 | So many apps, so little time. From personal productivity to personal fitness, from genealogy to games — so many kinds of games: racing and role-playing, Trivia and Tetras. Online retailer Handango reports adding a total of 2,397 new mobile applications to their online library between January and March, 2007. What I need now is a list manager.
So what do you want in your pocket? A digital gaming console, a language translator, a medical calculator, a map, a dictionary, an e-book, a diet manager, a carb-counter, a personal assistant? | |
| | Check what you’ve already got | | | As soon as I get a new device, I go to the Start menu, and click Programs to see what applications came pre-installed. After I’ve had a device for a while, I check Start, System tab, then click Memory to see how much space I still have available to install and run new programs. On the System tab you may also find utilities you didn’t know you had. For example, on my Windows Mobile 6.0 device, I found an encryption utility for encrypting files on my storage card.
Also, it’s a good idea to check what will work on your device. Most new devices support Bluetooth 2.0 headsets, but if you have an older device you’d better check before you buy Bluetooth hardware. And before you shop, read about the choosing Bluetooth devices in Bluetooth Envy. | |
| | Ways to get software on your device | | | There are two avenues to get applications on your device: | | | Computer link to device — Using your computer, you can shop the Internet for mobile software, download it to your PC, and then transfer it to your mobile device via the cable connection that came with your device or Bluetooth. (If your computer isn’t Bluetooth capable, you can buy a Bluetooth-USB dongle.) .CAB to device — Following the trend of increased mobile access to the Web, more and more mobile application providers make their software available as .CAB or cabinet files, so if you have Internet access you can download programs over-the-air (OTA) directly to your mobile device and install them from there. Note that unless you have an unlimited data plan, you will pay data usage charges to your cell service provider.
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| | In addition, some mobile developers sell mini SD cards preloaded with applications or content, such as GPS software or maps. | |
| | Where to buy | | | Look for the Designed for Windows logo, which guarantees that the software has been tested against Microsoft’s quality standards for Windows mobile devices. | | | Windows Mobile Certified Software Catalog: You can start your search for new software right on this Windows Mobile site, at the Windows Mobile Certified Software Catalog. The catalog showcases all types of applications and provides links to online retailer sites to buy. Handango claims that it offers the world's largest selection of software — freeware, shareware, and commercial software — for your Pocket PC or Smartphone. A note on the site recommends “shopping by your device to ensure application compatibility.” They have a very efficient sorting function. Within each category you can sort the list by best sellers, highest or lowest price, rating, or product name A–Z. If you have Web access from your mobile device, you can download the mobile client on your device at http://mhgo.com to browse and buy, then download .CAB files from Handango Inhand. Mobihand is one of the newer mobile e-tailers that sells software and accessories. By default, the list of best sellers appears first, or you can cut right to the chase and use the dropdown to “select your device to display compatible products.” The Mobihand catalog offers an interesting mix of activity and specialty applications, such as the usual business and finance, communication and Internet, games, and also medical applications. PocketGear has a large selection of commercial software for Pocket PCs, as well as some shareware and freeware. On the product description pages, the Summary, Requirements, and Downloads sections adjacent to the screenshot give a useful, quick overview of a product. Then if you are interested, you can read the details, which also include awards or special mentions the product has earned. Pocketland: Instead of displaying ratings by the number of stars, this German site shows the number of downloads and the date a product was released. For instance, the first on the list had 125,460 downloads, the next had 106,535.
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| | My personal favorites | | | Here are a couple of my long-time and recent favorite apps that make my life easier on the go. | | | Voice Command — I’m a long-term fan of Microsoft’s Voice Command, and according to Handango it was the #2 best selling Windows Mobile Pocket PC application in 2006. Whether or not your state is one of the growing number of states that prohibits cell phone use while driving unless you use it “hands free,” there’s more reasons to buy this application. Beside the usual speech recognition tricks such as allowing you to place a call, it can read things back to you like the phone number of an incoming call. If you have any difficulty setting up Voice Command on a Bluetooth-capable device, make sure your device supports Bluetooth and check the Voice Command Troubleshooting Web page or the Windows Mobile Owners Circle forum for assistance. Code Wallet — I got tired of shuffling through sheaves of paper to find my confirmation numbers for my e-tickets, hotel, airporter; and my flight numbers, and the hotel address, and the relevant customer service 1-800 numbers. So I finally downloaded Developer One’s Code Wallet. Now, I enter my password, thumb my way through a couple of screens, and I have what I need. Literally, at my fingertips. Silverlight, coming soon — Microsoft's Silverlight is a browser plug-in, similar to Macromedia Flash, that allows you to see rich interactive Web apps. Since Silverlight is vector-based, it will adapt to small screen resolutions. The browser plug-in is in beta, but looks very promising.
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| | New applications are coming on the market all the time. When you can get it, the Deepfish browser piloted by Microsoft Live Labs gives you a view of a Web page from a zoomed out perspective — like the front page of the Wall Street Journal, then zoom in to areas you want to read. | |
| | Some good things are free | | | While some of the commercial mobile application retail sites also list freeware and shareware, here is a list of links to free plug-ins and easy-to-use system tools. That may not sound as exciting as a new game, but many offer new levels of convenience and for me that adds up to a better mobile computing device experience. | | | BatMemTime is just what it sounds like: a Today screen plug-in that lets you monitor battery, memory, and "up-time" (time elapsed since you last re-set your device). Magic Button This little app enables the “x” button to completely quit an application, instead of just minimizing it and allowing it to run in the background. (You can do this manually of course, from the Start menu, select System, select Memory to see and turn off applications you are running that are running down your battery.) MobSync By default, ActiveSync synchronizes files in the My Documents folders. MobSync lets you sync any folder on your Pocket PC or its storage card (including those not in My Documents) with any file folder on your desktop.
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| | The French site PocketPCFreeware has long offered one of the largest collections of freeware. In autumn of 2006, the site announced that it had completed the translation into English. The site has a ratings system and a forum.
Another spot for forums is the Windows Mobile Owners Circle. There you can also get special offers and download free applications such as Live Search to find shopping, businesses, maps, directions, and traffic updates. | |
| | Be careful out there | | | When looking for a new application or two to fill up a little leisure time (or organize your time so you have more leisure time), the same rules apply as for all Internet shopping: Make sure you’re visiting a reliable retailer you trust before typing in your credit card numbers or downloading an executable file. Otherwise, you could get more than you bargained for such as pirated software and/or spyware, and viruses — and there goes your leisure time and perhaps your personal information.
Check out what apps others are using or share what you know on the Microsoft Windows Mobile community pages. | |
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