Best Windows 8 Apps for This Week [August 4]

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We missed the previous rondup with the best Windows 8 apps and we are deeply sorry for that. At its fourth edition, our list of the best Windows 8 application for the past week contains new Windows 8 apps and some very important Windows 8 apps that have received some updates.

You should also know that Windows 8 is now the second most used OS on Steam, clocking in at more than 14 percent. Windows 7 is stil number one with almsot 65 percent, which is indeed a huge lead. Without further, let’s have a look at 10 best Windows 8 apps that we have selected for this week, along with some other mentions.

10 Best Windows 8 apps this week

InstaPic (Free)

instapic best windows 8 app

We have previously talked about Metrogram, a Windows 8 app that was meant to mimick a true Instagram app experience, while we’re waiting for the real deal. Just like Metrogram, InstaPic is not the official Instagram app for Windows 8 but it is said to be “the first and only fully featured Instagram Client for Windows 8 devices”. A big advantage is that InstaPic doesn’t come with advertisements inside the app, albeit the it is 100% free. Makes you wonder how will developers make money. All Instagram features are included:  Register, Sign in, Upload, Comment, Follow, like etc. From app’s official description:

InstaPic comes with a suite of Photo editing features ranging from filters to adjusting brightness, saturation, contrast and several more. InstaPic provides you the most intuitive and elegant way to shoot, edit, share and view the world’s moments in pictures and videos.

Redbox Rentals (Free)

redbox rentals best windows 8 app

Windows 8 users have long waited for the official Redbox app. It is now on the Windows Store and lets you rent your favorite movies. Redbox users know that they can also rent games, not only movies. You can search by:

  • release date
  • genre
  • rating

You can also watch trailers inside the Redbox Rentals Windows 8 app. The app also features a list of the closest Redbox location to your home.

9Slides (Free)

9 slides best windows 8 app

If you have a Windows 8 tablet that you take along with you in business meetings, then most likely you are also looking for some presentation apps. 9Slides is a Windows 8 presentation app that lets you add video.audio commentary to presentation slides straight from your Windows 8 tablet, laptop or hybrid.  The app has some much needed features as:

  • Allows for importing of Microsoft PowerPoint and Adobe PDF presentations
  • Records your video delivering the presentation
  • Allows for online publishing

Rhapsody (Free)

rhapsody best windows 8 app

Music on Windows 8 gets much more interesting if you’ve got a Rhapsody music subscription, right? The Windows 8 Rhapsody app comes with any song you might think off, as well as entire artist albums. You can test Rhapsody on Windows with a 14-day free trial. Here are Rhapsody’s main fetures:

  • Millions of songs
  • Full-length albums
  • Create playlists
  • Save favorite songs to library
  • Rhapsody radio
  • Rich-album imagery
  • Intuitive navigation

QuickScan for Amazon (Free)

quick scan for amazon windows 8 app

Amazon has its very own official app in the Windows Store and we actually did a thorough review of it a while back. Now it’s time for QuickScan For Amazon Windows 8 app. This app basically transforms your Windows 8 device into a barcode scanner, provided that you have a webcam or you can simply insert the barcode. You just need to grab a product that has a barcode on it, scan it and compare it with what Amazon has to offer. Who knows, you might be getting a better deal! Here are the most important features of the app:

  • Barcode Scanner via camera
  • Obtain barcodes from pictures or directly type them
  • Roaming integrated
  • Scans are saved
  • Purchase in your browser
  • Supported countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy & Spain

TextNow (Free)

text now windows 8 app

TextNow is one of the most used apps in the world when it comes to free and unlimited texting. Now it lets you send free text messages directly from your Windows 8 computer! We have previously also talked about MySMS Windows 8 app that lets you send free SMS. TextNow is an obvious rival for the yet to be released WhatsApp. The drawback is that TextNow will only work for Windows 8 users from USA and Canada.

Cattergories (Free)

cattergories best windows 8 app

If you’ve been following Wind8Apps, then you know we like word games; we actually reviewed three of them – Wordament, WordTwist, AdLib.  Cattergories also falls into that cattegory (pun intended).  From the app’s description:

You have 90 seconds to match as many words to categories and starting letters as you can. Better yet, everyone playing Cattergories is playing the same challenges as you! Can you race to the top of the leaderboard? Or can you pick more unique words than everyone else? It’s okay if you don’t win your first round, another will start 30 seconds later!

The games actually take place online which means that there will be new categories being added. It’s definitely one of the coolest brain training apps to use in your Windows 8 device.

MoviePlanet (Free)

movie planet best windows 8 apps

Movie apps are essential in order to have a complete Windows 8 experience and that’s why we have featured a long list with them a while ago, with MovieGuide being one of my favorites. MoviePlanet is now a worthy addition to our list of the best Windows 8 movie apps. The app lets you watch over 5,000 free movies online that are actually taken from Youtube, thus belonging to the public domain. There is even a disclaimer regarding this:

The content provided in this app is hosted by YouTube and is available in public domain. We do not upload any Movies to YouTube. This app is just an organized way to browse and view these YouTube Videos. For better performance use 3G or Wi-Fi.

Dominoes (Free)

dominoes best windows 8 apps

Classic games will be here for ever, no matter how advanced our tech toys will be. If you enjoyed our Windows 8 chess and Sudoku apps, then I am sure you will find pleasure in Dominoes for Windows 8, as well. The game features 3 classic game modes (Muggins, Block, and Draw). You can also change the theme and the backgrounds. The game is 100% free and allows for accomodation of up to 4 players, Of course, you can also play against the computer bu that ain’t that funny, right?

Ragdoll Run (Free)

ragdoll run best windows 8 apps

If you have a Windows Phone phone, then there are chances you have heard about Ragdoll Run, one of the most downloaded games. From the app’s description:

Ragdoll Run is easy to pick up, impossible to put down. Tired of long tutorials before the action starts? Just tap the screen to jump and swipe to rotate the stage when on green blocks, or use the left and right mouse buttons. Now you are ready to choose a character and start running!   All ragdolls have different abilities, guaranteeing different play styles. Ragdolls can be customized with new costumes and aquire awesome powers. Tired of the in-game background? Choose another theme and play it your way.

Ragdoll Run for Windows 8 comes with a high resolution and 3D graphics in 60 FPS. With twelve unlockable characters, there is sure some fun doll running to do there!

Other new & updated Windows 8 apps worth sharing

Starting with this week’s roundup, we will also do a short list of apps that have been updated, as well as new apps. Some of them might matter only to a limited number of users, such as Redbus or Praxair from our current list. We do hope this will prove to be useful for Windows 8 users from all over the world

  • Redbus – Official redBus.in Windows 8 app which is India’s largest bus ticketing company. Search and book for more than 10,000 routes
  • Windows 8 Travel App – the official Windows Travel app (here are some more) gets an update in resolution with help from Leibniz platform
  • Netflix – the app has been given a minor update to fix previous bugs and glitches some users reported
  • Praxair Direct – a really niche Windows 8 app, this one helps you ge information about gases for industrial, welding, laboratory and medical uses
  • Evernote – the updated app brings a new hub page, shortcuts, support for Evernote Business and note options
  • Twitter – the latest updates brings the multiple account sign-in option and the ability to pin users’ accounts and lists to your home screen