Tuesday 9 February 2016

Windows 10 System Apps Review


Microsoft wants us to embrace the era of the universal app; the one app that will run on any Windows 10 device, be it a PC, mobile, Xbox or IoT. Sure, we've heard it all before with Windows 8, but the Microsoft enthusiast amongst us (like myself) will gladly give them the benefit of the doubt and do our best to adopt their vision and help them try to realise whatever it is they dreamt up. Therefore I continue to use Windows 10 apps as my primary doorway into the windows world, only reverting to web-based versions or traditional Win32 software when the apps simply don’t deliver what one needs to do the job.

So, how do the default system apps in Windows 10 perform, and can you rely on them to do their job without having to bash about the keyboard with frustration, before bailing to load up something that’s done the job in Windows quite happily for the last 10 or so years? Let’s find out, as I dive through each app, see how it lives up to its primary function and whether one can safely discard its previous Win32 incarnation or alter-ego.

What’s being reviewed?

I’m trawling through the 29 default universal apps that are part of the Windows 10 system as dictated to us by Microsoft (or forced on you, one could say) and get solely updated via the Windows Store. Therefore, apps like Edge and the Feedback App are not included. Although they are apps, they are not updated via the Store.

How’s it being reviewed?

I’m not going to get too technical because, well, I’m not wanting to be that in-depth. I just want to fire up an app and use it for what it was built for, just like the vast majority of people out there all around the world will do when they first get introduced to Windows 10.

The apps are being reviewed on my laptop only which is at least 3 years old, so it’s not optimised for Windows 10 in any way. No touchscreen. No retina or finger print scanner. I don’t have a Windows Mobile device as yet, but hopefully (and I do mean that positively) I’ll have one to play with one day soon.

The review is performed on Windows 10 on a PC as of January/February 2016, which means, deep breath, it’s Windows 10 v1511 (OS Build 10586.63).

System Apps Reviewed:

As I review each app, I'll post them to the blog, but also update the link to each review here.


And ... A review of the reviews! I give a summary of how all the apps rated and what this means for us PC based Windows 10 users here 

No comments:

Post a Comment