Microsoft releases a new lock screen for Android - the Bing-powered Picturesque Lock Screen
Microsoft is surely no stranger to Android apps and most of these are, in fact, quite good. Next Lock Screen is surely one of these, but from the looks of it, Redmond has a lot of ideas in store for the Android platform and lock screens in particular; so many that it did not bother to overhaul Next, but decided to release a whole new app to showcase them.
Meet Picturesque Lock Screen, developed by Microsoft Garage, the department responsible for most of Redmond's apps that can be found on the Play Store. What's Picturesque, exactly? Similar to Next, it's a lock screen replacement, which makes use of the Bing search engine and provides you with different wallpapers supplied by it (you can change the wallpapers by shaking your phone). But that's not all about Picturesque, mind you - Microsoft's new Android app also has a handy news feed, which is, needless to say, powered by Bing.
Like any self-respecting lock screen replacement, we have a camera shortcut on its main page (a shortcut to the phone app is sadly nowhere to be found, though). Weather info and shortcuts for some of the more vital functions (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Brightness, etc.) of your Android machine have also been thrown in the mix.
However, the app is not very customizable. You can enable or disable some of its features, but tinkering with the placement of the different modules is not possible. Still, we think that Picturesque is a pretty nice alternative to most of the lock screen replacements for Android, with the focus being on the Bing-powered wallpapers. It's free on the Play Store, so go check it out!
Download: Picturesque Lock Screen (Android)
via: Neowin
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless
Things that are NOT allowed: