Tech Tuesday: Windows Mobile Apps

These days often I hear of the many cool things the iPhone can do and I have to admit its a pretty cool phone. However, other than a far superior UI (user interface), I haven't really heard of anything it can do functionally that my Windows Mobile phone can't. I am currently using the HTC Kaiser (aka AT&T Tilt) running Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional. The Tilt is what is refered to as a Pocket PC meaning that it has a touch screen, I will let you know if the Smartphone (non-touchscreen) equivalent is also available.

I wanted to share with you a few of the additional applications I use on a daily basis (the total of which cost me $0.00), not including basic things like calculator or text messaging. One major thing to note is that I subscribe to an unlimited data plan and some of these applications are data intensive (meaning if you don't have an unlimited plan it could cost you a bit in data fees).

One of my all time favorite apps just got better. Google Mobile Maps (available for several platforms including Blackberry and Symbian 60 (Nokia Smartphones)) now offers "Street view" along with its typical map view, satellite view and turn-by-turn directions. GMM also works with my phones built in GPS (also works with an external GPS reciever), or (if you don't have GPS) it can use network towers to approximate your position.

Next up, I use a program called iContact (yes I know it has the stupid "i"). Its an application that runs on top of the normal contacts application but is much more finger friendly. Also you can quickly go directly to contacts starting with a certain letter with the alphabet pad and it supports "favorites" so you can quickly access people you call often.
*There is no smartphone version of this app

Since I'm not always at my computer I also like to keep up with the blogs and podcasts I follow with an application called BeyondPod. Its a nice little RSS reader that will automatically download the latest feeds from the sites you choose. One of the big advantages of this app is it will also download the lastest podcasts OTA (over the air) right to the phone, without the 10MB limit like some "other phones" have to deal with. (Smartphone Version)

Another app I really like is called PockeTwit. It is basically a Twitter client that lets me update my status on twitter/facebook, and receive friends' updates. One nice feature is that it uses a unique notification (like when you get a text message) that works outside of the program itself. (Smartphone version/Additional download site for Pocket PC)

Live Search is an application from Microsoft itself that has maps, traffic, and directions also (I use GMM for that), but I do use it as a quick way to pull up the cheapest gas prices in town and movie showtimes. Another cool feature is the voice search. You press a button and say what and where you want to find something and it will pull up a list that matches, for example "Starbucks in Fresno California". (Works for both Pocket PC and Smartphone)

One of the major areas of improvement for Windows Mobile is its crappy browser (Internet Explorer Mobile, not good on the PC not good on a phone). This is where Opera comes in! A great browser that surfs the entire internet, not just the mobile net. Has a great zoom feature and supports flash and java content. Which is funny since Microsoft's Xbox.com and social.zune.net both require java to login and are therefore inaccessible through IE. If you download one app for your phone I would say do this one! (I am currently using Opera Mobile 9.5 Beta 2, but only the last stable version (8.65) is available for smartphones.)

So that's a sample of what I use on a daily basis. If there's something in particular you are looking for let me know. A great site to find all sorts of applications (all free) is freewarepocketpc.net for Pocket PCs or smartphone-freeware.com for WM smartphones. Hope this helps!