Windows Phone recommended apps : Social and chat
When I first moved to Windows Phone, the major problem that I faced was that it was hard to find good applications. I thought, why shouldn’t I make a list of applications that are worth using. Given that the list can be huge, I have divided the list into three posts, the first one is everyone’s favourite. The best apps for social networking addicts. Your feedback is very important for us so please send in your suggestions and feedback.
Outsider
Price : $0.99 Section: Social Size: 17 MB If you can shed $0.99, this is a must have application and the first one to buy. Winner of 2012 Best Free App Award, this app was formerly known by the name ‘Im a WP7’. You can do FourSquare checkin, checkin to all your social networks, interact with Xbox gamers, gleek! twitter app integration, locate and interact with Windows Phone users nearby, Gamer MeetUps & Beacon, Forums, share tips and tricks, IM etc. Do note that the application is confusing at the beginning but once you get used to it, it will be one of the most used apps.
glƏƏk!
Price : $1.99 Section: Social Size: 4 MB This is one of the most feature rich twitter apps available on Windows Phone, from the makers of super hit application ‘Outsider’. While the app is highly customizable, there are many unique and interesting features that make this one a must get twitter application. Most notable is a feature called pƏƏks that gives you random tweets from users around the world. Rowi Price : Rowi lite is free, $1.49 for Rowi Section: Social Size: 1 MB The default twitter application for Windows Phone looks pretty but when it comes to functionality, it is no match for most twitter applications. Rowi is highest rated twitter application and is one of the widely used applications. The free Rowi lite edition is ad driven while the paid version and will support push notifications for mentions and DMs.
Twabbit Price : $1.49 Section: Social Size: 1 MB Twabbit is among the best twitter applications available for Windows Phone. This application is tailored for those Twitter addicts who prefer the app behave the way they want to, thanks to heavy customizability and huge set of features. Seesmic Price : Free Section: Social Size: 2 MB This is the best free twitter application available on Windows Phone. Though its free, you can manage multiple twitter accounts and also you can add your Facebook account and Salesforce Chatter account. The biggest features though is the customizable spaces.
“When you first open Seesmic for Windows Phone 7, the Home Panorama will win you over! Select an array of 20 spaces, and swipe through the screens to visit Trending Topics, Seesmic Directories and even directly introduce a new Twitter Search.” – from Seesmic blog
Facebook Price : Free Section: Social Size: 1 MB Our suggestion is to use the ‘People Hub’ for Facebook updates and use ‘me’ application to post to Facebook but if you want a dedicated app, this one is more than enough. There may be few unofficial apps but this one just works. 4th & Mayor (FourSquare client) Price : Free Section: Social Size: 1 MB To be frank, the official FourSquare application is among the worst applications that are designed for Windows Phone. Most of your checkins will be off-the-grid and FourSquare says that mayorships will not be awarded to those using FourSquare for Windows Phone. 4th & Mayor is the best FourSquare client available for Windows Phone users and you get all the features that you usually get with FourSquare application and also, the notifications are very good, live tile works well. Nimbuzz Price : Free Section: Social Size: 1 MB This is the best chat application available on Windows Phone. While the chat client supports wide range of IM services, you can create/use your Nimbuzz profile. Given that this application is available across many smartphone OSes and on Windows, you need not add or edit accounts everywhere. All you have to do is add one Nimbuzz profile. IM+ Price : Free Section: Social Size: 2 MB Another great chat application for those who look for support for protocols that are rarely supported. To be precise, IM+ supports Skype chat, Facebook, Google Talk, Yahoo!, AIM/iChat, ICQ, Sina, Mig33, MSN/Windows Live, Jabber, VKontakte, Yandex IM, Odnoklassniki.ru, Mamba, Fetion, RenRen, Gadu-Gadu, MeinVZ and Mail.Ru Agent IM services. Pinspiration Price : Free, Pro costs $1.49 Section: Social Size: 1 MB Pinterest is one of the fastest growing social networks out there. Though there is no official app from Pinterest for Windows Phone, Pinspiration is the best one you can get out there. While the ad driven version is free, there is an ad free Pro version that costs $1.49. (Rs.80/-) for those who are allergic to ads. The free version has throttling on ‘refreshing Pinners You Follow list’. LinkedIn Price : Free Section: Social Size: <1 MB Linkedin, as you all know is social network for professionals and the official application is superb to use and you need not think about any other LinkedIn service application. The live tile notifies you of number of updates/messages to you. Baconit Price : Free Section: news + weather Size: <1 MB Reddit.com is social news website that is widely used and has online community where users vote on content to take part in a reddit community. Though there is no official application for Reddit fans, this application is the best one for Reddit lovers. G+ Launcher Price : Free Section: news + weather Size: <1 MB Thanks to Google not releasing proper APIs and unavailability of official application for Windows Phone, this is the best you can get for Google Plus. This app launches G+ from mobile site and should get full functionality once the necessary APIs are available. Skype Price : Free Section: tools + productivity Size: 7 MB With options to do Skype-to-Skype voice and video calls, send instant messages, and group chat for free with friends, this official application is more than enough for Skype lovers. Do note that Microsoft recommends atleast 512MB of RAM for this application to run smoothly. WhatsApp Price : Free Section: Social Size: 3 MB The application that is widely uses as alternative to SMS is officially available on Windows Phone. Subscription is free for first year but you have to pay $0.99/year after the first year.
WhatsApp Messenger is a smartphone messenger available for Windows Phone, Android, BlackBerry, iPhone, and Nokia phones. WhatsApp uses your 3G or WiFi (when available) to message with friends and family. Switch from SMS to WhatsApp to send and receive messages, pictures, audio notes, and video messages. First year FREE!
Flickr Price : Free Section: Photo Size: 1 MB This is the official application for Flickr photo sharing service. You can view and upload photos on/to Flickr, comment on photos, keep up to date with your friend’s activities, favourite images is few features for this application. GetGlue for WP7 Price : Free Section: Photo Size: 1 MB GetGlue is entertainment social network site where you checkin and discuss about TV Shows, movies, music etc. This application is highly functional and is good enough for anyone who is addicted to this entertainment social network. WP7 last.fm Scrobbler Price : Free Section: Music+video Size: <1 MB Last.fm official app is available for Windows Phone but is as useless functionally as those dummy phones available in mobile phone stores. This on the other hand does the scrobbling and also lets you access artist pages, profiles etc. Palringo Price : Free Section: Social Size: 1 MB With over 350,000+ chat groups, Palringo is mainly used to interact with people that have similar interests. Apart from text based chat, you can send and receive voice messages, picture messaging etc. You can have maximum of 2000 members in your group. You can also do one on one chat with your buddies. All in all, an interesting chat client that reminds us of those Yahoo groups back in 2000s. ================================================================================= We will end the first section here. In the next section, we will bring you a list of Audio/video, Books, news, weather, sports apps etc.