10 Free Pocket PC Utilities You Need
Posted by Steve Laser on 03/6/08 in Opinion, PocketPC, Software, Windows Mobile 6
These innovative utilities help your Pocket PC become even more useful. I have gathered, over the years, some of my favorites. I will share them with you here. Please post some of your own favorites too.
In no particular order I present them now.
1. AE Button Plus - With this program you can assign up to four different keypress events to a single button. I use it in conjunction with my WiFi button. I assigned a long keypress to it, which takes screenshots using another awesome utility that’s next on my list. When I press the WiFi button once, WiFi turns on. If I hold the button down for several seconds it will, instead, take a screenshot of my device.
2. Magic SS - This Screen Capture utility is simple to use. Just map it to a button and it will save images as BMP files in your My Documents folder.
3. CIA World Factbook - Designed to be used in your browser, even if you’re not connected, it allows you to Find maps, country profiles, flags, and facts and figures about nations around the world.
4. Converter CE - Freeware version of Converter Pro, it converts the most commonly used units such as Temperature, speed, weight, length, volume, computer, power, torque, area, energy, force, and pressure units.
5. AlarmClock - Easy to use and it works.
6. TCPMP - Video player that has tons of codecs and viewing options including various aspect ratios, video speed, various audio codecs, and it’s really easy to use.
7. Total Commander - Windows Explorer for the Pocket PC.
8. Audacity - Ok, it’s not exactly for your Pocket PC, at least not directly, but you can use it to make new sound clips for your Pocket PC’s alarms. Here’s the Tutorial. Now you can wake up to Al Pacino in Scarface saying, “You need people like me, to point your fingers at, and say I’m the bad guy!”
9. FairUse Wizard - So you downloaded TCPMP, but how do you get movies onto your Pocket PC? Use FairUse. Customizable and easy to use.
10. My Mobiler - View your mobile screen on your desktop, control it, capture your screen, drag and drop files and more.
That was fun. How about some bonus utilities?
11. TomTom 6 Volume Override Loader by Nivanov - In the author’s words, “…Tomtom 5 used to override the volume, making your PDA announce turns even when it is muted. Oftentimes, I turn on my TomTom just to realize that the volume is muted and I wont hear any announcements. So I decided to write a small loader that saves the current volume setting, then sets volume to maximum, runs TomTom6 and when its closed, restores volume.” I absolutely love this utility.
pictured above: 92 dpi
12. Real VGA from XDA Developers - This awesome utility allows you to change the DPI (dots per inch) of your display to get real VGA.
13. SIPChange from XDA Developers - I want my default Software Input Panel (SIP) to be ZoomBoard, but my Pocket PC always defaults to the built-in keyboard. SIPChange let’s you decide what the default keyboard is. Now I don’t have to switch to ZoomBoard anymore, because it’s the default.
This was a labor of love. Show some love by telling us about your favorites.
Written by Steve Laser · Filed Under Opinion, PocketPC, Software, Windows Mobile 6
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You’ve already got my top 3 favorites in your list: Total Commander; TCPMP; and My Mobiler.
Some of my other favorite free software:
NullKeyboard - it prevents that dang SIP from popping up all the time
Skype - what else is there to say?
Adobe Reader - I know it’s bloated, but really the best PDF reader in my opinion
xnView - a really great picture viewer/editor
PocketTune - keeps my guitar in tune and much easier to use and more precise than the pocket tuner I paid for
cLaunch - gives me the Start page I enjoy using
Diarist - lets me blog from my pocket pc
I can’t believe all these applications are free!
I went to the link for the CIA factbook which is another forum. The link there does not work. Any other method for getting the CIA Fact Book?
for phone devices I like:
google maps/windows live maps
callcalendar to integrate phone calls as appointments in outlook
pocketCM (until winmob 6.1)
I haven’t tried converter ce, but Calc98 is a free scientific calculator that does conversions and some timer functions as well. http://www.calculator.org/download.html
Use the unit button to see the conversions.
As for utilites, I like Where Is My RAM? and Oxios Hibernate
Other good free stuff… WeatherWatcher, E-Sword, MDigger, AvantGo and NewsGator
where can I get the plugins for the TCMP?
Atheists-Sword is another great program
http://www.aximsite.com/boards/multimedia/221132-all-known-codecs-tcpmp.html
Hi!
My Mobiler was absolutely great! I had problems with Total Commander. It slowed down the PPC so much that it was practically unusable. I have a Dell Axim X51. Then I discovered that there is a newer beta version that works better on WM5 devices. This doesn’t have these problems.
Also check out the now free version of WorldMate at http://www.mobimate.com
Another handy little app for those that like to tweak the appearance of their mobile device is ThemeGenCE v2.5, which is compatible with Vista and WM6
http://www.freewareppc.com/misc/themegence.shtml
Is AE Button Plus really free? From what I can tell from the website, it seems to be a trial version and $7.99 after the trial period. How does it work with iLauncher? I don’t want it to fight with iLauncher on button assignments. Any more info on this program would be greatly appreciated!
I’ve got about half of those apps on your list.
Some other great freeware are:
Mortplayer- finger-friendly mp3 player.
Flash video bundle- saves and plays back Youtube videos in TCPMP.
Google Maps of course.
Gmail java app.
Weatherwatcher Mobile.
Yahoo Go 3.0
Point UI.
Today agenda- puts tasks on Today screen.
Currency converter.
Pnotepad- alternative to inbuilt notes app.
Skype of course.
GSPlayer- to play radio stations.
I just happened to reread this article yesterday. How funny that you commented on it! Your suggestions are excellent. Do you have a link for the flash video bundle to play Youtube vids? Thanks for the great suggestions.
Hi Steve.
You can get it on xda-developers http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=FlashVideoBundle
Should be the latest one (it changes frequently apparently)
Just make sure to install it on the same place as TCPMP (ie either storage card or device).
Oh one other indispensible freeware app is vtap.
It searches and downloads videos on the net from numerous sites and it searches wikipedia articles (extremely useful- no need to fire up the browser to go to wikipedia anymore).
Arguably better than Flashvideobundle IMHO.
Another good freeware app is metro: Lets you get from A to B on hundreds of subway/undergrounds of cities around the world.
Don’t think Opera Mini was mentioned either. Great java app browser- really formats pages well and reduces data downloaded.
Also MobileJustice: Great if you lose your (GPS-enabled) WM phone- it’ll send its GPS co-ordinates via SMS to a second (nominated) handset. Very cool.
One more: pHM regedit is a good free registry editor.