Most of you probably don’t read MSN, but you probably know somebody that does. Is it just me or do most mothers and grandmothers love having MSN as their homepage? That observation could be completely anecdotal, but I’d wager a few of you have a relative or two that goes to MSN.com daily. And guess what? They probably like the site. Pick up this MSN app for Windows Phone 8 if any of the above is resonating with you. Let’s check it out.
MSN (https://www.msn.com/) is a great site if you want to get a quick pulse on what’s happening in popular culture. The site is a mix of celebrity news, sports, politics, and entertaining stories. It’s lite on thought provoking articles, but everyone has their favorite. The app was recently built from the ground up for Windows Phone 8. Oddly, no doublewide tile with this app. Which is a shame since the rest of the app is so well designed that I would like to see what they would do with live tiles that big. But like most things in life – beauty is only skin deep. Before I get to that, let’s just list the features:
- MSN’s Top Channels: News, Sports, Entertainment, Money, Autos, Living, msnNOW and Healthy living -optimized for touch
- Need plans for the night? Find the latest movie showtimes or check out “Tonight’s Picks” on TV all within the Entertainment channel
- Quick access to stock quotes on the Money Channel or find a new car on the Autos channel
- Swipe to view top stories in each channel
- Quick glance of current weather conditions (uses your phone’s GPS to set location)
- One tap to view your Outlook inbox (once you have logged in)
- Want to share that great cat video? Just tap and share via TXT message, email or on your social networks
Sounds like a killer app right? Like I said, beauty is only skin deep. This app “rebuilt from the ground up” is nothing more than a web wrapper for the mobile version of t.MSN.com. Weak. Sauce.
I’m not exactly sure what Microsoft was thinking when they published this in the Store. You’re better served by pinning the webpage on your Start screen. It’s like that wonderful app Uber that came to Windows Phone a few months ago. That same app that was pulled because abysmal ratings in the Store with their web wrapper app. The app still manages to have a live tile that updates with images from stories currently trending on the site. Still, I can’t help but feel slightly underwhelmed with this app. They took the path of least resistance in putting it on Windows Phone 8. They should have done it like they did with Windows 8 and left it in the browser.
So if you’re interested in trying out this MSN app for Windows Phone 8 go to the Store here, use the QR code below, or swipe to the right in our app.
Thanks for the tip Atif A!
