I have a SIM-less HTC Surround that is used to try out Windows Phone apps. It works like you would expect for a WiFi-only device for the most part. The one exception is that the Windows Market app does not update software for it as expected. In fact, until last week, no app had been updated in a couple of months. Even going to the product page in the Market app does not force updates to appear. So, imagine my surprise when I saw not just one but 23 apps ready for update recently. I haven’t seen any other updates since then even though several apps for my HD7 (which has a SIM) have been updated in the past few days. Even the HD7 does not get updates when expected, however. It sometimes gets updates a week or more after an app was reported as updated by others.
Category: Windows Phone
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Windows Phone app update weirdness
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PAC-MAN Kart Rally for Windows Phone: Great looking graphics. WiFi multi-player mode too!
Fans of “Kart” racing games will enjoy PAC-MAN Kart Rally for Windows Phone which was released today for $4.99. The game has great looking graphics and smooth animation. Kart control is challenging but not impossibly so.
The game’s unique feature is the ability to for up to four Windows Phone owning players to compete in a multi-user mode over WiFi. All participants need to have the app installed on their phone. I have not tried the multi-player mode yet.
Disclosure: Microsoft provided the game free of charge for evaluation purposes.
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Civilization Revolution: Version of my all-time favorite game available for Windows Phone
One of my all-time favorite computer games is Sid Meier’s Civilization for MS-DOS released in 1991. It is a turn-based strategy game whose goal is to advance your civilization enough to either conquer the other computer-controlled civilizations or to build a space ship to reach Alpha Centuri first.
Publisher 2K just released a version of this classic game for Windows Phone 7.5. Civilization Revolution is priced at $2.99.
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Here’s what an app update gone bad looks like on Windows Phone 7.5. And, the fix is…
I’ve had some minor issues updating Windows Phone apps through Microsoft’s Windows Phone Marketplace app in the past few weeks. But, this is the first time I’ve seen anything like this – The screen photo above shows what looks like an install-file path visible in the apps list on my Windows Phone. You can see the progression that led to this in the screen photos below.
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MobileViews Podcast 58: A discussion with Aditya Bansod about Sencha Touch 2
In MobileViews podcast 58 Todd Ogasawara speaks with Senior Director of Product Management at Sencha, Aditya Bansod, about Sencha Touch 2 which launched this week. Sencha is a JavaScript framework optimized for developing mobile HTML5 web apps with rich user interfaces. It supports the native web browsers for Android, iOS, Kindle Fire, Chromebook, and more. Bansod said that Windows Phone will be supported in a future release.The big news about Sencha Touch 2 is that it lets web developers create native apps for Android and iOS that can be distributed through their respective app markets. This also means that developers who use Windows as their development platform can now create iOS apps for iPhone and iPad without buying a Mac, learning Objective C, and using Xcode.
And, what does Sencha Touch 2 cost? It is free with dual licenses available: GPL or Commercial License. Listen to the podcast to learn more details.
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Windows Phone software written on the phone itself can be published in Microsoft’s Marketplace
Microsoft Research’s TouchDevelop is a remarkable tool that lets you write software for Windows Phone right on the phone itself. The news today is that it is now possible to distribute software developed using TouchDevelop (again, this task is done right on the phone) through Microsoft’s own Windows Phone Marketplace.
turn TouchDevelop scripts into apps on the Windows Phone Marketplace
You can learn more about the preparation and submission process here.
You can listen to the podcast discussion I had with Nikolai Tillman (Principal Researcher Software Design Engineer of Microsoft Research) in June 2011 when the tool was named TouchStudio