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).

 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 ($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 (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. 

The Weather Channel (free)

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

 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.

Netflix (free)

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

 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 (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 (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 (free)

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

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 (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.

 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.

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.

 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.

 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.

 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.

 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 (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 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 (free)

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

 OData Browser (free)

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

 Khan Academy (free)

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

 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 (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.

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.

 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 (free)

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

 TouchDevelop (free)

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

 ESPN ScoreCenter (free)

Get the score, fast!

 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 (free)

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

 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 (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 (free)

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

Network Dashboard ($0.99)

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

 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 App Discovery (free)

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

 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 (free)

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

 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.

 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 (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!

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.

Migration to KeePass

KeePass on Windows Phone 7

Summary

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.

I found this title to be a good read for developers getting started with .NET Compact Framework [3.5] on Windows Mobile 6.x.   The author explains the material to the reader through the full lifecycle (design to deployment) of three real-world applications.  In the manner used in the book, I found this to be a good method to impart knowledge to the reader, and I thought it mostly well executed.  Furthermore, I thought that the author did a good job of breaking up topics across the thirteen chapters in this book. Some of the topics I haven’t seen discussed elsewhere include Bluetooth usage, application updates, and Oracle Lite.  I was also pleasantly surprised to see a section in the book giving an overview of the Power Toys for .NET CF 3.5, which are some very useful tools for .NET CF developers.  It was also great to see MVC architecture discussed (vs the usual ‘stuff everything in the code behind’ approach).

It should be noted that this book does not cover creating applications for Windows CE devices, which have some important differences from Windows Mobile. 
That said, I did find some shortcomings with the material in this book.  The author covers using both SQL Server Compact 3.5 (which he calls SQL Server CE 3.5, a personal niggle), and Oracle Lite 10g.  This decision was a mixed blessing.  While having some information and guidance on setup and usage of both is a boon, it also means that the depth of coverage for each is half of what might have been for a single product.  Additionally, I thought that the decision to give examples of data synchronization for SQL Server Compact using Synchronization Services was an interesting choice (clearly done so because RDA is being phased out), but I thought that the reader should have been informed of the trade-offs in using Sync Services instead of RDA.  More importantly, for something as important as data synchronization, I would have expected that more than the brief paragraphs describing each available option were deserved.

I think that the author could have demonstrated to the reader that they could have saved time and effort by using free third-party libraries (e.g. 32Feet.NET for Blueooth, etc), instead of writing some of that code themselves, although OpenNETCF’s Smart Device Framework was leveraged for some examples (like signature capture).   I’ll also take issue with the coverage of performance optimization (chapter 7), which should have been a bit broader in scope.  Additionally, some of the other techniques given as examples in the book (usage of DataSets and data polling, to name two) are performance impediments but not presented as such. Also, discussing Infrared data transfer in a book published in 2010 was an interesting decision.

In sum, a good entry point to those new to .NET Compact Framework development that is worth a read and does provide good starting guidance, but lacking in depth overall.  PACKT Publishing has made a chapter of this book available for free (PDF) – Chapter 5 – Building Integrated Services. 

• Apple calls BS on NPD data- Says no way that Android outsold iPhone.
• Bing for Windows Phones updated- Now with turn-by-turn navigation.  Awesome! (Although, sadly, VZW customers are left out..I presume that was not at Microsoft’s discretion)
• VZW + Google == tablet?- So it seems.
• FCC seeks comment on regs for MOs notifying customers of billing thresholds- I hope this goes through.