These days, a mobile OS is only as good as its ecosystem, and no company knows this fact more than Microsoft. Its smartphone platform known as Windows Phone has had plenty of growing pains during the first three years of existence, which is mainly related to a limited number of big apps and game titles. Despite these struggles, Microsoft has slowly but surely been able to court heavy-hitting developers -- even if only one or two at a time. Today, however, a gaping hole in the Windows Phone Store will be plugged, as Instagram will be available as a free download beginning today around 2pm ET.
The Instagram app, which will be available only for Windows Phone 8 (sorry, legacy users), will offer Live Tiles that refresh with new data on the Start screen, and will also come with support for fast-resume; sadly, there are quite a few features that won't be available right away, such as video capture and uploading, photo tagging, viewing geotaxis and -- arguably the most important -- in-app image capture. Instagram explains that it wanted to get the app out to users as quickly as possible, so a few features had to be left out of the first version (which Instagram is calling a beta), but it assures us that future updates will come with plenty more functionality (as updates are often wont to do). Still, the addition of official support by Instagram is a good indicator of health for Windows Phone.
Update: Despite Microsoft's and Instagram's repeated assurance that in-app image capture would not be available, it appears that it's actually included in the official app after all. Pressing the camera button takes you into the camera roll by default, but choosing the camera icon allows you to take a pic. Once you take the image, it auto-selects that shot and lets you upload it through Instagram.
%Gallery-slideshow122524%
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Microsoft
Comments
The wait has been pretty agonizing (for some of you, anyway), but the first batch of Windows 10 phones is almost here. AT&T just announced that it'll be the first -- and possibly only -- carrier in the US to carry the new Lumia 950, which you'l...
"The Pip-Boy is an important part of Fallout and we love it so much we made a real one." Those words, delivered by game director Todd Howard at developer Bethesda Softworks' first-ever E3 media briefing this year, triggered cheers around the world....
You could be forgiven for forgetting that Windows Phones were ever really a thing -- iOS and Android devices keep making headlines. After all, it's been ages since we got a high-end phone from Microsoft or one of its partners. It was... frustrating...
When Microsoft released Windows 10 Mobile build 10536 to Insider users earlier this week, it probably didn't expect it to break user's phones. It did. Turns out,the update was only meant for certain devices, but a device check glitch allowed non-su...
