Our Favorite Android, iOS, and Windows Phone Apps of the Week

App makers have officially shrugged off the holiday lethargy and are updating apps stores with amazing new additions to make all our lives collectively easier. Or at the very least much prettier.

This week, Microsoft is on a crazed app development bender, building more lock screens for Android, buying one of the best calendar apps out there, and helping make its own Windows Phone platform even better. Let's take a look at what Microsoft and other developers are up to.

Microsoft Garage is an amazingly wonderful programit's like an app developing machine, creating smartphone software across iOS, Android, and Windows Phone. Its latest creation for Android reimagines the lock screen and incorporates some Microsoft services into what is probably your Google-filled smartphone existence. The lock screen pulls images from Bing, displays missed calls and texts, current weather and news, and of course, a Bing search bar. [Free]

If you're lucky enough to live in Boston, Los Angeles, New York, or San Francisco, making a reservation just became waaaay easier. Reserve helps you with your dinner reservation from beginning to end. Pick one of Reserve's partnered restaurants in the app, choose the time of your reservation, and let the app do the rest. You can also set the app to automatically pay for your bill when you're done. Here's a toast to convenience. [Free]

The U.S. is the worst place in the world for finding a deal on flights. That's why we need all the help we can get. With features like "Watch a Trip" and "When to Fly," Hopper tracks the trips and destinations you're looking to visit and sends push notifications when it discovers a significant price decrease. We'll most likely still be paying more than all our international friends, but hey, it's a start. [Free]

See original here:
Our Favorite Android, iOS, and Windows Phone Apps of the Week