Best PocketPC Software

[gstelmack]

I'll glance through the PalmOS thread as well since I know there is some overlap, but I figured it was time for some PocketPC love as well.

My lovely, darling, adorable, awesome wife bought me a new Dell Axim x51v to replace my aging Palm IIIc. So I'm now looking for some software for it, especially games that are worth trying. I've played out Bejewelled on the Palm, but I am looking for a good solitaire suite (I loved Solebon on the Palm).

Suggestions?

VS.NET 2005 has all the tools to write software for this bad-boy. I might have to write a PocketPC version of DraftAnalyzer so I can work on my FOF drafts anywere

[Icy]

A bluetooth GPS receptor and TOMTOM software is a must for me, in fact was the main reason for me to buy the PDA. I love to drive into Madrid with it, still a nightmare, but at least i don't get lost as easy.

About games, i downloaded with emule a collection of 3000 shareware games for PocketPC but haven't tried them yet, i'm too bussy doing mods and playing BBCF and TCB.

[oliegirl]

I just got a XP rx1955 iPaq and am wondering if anyone has any updates to this thread...great programs/games you just can't live without? I do have a 128 mb card in there too so I have plenty of space...

[GreenMonster]

handango and pocketgear have many programs that I have tried. Microsoft Voice Command is a must for my phone. I have used Morphgear in the past which is a game emulater. I use Journal Bar to get weather and other news stories on my today screen. Try pocketpclinks.com for a nice listing of mobile websites that work well on PIE..

[terpkristin]

I highly recommend any of the games by PDAMill. www.pdamill.com
They are a great company and the games are great fun.

Astraware has released some new things lately, so I'd also look there.... www.astraware.com

Astraware also has a section devoted to "Lifestyle Software" http://www.astraware.com/lifestyle/ that looks useful, but I've never played with any of that.

Between Astraware and PDAMill, you won't go wrong for productivity and games...

/tk

[terpkristin]

Dola,
Also, for videos and music, The Core Pocket Media Player is the best thing out there, for both Palm OS and PPC.

http://www.tcpmp.org/
http://tcpmp.corecodec.org/about

/tk

[TroyF]

KingSol is a great game for solitaire.

I like RescoSudoku the best in that genre.

Supposed to be a couple of decent hold em games out, but I haven't tried them. I've also heard of a couple of good role playing games for the pocketpc. Gilbert Goodmate is one I'm thinking of trying soon.

I have the Dell GPS system with mine. It works very well if you're looking for that. (Althought I've heard tom tom is better, I've never had a problem with the Dell system. It's always taken me directly where I needed to go without a problem and I've rarely had a problem getting a signal)

There was a game I loved a year or so ago called Tradewinds. I'm going to have to see if there is an update for that game.

[gstelmack]

The only stuff I've bought so far are the two PDAMill solitaire games, and a wargame called Blitzkrieg (which isn't half bad). Bought them all from Handango; at the moment I prefer them to PocketGear, as Handango does a much better job of allowing me to filter for stuff that works on my x51v (which is Windows Mobile 5.0 and has 3D hardware). Still looking for more stuff; considering BatteryPackPro for it's system monitoring and utility functions. Would like a couple more games for it.

[Yellow5]

Stuff on my Dell Axim X30:

Hot Death Uno - Freeware UNO game that is awesome!
MorphGear for Nintendo and Sega emulation
Blitzkrieg: War in Europe by PlayTek (hex based wargame)
Arvale II: Ocean of Time (rpg)
Pocket Informant is the best personal info manager I've used.
PocketStars (if you like astronomy)
Snails (like the old Worms game for the Amiga)
I use iGuidance for my GPS software.
Total Commander CE as a file/directory browser (like windows explorer)
SBSH Mobile has some nice apps like PocketBreeze and iLauncher (www.sbsh.net)

[oliegirl]

Originally Posted by Yellow5

Stuff on my Dell Axim X30:

Hot Death Uno - Freeware UNO game that is awesome!
MorphGear for Nintendo and Sega emulation
Blitzkrieg: War in Europe by PlayTek (hex based wargame)
Arvale II: Ocean of Time (rpg)
Pocket Informant is the best personal info manager I've used.
PocketStars (if you like astronomy)
Snails (like the old Worms game for the Amiga)
I use iGuidance for my GPS software.
Total Commander CE as a file/directory browser (like windows explorer)
SBSH Mobile has some nice apps like PocketBreeze and iLauncher (www.sbsh.net)

Thanks for the list...I downloaded the Uno game and also Pocket Informant, I'll give it a shot...I don't really like the outlook calendar so this might be awesome. Question though, did you keep the outlook stuff on your ppc or somehow delete the program/file to free up the space?

I'd like the stars program, but unless I can find it freeware somewhere, I don't see myself spending $20 on it...

[Yellow5]

I kept the outlook stuff on my ppc because some apps still require it. Pocket Informant will makes calls to it when you want to send an email to a contact, etc. so you are kind of stuck with it. Plus I keep it so I can sync between work and home machines.

One thing the ppc world lacks is a decent free browser. Opera just released a beta for the ppc and it's great... but beta and it expires in a month. There are a few others but none of them are that great. I am waiting for someone to port a stable Firefox to the ppc.

I have a 1gb sdio card in my Axim and I intall almost everything to the card so I don't use the internal memory.

More software:
Space Trader (www.spacetrader.co.uk)
Shadowgate (old school RPG)
Redshift: Legacy (old school RPG and awesome!)
PocketShop for grocery lists.
CodeStore (save password lists)
Taiyoukei - Freeware Astronomy program

Here's my screen with spb Weather, Pocketbreeze and PocketInformant, and iLauncher.

[johneh]

Pocket Pool

[terpkristin]

Bump.
I spent some money today on a deal I couldn't pass up. Configured a Dell Axim x51v spec'd at $592, purchased for $459+tax.

Specifically, I'm looking for a good chess game. I see there are a few out there, but was wondering if anybody had any experiences with any of the games and/or could recommend one?

/tk

[stevew]

I wonder how hard it would be to adapt a game like FOF1 or OOTP2 for pocket pc.

[terpkristin]

Juding by the game Top of the League for the Palm (an adaption of the CM/FM series, playable on PPC by using a program whose name I can't remember), it wouldn't be *too* bad, just have to have a person willing to give it the time...

/tk

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by terpkristin

Juding by the game Top of the League for the Palm (an adaption of the CM/FM series, playable on PPC by using a program whose name I can't remember), it wouldn't be *too* bad, just have to have a person willing to give it the time...

/tk

I have TotL on the Palm as well, and while superficially it's a nice little game (I'm honestly not complaining, I enjoy it a lot for what it is) it's quite obviously **very** limited in its scope. It would take a huge expansion of that underlying game to make something that added up to much to satisfy even a fairly forgiving text sim fan, I'd think.

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

I have TotL on the Palm as well, and while superficially it's a nice little game (I'm honestly not complaining, I enjoy it a lot for what it is) it's quite obviously **very** limited in its scope. It would take a huge expansion of that underlying game to make something that added up to much to satisfy even a fairly forgiving text sim fan, I'd think.

There is a valid point there. But for a game for a handheld that is $15....it's not a bad game in the least. Plus, I can't imagine getting into a "long" gaming scenario (hours at a time) like I would on a full-blown computer version of the game. But for those short times when you want a "fix," I think it suits its purpose.

/tk

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by terpkristin

There is a valid point there. But for a game for a handheld that is $15....it's not a bad game in the least. Plus, I can't imagine getting into a "long" gaming scenario (hours at a time) like I would on a full-blown computer version of the game. But for those short times when you want a "fix," I think it suits its purpose.

Originally Posted by QuikSand

I enjoy it a lot for what it is

Yes yes.

[oliegirl]

Originally Posted by terpkristin

Bump.
I spent some money today on a deal I couldn't pass up. Configured a Dell Axim x51v spec'd at $592, purchased for $459+tax.

Specifically, I'm looking for a good chess game. I see there are a few out there, but was wondering if anybody had any experiences with any of the games and/or could recommend one?

/tk

Ok, I have to ask, just how many Palm Pilots and PPC's do you own? Do you use them all or retire the "old" one every time you buy a new one?

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by oliegirl

Ok, I have to ask, just how many Palm Pilots and PPC's do you own? Do you use them all or retire the "old" one every time you buy a new one?

Currently I have a Palm Tungsten C (retired), a Palm TX, and a Dell Axim x51v en route.

I tend to retire them when I get a new one, and I must confess that I have no idea why I haven't tried to sell one or the other. I like the C and do some beta-testing of Palm games on it, though I might sell the TX....anybody want to make an offer?

/tk

[GreenMonster]

Originally Posted by terpkristin

Currently I have a Palm Tungsten C (retired), a Palm TX, and a Dell Axim x51v en route.

I tend to retire them when I get a new one, and I must confess that I have no idea why I haven't tried to sell one or the other. I like the C and do some beta-testing of Palm games on it, though I might sell the TX....anybody want to make an offer?

/tk

How do you like the Axim so far.. I am an older Palm user, getting used to Win5 now and I kinda like it.. What will be your 1st converged pda/phone, losing 1 more item from the pocket/bag was great..

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by GreenMonster

How do you like the Axim so far.. I am an older Palm user, getting used to Win5 now and I kinda like it.. What will be your 1st converged pda/phone, losing 1 more item from the pocket/bag was great..

I love the Axim. Mine hasn't come, but playing around with my friend's got me wanting it. Oddly enough, I was the one who convinced her to get an Axim in the first place (about 6 months ago) now I'm having lust after hers.

I will not have a converged pda/phone. I just don't have use for it. I try to spend as little time on the phone as possible (on average I spend less than 100 minutes a month using my phone), and the "only" thing that a converged device would be remotely attractive for is for connecting to the internet when there's no WiFi around, but I don't want to pay for a data plan on my phone, so even that's moot. For all the things I use a PDA for, I do not want a converged device (which generally, you have to give up SOME level of functionality of all of the converged devices over a set of non-converged devices). I know I'm the exception to the rule and in general, smartphones and converged devices will be "the next thing," they're not for me. I don't hold them against people per se. Just that I know it's not what I want.

/tk

[GreenMonster]

I will throw out Journal Bar.. I get all my weather on my today screen along with links to news, RSS feeds, and scores, movie times, and other things..

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by stevew

I wonder how hard it would be to adapt a game like FOF1 or OOTP2 for pocket pc.

Not very. Biggest issue is dealing with limited memory and no virtual memory, plus making sure the user has enough storage for the databases. May have to do some UI adaptation for the smaller screen, but I don't think even FOF2k4 takes up a whole lot of screen space at any one time (have to double-check what the biggest dialog size is).

Not that I've thought about this a lot or anything