Essential Software - a Guide

February 17, 2005

THE RULES

1. One member, one post. Remember, you can edit your own post later as necessary.

2. Your post in this thread should contain a list of your personal essential

applications - tools, games, whatever - with a one-line comment on why you like it.

3. Please provide a download link for each item.

4. ALL OTHER POSTS WILL BE DELETED.

This is to maintain the thread's usefulness as a guide, so please don't bother commenting on others' choices or requesting advice. You can always start a new topic for this purpose.

Rules Design credit to Monolithix

February 17, 2005

Okay, I'll be Mother...

1. Spb pocket Plus

Today screen plugin with battery / memory monitor, reset button etc

Good selection of other plugins here too.

http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/?en

2. Virtual Pool Mobile

Pool game that is exactly like real life apart from moving the cue ball when the other player goes to the bar

http://pocketgear.com/software_detail.asp?id=14334

3. Simple Tunes

Easy & intuitive alternative for MP3 playing with a familiar design

http://www.handango.com/PlatformProductDet...17041&catalog=0

4. Code Wallet Pro

Keep all your passwords, credit card details with you, Includes excellent PC-sync for backup.

http://www.developerone.com/codewalletpro/pocketpc.htm

5. Vidya Screen Capture

Maybe not essential, but useful all the same

http://www.handango.com/PlatformProductDet...=screen+capture

6. Dominoes

My other favourite game

http://www.randallbrown.ca/dominoes/

7. AOL

Get your email, access AIM etc

http://pocketgear.com/software_detail.asp?id=13769

February 18, 2005

Okay, here goes....

1. Microsoft Voice Command

Link Here

Who needs voice dialling, thats boring, every phone released these days seems to have that... Why settle for voice dialling when you can have Voice Command over your device! Need to know what the time is? Ask it. Need to know you schedule for the day? Ask it. Want to change tracks on Media player using your voice? You can! This program rocks, but is sadly only available to people living in the US at the moment (unless you have family there who will buy it for you and email you the download!)

2. AvantGO

Link Here

The ultimate offline web page reader. You install the software, go to the web site and choose your "Channels" (stuff like Guardian Unlimited, Reuters, etc) and the syncronise with your PC. Next time you feel like catching up on current events, load up the program on your PDA and save on GPRS costs... Who needs a newspaper?

3. Age Of Empires

Link Here

One of the finest strategy games for the PPC. Take your people from the Stone Age through to the marvel of the Bronze Age whilst warring with rival tribes or creating treaties and trade agreements with them.

4. Resco File Explorer

Link Here

A complete File Management program which allows you to map network drives (perfect for home networking and file sharing via Bluetooth and Wifi), can compress and extract Zip files and allows you to edit the registry all in one package. Very handy.

5. Spb GPRS Monitor

Link Here

A very handy GPRS monitoring program which allows you to see, at a glance, how much GPRS you have used by day, week or month, also how much that usage has cost you, and it can even stop your GPRS from working when it reaches a certain limit. Comes free with most O2 PPC devices, but Orange customers should investigate this.

August 3, 2005

Ok.. I'm a but here is what i reckon is on my essential list (which i've carried over from my axim)

SBSH Pocket Breeze/Contacts breeze...

Puts your Pim on your Today screen... from the most helpful software house in the world. And its fully skinnable

http://www.sbsh.net/products/pocketbreeze/

SBSH iLauncher

Launch progs straight from the today screen.. with nested tabs. and a small memory footprint.

http://www.sbsh.net/products/ilauncher/

Sprite Backup

My MDA holds my life. This keeps my data safe by backing up every night at 3am. Creates self contained password protected backups to.

http://www.sbsh.net/products/ilauncher/

TCPMP (pronouced betaplayer :) ) plays my DVD collection on my MDA

http://betaplayer.corecodec.org/

more to come... but I thought I'd make a start

Edited August 3, 2005 by psionandy

August 6, 2005

Wisbar Advance 2

Task Manager, app launcher, cascading menus...

http://www.lakeridgesoftware.com/wisbar

Smartfilter

Blocks unwanted calls.

http://www.novomobile.com/smartfilter.php

Tiny eBook Reader

Small file size with lots of features.

http://www.goldencrater.com/software/phone/TinyReader.htm

Edited August 6, 2005 by Palindrome

August 12, 2005

OK, haven't been playing with PPC's for long (about two weeks) but here's what I've got so far:

TCPMP (formerly Betaplayer)

Plays any format you can throw at it quickly, and with no fuss. Great for watching films on your M500

TCPMP Homepage

DeltaLock

Locks your screen without stopping programs running, so you can start playing an album in WMP, then put your phone in your pocket

DeltaLock Homepage

vBar 2.1

Tiny Task Manager that sits in the top corner of the screen and provides an "X" button that actually closes programs!

vBar homepage

Pebbles

Easy to set up control of your PC from your PPC. Like VNC, but more userfriendly and able to show full PC screen on your PPC (as well as life size one you have to scroll around)

Pebbles Homepage

ICBM

To old farts like me - this is Missile Commander from the early 80's!

To younger people - it's that missile game that John Connor was playing in the arcade in Terminator 2 when the bad guy found him.

Newest version (now only up to level 6 is free)

Older Freeware version (which is COOL!)

August 17, 2005

OK, I've not had my M500 long, but these are cool things I've found or been pointed to...

Spb PocketPlus

Tabbed free-form area on the Today screen for icons and shortcuts to commonly used apps and info (things like Word, Messaging etc as well as Memory and Battery stats). Some nice Icons to choose from, but I haven't worked out how to add my own Icons yet.

D9

http://www.pocketgamer.org/d9/

Full screen phone dialler thingy. T9 text entry to choose a contact on proper thumb-sized buttons. Use the D-pad left/right to choose which number to call for that contact, and Up/Down to choose other contacts that match the T9 pattern. One-click dial too when you've chosen your contact. There's even a button to send a text message to the choosen contact.

Best of all it's Freeware!

DeltaLock

I know Stu just said that, but it really is worth getting.

Sprite Backup

Pricey IMO, but so essential it should have been bundled with the phone

CabInstl_EN

http://www.s-k-tools.com/fp/viewtopic.php?...b4462c819e613af

Choose where to install apps to (ie. Storage Card instead of Main Memory). Doesn't work for everything - not so well written apps will refer to fixed paths, so this kills them! - but seems to work for almost everything I've tried so far

Edited August 17, 2005 by chucky.egg

December 1, 2005

Okay, so I'm breaking the rules but as I've just returned to the Jam from a spell back with Smartphones I thought I might add what had got me excited all over again... :)

Microsoft Voice Command

See above

SBSH Pocket Breeze/Contacts breeze/Birth2day..

See above

Mort's MortPlayer

With Today screen plugin and the thumb-friendly AtomPhil skin, there is no stand-alone MP3 player that beats your PPC.

New version 24.11.05

PocketMax Phone Alarm & ScreenGuard

Repeating alarms for your SMS, missed calls etc with Today screen plugin.

ScreenGuard locks the screen when it's in your pocket. One button lock - two buttons unlocked. Marvellous !

http://www.pocketmax.net/index.html

Tweaks2k2

All those tweaks you were after but didn't want to edit the registry yourself - loads of them !

Get it at MoDaCo Fairdeal

January 27, 2006

I'll add more later but...

SKTools

ABSOLUTELY vital. Uninstall those things Windows Mobile 5 refuses to, and clean the registry etc too :)

http://s-k-tools.com/

February 19, 2006

ok, here's my list...

spb pocketplus

as above.

spb diary

as above.

spb weather

a very powerful weather forecast today plug-in which you can customise.

spb finance

a financial manager which can be used as stand-alone application or as a pocket pc companion for microsoft money or intuit quicken.

spb time

an advanced, skinnable time toolbox for your pocket pc.

spb arkaball

an annoyingly addictive silly game... i love it.

spb tips&tricks

a collection of more than 200 tips and tricks on using the pocket pc, which includes 40 tweaks... i'm not too impressed with it, sorry.

visualit tube2 londonstreets

a map package that consists of a fully scrollable detailed map of the London underground system and 9 linked a-z street maps.

visualit tube2 gb road atlas

a reference map that gives you a clear view of all the major roads in the whole of great britain, which includes a quick find feature to locate any of the 30,000 + GB towns and villages in the database.

visualit tube2 london congestion charge map

a reference map that gives you a clear view of the area now covered by the congestion charge system, which includes a quick find utility to help you find any major road or street in and around the area.

agilemessenger

a free instant messenger supporting aim, icq, msn, qq, yahoo, and wireless village

handmark scrabble, trivial pursuit, monopoly

famous board games in pocket pc versions

airscanner mobile security bundle

software that includes antivirus, firewall and encrypter for the pocket pc

having read this thread, i decided to trial microsoft voice command. OMG... i've never had so much fun with my pocket pc before. this is truly a fine piece of software. admittedly the poor lady gets confused when i say "next track" while playing music, but apart from that it's very good. thank you to those that listed it within this thread.

Edited February 20, 2006 by pookiecheeks

February 19, 2006

SPB PocketPlus - Battery/Memory indicator and Launcher on Today screen - and for that magical "Close" button that actually closes programs - take note Microsoft!. :) http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/products/pocketplus/?en

SPB Diary- great for having your Diary and Inbox on the today screen. http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/products/diary/?en

SPB Backup - Fantastic backup app - a compulsary buy after a few disasters! :D http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/products/backup/?en

TCPMP - While away those hours on nightshift or the bus/train by watching your favourite movies in glorious DivX quality. http://www.tcpmp.org/

Wolfclock - Great alarm clock program with the feature of sleep timer with music. http://lonewolf.tierranet.com/

PPCProfilesPro - Covers up the glaring omission made by Microsoft and actually gives your PPC profiles. Today screen plugin for quick access too! HERE AT MODACO!

WordNetCE - A lifesaver when you get stuck on a clue on the crossword!! http://www.ebswift.com/PocketPC/WordNet/

SKTools - For regular cleanups on the internal memory and keeping the registry in check. http://www.s-k-tools.com/

ALK CoPilot 5 Live - Great for not getting lost on unfamiliar roads and of course knowing where the evil cash cameras are (even if the voice is a little Arnold Scwarzenegger'esque!) http://www.alk.eu.com/

Daren't install any more software at the moment as I won't have any memory left to run anything! :?:

October 11, 2006

Long time no postings, but still a nice thread to which I'd like to contribute, so here I go:

Wisbar Advance 2

Highly customizable taskmanager (and more). Looks awesome (cascading menu). Always the first to go back on my device after a hard reset!

Link

Total Commander

Replaces Windows File Explorer, has much more features. Freeware.

Link

Softick Card Export II

Turns the storagecard in your ppc into USB Mass Storage Device.

Link

(For WM5 there's an excellent freeware app: Link WM5torage)

Pocket RAR

WinRAR for pocketpc. Nice. I use it a lot. Freeware.

Link

Calendar +

Today plugin. Let's you show customize your agenda-items on your homescreen. Freeware.

Link

SPB Backup

Backup-program. Actually never used it to restore, but still a nice idea you can if you have to. Encryption of backup file possible.

Link

VJLumosII

HTC Magician (MDA Compact/Qtek S100/Imate Jam) only!!! Extra backlight. Can be useful on a bright day.

Link

WIMR? (Where Is My Ram?)

It's name says it all: lists all files and folder on your ppc by size. Helps you monitor which files and programs are eating up your memory. Freeware.

Link

Mobipocket Reader

Nice pdb & txt ebookreader.

Link

iSilo ereader

Another ereader, for palm database files (pdb, prc). Especially useful in my workfield (medicine) where both Palm an WM devices are widely used and cross-platform files are essential. Shareware.

Link

PocketXpdf

PDF-reader. Better (in my opinion) and slightly less bulky I believe than the Adobe Reader ppc version. Freeeware.

Link

Handyshopper

Shopping list program for people like me who always buy stuff they don't need and don't buy the stuff they do need. Freeware.

Link

pRSSreader

Nice RSS reader with today screen plugin. Nothing more, nothing less. Freeware.

Link

pRuler

Displays a ruler on your ppc. Freeware.

Link

Playlist Editor

Allows you to create and edit playlists for WMP on your device. Freeware.

Link

Microsoft eVB Runtimes

Necessary for running excellent freeware games like Max Tillberg's "A Viking Saga" and "Warring States". No support for WM5.

Link embedded Visual Basic Runtime

A long post, but these are all programs that are always on my device.

January 9, 2008

Garmin XT Mobile

Sat Nav, obviously, just love Garmin, although I reckon the maps are better on Tom Tom, a nice application if you don’t need your storage card for anything else.

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=11413

Palingo

Free, easy to use program where I can have MSN and gmail chat on the same client

http://www.palringo.com/

Pocket Informant

For contacts, tasks etc but I like it for the calendar, I can see my whole month (well most of it) in 1 view. Im still on the old version.

http://www.pocketinformant.com/products_in...hp?p_id=pi&

Resco Explorer

In a very short time this has become essential, quick viewing, and easier viewing of storage, storage capacities, battery etc.

http://www.resco.net/pocketpc/explorer/

Live search

For finding places and finding them on maps, I love this program.