X

Windows Phone Store boasts new ways to find apps

Windows Phone 8 flaunts fancier app store with curated and personalized content.

Brian Bennett Former Senior writer
Brian Bennett is a former senior writer for the home and outdoor section at CNET.
Brian Bennett
Microsoft

Multi-core processing and NFC support aren't the only big new tricks in Windows Phone 8. Microsoft has added fresh ways to sift through its apps store too.

At 120,000 titles, Microsoft's Windows Phone offers nowhere near the largest selection compared with Android and iOS. Even so, that's nothing to shake a stick at and sorting through all those options can be daunting. As part of the new Windows Phone Store design, Microsoft software curators will build groups of applications around a common theme. They will also tweak the collections showcased regularly and tailor content to match your location.

The store will try to tempt you with personal application recommendations based on what Microsoft, and its Bing search engine, thinks you'll like. Called Personal Picks, the feature apparently calculates this by monitoring your prior downloads, what you're Facebook friends are into, and what's popular in your geographical region. It sounds a little creepy but could be useful depending on how it works in practice.

For more information, check out the most common questions readers asked about Windows Phone 8 here. Our full review of Windows Phone 8 also breaks things down into much greater detail.

Microsoft will curate apps into Collections. Microsoft