Test your internet connection speed with these apps from Microsoft Research

Microsoft Research recently released two excellent new apps for testing and tracking the speed of your internet connections. Network Speed Test is available for Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8, and the design of the free apps is simple and easy to understand as the name. Fire up either app and hit “Start” and a speedometer-like gauge lights up, testing your upload speed, download speed and network delay. The apps also serve up handy information like which activities your current connection can handle, and saves a history of your tests so you can compare speeds over time.

There’s more information about the apps on the Microsoft Research site, and both the Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 versions are now available for download.