Blog Star of the Week: WMPowerUser

You can be pretty sure you’re on a blog run by tech superstars when there’s no space between the words in a website title. Bad theory? Well it certainly applies to this week’s featured blog. Please make some noise for the fantastic WMPowerUser.

What is it?

The tagline says they’re “the largest independent Windows Phone community.” Their first posts date back to June 2008, since when they’ve posted a steady stream of local and international Windows mobile news, app reviews and opinion.

Who runs it?

The site is administered by Surur, who describes himself as a Windows Phone enthusiast and Nokia Lumia 920 user who has been “using Windows phones devices since before they were called PocketPCs.” He’s joined by Pradeep (a “Computer Science and Engineering Graduate”), Andrew (who knows “just about everything there is to know about the Windows Phone platform”), Olly (who writes as ‘l3v5y’ and describes himself as “student, hacker, news writer and software developer”), and Lucas (a 15 year old tech blogger who “knows almost everything about smartphones”).

Like the people behind some of our other recent featured blogs, these guys live their technology – and for that reason alone it’s worth giving them some attention.

What we love about it

The first thing that springs to mind as you browse WMPowerUser is that these guys are unashamedly hardcore when it comes to the tech they live, love and write about. They aren’t out to blind visitors with their technical knowledge. The clue is in the website name. They’re power users who know their subject not only as consumers but also as technology students and professionals.

Their output is immense and incredibly in depth. Over the past five years they’ve published more than 23,000 articles, and they currently put out around 15 posts every day.

Many of their posts are app reviews – but they don’t stop at sharing their views on what’s available. They even make knowledgeable direct appeals to developers about what they thinkshould be on the market. “I hope developers will stop their obsession with style and branding, and for once create a simple usability-focussed application” writes Surur in his call yesterday for the perfect Windows Phone podcasting app.

We love the game reviews. Most of them are produced by Andrew, who describes himself (modestly we reckon) as an “avid gamer” who promises to “review almost every WP7 game and give you an idea if it is worth your money or not” – a man whose t-shirts speak volumes. They’re a great mix of short video demo and punchy written review, helping you make up your mind about a game within a couple of minutes.

What’s its stand out feature?

You’ll often find a credit in italics at the bottom of their articles, thanking someone who shared the tip or information that made the post possible. You’ll also find posts sent in from contributors outside the main core team, and a lively comment thread beneath many of their articles. That’s what we love most about this blog – the community that supports it and helps make it richer. WMPowerUser is certainly driven by its five resident experts – especially the super-prolific Surur – but it’s fuelled by the community they’ve built around it.

It takes a lot of energy, credibility and depth in a blog to energise people into a community like this, so hats off to the guys for achieving it in such a big way here.

Hooking up beyond the blog

They have their own Windows Phone app, and you’ll find them onFacebook, Twitter and YouTube . You can find some of the guys individual Twitter accounts via their author pages, and to talk Windows mobile with the WMPowerUser community itself you can jump straight into their forum.

Another worthy winner of Blog Star of the Week, we’re sure you’ll agree. Question is, what do you love best about WMPowerUser?