Windows Phone 8 Devices Get the Redesigned Foursquare App

Foursquare has revamped its app for Windows Phone 8 smartphones with a feel of augmented reality and more exclusive features for the Nokia Lumia handsets.

The new Foursquare app, a product of collaboration among Foursquare, Microsoft and Nokia, comes with the characteristics and style of the Windows Phone operating system (download the app here).

Although Windows Phone 8 devices will be integrated with the new app, only Nokia Lumia handset users could avail of the exclusive features that come with it. For example, Nokia Lumia 920 and Lumia 720 users may look for fascinating places nearby, business establishments, restaurants or gasoline station just by clicking on the map found on top of the display and tapping the camera icon located at the top of the device to shift to augmented reality mode.

Explore never before seen places from real visual information like exact addresses using the camera viewfinder that will virtually walk you through what’s being laid down before you – the real world and overlay venues in Foursquare – after switching to the augmented reality feature. This nifty feature helps you check in smoothly.

Click any of the icons displayed to navigate through the details of the location page. Leveraging the voice recognition native to Windows Phone devices, the updated Foursquare app comes with speech integration for a hands free checking in and finding venues.

Additionally, the integration of near field communication in Nokia Lumia smartphones that run Windows Phone 8 allows users to check in by placing the device on an NFC tag, assuming it is available in the site. It may come in a poster, sticker or a card found at the point of sale.

To top all that, the redesigned Foursquare app also comes with the HERE-powered map to round out your experience. Aside from the exclusive features tagging along the app, users can also use pinned venues at the Start screen to quickly check in to any location in one fell swoop the moment you visit that place. As well as a social network that it is, the Foursquare app also allows you to pin your circles’ profiles on the Start screen to keep tabs of they’re up to or whey they last checked in.

Developers of the app claim that it has been downloaded 30 million times and has recorded 3.5 billion check-ins to keep you abreast of the most visited cities in the world or even just among your friends.