Ready for your first look at the next version of the official Disqus app on Windows Phone? Of course you are, which is what we're going to show you now. Disqus is probably one of the largest blog comment systems on the web. One that you'll find on a good majority of websites. The Disqus Windows Phone app was their first for mobile, so we're excited to see what's in store for the new Disqus 2.0 beta.
First things first, the next version Disqus was written in new and shiny Windows 8.1 code. That's right; it was completely rewritten as a Windows 8.1 Universal app.
Here are the new features over the previous version of Disqus on Windows Phone:
- You can now log in/register with Facebook, Twitter and Google accounts
- Follow communities in addition to users, which gets published in a brand new feed
- Notifications now include upvotes, new followers in addition to replies
- Notifications published to action center
- New trending feeds for topics (e.g. Tech, Business, News)
- User activity feeds now include favorites (stars)
- You may now update your profile and upload an avatar right from the app
This is just the beginning for the next chapter of Disqus on Windows Phone. This revamp of the app allows the team at Disqus to have a new base to iterate off of. Going forward they have a ton of plans for after launching 2.0 in the Windows Phone Store. For example, look forward to support of new Disqus-exclusive communities called Channels.
First impressions of the Disqus 2.0 for Windows Phone? It's beautiful. It's fast. It's fluid. Those are the three descriptors that get tossed around a lot for stellar Windows Phone apps, and this is very likely to be one of those apps when it launches.
We're really liking the ability to now see upvotes, new followers and more inside out Notifications pane. A useful feature if you frequently participate in discussions on sites using Disqus.
There's a few steps the team needs to do before having a public beta, but in the meantime we figured we'd share what's next for Disqus on Windows Phone. We'll of course let you know how you can join a public beta when and if one becomes available in the near future.
What do you think of the new update? Disqus! ;)
P.S. Don't be afraid to check out the current version of Disqus for Windows Phone!
