Must-Have Pocket PC Software?

MBCook asks: "I just got a new Pocket PC with Windows Mobile 2003 SE on it. I haven't owned a PDA since my old HP 320LX (7 years ago, with Windows CE 1.0!). So since I've been out of the game for a while, I'd like to ask: what PocketPC software (both commercial and free) do you find essential? What little gems can't you live without? Game, productivity, utility, oddity, or other... I'd love to know what Slashdot readers find to be the best software."

Comments

Skype!

[Deliveranc3]

I have a palm pilot and I am really hurting to run skype!

I know you probably have a cell phone but it would be pretty awsome. And you can make outgoing calls without worrying about incomming ones.

You need Mic, audio, decent processor, and wifi but if you bought a nice new pocketPC then you should have all of that.

Ebook reader and possibly emulator for games

[jebiester]

An ebook reader is a good idea. This way you can carry a virtual library of good books with you anywhere you go. Mobipocket seems alright for this, although many features are now only available on the pro version which isn't free anymore unfortunatley.

Another good application for the PocketPC is emulation. There are quiet a few good emulators if you're into playing classic games (eg. Apple IIe, C64, Spectrum, etc)

ScummVM

[Chris Pimlott]

ScummVM has a lovely Pocket PC version that is really nice and will play all your old favorite LucasArts (and a few others) games. And since they were all mouse-based, the gameplay translate well to touchscreen and stylus.

My list

[ebbe11]

includes the following:

• TimeTTracker from RF Consulting" to keep track on how much time I use on what and whom. I work as freelancer and this program alone has paid not only for itself but also for the Pocket PC and all the gadgets associated with it.
• Tomtom Navigator 3 used with a Haicom HI-303S compact flash GPS receiver.
• Wisbar Advance 1.3.2.2 from Lake Ridge Software. This is the older freeware version that does not work with Windows Mobile 2003 SE. The version that does is payware.
• ev41, a freeware HP-41 calculator
• nPOPw freeware email program that can delete mails from the POP3-server, something that the built-in version cannot do. I use it for checking email when I'm on the road.
• Pocket Informat Pro 5 PIM program. This so much better than the built-in version.

Re:iPodder

[Oliver Wendell Jones]

Instead of a memory stick, I bought a PCMCIA sleeve for my iPaq and put a 5GB Kingston Datapak in it.

This gives me plenty of room for all the things I want to have with me (music, movies, porn, etc).

One of the most handy utilities for me is SPB Pocket Plus v2, it provides a *real* close button to end applications (instead of just minimizing them), a good file explorer, some enhancement for Pocket IE, a Today screen plugin that shows memory, storage, backlight adjustment bar and more.

I use a calculator program called 1-Calc, a fabulous MS Project compatible project planner called Pocket Plan, a Backup/Recovery tool called Sprite Backup which will let you restore your system without having to install the program first (the backup file contains the restore .exe) and it also has a conduit for backing up to your PC if your handheld doesn't have enough room for storing it. I have two different drawing programs, Pocket Artist for bitmap editing and Vectorsoft Draw for vector based work. Resco Picture Viewer is handy for carrying around pictures of your kids, etc.

I use BetaPlayer as my preferred movie viewer and PocketPlayer as my music player. Windows Media Player will work for most things, but doesn't handle DivX like BetaPlayer.

When it comes to games, I have Chesscapade - a battlechess type program, Pocket Doom and Pocket Hexen, Bejeweled, the Sony-brand Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune are both good, and of course I have the premiere 3D RPG Ultima Underworld, which plays just like the original PC version.

A *must* for video encoding and playback

[no_such_user]

Though I use a PocketPC, I still like to avoid Windows Media. Instead, I use these tools for a nearly perfect experience:

PocketDivXEncoder is a wonderful tool, using mencoder to encode video to PDA-sized mpeg-4. Lots of options for video (including rotation) and audio, but not enough to be confusing. More importantly, audio and video stays in sync, I can estimate file size before encoding, and it supports multiple resolutions to support more than one platform.

For playback, I use BetaPlayer, a very capable (and GPL!) video player, with excellent mpeg-4 support. Full speed playback on my older 300MHz Toshiba e355 device, and it doesn't even kill my battery. Excellent support on the CoreCodec BetaPlayer Forum.

On a nearly daily basis, I use TyTool to extract last night's Daily Show from my Tivo as a 480x480 mpeg-2, then use PocketDivXEncoder to convert it to a ~64MB 320x240 mpeg4 file. Extraction, converting the .ty to mpeg-2, and encoding to mpeg-4 takes about 12 minutes on my A64 2800. I don't bother to edit out the ads, since it's very easy to skip them in BetaPlayer. Before I found this, I rarely touched my PDA. This is most certainly the KILLER APP for me.

Re:Familiar

[mrchaotica]

If you can get your Familiar-running PocketPC syncing to a Mac (or even merely being recognized as a storage device by the OS), be sure to tell me about it! I have an old iPaq 3650, but I could never get the MacOSX driver to work. I gave up and (just a few days ago) bought a Palm Tungsten E.

Also, I just checked: the latest version is still 0.1, which is what I tried and failed to use way back in the summer. But yeah, if you have more success with it, tell me what you did (PM me here, or send mail to my name @ yahoo or gmail)!