Productivity applications for Windows Mobile |
| | Right out of the box, your Windows Mobile phone is a powerful productivity tool. Microsoft Office Outlook Mobile allows you to keep track of your calendar, your contacts, tasks, and notes. Whether you are synchronizing with Microsoft Office Outlook on the desktop, or an Exchange Server, you’ll have all your personal information with you wherever you go. One key advantage of Windows Mobile phones is their ability to use add-on software—finance tools, games, photo viewers, medical reference guides, you name it. There are thousands of developers creating software for your Windows Mobile phone, giving you a world of options make it even more useful for you.
In this article I’m going to focus on productivity software. That term can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people, so I’ll simply define it in the context of this article as software that helps you to get your work done or get organized, while being mobile. That might mean editing a spreadsheet, updating a document, organizing your schedule and making appointments, or it might mean keeping track of your time for billing purposes. Productivity is a particularly rich software category in the Windows Mobile world, so there are some excellent applications to assist you on the go. I’m going to tell you about a few I think are the best. |
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Managing your device | Pocket Informant 8, from WebIS, is an application for phones with Windows Mobile Professional (there’s also a similar, but not identical, version for phones with Windows Mobile Standard). You can work with your personal information in unprecedented ways. The program is so popular with some users that it’s their main reason for owning a mobile phone or device. The built-in calendar program included on your phone with Windows Mobile 6 is highly functional, but it’s also basic—it’s created to address the widest number of users possible. But what if you have a complex schedule? What if you’re running your own business, have your kids in soccer and baseball, take painting classes, and are involved with a local non-profit organization doing regular events? That’s going to take some careful planning to avoid mix-ups, and Pocket Informant 8 is exactly the kind of sophisticated application that can help you stay sane with a complex schedule. To start with, Pocket Informant 8 gives you a Today screen plug-in that displays a lot more information than the default option. The greater the amount of easily understood information you can see on the home screen at once, the better you can quickly see what you need (for example, the location of your next appointment). Pocket Informant 8 enables you to add secondary alarms, notifications, and even special travel appointments to the Home screen. It has powerful one-handed operation support, meaning when you’re walking through an airport wheeling a suitcase behind you, you’ll still be able to look up your next appointment. For salespeople, or anyone who interacts with clients on a regular basis, Pocket Informant’s ability to find all appointments linked to a certain contact is extremely useful—you can look up the notes you made during your last meeting with that person. If you’re a Franklin Covey fan, it will integrate with their PlanPlus software so you can keep your Windows Mobile phone in sync with their planning software. I’ve covered only a fraction of what Pocket Informant 8 can do, so be sure to download a free trial and check it out for yourself. |
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 Figure 1 – Pocket Informant 8 calendar view |
Managing confidential information | Spb Wallet, from Spb Software House, is a digital wallet you can use to keep all your important information with you, and also secure and private. For many people, myself included, keeping track of the sheer number of passwords, account numbers, Web sites, and membership numbers is a real challenge. Mobile productivity for me means being able to do what I need to do anywhere I am, and not wishing I could access that one file on my work computer.
I use a digital wallet program similar to Spb Wallet, and use it to store a huge variety of information: credit card numbers, healthcare numbers, passwords for Web sites, bank information, serial numbers, warranty information, registration codes for software, and all manner of account numbers. It’s all information that I need to have at my fingertips in an instant, but it’s also information that I want to keep secure from prying eyes. With Spb Wallet you can do just that: it features 256-bit AES encryption, to really help keep people out (as long as your password isn’t “123” or something equally simple). It offers a desktop software client and synchronization with your desktop, meaning that you can update your digital wallet with information from either source (desktop or Windows Mobile phone) and it will always be up to date.
Spb Wallet also offers customized templates, meaning you can create cards inside the digital wallet that contain exactly the form fields you want—I have one with information about my server, and even one for how much printer ink of each color I have (I can never seem to remember that when I’m out buying ink). This program also has a component available for your desktop. There’s even a plug-in for Internet Explorer so when you’re using your computer you can have Spb Wallet “remember” your passwords for you.
A digital wallet program will enhance the use of any Windows Mobile phone—it’s always the first program I install on any new phone I get, so download a trial of Spb Wallet and give it a try. |
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 Figure 2 - SPB Wallet navigation: Folders view |  Figure 3 - SPB Wallet navigation: Large Icons view |
More power for PowerPoint presentationsAnother core function of a Windows Mobile phone is content editing: being able to edit, or even create, a document. No one wants to have to wait to get back to their desktop or laptop computer to make a simple change to a document, so with the right software you can avoid that problem. One such program is Pocket Slides from Conduits. Pocket Slides is an impressive program and a must-have for anyone that works with Microsoft Office PowerPoint on a regular basis. Windows Mobile 6 Professional includes a program for viewing PowerPoint files, but what if you see a typo on a slide, or want to add some new information? With Pocket Slides, you can do exactly that (and more). Pocket Slides focuses on four core functions: creating, editing, viewing, and presenting PowerPoint slide decks. Create: First, you can create a PowerPoint slide deck completely from scratch: it offers full transitions, animations, slide layouts, master slides, and customizable backgrounds. You can even export your flies as JPEG or PNG files once you’ve created them, perfect for sharing with others via e-mail without having to give up control of the master file. Edit: If you already have a slide deck created, you can edit it with Pocket Slides. You can change text, add new shapes, add images, and even change the color scheme. View: Viewing is fast and simple: If you get a Microsoft Office PowerPoint file via e-mail, even if it’s in the new PowerPoint 2007 format, you can view it using Pocket Slides and get the full experience. Present: Pocket Slides makes it easy to present your PowerPoint slides to someone sitting next to you on a plane, or to a room full of people using a device such as the Spectec miniSD VGA-Out Card.
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 Figure 4 – Pocket Slides |
If PowerPoint is part of your daily routine, Pocket Slides is a must-have application. You can download a free trial directly from Conduits. |
| More, more, more | There are many more productivity applications out there for your Windows Mobile phone: | Developer One’s AgendaOne enables flexible time management, such as viewing your schedule by month so you can quickly see when you have free time. MyList from SBSH is a powerful list management tool that enables you to keep track of everything from a simple grocery list to progress through multiple stages of business projects. Mobimate’s WorldMate is a powerful application you can use to view world clocks, get global weather reports (great for knowing what to pack!), look up real-time flight information (no more going to the airport only to find your flight has been cancelled), convert currencies, and manage your travel itinerary.
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| No matter what your business or personal life entails, the combination of a Windows Mobile phone with the right software makes for a powerful solution that will keep you productive no matter where you are. |
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