Friday, October 31, 2014

Get notified when files/folders are updated in your cloud with CloudMesh.

We all own at least one cloud account and for those who own more, it can be tedious to manage them all on our Windows Phone. Thanks to apps like CloudMesh, keeping track of our data in the cloud is made simple, well less tedious. CloudMesh is one of these apps that brings all your accounts in one place and it's not just that. You can also easily copy data between each accounts like you do between traditional folders on your computer.

This is what CloudMesh do with popular cloud services like OneDrive, Google Drive, Facebook, Mega, Box, Dropbox etc. And the app keeps improving. Today's update, for example, brings some new features, improvements and bug fixes listed below:
  1. File and folder tracking - Receive notification when someone updates a file or folder.
  2. 4Shared and 4Sync support.
  3. Catalan, Czech and Persian language support.
  4. Minor UI bugs fixed.
  5. Symbol languages issue while downloading/uploading fixed.
  6. Bunch of crash bugs.
  7. Performance improvements on some clouds.
CloudMesh is available both free and paid in the Windows Phone store.

"Transfer my Data" updated with message transfer to/from SD card.

Switching to a Windows Phone is made very easy thanks to apps like "Transfer my Data", a Lumia exclusive app which provides a quick and easy way to copy contacts, SMSs and MMSs from supported Symbian, Android, iOS and Blackberry phones. So if you are moving from one of the afore-mentioned phones, make sure you get "Transfer my Data" if it is not already installed on your new Lumia.
 
"Transfer my Data" got updated today that adds transferring text and MMS messages to and from a storage card. As a community moderator on Microsoft Windows Phone forums, I see a lot of questions about carrying over messages. This update will only make switching to Windows Phones even smoother.
 
Again, "Transfer my Data" is a Lumia exclusive and can be downloaded free in the Windows Phone store.

Full offline Mauritius map now available in Nokia Here Maps for Windows Phone.

Those who live in Google ads bubble might think there is no other navigation tool out there besides Google maps and they are so very wrong as there is Nokia Here Maps. The free navigation app primary strength is offline maps. Yes, you can download full maps to your phone before or during your travel and then save money on data. Google maps only lets you save part of the map and it is not at all efficient. Nothing matches a full offline map service with turn-by-turn navigation and LiveSight, which is the ability to see floating labels of places around you.

The team at Nokia keeps improving Here Maps with new maps and features and the latest will certainly please fellow Mauritians or any person travelling to Mauritius. Here Maps now serves a full offline map of Mauritius. Without further due, let me show you the steps to get the map onto your Windows Phone.

To begin, launch Here Maps on your phone then tap ... and tap download maps > update current maps. If new maps are available, the phone will show a "install" button for you to tap. You may also choose to install the update later. After the download is complete, you will see this message on your screen, "Your maps have been updated." Press the back button and tap download new maps.

Tap the + button at the bottom of the screen, select Africa and tap Mauritius to download; the Mauritius map is just 43.1MB in size. This is it. Now you can switch off your data connection on your Windows Phone and enjoy offline map of Mauritius.

If you haven't got Here Maps on your Windows Phone yet, download it free in the store.

Thursday, October 30, 2014

WhatsApp for Windows Phone gets big update.

Today, WhatsApp has been updated with some nice improvements that will certainly please the fans of the online messaging app. Acquired by Facebook, WhatsApp is till trying to kill the traditional text messages, but is facing stiff competition from the likes of Viber and even Snapchat. The multi-platform app still stands strong though despite losing money.

The 17MB update contains the following new features and improvements:
  1. WhatsApp now opens faster.
  2. Share location: drop and drag pin lets you share a precise location.
  3. You can now add captions to photos and videos.
  4. Crop and rotate photos.
  5. Added ability to archive chats and groups.
  6. Each chat or group can now have it's own background.
  7. Better support for phones with high-resolution screens.
Download WhatsApp for free from the Windows Phone store.

Saturday, October 18, 2014

Flipboard now lets you pin, but still does not flip.

Flipboard is a beautiful magazine-like app that has recently been ported to Windows Phone. With Flipboard you can naturally flip through the news like you would do with a paper-based magazine. You can, obviously, connect to your Facebook and Twitter account or your favorite news source. Err... wait a minute, Flipboard does NOT flip on Windows phone. That's right, for some obscure reason, Flipboard does not flip on Windows phone. I was disappointed that they did not include its most famous flip feature.

Today's update does not include the flip feature, but users will now be able to pin their favorite section and magazine to the start screen. It is also now possible to like any articles, photo gallery or video right from the app bar.

Finally you have the usual bug fixes and performance improvements plus the improvements to video playback.

Download Flipboard for free in the Windows Phone store.
 

Tuesday, October 07, 2014

Microsoft Research adds automatic noise removal to Blink.

Blink is a cool app by Microsoft Research that lets you capture burst of images before you even press the shutter and it continues capturing after you release the shutter. The result can be quite surprising. So if you haven't got Blink in your lens collection yet, now is the perfect time to download it.

With today's update, Blink will render sharper images thanks to automatic noise removal. Yes it is automatic, so you won't have to edit the pictures manually after. This new addition will come handy when shooting in low light condition.

This update brings Blink to version 2.5 and in addition to automatic noise removal, includes the usual bug fixes. Blink is free for download in the Windows phone store.

Friday, October 03, 2014

Microsoft updates Glance app to display Weather and Health data on lock screen in standby mode.

Not many smartphones out there have the capability to display useful data on the screen when the phone is in standby. Windows phones, specifically the Lumias are capable of doing that and my 920 is one of them. Before today, My Lumia displayed data such as the number of new emails, new messages, missed calls or data from whichever app I selected in the lock screen settings and in standby mode.

Today Microsoft has released an update that improves what Glance can display on the lock screen when the phone is standby, making it more visual. Glance is capable of showing weather data from the MSN Weather app and health data from MSN Health & fitness app. An excellent addition that reinforces the concept of Windows being a glance and go phone.

Again, this feature is not available on all Windows phones. Glance app is a Lumia exclusive and is available free in Windows phone store.