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Microsoft is looking to encourage developers to produce apps for its Windows Phone platform, paying out vast amounts of money to get devs on board.


With the Windows Phone ecosystem still struggling to gain a serious grip on the market, being dwarfed by iOS and Android, latest reports have claimed that Microsoft is giving developers up to $100,000 (£63,000) to get high-profile app developers to turn to the Windows platform.

Sadly, this isn’t everyone’s answer for how to make money fast. Microsoft is said to be saving the big bucks to target developers with a proven track record of crafting popular, profitable applications for rival platforms, namely those made by Apple and Google.

"My friends in Silicon Valley say Microsoft has been offering $100,000 or more to companies that will build Windows Phone apps,” a reporter for Bloomberg said in a recent article. They stressed that Microsoft has paid key name developers more than $100,000 to get them to develop for Windows Phone.

Although the Windows Phone platform now has more than 145,000 apps, it still lags a long way behind iOS and Android, both of which what are closing in on the 1 million apps milestone. What is more troubling for Microsoft, however, is the continuing lack of high-profile apps that are becoming something of a must have.

With Windows Phone still a system that is frequently overlooked by developers, earlier this year rival BlackBerry suggested that although it will be bringing its BBM system to iOS and Android in app form later this summer, Microsoft’s OS is still too small to be considered.

“When we look at critical masses and we look at other mobile platforms, iOS and Android at this point in time stand out to us,” Vivek Bhardwaj, Head of BlackBerry’s Software Portfolio, told us. “We are not excluding other platforms, it is just our focus needs to be on those that can get BBM to the masses and the data shows that iOS and Android make up the bulk of mobile users around the world.”

The new Google Camera app finally brings features that were once only available on Nexus devices to every other Android snapper out there. Well, as long as those Android devices are running KitKat, that is.


Two of the apps biggest features are Photo Sphere and Lens Blur. If youre remotely familiar with the Nexus 5, or even the Nexus 4 that came before it, Photo Sphere is definitely not a new trick, but it was very limited in terms of who could use it.

Photo Sphere allows you to create panorama-like images with a 360-degree field of view. That means youre not limited to just panning straight across a scene, but you can move your phone camera up or down to include more of the sky and foreground.

The stitching job on the 360 panoramas is pretty good, or at least as good as it can be on a really difficult image to piece together. And youll be able to view them in full on your Android device or on Google+ if you want to share the photos.

Blurry like a DSLR

The next notable feature is Lens Blur, which is similar to what youll find on the HTC One and the Samsung Galaxy S5. Basically, you select your subject and everything else gets blurred out so the focus is mostly on your subject. Its like shooting with shallow depth-of-field on a DSLR.

These photo blurring effects sometimes work very well, and other times they seem very artificial. When its done right, the results can be dreamy and natural. On the other hand, if its a little overdone - like it is on the HTC One compared to the Galaxy S5 - it can look a little gimmicky.

However, if you use it sparingly and carefully, you can get pretty good results and really show your subject and get rid of all the clutter in your photo.

In the end, the Google Camera app is pretty simple, and the UI is designed to make taking photos easier. You can download it via the Play Store now if youre sporting a device with Android 4.4 KitKat. Enjoy!