Facebook Messenger for Windows Phone has been updated overnight with performance improvements and a new forwarding feature. It is the latest update in the instant messaging application that is now across multiple platforms including Windows Phone, iOS and Android. The update is available now in the Windows Phone Store. The big new feature is the ability to forward messages to others.
Microsoft has released an update to the OneDrive for Windows Phone app, bringing on device access to your recycle bin in the cloud based storage service. To this point, in order to access your Recycle Bin, you had to visit the OneDrive website. This is no longer the case for Windows Phone users.
The updated OneDrive for Windows Phone is version 4.3 for those keeping score and aside from the added Recycle Bin support, Microsoft states that there are other “bug fixes” in the release. What those fixes are exactly is unknown but likely are around keeping the app stable.
Facebook Messenger for Windows Phone has been updated with several improvements including the ability to record and send voice messages through the service. It has been one of the most requested features for the app and for Windows Phone users, was one of the ways that Messenger for iOS was ahead as it had this feature. Rejoice Windows Phone users, you now have it too!
The uniquely Windows Phone app Office Lens has been updated and it brings some nice improvements to an already great app. If you aren’t familiar with it, Office Lens for Windows Phone allows you to snap a photo of a flip chart, wallboard or piece of paper from virtually any angle and it will straighten it and to give you a front looking view. It’s one of those PFM (Pure Frickin’ Magic) apps because when you see it in action for the first time, you’ll be blow away.
I fully realize that for probably 99% of you this is no big deal given that you do not live in the Dallas area. However, it does speak to a larger challenge with Windows Phone. The Dallas-Fort Worth local ABC affiliate WFAA has released an update to their Windows Phone app. The update has been needed for a long, long, looooong time (until last week it STILL had the Super Bowl tab from last year in it). Finally it has happened and that along with a slew of other stability updates has made this a nice little app.
Get the WFAA app in the Marketplace
The tidbit for all of you not in the Dallas-Fort Worth area is that this app update speaks to a larger problem. If you look in the Android Marketplace or the iTunes App Store you will see dozens of local news and information apps for virtually any major metro area. Windows Phone? Not so much. In fact for Dallas, there is only one local news station app (WFAA). In searching other metro areas, the story is similar. These are the types of apps that need to be developed for Windows Phone to gain success.
What can you do? Follow your local news station on Twitter (almost all of them have them) and ask them to develop a Windows Phone app. If enough people ask, they will do it.
For you RSS fans out there, one of the best (in my opinion the best) Google Reader enabled apps for Windows Phone has gotten a major update. NextGen Reader from NextGSoft has bumped up to version 2.3 brining with it several new features and some bug fixes. One of the new features is the ability to have full image caching for full offline reading, new swiping for articles and a fix for what was an annoying white flicker when you opened a new article.
The Weather Channel has released an update to their popular Weather app in the Windows Phone Marketplace. The new 1.10.0 version is still free and from the description in Marketplace, it is unclear what was addressed, added for fixed. Why? Well, there is no description of what is new in the update. At. All.
Having worked with it a bit this morning, the only thing I noticed is that it is significantly smoother transitioning from page-to-page in the app. In the previous build the app would hesitate as you swiped to different parts of it. Now it is much more smooth. Beyond this, I have not found anything new but if you do, let me know in the comments below or on Twitter.
If you don’t have The Weather Channel App on your Windows Phone, here is the link to it in Marketplace. The app takes advantage of the improved Live tiles and requires Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango)
The BoxFiles for Dropbox app for Windows Phone has received a major update this morning.
The new 2.5 version brings a host of new features and fixes with full Mango support.
Completely new version of Boxfiles for Dropbox: new user interface, increased speed, integrates with Skydrive so you can get your modified documents back to dropbox, pinch to zoom.
New 2.5:
-Fixed Skydrive plugin
-Pin to start folders
-Bug fixes
As a user of Dropbox, BoxFiles has become my app for accessing my files on my Windows Phone. The app is $1.29 and even before this update performed flawlessly. My testing this morning after this update the new pin feature works fantastically well. I can now pin regularly accessed folders directly from my Start screen. Love it!
Get BoxFiles for Dropbox in the Marketplace