I’m often get asked what apps I have installed on my phone. After explaining I have a Windows Phone 8 (Lumia 720) the question usually results in an awkward “erm..okay, nevermind”. But sometimes a fellow Microsoft enthusiast can be found. It is for these people that I have compiled a list of the apps I have on my ‘start menu’ (e.g. use-a-lot-apps) and those installed (e.g. handy-apps) So without further ado:

Use-a-lot WP8 Apps

The apps I use daily to weekly are added to my startlist. I list them here from top to bottom (I omit the classics like Telephone, People, Calendar, Messaging,Mail, etc)

• AccuWeather (including Lock screen ): live tile to know the current weather when you’re in a room without windows.
• iBood: the best unofficial app to know the daily day on iBood.
• GameNewsNow: news aggregator of many game feeds. Very fast and nice UI. Very underrated app.
• 9Gag: the best app around for my daily dose of memes and cats.
• The Verge: a great app with great articles on the current tech industry.
• Tweakers: Dutch tech news, a bit buggy, but still updated regularly.
• Trivia Buff: 4 or 5 funny trivia facts a day keep the bad quiz scores away, including a handy live tile.
• WP8 Grabber: my homebrew “check what’s new and download it immediately” app (a tad not-so-legal).
• Flashlight-X: if you need light or a compass, or both!
• Fuel: Live tile to show current mobile carrier credit left  (for Mobile Vikings, a Belgian operator).
• Spotify: stream music.
• Evernote: to quickly jot down my earth-moving game, book or blog ideas.
• Facebook Beta: a sleek UI to watch what everyone is up to aka Spy-in-style.
• Phonly: Awesome feedly.com app. Will soon replace the previously mentioned news apps (Tweakers, The Verge).

Handy WP8 Apps

Other apps I installed and use from time-to-time are:

• AcceleroTest: I always suck at predicting what movement will trigger which accelerometers.
• Belgian Cinema: App I wrote myself to know what I can watch in my local movie theatre (more info on the blog).
• Belgian Trains: to see how late I’ll be if I take the train.
• Bitshark: Bitbucket client.
• Blood Pressure: a very big app to register blood pressure with lots of options.
• CamScanner: “scan” documents using the phone camera.
• Code Reader: to read code files attached in emails or in Bitshark.
• Dropbox: “to drop tha box”.
• eBay: nice official app if you need to spend or earn some money.
• FidMe: a great way to reduce the size of your wallet by having all your loyalty cards in one app.
• IP Snoop: to know my phone’s IP address.
• Kickstarter: to spend money on great ideas with an unofficial app.
• Kiva7: to lend money on great ideas.
• LinkedIn: barely used, but the UI is very nice.
• MetroTube: “watch all the youtube videos!”
• My Trips: tripit.com client app, great when you’re travelling, worth the 2 euros.
• Navigation: old-school GPS navigator app, bought before Nokia’s Here Drive was released.
• NetScan: great IP scanner.
• Night Stand Clock Lite: a triple-A clock that stays on the whole night.
• Photosynth: to create 3D’ish panorama pictures, a great tool to show off what the phone can do.
• Pictures Lab: to Instagramize my pictures.
• Regenvoorspeller: “Rain predictor”.
• Runtastic Pro: my current app to track running stats.
• Skype: to Skype, barely used actually.
• SmartRunner Pro: my previous running stats tracker. I can still recommend it though if only for it being 3 euros cheaper than Runtastic Pro.
• SMS-ticket: to quickly order a tram or bus ticket using SMS.
• SoundHound: to identify what’s playing on the radio..if only they’d integrate this on the radio app of the phone itself…
• SqueezeRemote: to control my SqueezeBox radio…which I upgraded to SmartUE…so basically an app to throw away now, still I paid for it, so it stays..
• Steam Center (prev. Steam Friends Pro): great unofficial Steam app (chat, view games, achievements, etc).
• Stopwatch Timer: if the computer breaks down during a waterpolo game and we need to time the events during the match.
• Velo Antwerpen App: to quickly see where all “Velo Antwerp” (‘free’ bicycles) stations are.
• Weight Challenge: to erm…challenge…my…erm..weight.
• WhatsApp: everyone has it, no ones uses it.
• WordPress: great official app.
• Zoo d’Anvers Activité: another self-written app to see the daily program in the Antwerp Zoo, very underrated on the marketplace (more info on blog).

Games on my phone

Although barely used, it’s still handy to have some games on the phone, in case there’s no Internet and I have to wait:

• Civilization Revolution: how else can I dominate the world. Very good port to a small screen.3 euro well spent.
• Flight Control: addictive as hell, a must-buy!
• Plants vs. Zombies: braaaaaiins…If only there’d be a Plants vs Angry Birds
• Minion Rush: an awesome “just one more round”-game. You’ll love it.
• Taptitude: if ignore the old-school graphics you’ll discover the countless hours of fun you can have with the one.