Microsoft Garage launches a huge handful of apps for Windows Phone

Microsoft Garage is a division that offers company employees a place to work on their own ideas and projects during their spare timeAnd for this reason, this allows us to see innovative and creative applications, such as those presented in this batch.

Although Microsoft Garage was already active since 2009, it seems to have gained momentum with the entry of Satya Nadella as CEO of the company. And it is that the idea of ​​this division in which today nearly 10,000 employees work, is very in tune with what Nadella wants to do with Microsoft

On Android

On Android they have released 4 applications that are undoubtedly very interesting, and that attack four points that are quite different from each other. All apps are free to download from the Google Play store.

Next Lock Screen

Next Lock Screen changes the Android lock screen to make it more friendly to people who work and use their terminal a lot to know the next activities. Now, with this application we can see our calendar, our most used applications and notifications just by turning on the terminal. Depending on the application, we have:

• Calendar: You can quickly see what and where your next activities are.
• One swipe to call: If you have a conference, you can make the call by simply flicking the annotation to the right and entering a PIN code.
• Application Shortcut: You can add frequently used applications to launch them quickly. We can also configure the applications we use depending on where we are (home, home, or “on the go”).
• Dynamic wallpaper: You can change the wallpaper automatically depending on where we are.

Download | Next Lock Screen

Journey & Notes

Journey & Notes is a collaborative application that allows us to interact with our surroundings based on the journey we are making For example, if we make a trip from our house to the office or the university, we will be able to see what the people of that route have said.

With this, then, you can discover a curious place to look at, or perhaps a restaurant that you should try, or a mural or piece of street art, or simply traffic advice. The possibilities are vast.

Download | Journey & Notes

CityZen

Personally my favorite application, or rather, the one that I see the most enormous potential. Cityzen is a tool that allows you to communicate to the parties involved in your city about certain problems or violations on public roads: garbage not collected, someone parked wrong, wrong signage or loss, constructions where it should not go, and so on.

Unfortunately for now it is only available for India, but without a doubt, and if both the population and the government commit to using this tool, it seems to me an important step and an interesting inclusion of technology for the common benefit.

Download | Cityzen

Bing Torque

Bing Torque is an application for smart watches with Android (Android Wear) that allows us to include Cortana in some way and talk to her by twisting our device. When we do, we can ask you different things like the weather, a city capital, how the shares of a company are doing, and more.

Download | Bing Torque

On Windows Phone

And of course the employees have not forgotten about Windows Phone, since they have launched 7 applications for this operating system. But for now the applications are only available for the United States, although – in theory – they are spreading through stores in other regions.

Tetra Lockscreen

Tetra Lockscreen adds a lot of functionality to the Windows Phone lock screen. With this we will be able to have a map of the place where we are, a calendar with the next activities that we have, number of kilometers that we are traveling and comparison in bars with other days, and a stopwatch to use right there.

Download | Lockscreen

Nova Bacon

You are an alien with a fascination for pigs, and you must go around the world collecting them while dodging the attacks of those always annoying humans. A simple game that can give us a good time of fun.

Download | Nova Bacon

Floatz

An interesting application that allows us to create debates and talk with people around us. The possibilities of this depend on us: we can talk about a game that is taking place, some relevant news, a public event that is taking place, or even looking for people for a group activity.

Download | Floatz

Lost Turtle

Another simple game in the style of Nova Bacon. Here we are a turtle with a jetpack on his back that he must use to move around the map collecting stars, and going through all the available levels.

Download | Lost Turtle

Reach Me

If you want to tell a friend or family member how to get to you (and if they also have a Microsoft account), with Reach Me you can send them your location and they can monitor it and get directions so they can find you. An interesting application.

Download | Reach Me

Sound Stack

With this application you can create sound tones or songs using the different tools that it offers you.You can play the drums, the cymbals, and you can even use the camera to create chords (unfortunately I can't give more details about this since I haven't been able to test it yet).

Download | Sound Stack

Work Item Studio

For application developers using Visual Studio Online, this application allows you to create tasks and sort them by projects. This way you can always have at hand what you have to do or write down an idea (or solution) that came to mind.

Collaborate

Collaborate allows you to create sessions with other people where they can upload images, modify them, include text, and more. You can save these projects privately and then move them into a collaborative session. We'll see how people use it.

Download | Work Item Studio

On iOS, Snipp3t

Although it has already been available for more than two months in the App Store, it is worth naming it as it is also part of the Microsoft Garage.

Snipp3t lets us have all the celebrity news on our smartphone. Using an integrated search engine, we can search for our favorite character and see what their latest messages, photos and more were.

Download | Snnipp3t

On Xbox One, Voice Commander

Voice Commander is a free Xbox One game where we must defend ourselves and create defenses against the opponent's attacks. For that we will use both the joystick of the console and the voice commands to dictate the actions.

A game that graphically does not offer much, but surely its benefits come from the gameplay side.

Download | Voice Commander

In Windows 8/RT

And finally, Microsoft Garage also has two apps for the Windows 8/RT operating system. Both applications offer interesting tools for users.

AutoTag 'n Search My Photos

Using information from our Facebook, AutoTag 'n Search My Photos allows us to tag and sort our photos stored on our computer and OneDrive account. We can tag people manually or let the application take care of itself.

At first it can't be entirely effective, because it improves as we use it more.

Download | AutoTag ‘n Search My Photos

Student Planner

Student Planner allows us, through documents and files, to order our deadlines for assignments and classes. For that, it reads the uploaded documents to extract the relevant information from them.

It has synchronization with our Outlook account, it also saves all the information in OneDrive.

Download | Student Planner

How about Microsoft Garage? And the applications presented?