Tag Archives: Windows Phone 7

What’s on my Windows Phone

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What better way to restart blogging (more on that later) than by talking about Windows Phone?  And my Windows Phone, no less. No, not as though mine is better than yours, but as in the personal guiding principle of Windows Phone (remember: Personal, Relevant, Connected) .

To that end, I thought I would share many of the third-party apps that I have on my phone that I use frequently (daily to weekly).

4thMayor 4th & Mayor  (free)

4th & Mayor is a foursquare client, and an excellent one at that.  Highly functional, and fast (did I mention fast?) with frequent updates. I use this nine times out of ten over the official foursquare client for WP because it is faster to check in with (courtesy of the ‘check-in now’ live tile).   That said, the official client is good (and has come a loooong way from its initial release), and I really like its live tile.

birdsong Birdsong ($0.99)

Birdsong is a Twitter client, and one that is significantly better than the official Twitter app.  It has many nice features including live tile and push notifications, multiple accounts, threaded conversations, and smooth, fast scrolling. Why not just access Twitter via the excellent People Hub?  Oh, I do.  I love the People Hub, but when all I want is Twitter, I use Birdsong.  Oh, and when I want to favorite a tweet, which the People Hub does not support.  I have my Twitter favorites tied into a workflow with IFTTT and Instapaper, as I usually want to save these for later. For more on IFTTT, see this excellent post by Scott Hanselman.

Pinspiration Pinspiration (free)

Pinspiration is a client for browsing and posting to Pinterest from your Windows Phone. Note that there is also Pinspiration Pro for $0.99 which removes ads and refresh throttling. 

weatherchannelThe Weather Channel (free)

It’s close race between The Weather Channel app and the Accuweather app, but I prefer TWC. Try them both.

kindle Amazon Kindle (free)

Not as good as reading on a larger screen (like a Kindle, iPad, or other device), but works with Whispersync beautifully so can pick up where you left off and read a few more pages.

netflixNetflix (free)

Works fantastically for streaming Netflix content. My one mistake was letting my child know this existed.

ebay eBay (free)

I don’t use eBay as much as I used to, but when I do, this is great for searching for items or monitoring auctions.

evernote Evernote (free)

Evernote rocks. I have it on my desktop, laptop, iPad, and phone.  The initial release of the Windows Phone version was a bit shaky, but now at v2.1, it works a treat!

opentable OpenTable (free)

Out and about and need a reservation, or want to confirm?  OpenTable.  And now you can add a live tile of your pending reservation.

yelp Yelp (free)

It’s Yelp, what more to say?  Search, read reviews, get directions.

reader Adobe Reader (free)

Need to read a PDF? Get Reader. It allows you to open PDF files from email, the web, and on the device. It also support multi-touch gestures and orientation changes.

flixter Flixter (free)

Watch movie trailers, find show times, and read movie reviews. Now integrates with Bing search and allows you to pin movies and theaters as live tiles.

pictureslab Pictures Lab ($2.99)

Fantastic app for tweaking photos or applying filters.  The filters are high quality (and numerous in quantity), and it’s fast. Well worth the money.

wonderreader Wonder Reader ($1.99)

There are many RSS readers in the Marketplace, but, so far, I like Wonder Reader best. It synchronizes with Google Reader, so I can keep my read feeds in sync, and has some great integration and live tile features.

wheresmycar Where’s My Car? (free)

From the Coding4Fun series, a highly useful app for those of us with less than stellar memories about where we parked our car.

flashlight7 Flashlight 7 (free)

Yep, it’s a flashlight app. Doesn’t make your LED flicker and it runs under the lock screen. Also features brightness adjustment and a variety of other lighting styles.

DSLRToolbox DSLR Toolbox (free)

DSLR Toolbox does two things: it calculates depth of field and angle of view. I don’t use it much, but quite handy when I need it.

myTrips My Trips ($1.99)

Frequent traveler? Use Tripit?  This is the app for you. I have a Tripit Pro account, and it supports the real time flight status, and gate and baggage claim information you get with that as well.  And I love the live tile – it is great being able to see your next flight (and status) at a glance.  There is an official TripIt app (free), but I find My Trips a better app (and the Tripit app does not support live tile).

arkwords ArkWords (free)

Dictionary, thesaurus, translator – it does all with aplomb. I also really like the word of the day (which can be shown in the Live Tile). 

7pass 7Pass Free ($0.99)

Yes, it has ‘free’ in the name but costs $0.99. Go figure.  Regardless, if you use KeePass, this is the app for you to open your KeePass database on your Windows Phone.  Works with Dropbox (yay!) and allows for editing fields. Source is available on GitHub (w00t!).

GeekPeek GeekPeek (free)

Addicted to Engadget and Gizmodo? This is the app for you. See a unified feed, or each separately.

OdataBrowser OData Browser (free)

This is the Windows Phone version of the Silverlight-based OData Explorer. It lets you browse and visualize OData feeds.

KhanAcademy Khan Academy (free)

Browse, and view, the entire video catalog at the Khan Academy, a great educational resource.

RunKeeper RunKeeper (free)

Keep a log of your runs and walks and sync to RunKeeper.com. You can view history as well.  It works pretty well, but sometimes doesn’t initialize the GPS correctly, and sometimes it crashes when it has GPS issues.

GasBuddy GasBuddy (free)

No matter if it is for my car or a rental car, I’m always trying to minimize fuel costs. GasBuddy helps you find the cheapest gas, and directions to that location as well.  Supports Live Tiles and location reporting as well.

Avis AVISWP7 (free)

If you rent from Avis often enough, this is a useful app to create, modify, and cancel your reservations as well as find Avis locations.  You can access your My Avis account as well.

KeyRing Key Ring (free)

Have too many of those loyalty cards on your key ring? Scan them into this app and keep them in here instead!

WordPress WordPress (free)

Write new posts, edit content, view stats, and manage comments for your WordPress-based site.

TouchDevelop TouchDevelop (free)

Write scripts and programs on your phone, for your phone.

ESPNScoreCenter ESPN ScoreCenter (free)

Get the score, fast!

OverDrive OverDrive Media Console (free)

Download eBooks and audiobooks from your library. Get on a waiting list if your item is checked out. It also allows you to download DRM-free EPUB eBooks from other sources.

SkyDrive SkyDrive (free)

Browse your entire SkyDrive, upload photos, share links, and create folders.

MSCampusMaps MS Campus Maps (free)

On the Microsoft campus often and need help getting around? Check out this app. Walking and driving directions, indoor maps, Connector route info, and more.

flydelta FlyDelta (free)

Sometimes, you get what you pay for.  I love the capability in this app. I just wish it would work consistently. In order to save space here, I’ll save my, ahem, feedback for another post. Give it a try though.

FlightAware FlightAware (free)

Free, live flight tracking from FlightAware for flights world wide and private flights in the U.S. and Canada.

NetworkDashboardNetwork Dashboard ($0.99)

Add something that the platform forgot. Control network radios from settings tiles pinned to your start screen. Brilliant.

PinPin PinPin ATM Finder ($0.99)

As I travel frequently, finding an ATM in a new location can be a challenge. PinPin ATM Finder handles that for you. 

AppFlow AppFlow App Discovery (free)

Browse and discover new apps in the Marketplace via this beautiful application.

SkyMap SkyMap ($1.49)

A planetarium for your Windows Phone.  Point your phone to the sky and see what stars, constellations, and other objects are out there.

Weave Weave (free)

An alternate way to read news via RSS. Select your categories and it pulls in the feeds.

CloudRecorder Cloud Recorder (free)

Record memos or any other audio and upload them to SoundCloud.com. It also allows you to share them via social channels or email.

BenchmarkFree Benchmark Free (free)

Not a daily driver, but great app for benchmarking. This is the closest you’ll get to having a WEI score on your Windows Phone.

Traffic Traffic (free)

Enjoy those sliding block puzzle games?  Here’s one for your phone. Get the red car out of the parking lot and on its way!

Migrating from eWallet to KeePass (and using KeePass on WP7)

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Update 2011-02-08: New versions of both 7Pass and PassKeeper have been released. I have updated this post accordingly as well as corrected some errors from the original post. Also, read the comments for a message from Ilium about eWallet vs eWallet GO!

As a long-time Ilium Software eWallet user on both my Windows desktops and my Windows Mobile devices, I was very thrilled to see this blog postannouncing eWallet for Windows Phone 7 back in October 2010.   eWallet is one of the applications that I use that I consider ‘key’, so I eagerly anticipated this release and was really hoping it would be out before the new year.  It did not, but was announced shortly after, on January 5, 2011.
In that post, Ilium announced eWallet GO! for Windows Phone 7  (click this link to open Zune directly to the Marketplace listing).  Awesome!  Almost. Reading through their post (and a FAQ), I quickly became disappointed for a few reasons:
1. No synchronization with eWallet 7  
Clearly stated in Ilium’s FAQ:
“eWallet GO! for Windows Phone 7 does not synchronize with eWallet 7.  We hope to release a free conversion tool soon that will allow customers to move wallets from eWallet 7 on Windows PC to eWallet GO! on their Windows Phone 7 device.  We have not set a release date for the conversion utility”
A few things in there are important.  1) No current synchronization support  2) No planned synchronization support 3) No release date   The third item does not bother me as much as the first two.   Stating that the tool will allow users to “move wallets from eWallet 7 on Windows PC to eWallet GO! on their Windows Phone 7 device.”, means that this is a one-way conversion (desktop –> phone).  If I make changes or additions to the data in eWallet GO! on my phone, I’m stuck. I would have to manually re-enter that data on the desktop.

2.  No trial version.  
eWallet GO! for Windows Phone 7 sells for US$4.99 in the WP Marketplace and there is no trial.  To be clear, I am not complaining about the price. Given how many people who balk at spending $0.99 on applications, I think it tough to sell one for $4.99 without a trial.  There are currently issues with updating trial version apps on WP7 (hopefully this is addressed in the first update), and some developers are choosing to not release trial versions at this time because of this issue.  The workaround for this issue, by the way, is to uninstall the app, and then re-install the trial version via Marketplace.  Is this why Ilium did not make a trial available?  I do not know.   I have no problem paying for software, but like to try things out first to make sure it function as expected and I am satisfied with it.
I can only imagine the volume of email Ilium has received over these issues from long-time eWallet users.  Perhaps they are reconsidering their approach and re-planning.  Time will tell.   Regardless, I felt that I could no longer wait for a password manager that I could use on both my desktop and my device and the time was at hand to abandon eWallet.

Migration to KeePass

As an alternative to eWallet, the first candidate that came to mind was KeePass.  Having used the excellent KeePass software many years ago (but then dropping it due to device support issues in favor of eWallet), I decided to see if there were any WP7 apps, so  I searched Zune Marketplace for “keepass”.  Two results:   PassKeeper and 7Pass.  Now that I had found WP7 support, I moved forward.
The first thing I did was download KeePass 2.14(download page) and install it.  KeePass has a large set of community contributed plug-ins, and two for importing from eWallet, but only one that supports KeePass 2.x.   This one is called the eWallet Data Liberator.    Note that this plug-in only works with eWallet 7.1.  If you do not have eWallet 7.1, you may download the trial here.
Next, I unzipped the eWallet Data Liberator and opened the readme. I followed the steps in the readme explicity, and it worked without issue.  I now had a .xml file I could import into KeePass (leveraging the plug-in).  Continuing with the instructions, I imported the file without issue.

KeePass on Windows Phone 7

While my first thought, as I mentioned earlier, was of KeePass, I also wanted to see what else was available on WP7.  So, I searched the Zune Marketplace using the criterion “password”.  I received forty-eight (48) results.  As I started looking at the candidates in detail, I quickly realized that nearly all of them are device only, so no desktop synchronization (or even file import).  That said, if you want a device-only password manager, there are several excellent candidates (such as Password Padlock by gkcSoft).
Also as I mentioned previously, I found only two apps that supported KeePass: 7Pass and PassKeeper. It is important to note that neither PassKeeper nor 7Pass support any sort of synchronization, but rather promote a model where you download your KeePass database file (.kdbx).  Therefore, in order to use one of these with KeePass on the desktop, you would need to host your .kdbx somewhere that both could access it such as Dropbox, or your own website.  This approach can create its own concerns, and the security trade-offs of this decision are out of the scope of this post.

Let’s compare the candidates:
  PassKeeper 7Pass
Allows adding entries on device Yes No (not yet)
Allows editing entries on device Yes No (not yet)
Supports KeyFile No Yes
Allows viewing entries on device Yes Yes
Supports .kdbx directly No (requires zipped .kdbx unless you are using DropBox) Yes
Supports password generation Yes No
Supports viewing of attached files on device No No
Supports icons No Yes
Supports multiple databases No Yes
Supports custom fields Yes Yes
Supports .kdbx file with compression (gzip) No Yes
Supports .kdbx file with # transform rounds > 0 No Yes
Supports DropBox Yes Yes
Supports web server download Yes Yes
Supports web download requiring authentication No Yes
Source available No Yes
Trial Yes Yes
Cost US$0.99 US$0.99
Website n/a http://7pass.wordpress.com/

After looking at that feature comparison, it is truly a mixed bag. Do you go with the application that is currently read-only, or do you deal with the restrictions required to use the application that allows on-device .kdbx edits?
I used both of these applications for approximately one week before making a decision.  Here are some thoughts:

PassKeeper     
I was very frustrated by the limitations imposed by PassKeeper, and frankly found the need to place my .kdbx inside of a .zip rather odd.  This requirement also prevented me from connecting to my .kdbx since it was inside of a .zip file.  Furthermore, if I wanted to host my database file on Dropbox (or SkyDrive), I would need to do so via the public folder, which I’m not keen on.  PassKeeper now has DropBox support, which comes with the added bonus of dropping the requirement for the .kdbx to be zipped. Lastly, the restrictions on the security of the .kdbx file itself were disappointing as they reduce the effective security of the password database file.
That said,  PassKeeper is the only one of the two that allows for creating new entries and editing existing ones.  If you do a lot of editing of your entries on your device, and you want this feature today, your choice is made. 

7Pass
The big issue with 7Pass v2.0 v2.2 is that it is read-only.  This fact might make the decision for you right now.  If not, keep reading.   The Dropbox integration worked without a hitch, and the ability to support multiple databases can be helpful.  I also liked that I could keep the KeePass defaults of 6000 transform rounds and using gzip compression on the .kdbx file. I found 7Pass to be a higher quality application and it has a UI that I prefer over PassKeeper.  I have no interoperability issues with 7Pass and KeePass, and am thrilled I can point both to the same file.
7Pass will be get editing capability as soon as WP7 gets cut & paste, so says the author of 7Pass in the 7Pass FAQ(first question, but I think you should read the whole thing).   I understand his position, but I respectfully disagree while look forward to the release that contains this functionality.    The other nice thing about 7Pass is that the  source is available. So, if you wanted to implement editing yourself, you could do that, build the .xap, and then deploy to your developer-unlocked device.    I would also encourage you to checkout the 7Pass site at http://7pass.wordpress.com/

Summary

Given my usage patterns of 90% read and 10% write to the password database file on my device, I am comfortable waiting for cut & paste on WP7 in order to get entry editing in 7Pass.  Additionally, I think that 7Pass is a higher quality application with a better UI.   So, there you have it, I’m going with 7Pass, and will look into the source to see what the effort would be if I wanted to implement entry editing myself.  Despite the source being available, I still bought the application (hey, it was only $0.99) as I felt the author deserved at least that for his efforts.

Exchange ActiveSync Considerations for Windows Phone 7 clients

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This TechNet wiki article explains some details regarding using Windows Phone 7 based Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) clients in an Exchange Server environment. It also touches one of the questions I’ve seen asked frequently as of late, which is “Which EAS policies does Windows Phone 7 support?”.

From the article, here’s that list:

  • Password Required
  • Minimum Password Length
  • Idle Timeout Frequency Value
  • Device Wipe Threshold
  • Allow Simple Password
  • Password Expiration
  • Password History
  • Disable Removable Storage
  • Disable IrDA
  • Disable Desktop Sync
  • Block Remote Desktop
  • Block Internet Sharing

Please read the entire article to get all the details around EAS policies and WP7 clients.

The Mobile Minute 201

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Windows Phone 7 Developer Tool Refresh

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Today Microsoft updated several of the components in the toolchain for Windows Phone 7 development for both Visual Studio and Expression Blend:

Microsoft Expression Blend Software Development Kit (SDK) Preview for Windows Phone

Microsoft Expression Blend Add-In Preview for Windows Phone

Windows Phone Developer Tools CTP April Refresh – now supports VS 2010 RTM!

Charlie Kindel has a detail blog post about the refresh bits here 

A reminder that if you have a previous version of the Blend SDK Preview for Windows Phone, Blend Add-In Preview for Windows Phone and Window Phone Developer Tools CTP Refresh, you must uninstall them prior to installing the new versions.

The Mobile Minute 181

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The “spring is upon us and I’m quite ill” edition.

The Mobile Minute 179

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Mostly MIX stuff this time…

Windows Phone 7 Series – Developer Tools CTP Released

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Today at MIX 10, MIcrosoft announced details of its development story for Windows Phone 7 Series.  While it has been known since Mobile World Congress in February that Silverlight and XNA form the core of the development platform, no information had been released about the toolchain itself.

The toolchain is composed of:

Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone CTP
Windows Phone Emulator CTP
Silverlight for Windows Phone CTP
XNA 4.0 Game Studio CTP
Expression Blend 4 Beta
Expression Blend Add-In Preview for Windows Phone
Expression Blend SDK Preview for Windows Phone

You need to download only four things:

1) Windows Phone Developer Tools CTP (contains the first four items in the list)

2) Expression Blend 4

3)  Microsoft Expression Blend Add-in Preview for Windows Phone

4) Microsoft Expression Blend SDK Preview for Windows Phone

Additional resources:

Windows Phone Developer Portal(includes links for documentation, developer guides, and code samples)

Silverlight for Windows Phone (includes links to a support forum for Silverlight for Windows Phone, documentation, and getting started videos)

Also check out this excerpt from a forthcoming Charles Petzold book and some learning material on Channel 9

Download the tools, read the dev guides, and dive in!