7. gMaps
This is an odd combination of Windows Phone style and Google data, with the gMaps app "mashing up" Google's location services within a rather fetching WP interface. Being based around Google's mapping tools means it's rammed with features, offering a full satnav tool, street view photography, a choice of layers to illustrate traffic levels, the weather and more, while anyone switching to Windows Phone 8 from Android will feel at right home with its search and Latitude integration.
8. Battery
Windows Phone 8's live tiles are used perfectly here, with Battery serving up your current power status in a range of sizes and formats to slot into the home page. Touch one of the stylish battery icons and you're taken through to the hardcore stats page, which gives you charge status and plenty of historical data on charging times, including the excellent "Longest Battery Life Time" option that's bound to have you trying to eke out a little bit more life from every charge.
9. Photoroom
Let's be honest, this is a clone of iOS and Android photo editing and sharing tool Instagram. Only in Photoroom you get more in the way of nerdy tools and filters to use, thanks to the developer deciding that WP users would like a bit more power to play with. You get a digital zoom, focus vignettes, plenty of frames and borders, white balance editing and much more to fiddle with, plus the required social network sharing tools are in here, so everyone you sort of know can spend a few seconds enjoying the results.
10. Runtastic
There's no point doing exercise unless you can boast about it afterwards, which is where Runtastic comes in. It's a sports tracker that uses GPS to monitor how much of a meal you're making of getting up that hill, using your location data to estimate calories burnt and your average speed, also keeping a history of your routes and times. It also supports the manual entering of data for static indoor workouts like treadmills and weightlifting, so everything's covered and counted whether you were GPS tracked or not. There's even a live tile for quick, motivational access to your monthly activity total.
