Nokia Lumia Windows Phone App Starters

It's been 3 months since I have been using the Nokia Lumia 800, and all I can say is that it's a pleasure using the phone. The interface is just different and amazing, its interactive and lively, and it actually helps me live my everyday life. For those who are looking to transition to a smart phone, and are looking for a great different experience, the Lumia is phone. But the best is yet to come.

One of the biggest phone launches in the US has been that of the Nokia Lumia 900. Bigger in screen size, and with a front camera, the Lumia 900 is an upgraded version of the Lumia 800 and is expected to launch in India in May end- early June. Those looking to purchase a smartphone should wait and  consider the 900.

With a very different and flowing interface, the app experience on the Lumia is very different compared to the Android and iOS. Some apps are beautifully made and extremely easy to use. All you need to do is swipe left or swipe right, and you will get full access to app features and sections. When you get a Lumia, what are the apps that you MUST have? Here is a list of my must apps for the Lumia:

1. Contact Transfer: This is the most important app when you are just setting up you phone. While this app comes inbuilt, you can also download it from the Windows Marketplace. You can transfer your address book from your old phone to the Lumia in seconds without any trouble whatsoever. This is just the beginning of how easy everything else on the phone is, to figure out and use.

2. AAWP: All About Windows Phone is an app that allows you to keep track of what is happening in the Windows World of Mobile Phones. With access to articles, webcasts, and reviews, you can be up to date all the time.

3. Burglar Alarm: This app can serve two purposes - one is entertainment and two is actual utility. On opening up the app, you can set a timer and place your phone anywhere. After the timer counts down, if anybody touches or removes the phone from its original position, a loud burglar alarm goes off. While some may be actually stung by it, it is also good to play a prank on someone.

4. CNN: Made by Nokia specially for the Lumia, the CNN app will keep you up-to-date with what is happening in the world. By swiping, you can get access to the latest news, news sections, videos and you can even file an iReport. You can pin this app to your start screen. The tile is self updating and you can get a good glance of the latest news without opening the app.

5. Creative Studio (by Nokia): It would be unfair to call this the Instagram of Windows Phone, but this app allows you to add effects to your photos. You can either take a new photo with effects or take a photo from your albums and edit it with great effects. From face warps to live style, you can do them all. Sharing them can be done from the Photos tab.

5. XE Currency: For those who like to keep track of currency exchange rates, then this app is by far the best to do exactly just that.

6. Delhi Metro: If you stay in Delhi or visiting, then this is a must have.From a great introduction, you can access station lists, tokens and smart cards info, fare calculations, metro museum info, metro lines info, tourist maps and places. Its an app of great utility.

7.Dictionary.com: Have you ever come across a situation where you are reading something and suddenly come across a word, the meaning of which you don't know? The dictionary app is there to solve that problem. Just type in the word, and you will get the meaning along with its usage.

8. Economic Times: Keep ahead of the market with the ET app. With a fantastic interface, the app makes financial and business information lively, colorful and interesting. The app has truly adopted the tile interface, making it look like it is just the perfect app that was made for the Windows Phone.

9.Engadget: If you're a gadget and technology freak, get this app to be updated about all the developments in the digital world.

10. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn: While these apps are available individually, you can configure these accounts while setting up your phone. They can then be accessed through the People Hub in a very unified and comprehensive manner. The People Hub actually aggregates social information from all networks and merges them to provide a database of information of all your friends, contacts and acquaintances. An offshoot of the People Hub is Me, which shows you your activities on different social networks as well as on your phone.

11. Flashlight: Use you phone flash as a torch with this app.

12. Google: While Bing is the default search engine on the phone, you can also get the Google app as an alternate search engine.

13. IBNLive: Stay up-to-date with whats happening in India with the IBNLive app. You can also watch CNN IBN Live through the app. Pin it to the start screen, and the tile updates itself to the latest news.

14. Lumia Highlights: Get tips, tricks, highlights, app recommendations and and accessories for the Lumia

15. NDTV: Another news app to get you the latest from India.

16. Nokia Drive: Downloads maps of the region you belong too, and never get lost again. This free voice turn-by-turn navigation is a great plus point that iOS and Android lack.

17. Nokia Maps: Use maps to find places close by, your current position as well as a host of other things. This app supplements the Local Scout feature on your phone.

18. SkyDrive: SkyDrive is the cloud offering from Microsoft. You get 7GB of free space (as an old user, I still get 25GB). You can save all your documents, pictures, PDFs and other files from your computer on SkyDrive and access it on your phone. The Office app on the phone supplements the SkyDrive app.

19. Skype: The Skype interface is amazing, but the Lumia 900 will make it better as there is a front facing camera as well. With that you dont have to hold the phone the opposite way not being able to see the person your having a video call with, just so that the other person can see you.

20. True Caller: True Caller helps you track mobile numbers. All you have to do is type in a number, and it will tell you who the number belongs to. This app however uploads your address book to their database when you agree to their terms and conditions and use this app.

21. TuneIn Radio: While there is inbuilt radio on the Lumia, TunIn is made by Nokia for Windows and allows you to listen to your favorite music with just a few clicks.

22. Viber: Being incredibly successful on iOS and Android, Viber has now come to the Windows Phone. Call any other Viber user through VoIP and talk endlessly at no calling cost, though data charges may apply.

23. Weather: From the Weather Channel, get the latest weather outside. Pin it to your start screen and get live weather info always.

24. Whats App: No phone is complete without Whats App. Chat with people using different phones using whats app. This app needs no further description as most people know what it is.

25. Games: Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, Plants vs Zombies, Doodle Jump, Uno, Monopoly, Tetris

26. Adobe Reader: Use Adobe Reader to read all your PDF Documents.

27.YouTube: Get the YouTube app to surf videos on the net from your phone. The app, however, takes you to the browser to view the video.

28. Shazam: Heard a song which you like but dont know the name? Use Shazam to find out which song that is. Pin it to the start screen, and recognize songs with just a tap on the tile.

29. Book My Show: Use BMS to see the latest movies in the theaters, timings as well as book your tickets then and there.

These apps should make your Lumia good to go. The Windows Phone often comes under criticism for the number of apps available. I however think that is the utility of the app that makes more of a difference than the number. The Windows Marketplace has all the apps you would possibly need. If an app is not there, then you can be rest assured that the app will come to the platform sooner or later. One disappointment is that the XBOX Companion app is not available in India. The app helps you use your phone as a controller for your XBOX. 

Why Nokia is Microsoft's best bet

BACKGROUND
This year is truly going to be the battle of the OSes - Windows, OS X and iOS, and Android. Moreover, it's going to be a battle of ecosystems between two traditional rivals - Microsoft and Apple. With Apple launching Mountain Lion this summer and Windows 8 expected to come out in September-October this year, the race only gets more exciting. Windows 8 is also going to come in the tablet version and is said to be the real competitor to the iPad. The Lumia 900 is launching in the US on 8th April, and is expected to be a blockbuster launch.

I call it the war of ecosystems because the devices these companies make and the software they offer are so integrated into one another, that not having even of them would be like an incomplete jigsaw puzzle. From mainstream computer devices, tablets and phones, they are also competing in the space of cloud computing and entertainment devices. The integration offers a great unified user experience and it may essentially boil down to just this.

Taking about the Apple ecosystem, it recently announced its latest Desktop and Laptop OS 10.8 Mountain Lion, dropping the name it was synonymous with - the Mac. This indicating that there is now greater integration between iOS and OS X. With ML, Notification Centre, iMessage, Game Centre, Twitter Integration, Reminders and Notes - all iOS apps have now come to the OS 10.8. At the same time  iWork and iLife was ported into iOS. Apple offers the iPad as its tablet offering and iPhone as its mobile device. iTunes is the one stop hub for all media - songs, movies, TV shows, audio books, tones, books and mobile apps. Apple TV is Apple's entertainment device that allows you access iTunes content on a TV set. Not only that, with Airplay you can use it as a wireless projector for you Mac, iPad and iPhone. Binding it all is iCloud which keeps all content synced and up-to-date on all devices including iTunes purchased media. Apple also has Game Centre for those who love gaming on iOS. Many games are now on the Mac OS as well, making it a complete ecosystem.

Windows too has a great ecosystem offering as well. By adopting the Metro Tile interface across all devices, it has brought it uniformity. The new Windows 8 offers drastic UI changes for earlier versions of Windows. It is great to look and simple to use. Self updating tiles make your screen come to life. The Messages app now merges your MSN and Facebook contacts into one, and you can chat without even logging on into Facebook. Nokia Lumia is the perfect device to use the Windows 7.5 OS Mango. With great hardware and software, Nokia completes Windows on the phone and I will explain this later. Windows 8 has also specifically been designed keeping in mind the tablet market. Windows 8 will be great on a tablet device, and we just have to wait and watch for that. With the success of the XBOX, Microsoft had a perfect gaming device and with Zune, they are trying to get more media content on board to make XBOX not just about gaming but also entertainment. XBOX is now integrated into the 7.5 OS Mango and Windows 8. To top that, there is Skydrive which is the cloud offering of Microsoft and available on all devices. Skydrive is now built into Windows 8 and merges with Office. This again completes the Microsoft Windows ecosystem.

WHY IS NOKIA THE BEST BET FOR WINDOWS THEN?

The new OS 7.5 Mango is on phones manufactures by Nokia, HTC and Samsung. Samsung has been concentrating its core on using Android on its devices and giving it the push to take on Apple. They have not provided such a push for the Windows based phones, which seems like they already think Mango is inferior to Android. Moreover they are developing their own OS Bada. So in priority, they will push Windows last. As far as HTC is concerned, they too are now focussing on Android heavily. Not much push is given to the Mango OS. This means that lesser attention will be paid to these devices and if you buy them you may be stuck due to lack of services and native apps by these manufacturers (although HTC had HTC Sense).Nokia on the other hand, is empowering its devices with Windows OS and is thus able to put all its effort and resources behind it. They are not dealing with any other OS except Symbian but it is now clear that the Lumia range of phones is going to be its flagship for a long time to come.

With the Lumia 900 launching on 8th April in the US, massive preparations are underway by AT&T and Nokia. Infact the Head of Device at AT&TJeff Bradley has commented, "Before you walk into the store, you know this is our hero phone...At all levels, this is a notch above anything we’ve ever done." This means that AT&T is putting a lot into this, even more than it's best selling iPhone. They have never done or said such a thing for any Android device or even a Windows device made by HTC or Samsung. So I guess it's not so much about Windows as it is about Windows 7.5 on a Nokia Lumia. This is another reason why Windows can bet big on Nokia.

One of the reasons iOS is criticized is because of the lack of a native mapping and GPS device. Even the Windows OS doesn't have GPS, it has Maps. But Nokia completes it with Nokia Drive and Nokia Maps which is far better and extremely convenient to use. Its not only these but other apps as well made by Nokia that add to the Windows OS like Contacts Transfer, Network Setup, TuneIn Radio, CNN and TuneIn Radio. 

There was a time when your dealer would recommend a Nokia phone for you. Overtime that has changed and now the same dealer will tell you to go for Samsung. I realized that it is because the margins and commissions on those phones are more. But, if you're someone who is looking for Windows it should be the Lumia. If you're someone who is looking for an ecosystem and an integrative experience and you're a  Windows person, then Lumia is the perfect phone for you. It will not disappoint. The takeaway in all this is that now it's Microsoft's turn to talk about their products, their ecosystem and not leave it on Nokia alone to promote and market the Lumia Windows phone. When they want to promote their mobile devices, they should show Lumia as the frontrunner and also show how it fits into the entire ecosystem.