It looks like Nokia still has a few more exclusive apps for their Lumia Windows Phones to release.
Entrance by AOL, the app appears to be an all-around media/pop-culture/movie/music app that even features augmented reality for finding movie theaters around you. In addition, you can watch movie trailers, listen to music (including full-length albums), stream more than 60K radio stations and you can evidently pin just about everything to your Start screen.
Entrance's key features include:
- A first-of-its-kind Augmented Reality feature enables users to find cinemas and show times playing nearby simply by holding up the Lumia smartphone as theaters, movie posters and show times appear overlaid on the world around them (this looks really cool)
- Moviefone integration allows users to view trailers, see nearby show times, and buy movie tickets directly from within the app
- Entertainment news about movies, celebrities, music and TV from HuffPost Entertainment, AOL Music and others
- SHOUTcast Radio integration enables streaming from over 55,000 global radio stations
- AOL Music and CD Listening Party (CDLP) provides early access to weekly, and exclusive to AOL only, free full length albums from up-and-coming bands, with the option to buy and download after a free preview
- Interlinked user interface allows users to navigate into and out of specific content topics to explore any movie, celebrity or song
Commenting on the release of Entrance, Nokia's Director of Global Partnering and Application Development Mark Fletcher notes,
“Entrance by AOL leverages the depth of AOL's content, whilst demonstrating the unique and differentiated experiences partners can bring to Nokia Lumia smartphones. With innovative features such as Augmented Reality, personalized and contextual Live Tiles and beautiful app design, enabled through the rich Windows Phone UI, we believe Nokia consumers will love this exclusive one stop shop for entertainment.”
David Temkin, Senior Vice President of Mobile and Mail at AOL adds,
“Entrance shows what’s possible when you combine great content with an elegantly designed, incredibly fast handset.”
Like it or not you have to give props to Nokia the way they recruit partners and developers to the Lumia Windows Phones. The result is a nice collection of apps, some exclusive and some not, that really shine. While most of our memories of AOL involve massive amounts of 3.5" floppy disks in the mail (opens in new tab), Entrance looks to offer a new impression of AOL and appears to be a well laid out app that delivers a lot of entertainment content to your Lumia Windows Phone.
Once we've spent some time with Entrance, we'll get a review on the site shortly. In the meantime, you can pick up Entrance here in the Nokia Collection. The flip was just thrown so it may take some time before the app becomes visible in the Nokia Collection. If you don't see it right away, tap the "more from Nokia" link from any of the listed Nokia apps and it may be hiding there.
Daniel Rubino is the Executive Editor of Windows Central, head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft here since 2007, back when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, Microsoft Surface, laptops, next-gen computing, and arguing with people on the internet.
