Earlier today, Flipboard for Windows Phone finally arrived in the Windows Phone Store. Flipboard, for those who did not know, is a popular service used by millions every day to easily catch up on things happening around the world or dive deep into specific topics, such as technology or entertainment.
Having already been available for several hours now, some of the app ratings suggest that the app still needs some work, while other reviews suggest this app does the job. “It does the job and keeps me update with my daily favorite news,” one reviewer states. “It doesn’t flip,” another reviewer mentions.
Despite how you feel about the Flipboard app, Microsoft is touting it as the app that takes full advantage of the benefits of building for Windows. Here is what Microsoft’s Steve Guggenheimer had to say about the app’s release today. He is the Corporate Vice President of Developer Platform and Evangelism, as well as the Chief Evangelist for Microsoft.
“Like the previous releases for Windows tablets and desktops, this edition of Flipboard takes full advantage of the benefits of building apps for Windows. From its information architecture to visual design details, Flipboard for Windows Phone includes some great features that you’ll only find on Windows devices.”
“From a developer perspective, Flipboard was able to leverage existing investments they’ve already made in Windows 8.1 and create a universal Windows app that runs on tablets, desktops, and phones. Windows Phone 8.1 is a huge step forward in the convergence story, and they were able to share things like UI controls, data models, service interactions, live tile backend, system share contract, and more across multiple device targets. Of course a single user experience won’t always work across all devices, so they also targeted certain parts of the code and design only to Windows Phone.”
Microsoft is also touting Flipboard’s ability to leverage existing investments in web-based components thanks to Webview. This means the Flipboard app shares the same layout code with Flipboard’s website, the Windows 8 app, and other mobile/tablet views. “This transportability of code across devices and form factors ensures better consistency of experience, while reducing the amount of native code refactoring for different devices,” Microsoft explains.
If you have yet to snag the app, you can download it here. How do you feel about it? Was it worth the wait and the hype?
Further reading: Flipboard, Microsoft, Windows 8.1, Windows Phone
