You may have noticed a lot of changes around here lately, whether it be our desktop and mobile websites, or on our forums, we’ve been rather busy. Of course, not to be outdone by all this change, it’s time for our app to see an update, and it’s a fairly major one at that.
So I present to you, the official Windows Phone Central app version 3.0, and the product of months and months of hard work, testing, private betas, and then lots more hard work!
The update is available to download right now from the Windows Phone Store here, but if you want to find out what’s new, read on for a feature list. Video walkthrough will follow in a future article, so stay tuned.
Our headline feature this time around, and one that with no doubt has been the most frequently requested, is full forum integration. Swipe over to the browse section and tap the forum tile and you’ll be welcomed to the new forum home screen (you could also tap and hold the forum tile if you want the option to pin it directly to your start screen - see above photo).
We’ve built this forum support from the ground up, based on the Tapatalk API and you’ll find support for:
- Posting and editing entries
- Browsing the forums including sub forums
- Quick jumping around the forums (just tap the header when you’re browsing)
- Viewing photos attached to posts
- Following links posted by other members
- Viewing profile information about users (just tap their tile when viewing a thread)
- Sending and receiving private messages
- Deep linking to forum posts from articles and vice versa
- Viewing recently participated and latest posts from the home screen
- Searching for a post within the forums
We’ve also made a few other changes you might appreciate:
- A new live tile to match the new site logo (rolling out soon to the website - this is a preview)
- New wallpapers featuring our new logo (available in 20 accent colors)
- Customisable themes for the app and live tile (try out a new Windows Phone 8 colour!)
- Improved YouTube video support with HD streaming even on mobile connections
- Rebranded with the new site logo
- Adjusted margins to bring more content to the front
- Added jump options to the comments section
- Fixed a multitude of bugs
- Made several optimisations to the app
- Reduced the app’s installed footprint to less than 1MB
I’m quite sure I’ve forgotten something from that list but hopefully it’s enough of a change to make you interested! We’ve also made all forum functionality available to free users, you guys will just see the same adverts you’re used to.
Without a doubt this has been a very challenging few months for me but I hope you’ll all feel it has been worth it! Of course, we always welcome your feedback in any form, so please comment, e-mail, post on the forums and generally get in touch!
