25 best apps for window 8 phone part2

7. Multimedia 8

If you're missing Windows Media Centre, then fear not, the Store does have some interesting alternatives - and Multimedia 8 is one of the best.

The program makes it easy to browse your music, video and playlists, for instance. In a click (or a touch) you can access files on a media server, or the web.

And a host of bonus features includes 3D video support; the ability to convert videos to MP4 or WMV; playlist creation, DLNA media streaming, subtitle support (SRT/ WebVTT), video stabilisation, video and audio capture, and more.

8. News Bento

Whatever your view on the introduction of the Windows 8 Modern interface is, there's no doubt that its apps can look fantastic, and News Bento is a perfect example.

Launch the app and a group of tiles show you constantly-updating news photos and headlines from top US sites. A host of others are available via the "more news" link, and Google Reader support combined with RSS search provides easy access to your other online favourites.

Choose a source and story summaries are neatly displayed in various panels. And most conveniently, clicking any of these (for the sources bundled with the program, anyway) displays its content within the app, so there's no irritating switching to and from an external browser.

9. Free Books

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There's more to ebooks than Amazon and Kindle: no, really. And by way of evidence, look no further than Free Books. This attractive app offers more than 23,000 free books (mostly old classics), neatly organised by category and author, with an interesting selection of "Featured" books if you just want to browse.

Double-click any book to download it to your library. Double-click again to read it; tap right or left to turn the appropriate page; and of course the app remembers your current page, so if you leave it and come back later then you'll be able to carry on where you left off.

Some people may feel the app is a little too basic, and it would certainly benefit from settings to adjust text size, colours and so on. The simplicity does mean Free Books is very simple to use, though, and on balance it'll be a great addition to most systems.

10. Dredd vs Zombies

Mega-City One is in terrible danger of a zombie invasion. And even though this game has been a hit with iOS and Android users, they still haven't saved the day - which means that now it's your turn.

After equipping yourself for the battle ahead (there's your trusty Lawgiver pistol, assorted other weapons, body armour and more) this fast-paced top-down shooter throws you into 30 levels of hectic, challenging combat.

This isn't really a game for PCs, unfortunately - the mouse interface is relatively poor, making it hard to recommend for a conventional desktop. But on a tablet (or anything else with a touch interface) Dredd vs Zombiesproves to be an entertaining game that offers plenty of zombie-killing fun.

11. OneNote MX

Microsoft's excellent freeform notetaking app makes it easy to build documents from photos, (handwritten or typed) text notes, pictures, drawings, audio files and more.

The ability to tag items on the page adds a little flexibility. Add "To Do" tags, say, and your items will gain checkboxes that you can click when they're complete. You can create multiple notebooks, each with as many pages as you need, then save them to the cloud for access from any of your devices (or perhaps to collaborate on with others).

And of course the program works with Windows 8 Search, making it easy to find the note you need. Even if it was written on a PC, and you're now on your mobile device.

12. WeatherBug

Launch this comprehensive weather app and you'll immediately gain access to detailed information on your current weather conditions, as well as what's coming your way in the next few days.

A powerful Maps module gives you the big picture, with satellite imagery, humidity, temperature, pressure, wind speed and more. Live Tile support keeps you informed about conditions from your very own Start Screen, and you can also have WeatherBug raise a custom notification to warn you about rain, snow, fog, freezing temperature and more.

On the down side, the ads can be annoying, and we had some issues animating the radar maps. But this is still a very powerful and configurable weather app.

Categories: window phone