The 2007 Top 10 Applications List from Clinton Fitch (Dot) Com!
2007 Top 10 Applications
December 17, 2007
Welcome to the 2007 Clinton Fitch (Dot) Com! Top 10 Applications list!
This year marks the 4th year for the Top 10 list and as you have come to
expect, the list of applications is varied but all have one common trait:
All of them should be installed on your Windows Mobile device. Like the
2006 list, narrowing this list down to only 10 was a challenge as there are so
many good applications that everyone should have on their device. Still,
we have come up with what we think is a good comprehensive list for everyone
that should set your WinMo device on the right path for 2008.
As you look through the list you will see a few repeat "winners". In
most cases these have been updated in 2007 and offer new features or better
integration with Windows Mobile 5.0 and 6 devices. We also took a
different approach to the listing in that we have posted the introductory
paragraph of the review of the software as it appears here on Clinton Fitch
(Dot) Com!. With each application you will find a device shot, the price
and link to purchase it, the developer's website and a link to the full review
here on the site.
With that, we are happy to introduce the 4th annual Top 10 Applications list
from Clinton Fitch (Dot) Com! for 2007:
10. VITO Technology Fun Contact
9. Spb Software House's Spb Wallet
8. Ilium Software's NewsBreak 2.0
7. Dinarsoft's MemMaid
6. Airscanner's Mobile Antivirus
5. Spb Software House's Spb Traveler 1.0
4. Sprite Backup 5.1
3. SoftMaker's Office 2006
2. Ilium Software's eWallet 5.0
1. Spb Software House's Spb Pocket Plus 4.0
VITO Technology's Fun Contact
It goes without saying that most Windows Mobile users have contacts - lots of
contacts. In doing a quick survey around my company of those who use
mobile devices - Blackberry, Palm or Windows Mobile - the majority people indicated they
had at least 200 contacts and most were in the 500 contacts range. Clearly
management of these contacts becomes important fast when you are dealing with
that large of a number!
While the built-in Contact manager of Windows Mobile is adequate, it does
have some short comings and graphically, let's face it, isn't very exciting.
VITO Technology has changed that with their new contacts application Fun
Contact. Fun Contact, which is distributed from the
iwindowsmobile website, is a
good step forward over the default contacts application and provides quick and
easy scrolling, the ability to email or SMS a contact with one tap and can even
allow you to sort your contacts by your favorite people. Further, you get
a nicely developed interface that smooth scrolls much like
Spb's Pocket Plus 4.0.
All-in-all Fun Contact is a nice piece of software that can make contact
organization a bit easier for everyone.
Spb Software House's Spb Wallet
If I created a poll here on Clinton Fitch (Dot) Com! and asked "How many
passwords or PINs (Personal Identification Numbers) do you have?" my guess is
that most of you could answer with at least a dozen if not more. The fact
is, as our world has become more and more "digital", the more passwords, PINs
and other private information we are required to store and access almost
instantly. Keeping up with these tidbits of information can be a challenge
and securing them once you have them can be an even greater challenge.
For Windows Mobile users, electronic "wallet" applications have been
available for many years which have aided in keeping your personal information
in an easy-to-access place while keeping it secure through encryption and
passwords. The latest entry into this type of application comes from Spb
Software House and is aptly named Spb Wallet. As you would come to expect
from Spb Software House, Spb Wallet is an outstanding application. It is
well written and highly secured - a 256-bit encryption key is used - yet it is
quick and easy to access the information within the wallet file itself.
Further, seamless synchronization via ActiveSync or Windows Mobile Device Center
makes keeping your wallet file up-to-date on both your PC - for the PC version
of the application - and your Windows Mobile device almost an afterthought.
While it is clear there are some areas for improvement in Spb Wallet - this is,
after all, the v1.0 release - it is equally clear that the Spb team have done a
great job with this initial release.
Ilium Software's NewsBreak 2.0
In our ever-connected world of today, Rich Site Summary (RSS)
has become a mainstay for many of us. Through RSS we are able to get quick
tidbits of information or notifications without necessarily having to pick up
our stylus' and go directly to the Internet to find it. News and
information has become, much like our global society today, driven by quick and
rapid consumption.
In the early days of RSS availability, Ilium Software
developed NewsBreak 1.0, a Windows Mobile Standard (Smartphone) and Professional
(Pocket PC) application that could download RSS feeds directly to your device
via a wireless, cellular or ActiveSync connection. With a high degree of
customization and flexibility, NewsBreak was an instant hit, winning many awards
and recognized by the Windows Mobile community as one of the best RSS
applications available (See our own
Top 10 list for 2006 as an example).
With the release of NewsBreak 2.0, Ilium has taken this great piece of software
forward and it is simply brilliant. There are a host of new features in
this new version including the ability to directly download and play through
Windows Media Player podcasts, Microsoft Live Search functionality for finding
RSS channels and overall performance enhancements. The new features and
functionality are all great steps forward for NewsBreak and make an already
solid application all-the-better.
Dinarsoft's MemMaid
When Clinton asked if I would like
to write a review for this site, I jumped at the chance. When he listed the
software titles he wanted reviewed, I quickly asked if I could write about one
of my favorite applications,
Dinarsoft's
MemMaid.
So let me back up for just a moment and give you a peek into
the sordid underbelly of guest reviews: ordinarily we will agree to write about
a program that we don't already own. Surprised? You shouldn't be. It gives us
the chance to try something new, and if we like it - we get a cool new software
title for free. If we don't like it, it's better luck next time. Consider it a
perk associated with spending days or even weeks testing out a software title,
and hours or even days composing the review's text.
But in the case of MemMaid, I am writing about software I
already own; in fact...I paid for it with my own money. Should that impress you?
Well, I hope it does because in all honesty, it is not everyday that I choose to
purchase software. From the first time that I used MemMaid, I was impressed with
the software - so much so that I immediately bought a licensed copy.
According to the DinarSoft site, "MemMaid is a tool that scans
and detects all the files and registry entries that consume your memory and
removes them leaving your Pocket PC's memory clean like never before. The only
tool you will ever need to clean and manage your Pocket PC's memory." Why would
you need such a program? Because just like any computer, a Pocket PC will
collect installation artifacts and temporary files: junk which should be
deleted, but that isn't always easy to find and eradicate. However, MemMaid
isn't just a one-trick pony, it can also perform some other very valuable
services. Let's take a look at what MemMaid can do, and then you can decide for
yourself if it's the killer application I'm making it out to be...
There are two cleaning methods which can be employed in
MemMaid: Quick and Advanced. The main difference between the two is that Quick
Cleaner is designed to "quickly get rid of those junk files stored everywhere"
by allowing a quick scrub of all the checked files types, whereas the "Advanced
Cleaner" makes you scan them all first, then gives the option of learning more
information about each item found so that the user can choose to manually select
or deselect individual items. Both Quick and Advanced Cleaning modes are
designed to scan through the following list, looking for leftover files and
registry entries: Windows Temp Files, MS Reader Bookmarks, Notify Queue
Duplicates, PIE Cache files, AvantGo Cache Files, PIE Cookies, PIE History, Dead
Shortcuts, Dead Registry, Opera Cache, NetFront Cache, Temporary Files, Dangling
Notifications, Windows Media DRM, Virtual Earth Mobile, Mail Attachments, Log
File (Phone Edition), User Folder 1 & 2, and Custom Extensions.
Airscanner's Airscanner Mobile Antivirus
As the Internet and personal computing has grown, the amount
of computer virus and "malware" have exponentially grown as well. Gone are
the days where one could consider Antivirus software for their PC as an option.
Today it is a requirement unless you want your personal information freely
available or your PC turned into a zombie for less-than-legal purposes
unbeknownst to you. While this same level of protection has not appear to
be required on the Windows Mobile platform to this point, as more of the devices
come into the marketplace they will become a richer target for would-be virus
writers and hackers and will require some level of protection. Simply put,
there are viruses out there for the platform although they are not as prevalent
as their desktop counterparts - yet.
To better understand this it is important to keep in mind the
underlying differences between PCs and Windows Mobile devices. Windows
Mobile, which is based on Windows CE, is written in a different type of
architecture than a PC. This is generally referred to as x86 for PCs while
for Windows Mobile it is referred to as RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer).
It is this difference in code architecture that fundamentally prevents viruses
written for PCs from working on Windows Mobile devices. For a more
detailed overview of this topic, refer to Chris Tilley's article "Is Windows CE
Anti-Virus?" in the August/September 2006 edition of Smartphone & Pocket PC
magazine (page 54). You can also read that article online at this
link.
With the inevitable day coming where Antivirus on your Windows
Mobile device is going to be required and some virus' already reported to be "in
the wild", Airscanner Corporation has developed Airscanner Mobile Antivirus.
The Dallas, Texas based developer has produced a well written and effective
application in Mobile Antivirus with all of the features you would expect from a
robust application of this nature. This includes background scanning,
memory card scanning and online updates as well as system information and
registry information applets. Even better, Mobile Antivirus is memory
friendly and does not cause a significant slowdown of your device when in use.
Overall it is a great application which has earned a place in my
Top 25 of must have applications.
Airscanner has been writing antivirus and other mobile
applications for many years now and essentially pioneered the mobile antivirus
space some four years ago. Many of the viruses identified today have been
identified by Airscanner and they have usually been the first to develop a
solution against them. Mobile Antivirus has one several industry awards
over the four years it has been available and has been named a winner in
Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine's Best of Awards in the security category.
Spb Software House's Spb Traveler
As one who travels on a regular basis, information related to weather,
flights and currency conversions are a critical bits of information for me.
While most of this information can be obtained online, having it quickly and
readily available to me on my Windows Mobile device - something that is always
with me - makes traveling in this day-and-age a bit easier. With few
exceptions - most notably WorldMate Professional - there has not been many
single comprehensive program that could provide most of the information that a
traveler needs both before and during a trip.
Spb Software House has been producing applications for the Windows Mobile
platform for several years now and their latest application, Spb Traveler, is
designed to be that "one stop shop" for travelers. Spb Traveler offers
users the ability to plan a flight, a meeting as well as get currency, unit and
size conversions while in virtually any country in the world. Taking
things a step further, Traveler also provides you links to local information on
the cities you are traveling too as well as local customs, weather and even
dialing codes to make phone calls. The beauty of Traveler is that you can
get all of this information essentially from one screen and only a tap or two
away, making it quick to use and with a low learning curve. Combine this
with its Over The Air updating abilities for currency conversions, weather and
links and you end up with an application that travelers should strongly consider
for their next trip. Even if you do not frequently travel, this
application could prove to be handy just for the conversion tools alone!
Sprite Backup 5.1
As Windows Mobile devices
have continued their surge into the marketplace, the amount of information being
stored on them has surged as well. No longer are simple items such as
calendar or contacts the only items being stored. Now many users store
critical business or personal data, documents, spreadsheets and even software
images for quick re-installs while on the road. Today, more than ever, a
backup solution for your mobile device is a necessity and no longer a luxury.
Sprite Software has been
involved in the Windows Mobile arena for many years now and their award winning
backup application, Sprite Backup, is one of the best solutions available today.
Sprite Backup uses a unique combination of a desktop client and device client
which allows you to backup, restore and schedule the backup of your device all
from your PC. Further, a copy of that backup is stored on your PC locally
as well as on your device's storage card, giving you an added layer of
protection should you need to perform a restoration. Sprite Backup's
easy-to-use setup wizard makes using the application a snap and puts it well
clear of competing products in this regard. Overall it is hard to go wrong
with this application!
Softmaker's Office 2006
When Windows Mobile 5.0 was
released last year one of the key changes from an application perspective came
with the re-work done to Word Mobile and Excel Mobile. In these new
versions of what is known as Pocket Word and Pocket Excel in Pocket PC 2003SE
and earlier, improvements circled mostly around functionality and formatting
which, thankfully, greatly improved. Still, for a "power user" of these
application on the desktop, the mobile versions quickly proved to be lacking
and, at worst, frustrating.
Several years ago the German
software development company SoftMaker attempted to address these struggles with
their applications TextMaker and PlanMaker. TextMaker, released initially
in 2002, was a quantum step forward in mobile word processing, allowing
virtually any desktop function to be replicated on your mobile device.
They followed that up in 2004 with PlanMaker, their spreadsheet application
which proved to be equally as powerful. Both applications could read and
save in Microsoft Word/Excel formats and the Professional versions provided you
a desktop version of the applications as well. Synchronization was a snap
through ActiveSync and things such as formatting, file passwords and complicated
formulas stayed intact - something that is still not available in the Windows
Mobile 5 versions of the Word Mobile and Excel Mobile.
While Service Packs were
offered from their launch until recently for TextMaker 2002 and PlanMaker 2004,
no major upgrades had been made to either application until the launch of
SoftMaker Office 2006. The wait was very much worth it! In Office
2006 - which included TextMaker 2006 and PlanMaker 2006 - both applications have
received a major facelift along with dramatic improvements "under the hood".
All of the features you have come to expect from both of these award winning
applications are there along with host of new features and functions.
Simply put, Office 2006 offers Windows Mobile owners the ultimate word processor
and spreadsheet applications that are powerful, easy-to-use and compatible with
the desktop. No other applications offer the power of these applications!
While TextMaker and PlanMaker
are coupled together as one application (Office 2006), I will be looking at each
application individual in this review to give you a more comprehensive overview
of them. Additionally, this review is based on the Office 2006 for
PocketPC and Windows PC. I chose this version to review as it gives a more
complete look at what these two applications can do, especially when it comes to
file synchronization and sharing. While it is possible to purchase just
the PocketPC versions of these applications (in fact, you can purchase just
TextMaker or PlanMaker without the other - but economically it is better to buy
both in the Office package) it may be worthwhile for you to purchase the desktop
versions of Office 2006. Keep in mind that you can save your files in Word
and Excel formats and use the Microsoft applications on your desktop and use the
SoftMaker applications on your Windows Mobile device.
Ilium Software's eWallet 5.0
Unless you are one who has made
a concerted effort to shun technology, chances are that you are like most people
in the world today and have multiple bits of private information that you need
to keep secure. Whether it be PINs, bank account information, passwords or
credit card numbers, the vast majority of us have what seems like an endless
flow of these types of information. The news today is replete with stories
of stolen identity and credit card fraud and it can be a daunting task to keep
it all secure. Compounding this problem is the mobility of our world
today. I carry around much of my personal information on my Windows Mobile
device so I can access it quickly and easily when I am on the go or traveling.
Having that information secure is of paramount concern in case my device is lost
or stolen.
My resolution to this problem
came a few years ago from the team at Ilium Software in their application
eWallet. eWallet allows you to secure your personal information in a
single file which can be accessed on your device or desktop and that file is
encrypted along with having a password attached to it. It has proven to be
one of the most used applications I have had for any of my mobile devices
including my Handheld PC days. It is an application that I believe every
Windows Mobile user should have on their device. With the latest version
of this award winning application, Ilium has once again hit the mark.
eWallet 5.0 takes an already
outstanding application and makes it even better. All of the features that
have been in eWallet since the 3.x days are still there: complete
customization of wallet cards, custom categories, and 256-bit encryption.
What has been added though in 5.0 takes the application to a wholly new
functionality and usability level. With 5.0 you can sync to virtually any
type of device and media type: USB cards, your PC, other PCs on your
network and remote locations via FTP. Further, that synchronization
process has been completely overhauled, making synchronization more reliable and
faster. Top it off with an new easy-to-follow companion tool and a
completely new icon set and easier customization of those icons and you come to
appreciate how far this application has come along. If you are a user of
eWallet already then 5.0 will prove to be a worthy upgrade. If you are new
to eWallet now is the time to get it!
Spb Software House's Spb Pocket Plus 4.0
One of the most award applications available today for Windows Mobile has
been Spb Software House's Pocket Plus. This Today plug-in application
allows you to launch applications directly from the Today screen, close
applications with the X (not just minimize them) and a battery indicator on the
Today screen. Now after nearly a year of completely overhauling the
application - both inside and out - Spb has released version 4.0 of Pocket Plus.
Their Press Release was entitled "Reincarnating The Legend" and it is every bit
worthy of that title. The new version brings a complete overhaul of the
application, making it in smaller and lighter for storage space and memory use
over previous versions as well as a brand new and faster interface. In
addition to the Today plug-in, Pocket Plus 4.0 brings a whole new level of
functionality to Pocket Internet Explorer with tab browsing and Google searching
built into it. Ultimately this new version reaffirms why Pocket Plus is on
the Clinton Fitch (Dot)
Com! Top 50 Application list and a must have application for any Windows
Mobile owner.
There you have it - our Top 10 applications for 2007. We hope you enjoy
them and find them as helpful and useful as we have here at the site. A
special note, all of these titles are on sale now through December 25, 2007 at
the Clinton Fitch (Dot) Com! Store. Just use the coupon code CFHH07
when you check out to receive a 20% discount (no limit on usage).
As we end 2007 all of us at Clinton Fitch (Dot) Com! would like to thank you
for continuing to support and visit the site. Without you none of this is
possible!
Merry Christmas!
all graphics courtesy of C:Amie
