Logitech, well known for their keyboards and mice, has released two keyboard/mouse combos for the desktop PC. What make these combos different is that they each have a Bluetooth access point built into the base of the mouse charger. This not only allows the mouse and keyboard to communicate with the desktop PC, it lets you access the desktop PC from a Bluetooth-equipped Pocket PC or Smartphone. Two combos are available: The diNovo Media Desktop includes a separate numeric keypad and is priced at $249.95. The Cordless Desktop MX for Bluetooth is priced at $179.95. You can purchase the MX 900 Bluetooth Optical Mouse alone for $99.95.
(above) LogiTech’s MX900 Cordless Optical Mouse adds Bluetooth capability to your desktop PC for Pocket PC synchronization
Headsets for Bluetooth-equipped phones are also in big demand. The Jabra BT200 FreeSpeak hands-free headset (http://www.jabra.com) communicates with Bluetooth-enabled devices at a range of up to 30 feet. FreeSpeak is available with an adapter that allows you to use it with Windows Mobile Smartphones that do not have built-in Bluetooth. The “answer call” feature, which lets you answer calls using the button on the headset, is disabled by default, but you can enable it by holding down the button below the power socket with a stylus for 12 seconds. Retail price for the headset with the afore-mentioned adapter is $179.95. You can purchase the headset separately for $99.95.
(above) Add Bluetooth wireless headset to your Windows Mobile Smartphone.
Another interesting Bluetooth product from Socket (http://www.socketcom.com) is a low-profile SD Bluetooth card that when inserted into a Pocket PC only protrudes 1/4” from the top of the device. The card sells for $119.95 on MobilePlanet (http://www.mobileplanet.com).
Every year the CES show get bigger and better. I can hardly wait until next year to bring you new and interesting products discovered at the show. It was total geek paradise, and now I know why the Las Vegas convention center is on Paradise Road! n
From the Judges of the Pocket PC magazine Best Software Awards 2003 Comments on Travel and Personal Programs
Our expert judges for the Pocket PC magazine Best Software Awards 2003 had plenty to say about the products they judged. In this issue we are publishing their comments about the travel and personal programs they looked at (winners, finalists, and nominees). The purpose of publishing these experts’ comments is to give insights about a variety of products, not to show how the judges voted. The winners and finalists of the 2003 Best Software Awards can be found on our Web site (http://www.PocketPCmag.com/awards/main.asp). For the sake of brevity, we’ve included only one judge’s comment per product and edited each down to its essence.
Travel
GPS Software
* * *
Dave Burrows http://www.pocketgps.co.uk
Alk/TravRoute CoPilot (http://www.travroute.com) is a great GPS street navigation product. CoPilot is unique in that you can plan a journey on your PC and transfer just a corridor of maps to the Pocket PC, saving valuable storage card space. CoPilot Live includes a revolutionary new feature that lets a partner or work colleague keep track of where you are and send you automatic re-routes to another location. This is all done over a Bluetooth-connected GPRS/GSM mobile phone and a PC connected to the Internet. TravRoute currently uses NavTech as their geodata provider. The only thing CoPilot Live really lacks is a 3D view!
(above) CoPilot displays turn-by-turn directions as well as “speaking” them out loud.
PowerLOC Destinator (http://www.destinator1.com) is well known in Europe and North America, and is available for both desktop PCs and Pocket PCs. PowerLOC was the first to offer a Pocket PC street navigation program that included a 3D map view. Destinator has great-looking maps and searches its database for streets very quickly. PowerLOC currently uses NavTech as their geodata provider.
* * *
Shawna Kelly http://www.artzest.com
TeleType GPS (http://www.teletype.com) is the most completely customizable and flexible GPS solution available. It can be used in a wide variety of navigation scenarios, including highway, marine, aviation, on and off trail, and more. (Some of these navigational abilities require software add-ons.) The TeleType GPS software can also display topographical maps. The majority of TeleType’s features are customizable. For example, you can reassign GPS features to hardware buttons, customize the waypoint information display, adjust the timing of turn warnings, and choose from several voice options, including text-to-speech with the street names being spoken. The software package ships with both Pocket PC and desktop PC versions of the GPS program at no additional cost. It may involve more time to learn to use TeleType GPS, but the extra effort results in many more possibilities.
(above) TeleType offers the most customizable GPS solution available.
TomTom GPS (http://www.tomtom.com) has been highly successful in Europe and in its recent entry into the U.S. market. The 3D map interface, with POI (Point of Interest) icons, is quite impressive. The POI database is one of the best available in any GPS software. TomTom’s voice navigation uses a pleasant, commanding voice to warn you to move into the appropriate lane for an upcoming turn. TomTom’s integration with Outlook Contacts could be improved.
Guides
* * *
David Shier http://www.bluetoothnews.com
Vindigo (http://www.vindigo.com) offers an up-to-date city guide which is great not only for visiting other places, but for finding things to do around your own city. It even provides information on the location of public restrooms, which just shows how “flush” with features this program really is.
(above) Vindigo is an up-to-date city guide for your Pocket PC.
Info Managers
* * *
Jen Edwards http://www.pocketgoddess.com
PocketWorldInfo (http://www.bluepointstudio.com) is a great application for people who want to know more about our shrinking globe—it’s not enough to stay focused just on your own country anymore.
(above) PocketWorldInfo helps you maintain a database of useful information on all countries of the world.
* * *
John Hung
TripTracker (http://www.twopeaks.com) is my favorite of the group. It is really intuitive and I am able to start using the software in just a few minutes. This program has the best screen layout of the programs in this group. The desktop companion program is powerful enough for my use when my Pocket PC is out of reach. Since I travel over 20 weeks out of a year, this program will undoubtedly be an essential part of my Pocket PC programs.
(above) TripTracker offers an intuitive way of organizing business and leisure travel information.
Time
* * *
Saar Avigour http://www.pocket.co.il
WorldMate (http://www.mobimate.com) is my leading Pocket PC time-management and travel application. Its key features include 5 world clocks with automatic DST calculation, a world map with day/night display, 5-day worldwide weather forecasts from The Weather Channel updated on-line, a currency converter with daily exchange rate updates, a traveler’s packing list, a measurements converter (Have you ever tried to buy a shirt in another part of the world?), and a most convenient plug-in for the Today screen that shows current time in 3 different cities and the weather for the next three days in the local city. WorldMate’s on-line capabilities make it a natural complement for my iPAQ h5450, h2215, and h1940 Bluetooth paired to my Nokia 3610I.
(above) WorldMate provides information on the time around the world, the weather, currency conversion, and much more.
Personal
Dining
* * *
Bob Katayama http://www.technobrains.com
Amy Reiley’s programs (http://www.neohand.com) are top notch in ease of use and packaged with a wealth of information.
(above) Amy Reiley’s Pocket Gourmet provides a menu assistant, restaurant reviews, and a tip calculator in one Pocket PC program.
* * *
David Shier http://www.bluetoothnews.com
Pocket Cook (http://www.pock
et-cook.com) offers the greatest utility in this category. While not available in time to be judged, the new “Wine Enthusiast Guide” from LandWare is an excellent product worthy of mention.
(above) Pocket Cook turns your Pocket PC into a mobile recipe book and menu planner.
Health and Fitness
* * *
Shawna Kelly http://www.artzest.com
MySportTraining (http://www.mysporttraining.com) is one of the most well balanced and well rounded programs available for tracking and comparing general health, exercise, and weight loss over a period of time. It is motivating to input and view exercise and health information into this software on a regular basis. The calendar view is especially encouraging since you can see your exercise icons filling up the calendar; making small accomplishments feel bigger.
(above) MySportTraining allows you to keep a detailed daily log of not only your cardio and strength workouts but also your health. You can then review your performance using daily, monthly, report, or graph views.
* * *
Steve Sande
Personal Health & Diet Manager (http://www.twopeaks.com) was my personal favorite, as it seemed to have the most logical process for entering an initial profile and daily journal. It also has an easy way to enter new food items or complete meals, offers a report generator, and can calculate your Body Mass Index to help you achieve your ideal weight.
(above) Personal Health & Diet Manager helps you track health, diet, and fitness information.
* * *
Pocket PC magazine’s Board of Experts
We owe a huge debt to the following Pocket PC experts. Over 600 Pocket PC, Smartphone, Developer, and Enterprise Deployment products in 100 categories were nominated for the Pocket PC magazine Best Software Awards 2003. Windows Mobile experts from around the world agreed to judge and to select winners for each category. These experts are authors of Pocket PC books, Pocket PC magazine contributors, Microsoft Pocket PC MVPs, Pocket PC magazine support forum contributors, and associates of top Pocket PC Web sites.
Pocket PC magazine wishes to thank each of these individuals. We invite you to visit their Web sites. Collectively, our experts invested thousands of hours putting the software titles through their paces. You will find their comments about the winners and nominees published in subsequent issues of Pocket PC magazine during 2004.
Thank you, experts!
Tari Akpodiete, http://www.pocketrocketfx.com
Saar Avigour, http://www.pocket.co.il
Rob Borek, http://www.pocketpcone2one.com
Daron Brewood, http://www.tekguru.co.uk
Chris Brunskill, smartphone.modaco.com
Dave Burrows, http://www.pocketgps.co.uk
David Ciccone, http://www.mobilitytoday.com
Giorgio Cifani, http://www.cifani.it
Nathan Clevenger, http://www.clevrware.com
Tom Cochrane, http://www.pocketpcportal.com
Dale Coffing, http://www.pocketpcpassion.com
David Conger, http://www.davespda.com
Christophe Cordonnier, http://www.smartphonefrance.info
Chris De Herrera, http://www.cewindows.net
Helio Diamant, http://www.pocketpcfreak.com
Jason Dunn, http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com
Jen Edwards, http://www.pocketgoddess.com
Tomer Eisner, http://www.handystore.co.il
Joel Evans, http://www.geek.com
Andrew Farkas James Fee, http://www.aximsite.com
Christian Forsberg, http://www.businessanyplace.net
Allen Gall, http://www.pocketpcmag.com
Zoran Galovic, http://www.dotnetembedded.com
Gary Garland, http://www.gadgetaddict.com
Ed Hansberry, http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com
Arne Hess, http://www.ppcw.net
David Hettel, http://www.geekzone.co.nz
Tim Hillebrand Greg Hilton, http://www.pocketpcsoft.net
Steven Hughes, http://www.bostonpocketpc.com
John Hung Young Joo, http://www.aximsite.com
Bob Katayama, http://www.technobrains.com
Shawna Kelly, http://www.artzest.com
Matt Keys, http://www.pocketmatrix.com
Chris Leckness, http://www.aximsite.com
Chee Wee Lee, http://www.ppcsg.com
Robert Levy, http://www.smartphonethoughts.com
Elisabeth Liddell, http://www.foxpop.co.uk
Steve Lundstrom, http://www.pocketpcthemes.com
Bob Madry Julio Meneses, http://www.mipcdebolsillo.com
John Mierau, http://www.compu2go.com
Matthew Miller, http://www.pdageek.com
Geoffrey Moehl II, http://www.pocketpclife.co.uk
Paul O’Brien, smartphone.modaco.com
Jenneth Orantia, http://www.jenneth.info
Lee Osborne, http://www.pocketpclife.co.uk
John Ottini, http://www.pocketpcmag.com
Charles Pickrell, http://www.mobilecomputingsig.com
William Ramby, http://www.ppx3k.com
Steve Sande, http://www.pdantic.com
Stephan Schmidt, http://www.smartphone2002.info
Markus Schweiger, http://www.pocket-expert.de
Andrew Scott Nilay Shah, http://www.medicalpocketpc.com
David Shier, http://www.bluetoothnews.com
Barry Shilmover, http://www.pocketpctools.com
Michael Sommer, http://www.firstcoastnews.com/onyourside/
gadget.asp Don Sorcinelli, http://www.bostonpocketpc.com
Ziad Traboulsi, http://www.mobi-mania.com
Jim Turner, http://www.pocketthemes.com
Alan Williams, http://www.pdaavenue.com
Ed Zabrek, http://www.pocketpcmag.com
Free Goodies for Your Pocket PC
A wide variety of entertaining and productivity-enhancing software is available for free
by Nitin Gupta
It’s not always true that the best things in life are free, but some of the best Pocket PC software is! Freeware has been around since before the first IBM PC was introduced in 1981. Individual programmers and users of a particular computer would create a simple program and pass it around for free to other users of that computer. Every computer operating system (Apple, DOS, Windows, Linux, etc.) has had freeware written for it, and the Pocket PC is no exception. (There’s a pretty interesting history of freeware and shareware on the Public Software Library Web site:http://www.pslweb.com/cgi-bin/history.html).
I am working on the Pocket PCmagazine Best of Everything CD, which will be given free of cost to those people who subscribe or renew their subscription to Pocket PC magazine for two years. This CD includes games, utilities, e-books, video content, and themes. The CD also includes several hundred demos of the winners and finalists of our software awards. While researching software for this CD, I came across a lot of freebies for the Pocket PC. This article describes some of the best ones I found. In all cases I list the Web address of the developer so you don’t have to wait for the CD to download the freeware.
Play DivX and MPEG video with Pocket DivX Player
This freebie lets you play DivX, OpenDivX, MPEG-4, and MPEG-1 videos and MP3 audio on your Pocket PC. You can create playlists of music and videos, assign hardware buttons to control player functions, rotate videos by 90 degrees to view in horizontal mode, and zoom the video image to twice the original size. The audio player has a 10-band equalizer with pre-amp. You can fast-forward audio and video files and stream audio and video content. You can adjust the cache size—a larger cache improves Pocket DivX performance, but causes it to consume more battery power. The interface of this application is not as user-friendly as some, but the functionality is great. This application is available for Pocket PCs and Handheld PCs. You can download it at the Project Mayo Web site (http://www.projectmayo.com).
(above) Pocket DivX: This versatile audio and video player can play files in many different formats.
Play your MPEG-1 video files with Pocket TV
Pocket T
V is the best MPEG video player available for the Pocket PC. It can play MPEG-1 video (video files with the .mpeg or .mpg file extension). You can play/pause a file, fast-forward it, and view it in full-screen mode. You can adjust the sound volume and configure the audio to play stereo, mono left channel, or mono right channel. The Pocket PC’s hardware buttons can be mapped to control the various functions of the player. The software also allows streaming of MPEG-1 video from Web sites. Pocket TV displayed MPEG-1 video files much better than Pocket DivX. The difference was very noticeable when playing video files with higher bit rates and screen sizes. The “Classic” version of Pocket TV is available for free for all versions of the Pocket PC, as well as the Casio BE-300, the older Palm-sized PC (Windows CE 2.11), and the older Handheld PCs (Windows CE 2.0). The Pocket TV “Enterprise Edition,” priced at $49.95, is available for the Handheld PC Pro and H/PC 2000 (Windows CE 2.11 and above). Pocket TV can be downloaded at the MpegTV Web site (http://www.mpegtv.com/wince/pockettv/index.html). After you download and install the program, you have to register the program with the Web site and get a free unlock code in order to use it.
Pocket PC magazine, Apr/May 2004 Page 11