Falling in love with WP8; Here are the apps I use (former iPhone 4 user)

[awgneo]

Hello,

I recently bought a Nokia Lumia 920, having been a fairly advanced iPhone user since the 3G. I have to say that I have a new friend in my life. The start screen is such an awesome idea and I enjoy the ways that I can customize it to meet my exact smartphone needs and even my personality. Anyway, after having this phone now for several days, I thought I'd share the apps that I have discovered through trial and error and use daily, coming from the iOS 6 ecosystem. I am happy to say that nearly every feature or application that I enjoyed on iOS 6 has a good OS or application equivalent in Windows Phone 8.

iOS6	WP8	Notes
Facebook	Facebook	a little buggy for WP8
Kayak	Kayak
ShopSavvy/RedLaser	ShopSavvy
Flashlight	Flashlight XT	"LED Flashlight" is an alternative app, but it seems to crash on WP8; going with Flashlight XT for now
Youtube	MetroTube	This is pretty awesome! Thanks Tahiti Bob for the heads up
Flixter	Flixter	Panorama control shines here on WP8
Wikipedia	Wikipedia
TuneIn Radio	???	There was an app for WP7; I hope they bring it back soon as I used this app all the time
Pandora	MetroRadio	Works perfectly (better than graffiti); Pandora comes out early next year
Mint	???	This app is supposed to be in development for WP8; their lack of a mobile website disappoints
Amazon Kindle	Amazon Kindle
Amazon Mobile	Amazon Mobile
SoundCloud	Soundrivin
eBay	eBay
TripIt	My Trips	Amazing application and much better than the TripIt app; $1.99; Trip Hub is a close second
TouchPad	Unify	This app blows TouchPad away for iOS and has many nice settings; PC Remote is an alternative; $1.99
Google Authenticator	Authenticator	The camera takes a few tries to read a 2D barcode; works perfectly once set up
Bank of America	Bank of America
PayPal	PayPal
GEICO	GEICO
AllRecipes	AllRecipes	An excellent app for cooking ideas
Netflix	Netflix	I may, one day, miss the video out capability of the iPhone; hopefully a nice Play To DLNA app comes out soon
Google Maps/Apple Maps	Nokia Maps/gMaps	So much better
Newegg	Newegg
Bookman	PDF Reader
	Battery Level	The new version now graphs battery history; excellent app
GroupMe	GroupMe	I am glad Microsoft bought this company via Skype, haha
Google Chrome	Chrync	A very nice application for viewing all of your Chrome tabs, bookmarks, passwords, etc! This will hold me off until (hopefully) Google releases Chrome for WP8 now that native app development is allowed; try this!
Groupon	Groupon	This application is a fine example of pinning
BeejiveIM	IM+ Pro
GoTasks	Milkman	Remember the milk is a lot better than Google tasks ever will be; get a free account and you can even dock your tasks along GMail with the "Remember The Milk for Gmail" Chrome extension
	Nokia Transit	Excellent replacement for what used to be Google Maps
	Panorama	Nokia application; works well
SoundHound	SoundHound
Speedtest.net	SpeedTest	Loving LTE
Weather	Weather	The MS version works well
Yelp	Yelp
iTunes	MediaMonkey	FINALLY I can use the far superior MediaMonkey to directly manage my music

Yes, I have been busy, haha.

Enjoy, and maybe let me know if I am missing something
I am still very new to this platform.

Thanks,
awgneo

 

[Tahiti Bob]

For YouTube you definitely need to check MetroTube. RedLaser also exists in WP8 but I believe these apps' functions are built into Bing so you may not need them (same goes for SoundHound although the humming feature is ace). Finally for Wikipedia I hope you're using the Rudy Huyn one.

 

[sundawg#WP]

Great post. Try Flashlight-X - I have a 920 and it doesn't crash. There is a free version (ads).

Maybe I should try MetroRadio again. I found Graffiti Radio much better on WP7. Biggest gripe before was that if I paused earlier in the day, MetroRadio would not seemlessly pick up where I left off like Graffiti does.

 

[Tahiti Bob]

I wish Downcast could come to WP8 as podcasts are only supported in the US at the moment. Loving it on my iPad.

 

[AZBrowncoat]

Damn...I already own the Gold Version of MediaMonkey, but could never get my iDevices to work quite right. Didn't even think of trying MM as the Desktop Sync that MS is supplying is a joke. Will definitely have to try MM now.

Great post by the way!

I'd really like to see some sort of a consolidated thread just for us iPhone switchers - howtos, tips and tricks, Apps etc.

UPDATE - just checked...my version of MediaMonkey was 3.2.5 so I upgraded to the newest 4.0.7 and am indexing files now.

 

[kittshelby]

Glad you're enjoying WP8! I just wanted to give you some suggestions on apps:

YouTube - check out MetroTube and Supertube

Wikipedia - this alternative Wiki app is simply amazing: Wikipedia | Windows Phone Apps+Games Store (United States)

And lastly, for a 3 pack combo app that's also beautifully designed: check out "627.AM". It's primarly an alarm app, but also has a note/task ability as well as weather. It's an awesome 3 in 1 app!

 

[tarzanmarzan]

To topic creator:
Welcome! I suggest you also download
Weave trial: excellent news reader
Metrotube: slick windows phone interface of YouTube
Photogram/picture studio/photastic. Photogram is a filter software much like instagram, picture studio is really handy app, and phototastic is wonderful for collages.
Blueprints: hands down the best tumblr client there is!
Rowi: excellent and free twitter client which is imo the best there is. I still miss Carbon but alas its off the marketplace
Windows phone central app just cuz.

I'll post more!

 

[blehblehbleh]

Never tried PDF Reader, how is that? I use Bookviser, lets you read most epubs and stuff via Skydrive

 

[Derausgewanderte]

UPDATE - just checked...my version of MediaMonkey was 3.2.5 so I upgraded to the newest 4.0.7 and am indexing files now.

trying to set this up at the moment but MM doesn't even see the phone. Is there a plugin that I have to install?

 

[brmiller1976]

I wouldn't hold my breath for Chrome -- Google has made no secret of their intent to ensure that Google services don't play well with Windows Phone.

 

[gsquared]

This is a well thought-out / written post. Shows there isn't as much of a gap in app use for ordinary people as led to believe.

 

[justreason]

Its posts like this from the OP that negates all these other threads about apps and bad reviews.. A happy customer.. Not too many on this board the way negative posts are produced.
Sent from my Lumia 900 using Board Express

 

[PG2G]

If only the Yelp app didn't suck :/ That is one of my main problems

 

[bryan_05]

If only the Yelp app didn't suck :/ That is one of my main problems

It is pretty brutal, the whole reason I started using Yelp in its infancy was the ability to search by map viewable area - even that is missing.

 

[philpeeps]

When I was switching from my iP4 to WP8, I found that WP had about 50 of the 55 apps I really needed and lacked maybe another 5 that were nice to haves...

 

[AZBrowncoat]

I installed Media Monkey -> Created a Playlist -> Plugged in my Nokia 920 -> Hit "Sync" and my music was transferred to my device - almost as easy as iTunes (will take a bit to get used to the MM interface and options)

...the only issue I am having is that I can "see" the music files on the Nokia 920 but they are not showing up in the Music + Videos App on the phone...does the phone take time to index the files?

UPDATE - tried powering the phone down and back up...still only seeing a few albums despite being able to see the files on the phone with Windows Explorer. May have to visit the Media Monkey forums.

 

[njblackberry]

Great thread - thanks!

 

[Derausgewanderte]

I installed Media Monkey -> Created a Playlist -> Plugged in my Nokia 920 -> Hit "Sync" and my music was transferred to my device - almost as easy as iTunes (will take a bit to get used to the MM interface and options)

...the only issue I am having is that I can "see" the music files on the Nokia 920 but they are not showing up in the Music + Videos App on the phone...does the phone take time to index the files?

thanks, so it should work. Not for me though. It still doesn't see my Lumia920. It does recognize an external hdd that I've plugged in and offers to sync to that. When I take that off the USB I still do not see the Lumia - strange......

 

[AZBrowncoat]

thanks, so it should work. Not for me though. It still doesn't see my Lumia920. It does recognize an external hdd that I've plugged in and offers to sync to that. When I take that off the USB I still do not see the Lumia - strange......

Did you try a different Sync cable just in case yours is bad?

 

[awgneo]

Make sure the d_WMDM plugin is enabled and checked in MediaMonkey. I am using version 4.0.6.1501. I HIGHLY recommend this application and it is well worth the price.



Also, I created a device image for MM (set in the device options pane at the bottom) for the 920 Enjoy!