Related
I was just wondering, with so much software on the internet, what is the best free software people use? I have been doing so much customizing and tweaking I just wonder what more is out there.
I use:
amAze GPS
Google Maps
HTC Home Customizer
Live Search
My Mobilier
Skyfire
youtubeplay
GPS Today
Pocket SNES
Unfortunately some of the best ones are not free:
TomTom7
PocketInformant
GeoScout
SBP Mobile Shell
Sprite Backup
Sprite Terminator
Code Wallet Pro
Free ones that I have are:
Google Maps
Microsoft Live search
HHC Home customizer
Opera Mini Browser
PHM RegEdit
Resco File Explorer
TCPMP
Palringo
Cool, it seems most people use the same programs but your right some of the better ones are not free...
Flashlight is pretty useful at times
KeePassPPC for managing passwords. There are also versions for Windows, Mac and Linux, which is handy.
Free:
Calendar+
Htc Plus!
S2U2
S2V
S2P
Opera Mini
Nilisco Flashlight
iContac Burt Edition
Messenger
My Mobiler
PHM Regedit
sinPocketStopWatch
Kevtris 2
Pocket UNO
not free:
SPB Bubbles
Astraware Bejeweled 2
Bluezard
Garmin Mobile XT
SK Tools
ThumbCal
and some ohters that I don't have installed right now...
* Sorry this is so long... but recently I sent an email with apps & links to some of my friends who also have HTC phones, so I figure it's just easier to simply paste the text heree. *
Hello HTC friends!
I'm sending this email to some of you who I know have HTC PDAs, or may be getting one at some point. Over the few months that I've had my phone, I've received a few tips on good applications from some people, and have discovered several myself. So I thought it might be a good thing to send out an email to my friends that summarizes some my favorites, in the interest of sharing knowledge & experience for those who might find something you're looking for (or didn't even know you were looking for!).
First of all, it should be noted that I've found several of these tools / applications / customizations at a website called xda-developers.com. It's a site dedicated so HTC -branded phones *specifically*. I mostly use it by searching their forums for answers to questions, and looking for applications or basic tweaks:
http://www.xda-developers.com
Another good site for Windows Mobile devices is ppcgeeks.com:
http://www.ppcgeeks.com
I recently upgraded my phone to Windows Mobile 6.1 with the latest ROM update from HTC & Sprint, so a lot of these are still fresh in my head. It is also worth noting that all of the apps listed here are free; that is usually a criteria of mine when searching for new software especially for my phone.
nueLED: Turn on / turn off / redirect LED lights on your phone
This was one of the first little apps I installed. After I got my phone I noticed that it was always blinking to let me know it was "alive," and since I have bluetooth turned on all the time that light was blinking incessantly as well. I installed nueLED, configured it to disable the service LED and bluetooth LED, and now if my phone is blinking at me I know it's because it's *actually* trying to tell me something (missed call, voice mail, etc.).
http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread.php?p=189618#post189618
Opera Mini web browser
It couldn't have been more than 2 days of using Pocket Internet Explorer before I got fed up with it and started looking for a new browser. Maybe I was spoiled by playing with my friend's iPhone, because the web browser absolutely blows away any browser I've seen for Windows Mobile. But Opera Mini is at least a step in the right direction, until someone develops something closer to the iPhone's Safari browser. I have high hopes for Firefox's version of a mobile browser, but that won't be out for a while. And although Opera Mini runs as a Java app,let I've found out how to create a shortcut for it (as well as Gmail's Java applet) so that you don't have to go through the annoying Java menus.
http://www.operamini.com/
* There's also "Opera Mobile," although I haven't tried it yet. They have a beta (currently v9.51) that is free, although I think their non-beta releases (currently v8.65) are only free for a 30-day trial. If anyone has had any experience with these, please share the knowledge!
http://www.opera.com/press/reviews/mobile/
Google Maps
This has got to be one of the coolest apps for mobile devices; a must-have. Good interface, relatively fast, great searching, and it's easy to check traffic at a glance. It also has the ability to interact with the GPS receiver if your device has one, and can give you driving directions. But it's not the best for turn-by-turn directions as you navigate if you're trying to use it with the GPS. And also be aware that any software which accesses your GPS will suck on the battery pretty good when it's turned on, which is why I only turn on the "Use GPS" feature of Google Maps sparingly.
http://www.google.com/mobile/winmo/maps/
Microsoft Live Search
Google Maps pretty much has the upper hand in most aspects: Map GUI, usability, searching, etc. However, one area Live Search seems to have Google Maps beat is turn-by-turn directions. While it doesn't include audio guidance (I haven't found a free app that does), it integrates pretty well with the GPS and will even prompt you if you go off course. Not bad for freeware. The same caveat applies for battery usage if you turn on the GPS locator.
http://mobile.search.live.com/client/download_manual.aspx
iContact: A more "finger-friendly" contacts manager
A better UI for interacting with the contacts in your address book. Originally started a while back by someone named "larna", and version 0.6 (April 2008) was good. Then after that developer didn't have any more time to devote to it, "supbro" took over and made it way better (July 2008). Now "burt" has made his "Burt Edition 6.2" (August 2008) and made some additional improvements, and now I think it's a great app. I would have recommended it even with larna's versions, but definitely now with supbro and burt's new features. It's light weight, responsive, and highly customizable. I can tell you how to set it as the default Contacts viewer, too.
http://burt.vndv.com/index.php?ind=downloads&op=entry_view&iden=1
OggSync: Over-the-air sync with Google Calendar
This is a nice little app which synchronizes the Pocket Outlook calendar built into your device with your Google Calendar, via the internet connection on you phone. I looked at a few other solutions, and went this one because it is free, accurate, and doesn't use a 3rd-party server as a go-between. The free version is good. They also have a paid version (yearly subscription) which includes a few additional features including scheduled syncs and multiple Google calendars. The scheduled sync would be nice, and multiple calendars maybe (maps each Google Calendar to a category) -- but not enough for me to pay for it. If you don't use Google Calendar then OggSunc is probably useless; but if you do, this app is a big winner.
http://oggsync.com/
Total Commander: A more feature-rich file explorer
Although the interface looks a little bit "old school", I use this app more than I thought I would. More options when browsing & interacting with files (geez, you can even see the actual file extension for once!), plus you get a registry editor and the ability to interact with LAN file shares (if you're connected to a network via WiFi) without having to jump through a bunch of hoops.
http://www.ghisler.com/pocketpc.htm
PPC PIM Backup: Backup personal data
This is an easy way to back up contacts, call logs, calendar entries, tasks, messages, and other files, etc. to your storage card. It's pretty light weight -- in fact there's no installation process, you just run the .exe and you're off and running. There is an optional scheduling mechanism for automatic backups; but I prefer to just use the manual backup periodically. It came in handy after flashing the latest ROM update last week.
http://www.dotfred.net/default.htm
TCPMP (The Core Pocket Media Player)
This is a nice alternative to Windows Media player, that actually plays formats beyond WMV. Fullscreen works great, and it is pretty customizable. Link to WM 6.1-compatible version below:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=380387
There are also a codecs to play WMV files:
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/local_links.php?linkid=61
and other audio formats including AC3, FLAC, Vorbis, etc.
http://picard.exceed.hu/tcpmp/test/
Flash Video Bundle: A way to play YouTube (and other) Flash videos
My friend Scott told me about this one. It is a cab installation that includes FLV codecs for TCPMP as well as a plugin for Pocket IE that allows you to save Flash videos from the youtube.com website (the non-mobile version).
http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=FlashVideoBundle
YouTubePlay: Another way to save and play YouTube videos
My friend Mike showed me this other alternative. Not only will it play Flash videos like the TCPMP plugin, but it serves as a front-end for searching & saving YouTube videos. The player is good (fullscreen works nicely like TCPMP), and it seems to be a better alternative for finding YouTube videos than using a web browser.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=385227
SPB Full Screen Keyboard
I haven't tried this because the device I use (HTC Titan / Sprint Mogul) has a slide-out keyboard. But for devices that don't have a hardware keyboard, I've seen other software keyboards that are supposedly better than the ones that come standard on the ROM. One that is mentioned often is SPB Full Screen Keyboard. They have a free download, although I don't know if it's a limited functionality version or a limited time trial of the one for purchase.
http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/products/fsk/?en
Change # of vertical lines on new SMS reply screen
Windows Mobile v6.1 comes with a new "threaded" view for text messages, but the default space for replying to messages on my phone was only 2 lines. You can increase this if you want by simply editing the the thread_sms.htm file:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=366347
Continued in next post....
SenseiMP said:
Continued in next post....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The next few applications are clones/extracts/repackaged versions of some of the software that comes standard on the HTC Touch and similar devices. So for the Touch, Diamond, etc., I think these are already baked in. But for others, here they are:
FTouchFlo version 1.4.1
Software that mimic's the HTC "TouchFlo" functionality, which allows scrolling with your thumb or finger rather than having to use scroll bars. It also allows for some nice customizations, including the ability to launch different programs via directional finger swipes.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=338143
SCLPC++: Cloned version of the HTC Cube
There are a few cubes out there, and this is the one I found to be the most useful & responsive. It's also a 4-sided cube, with the last face being an additional program launcher. In truth, I don't use it as much as I thought I would now that I have it all set up and configured, but it's still pretty cool.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=358102
Configuration tool:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=374939
HTC Home Plugin / HTC Home Customizer
Large digital clock, favorite contacts, program launcher, weather, etc., on your Today screen. This can be used to configure, customize, and backup settings for the stock HTC Home as well as the custom one. Install "HTC Home Customizer v1.0 Final," and upon first use it will prompt you to install the HTC Home Plugin if you don't already have one.
http://www.pocketemu.com/download4.html
If your interested, there are also several other HTC applications and skins extracted from the Touch ROMs:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=344533
I also have the .cab file installers for all of these programs if you need them. If anyone has other applications that they enjoy, please share! In particular, I am looking for a more "finger friendly" alternative to the default UI for the Calendar. I very rarely use my stylus, as I find it more convenient to just use my finger or thumb nail. That's a bit more difficult with the default Calendar interface, and there are other things I don't like about it as well. If you've seen the Calendar interface on the iPhone, it's pretty good. Don't get me wrong, I'd still rather have a Windows Mobile device than an iPhone, especially since you can get more "under the hood" and customize it, etc., and there's a huge community of developers making apps for WM. But there are some things that are much better on the iPhone, including web browsing and overall touchscreen responsiveness. But hey, at least we're moving in the right direction. Maybe Windows Mobile 7 and beyond!?
By the way, I recently found this site:
http://www.touch-innovation.com/
It contains links to several different kinds of "finger friendly" Windows Mobile apps, including some of the ones I've listed above. There's a link to an older (free) version of "ThumbCal" on there, and I may give that a try at some point. But it looks like the more recent versions of it are no longer free.
EDIT: I also use S2U2:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=412418
and nueLight:
http://www.nuerom.com/BlogEngine/page/nueLight.aspx
SenseiMP said:
nueLight:
http://www.nuerom.com/BlogEngine/page/nueLight.aspx
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried out nueLight, and although the high beam and morse code functions are fancy and cool, I will still use Nilisco flashlight as my default flashlight. The reason is that I can easily bind it to a button (comm manager) and flick it on and off. The nueLight will only turn on with the button, but will not turn off.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=1381521&postcount=2
There were people saying they had a NES emulator for the Mogul, but I don;t think it actually exists, I never saw it posted. Would be sweet.
emkorial said:
There were people saying they had a NES emulator for the Mogul, but I don;t think it actually exists, I never saw it posted. Would be sweet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use Smartgear. It emulates NES, GameBoy Color, and Genesis. It has a free trial version, but it is WELL worth the $10 it costs to register.
Find it here:
http://www.bitbanksoftware.com/SmartGear.html
My favourite freeware:
1. Today Agenda: A rather simple Today screen plug-in that allows very flexible customization of information from your calendar and tasks to your Today screen. multiple-day agendas in collapsible line items on your Today Screen. Useful for precisely deciding how much real estate you want to give up for it. I love this program.
2. Amaze: Free voice navigation. Works pretty darned well.
3. S2u2: Slide to unlock program that allows you to dump your unlock line on your Today Screen, provides a bunch of useful info on your lock screen, allows calls, and is highly customizable.
4. Skyfire Beta: I really like Skyfire Beta. It works with most websites and provides full web experience, including streaming sound and video (you can play Youtube right on the browser).
5. Youtubeplayer: A nice means of searching, playing, and downloading you tube videos.
6. Pocket Music Lite: Free music player. No fancy coverflow interface, but a nice skinnable finger friendly interface. Only plays MP3s, but you can just get a converter program for your desktop.
7. Vade Mecum: Nice little ebook ready that reads plucker format. I read downloads from www.projectguternberg.org all the time. Has bookmark, search features.
8. VS Painter Lite: A nice draw and paint program that is free. Useful to annote pictures, draw maps or dungeons, etc.
9. Total Commander: One of the best file explorers out there.
10. Set Volume: Full screen volume controller. Skinnable and nice to hard key so you don't ever have to fart around with some tiny onscreen volume control.
11. Pocket Screen: Just a screen capture program, but very nice at that. Useful for showing off your stuff on forums.
12. Beyond Pod: A nice podcast player and RSS feed reader.
13. Google Maps and Live Search: Indispensible. Must haves.
14. Icontact (Burt's version): Very nice finger friendly contacts manager.
15. PCM Keyboard: Very customizable, essentially gives you the iphone keyboard experience on your ppc. Disable the annoying dictionary and word complete functions however.
Those are my favourite non-game freeware apps.
A shout out to shareware SPB Pocket Plus for having a very stable and nicely customizable Today Screen and Launcer experience. I tried Ulitmate Launcher and had all sorts of errors and problems and have read nightmares about HTC Home and HHC.
Devin
Fav app
My Favorite is GC Java Pack
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=402980
I have Meboy gameboy color emulator that runs as a java app. I love i play pokemon on it all the time
http://java-phones.com/tools/meboy
hi guys!
what's the best feeds reader?
I prefer browser-based Google Reader. Otherwise I would recommend Spb Insight (it downloads whole articles instead of just a perex).
If you need something that can work offline, I recommend pRssReader, its development ceased but it has caching, google reader sync and everything. But I use iphone web version of google reader from opera.
best rss reader
Having worked with several rss readers such as p rss reader , google reader , newsgate , yomumedia , prpnews , sbp insight ....... and others...... , I can say with confident that the original pre installed rss reader on htc touch hd (rss hub) is the best. It has the most strongest search function among all others and infact very far ahead of them.
-google reader is a very good in mobile format ,but it doesn't update automaticly ! and this is a great shame for any rss reader .also there is no search function.
-others also havnot any viable search ,so you have to be content with some limited news channels.
-p rss reader recently is blocked by some sort of google code bars ,so it's almost out of use !
-smart rss reader is a java-jar application and very slow .
-Ova rss reader is a java app. too ,with limited channels and tiny font (a universal problem with java on mobiles ! ).
So .....Thanks htc folks for their great job .s
Have a good time !
I like Egress
pRSS reader blew up on me and wouldn't update. I tried reinstalling, etc. I couldn't identify the problem, nor did I feel enclined to take the time to figure it out. So I started trying some others. Egress was the least expensive but still provided professional results and low mem usage. It's readable offline and allows external card storage.
With stuff like this, though, a lot of your choice depends on preference. The most popular ones seem to be Pocket Insight (pricey as compared to Egress), and Google Reader (online/no auto-update).
For me personally, I use and love NewsBreak. It is a pay program but it is worth it.
FatBoyExtraordinaire said:
For me personally, I use and love NewsBreak. It is a pay program but it is worth it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You dont get that freezing bug on newbreak/rss hub - its been there for years. illum says its just a windows mobile 6 issue - its annoying as hell.
I don't even know of this bug you speak of, honestly. I use it everyday and I have yet to run into any real issues.
darthbane2k said:
You dont get that freezing bug on newbreak/rss hub - its been there for years. illum says its just a windows mobile 6 issue - its annoying as hell.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what? that is one of the stupidest thing I've heard from a dev company. it is one thing and one thing only, they are lazy lazy lazy.....when was the last time they actually updated the program? if its a windows mobile 6 issue, why doesn't all the rest freeze in the same way?
I use RSS Hub. I was searching for a beter rss reader the other day, well it doesn't have to be better, just more visually apealing but I didn't find any so sticked with RSS hub.
re-iterating aidinali's point, that search function is nice
Anyone know a good RSS reader application for the snap?
I googled a bit but didn't find anything worth mentioning.
Viigo is what I use, free and does RSS, Podcasts, offline reading etc http://viigo.com
I rather like the "RSS Hub" thats included with the Sprint Snap. Basic, but functional. I'm always open to improvement, of course.
I second RSS Hub or you could do what I do and use Google reader. Then I set Google reader set as my home page in my browser.
nightryder21 said:
I second RSS Hub or you could do what I do and use Google reader. Then I set Google reader set as my home page in my browser.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried RSS Hub and i'm verry pleased with this app.
Google Reader
I definitely second Google Reader. Since I regularly use four different computers, I like having the continuity of feeds between them. (I'm also a fan of GMail/Contacts and Google Calender.
nightryder21 said:
I second RSS Hub or you could do what I do and use Google reader. Then I set Google reader set as my home page in my browser.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use opera mini,it have a page for rss
Hi all,
Just change my Nike (Touch Dual) for a Snap, so you are going to see me around here...
I looked for a good rss reader for a while, and I will stick to SPB News. Nice and simple, with OPML support. You can set it to use free connections only, and to locate the cache on the SD. Give it a look.
Razorrrr said:
Anyone know a good RSS reader application for the snap?
I googled a bit but didn't find anything worth mentioning.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Viigo is probably the best, and its free http://www.viigo.com
Bupah, I think you did mention you liked Viigo, lol.
Viigo is powered by advertisement, and i find it too stuffy when it comes to UI. But, he, like you said, it's free and that is a point.
Jalom said:
Bupah, I think you did mention you liked Viigo, lol.
Viigo is powered by advertisement, and i find it too stuffy when it comes to UI. But, he, like you said, it's free and that is a point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, the ads are tiny and usually very relevant to the feeds so I dont mind them. But yeah, I did mention Viigo lol.. I just like it. I tried nearly every feed reader and keep Viigo for its stability and its twitter support
RSS Reader Widget
For those using WM 6.5 (or above) I am developing an RSS Reader Widget. Anyone willing to test it out and give me feedback would be appreciated.
Note : this is a widget not a CAB, so you have to do this to get the widget installed :
In order to get your widget to install by clicking on it, you need to create this association by modifying the registry on the device to include the following values:
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\riapp] "EditFlags"=dword:00010000
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\riapp\Shell\Open\Command] @="wmwidgetinstaller.exe %1"
source "Deploying the Widget" :
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd721906.aspx
RSS Hub on T-Mobile Dash 3G
I installed RSS Hub (found linked from this forum) on my Dash 3G and I get the error "Can't find RSSHub (or one of its components)". It worked in one of the cooked ROMs I tried but for now I'd like to stick to T-Mobile's official 6.5 release.
Any ideas to get this to work?
Razorrrr said:
I tried RSS Hub and i'm verry pleased with this app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I couldn't get RSS Hub to work but NewsBreak is working perfectly.
NewsBreak is just the original name of RSS Hub - see http://www.iliumsoft.com/site/support/kb/idx.php/39/383/article/
Same thing right here. Anyone have any idea? I'm using WM 6.5 (original rom by factory default). Would like to stick to the original ROM, but I miss RSSHub, really a cool no-nonsense application.
ta1kradop said:
I installed RSS Hub (found linked from this forum) on my Dash 3G and I get the error "Can't find RSSHub (or one of its components)". It worked in one of the cooked ROMs I tried but for now I'd like to stick to T-Mobile's official 6.5 release.
Any ideas to get this to work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
geniaal said:
Same thing right here. Anyone have any idea? I'm using WM 6.5 (original rom by factory default). Would like to stick to the original ROM, but I miss RSSHub, really a cool no-nonsense application.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried NewsBreak as I suggested in post #14?
What is RSS Hub? Is it the same as NewsBreak? RSS Hub is a version of NewsBreak that has been customized per HTC's specifications for inclusion on their Windows Mobile devices.
There are some minor differences between the interface for NewsBreak and the interface for RSS Hub but the overall functionality is exactly the same.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Newsbreak is expensive
Hi there...
On my last phone (Nokia E90) I used Opera Mini 4 to subscribe to RSS feeds. I'm trying to find if I can do it on the Opera Mobile 9.7 that came with the HD2 but I cannot seem to find it. Isn't it possible to read RSS feeds with Opera Mobile?
jea i was wondering that HTC programmed a tab with footprints and twitter but not for RSS feeds.
That would be soo cool if u have a tab where u can add RSS feeds, any romcooker her who can make it real for sense ?
greets neow
One can go to Tools and click the option RSS Hub. Tis tool launches various predefined links but one can find & subscribe to new ones...
Hope this & helps...
Thank you! I hadn't seen that application before
10dulkar said:
One can go to Tools and click the option RSS Hub.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've read about it in the HD2 UG, but I can't find any RSSHub under Tools. What is the actual program the link to launching?
Press the Windows button on your HD2 which will take you to the Start menu, then press the Tools icon (or whatever it's called in your language). Now you will hopefully find the RSS Hub icon.
I can get there, I can see Calculator, Comm Manager, Internet Sharing, and so on, but no RSS Hub. That's why I asked what actually is this lnk pointing to.
There are some really good RSS readers out there if you are willing to pay. I personally like GoNews 1.3 Very slick interface and incredibly touch friendly.
However, for a really good free alternative, see this http://yomomedia.com/
Last I saw, you could find it in MArketplace as well
+1 for GoNews Touch.
Really nice...
Hi,
We all know rsshub, this one has a lot of bugs (the application freeze a lot of time), so I need to find another rss reader with touch interface
Do you have some advice ?
Thanks
i use SpeeedReader... it's basically a client for Google Reader
Thanks, I will try first Yomomedia and next SpeedReader.