New Ramadan apps

Followed by the strong interest among the regional app developer community to develop Islamic and Ramadan apps on the Windows Phone 8 platform, Nokia and Microsoft have jointly unveiled the availability of a variety of new Ramadan apps this season.

The new range of Ramadan relevant applications can now be downloaded directly from the Windows Phone Store.

“Developers in the region are very enthusiastic with the opportunities Ramadan apps offer on the Nokia Lumia smartphones with Windows Phone 8 as they constitute a unique ‘economy’ within the Middle East app ecosystem. There has been a significant increase in this category and we are pleased to announce the availability of some of the most innovative applications relevant for this Ramadan season,” said Ahmed Arab, app marketing manager, Nokia Middle East and North Africa.

According to Michael Mansour, developer platform and technology lead at Microsoft Gulf, developers from the region have added various Islamic apps that would let users celebrate this Ramadan with renewed religious fervour and offer Ramadan-specific activities with greater ease and conviction. He added: “This Ramadan, Nokia Lumia users will now have easy access to many of the cherished experiences that Muslims like to be close to, and keep them connected to Ramadan.

“We are committed to providing Windows phone users with access to innovative applications for seamless experiences on the Windows 8 platform.”

This year’s top new Nokia Windows Phone 8 Ramadan applications are feature-packed, and include Ramadan Kareem, Quran Mojawed, Muslim Prayers and Essential Duas.

Ramadan Kareem: This app is the perfect companion for all Muslims observing the fast. It gives the time and countdown for both the next prayer and for Iftar. It also covers the prayer times for the entire day, selecting the location manually or through GPS and using one of the multiple calculation methods one can choose under settings. It also offers very useful tools such as Mosque locator, a Qibla Finder as well as a Quran calculator.
 
Quran Mojawed: It offers the complete Quran in Arabic calligraphy with the possibility to listen to each surah from a different reciter. It also offers complete Tajweed guidelines, as well as bookmarks.

Muslim Prayers: It stands out of the crowd with its highly customisable options. Every feature, such as prayer times, Qibla or Mosque Locator can be ‘pinned to the start’ and accessed straight from the home screen. Its Mosque Locator is directly integrated with Nokia HERE Drive and allows users to make use of the voice guided navigation with one click.

*Essential Duas: It compiles a plethora of Islamic Duas for Muslims in a neat, clear interface, following the philosophy of Windows Phone design language, and granting the user a simple, yet elegant way to recite supplications on-the-go. It also includes transliterations, as well as translations for each supplication.

Nokia Lumia users can download these apps directly from the Windows Phone store on their Nokia Lumia device.