In late October, Microsoft finally released the public version of the Windows Phone 8 SDK, allowing all app developers to start making software for the company"s latest mobile OS. Today, Microsoft announced the release of a new set of developer tools for Windows Phone 8.
The Windows Phone developer blog announced the availability of the Windows Phone 8 version of the Windows Phone Toolkit. Microsoft stated, "For those of you who are new to developing for Windows Phone, the Windows Phone Toolkit is an additional package of controls that you can use with the Windows Phone SDK to easily add useful controls to your Windows Phone app."
The blog has full instructions on how to download and install the new Windows Phone Toolkit, which also has Windows Phone 7 support as well as Windows Phone 8. The blog also lists some of the new controls that have been added to the toolkit, such as the one above which can add some new visual effects and transitions to a Windows Phone app.
These new controls should give Windows Phone app makers some new options to make their own apps look a bit different from the crowd. Hopefully, Microsoft will continue to support and add features for app makers in this fashion.
Source: Windows Phone developer blog | Image via Microsoft