Feel that Christmas spirit in the air? It smells like pine trees and whatever toy parents are beating each other up over this year. Share the giving spirit and present your phone with some sweet new apps.
Multi-Platform Updates
Viber
This week’s update brings the ability to make VoIP phone calls to any phone number, landline or mobile, for an allegedly low rate (calls to other app users are free). The app also displays your phone number on caller ID, so your far-flung friends need not know you’re calling them on the cheap, and the app is 100 per cent free, no ads involved. [Android] [iOS]
Socl
Microsoft’s try at social media (it’s even pronounced “social” — get it?) has a new app for Android, iOS and naturally, Windows Phone. The search-based social network focuses on the visuals, letting you create collages and respond to others’ images by making your own changes. Let’s see where this one goes. [Android] [iOS] [Windows Phone]
Android
Convert Everything
This is one of those rare, pleasant apps that does just one thing, and does it exactly the way you’d want it to. Think of a parameter — seriously, any unit, be it shoe size or kinematic viscosity. Convert Everything will let you convert between standard units of measure with ease. The lite version is ad-supported, but if you work in a field where you’ve got to juggle standard and metric, this app will totally justify itself. [Free]
Cover (beta)
A smart lockscreen that promises to give you the right apps for whatever you’re doing, Cover gives you quick app access based on the time of day and your location. It’s also got a smooth single-swipe app switching function to make for quick navigation. [Free]
Android Device Manager
Android’s formerly desktop-only device locator now has an accompanying phone and tablet app. Like the desktop version, the app shows you where your misplaced device is, and offers to blast its ringer, change the lockscreen password, or nuke it entirely. Now you can use your Android to find your other Android. [Free]
iOS
Pandora Radio
The popular streaming music app’s iOS 7 update brings fresh new design, and perhaps most importantly, the return of the alarm clock feature. Now you can wake up to a genre, not just a specific song like iOS’s built-in alarm clock. [Free]
Fiverr
Fiverr, the anything-for-five-bucks freelance marketplace just rolled out this app that lets you hire yourself or someone else to do the things you need done. It’s even got in-app direct messaging and push notifications to ensure you never miss out on a gig. [Free]
Windows Phone
MetroMail
Finally, a slick third-party Gmail client designed from the start for WP! MetroMail brings unbroken conversation threads, easy organisation and plenty of options to search and archive old messages. [$1.99]
AccuWeather
Nice big update to this weather app this week, including adding Location Search and making the local forecast summary more prominent for quick appraisal of what you should wear. Finally, the app can now support unlimited locations, so you can swipe to see what the weather’s like anywhere. [Free]
The ubiquitous professional social service now lets you add photos to your profile and monitor who’s been checking you out. It also can pull contacts from your address book to help you boost your connections. Now get out there and start networking! [Free]