Here's a look at some of the best free software for your Windows Mobile PDA to help you make your PDA even more useful.
Watch DivX videos from your PDA using the DivX Mobile player. The DivX site also has information on how to download free videos that are already optimized for mobile playback. You can also transfer DivX videos from your computer to watch on your PDA.
Add an icon bar to your Today screen. This launch bar is similar to the Windows Quick Launch bar, which uses small icons as shortcuts to commonly used programs. To place applications in the Launcher, all you have to do is copy a link to the application file into the Launcher folder.
Use Live Search to find local businesses and restaurants, get turn-by-turn driving directions, view traffic information and gas prices, search the Web, and much more. Thanks to the program’s speech recognition feature, you can even speak your questions into your PDA instead of entering them by hand.
Turn your PDA into an eBook reader with this software. With this program’s ClearType display technology, text will appear more print-like and easy to read. Microsoft Reader also has tools for marking, highlighting, and annotating eBooks, so you can find key parts of a book easily in the future.
If you’re looking for a faster, more full-featured Web browser than what came with your PDA, check out Opera Mini. This browser uses a remote server to process Web pages before sending them to your phone. As a result, the content is compressed and you get to enjoy even faster page loads.
This task manager will remind you of the one found on your computer. With this application, you can view a list of running applications and activate, hibernate, or stop them; view running processes with CPU time and other statistics; start new applications using a Run dialog box; and suspend, reset, or hard reset your Pocket PC. This program even shows information about your PDA that doesn’t appear in the Memory area of the Settings menu.
Communicating with people who speak a different language is tough. Now, thanks to the Pocket Translator, you can translate words from your PDA to make communication a little easier. To use this program, you simply type the name of the word you wish to translate, select a language to translate from and a language to translate to, and click the Go button. Pocket Translator supports English, French, Dutch, German, Latin, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, and Swedish.
Are you wondering what programs or files are hogging the storage space on your Pocket PC? If so, then install WIMR? (Where Is My RAM?). This simple program provides an overview of all of the files and directories in your device, sorted by size. You can customize the view by choosing to show file sizes in bytes, kilobytes, megabytes, or a combination of the three. You can also choose to view files that reside in the PDA’s ROM, RAM, or both.
The free version of this software lets you send travel plans to WorldMate, which will then create an itinerary and sync it between your PDA and personal Web site. You can then access weather forecasts, currency and measurement converters, world clocks, maps and directions to your hotel and meetings, and much more.
