last year between September and December.

This is mostly due to the rise of the Lumia Windows Phone range (customers increased from 1% to 40%), and the fall of  the Symbian operating system (decreased from 99% to 60%). The number of Nokia customers that would recommend a Lumia handset has risen by 13% to 45%.

Nokia is now ranked first for four of the following attributes; battery life, camera quality, speed of call connection and the robustness of its handsets. This could be why Nokia has seen an increase in its satisfaction ratings for more important attributes such as; reliability, function speed, internet connection speeds and ease of use.

Continue to read the report here.

Image by vernieman.

The post 45% of all Lumia owners would recommend to a friend appeared first on Alphalabs.