Yes, this is a screenshot gallery to show off the new Duolingo universal app for Windows 10 but first a background lesson in the benefits of the new Universal Windows Platform.
Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps are a key binding element of Microsoft's approach to Windows 10 being across multiple form factors and types of devices. Microsoft believes the UWP will bring benefits in three areas:
- Driving scale through reach across device type
- Delivering unique experiences
- Maximizing developer investments
That last one ties into this screenshot gallery because Microsoft's desire is that developers will invest in the UWP because it means one code base for their apps that then makes it available across multiple platforms - primarily desktop and mobile (phone) devices - and therefore less work for those developers to reach new audiences.
Since Windows 10 was released to the public a month ago more apps are arriving based on the UWP and so I wanted to start highlighting these apps.
The first 17 images are from the desktop version of Duolingo and images 18 to 36 are from the mobile (phone) version of the app. You will notice an almost exact experience between the two platforms and that is on purpose.
Remember the phrase we have heard from Satya Nadella over the last year?
"The mobility of the experience"
This UWP app and many others are perfect examples of that phrase in action.
As for Duolingo itself the app has been reviewed 8,583 times for Windows Phone and has been rated over 14,300 times for an average of 4.6 Stars.
It uses gamification to teach the following languages through quizzes, streaks and repetitive reinforcement of the key language elements in each lesson:
- Spanish
- French
- German
- Italian
- Portuguese
- Dutch
- Irish
- Danish
- Swedish
- Esperanto
- Turkish
- Norwegian
- Ukranian
and of course English.
I am a very decent Italian speaker after living in Italy for 18 years but I still mess up the basic conjugation of verbs, use of feminine and masculine variations of words and tense but Duolingo helps to solve those issues through its lessons. It is also a great refresher if you already know one of the above languages and can be taken in small bite size chunks on breaks instead of playing your favorite word game.
Check out Duolingo in the Windows Store.
