There are quite a few other articles that too tell you the essential applications for you “pocket pc”. What I am going to focus here is more on the usability factor, and these are apps that I use myself. I prefer using freeware alternatives to the commercial ones, so I will also compare a freeware with its commercial counterpart if that exists. Windows Mobile has immense functionality to let you perform what you can from a laptop. So here we go.

Backing up your data before making any installations is a good idea

1). Opera Mobile 9.5 Beta [FREEWARE]
This is cool browser that actually has the complete engine of its desktop counterpart! So that means you can view complete sites and they will be just like you see them on your PC. Extremely powerful support for javascript. It also provides the option to add widgets for extending the applicability. You cannot compare Opera to the inbuilt Pocket IE, as PIE does not even offer 1/4 of what Opera has to offer, such as speed,zoom(WM 6.1 PIE has it),Tabs,Widgets,etc. What more the latest version offers the Google Gears Plugin support too!

2). TCPMP (The Core Project Media Player) [FREEWARE]

This is the best freeware video player that you can get for you Windows Mobile. It supports a wide range of formats like avi,mkv,aac,amr,ac3,ogg amongst others. It supports widescreen and fullscreen modes, which utilize the screen to its max.This project is no longer supported but the last release 0.72RC1 is still available for download. Its commercial version “The Core player” supports almost the same formats except .ac3 as it will increase the cost of the application. Also, you will have to pay $25 for the Core player (which is actually ok, if you want to support them).

3). Remote Desktop Application [FREEWARE]

How many times do you go out of city and want to connect to your office/home PC? Well, if you do then you can do it via your Windows Mobile too! This is handy especially when you cant carry in your laptops inside some places . It is an exact replica of the Desktop RDC and it supports 16bit with 256 colours for slower GPRS connections. You just need to enter your username/password and say “connect”…done!

4). MoBlue Bluetooth receiver [FREEWARE]

There are some limitation to the folder where you can save the file received vi Bluetooth. The default location is “My Documents” and if the file is big, it slows down the phone drastically. Also, sometimes if the phone ROM is less, you may not have adequate space to save the file. In this situation “MoBlue” is one handy application. You can select the default location where you want to save the received file including Storage Card. It also has a feature to show the amount of file that is received in form of progress bar along with the transfer speed.

5).Pocket RAR [FREEWARE]

Pocket RAR is a tool designed to help your work with RAR archives on your Pocket PC. The RAR format has an excellent level of compression, helping you make sure that you conserve space on your Pocket PC’s storage.

WinRAR provides complete support for RAR and ZIP archives and is able to unpack CAB, ARJ, LZH, TAR, GZ, ACE, UUE, BZ2, JAR, ISO, 7Z, Z archives.It is easier to use than many other archivers with the inclusion of a special “Wizard” mode which allows instant access to the basic archiving functions through a simple question and answer procedure. This avoids confusion in the early stages of use.

6). WM5torage [FREEWARE]

There are instances when we have to transfer files to/from storage card to desktop. But sometimes Activesync might not be available on that particular machine. You can use WM5storage to change the connection mode to “memory card”, and when you plug in the cable, you will find that you Windows Mobile has turned into a flash drive! Although, the limitation here is that the connection will be in USB 1.0 mode only, so transfer rate will be a bit slower. There is an option to connect the card in Read Only mode, which means it will be safe from the USB worms & viruses . Something that is not available in its commercial equivalent is a two-way mode which allows storage card to be accessed simultaneously from both mobile as well as desktop. There is a commercial version called “Softick card export” , but according to me its not worth spending money on where there is this great free tool that does more than Softick.

7). SPB Pocket Plus [Shareware]

Alright, this is a shareware.Its a Today plugin and it adds shortcut icons to Today screen. I found it so powerful and useful that I added to my must have list. It gives the feel of a “PC Desktop” as you can move around the icons, change the icons for any application as I have done.

Here is a screenshot of my customized Today screen

8). HandyGet Pocket Downloader [Shareware]

Another great tool. I like to download whenever and wherever I go, especially in a Wi-Fi zone. But not everytime can you carry your laptop… so Windows Mobile again comes to use and this application is the best download manager for it. You can also download from rapidshare.com premium account directly ,after you enter your credentials.It utilizes the maximum bandwidth available thus giving better speeds. It’s easy to use and integrates itself into Pocket Internet Explorer. It allows downloading from ftp/http servers and resuming downloads.HandyGet can split downloaded files into sections, downloading each section simultaneously, for an increase in downloading speed from 100% to 300%. It also supports proxy servers(HTTP Get,HTTP Connect,Socks4,Socks5).Best of all there is a download completed message,including screen notify,Vibrate and sound.

9). Google Maps [FREEWARE]

If your mobile does not have GPS, and still you want directions then this is the best app available and that too for free.

Google Maps on your phone makes it easy to:

• Determine your current location with or without GPS (My Location Feature)
• Get driving and transit directions
• Get phone numbers and addresses for local businesses
• Get the traffic information
• View the street level info

10).Galarm 1.4.5 [FREEWARE]

G-Alarm is a reliable and very powerful alarm clock with probably more features than any other alarm software. You can define unlimited alarms of different types, you can set your own music files to wake you up (mp3, wma, wav, ogg, mp4, aac), customize the look and optionally choose between two special wake-up mechanisms: If you want to, you can set G-Alarm to force you to guide a ball through mazes or solve a calculation task before you can snooze or stop the alarm.

Wow that was a long post. Hope you enjoyed reading and downloading. Suggest me if you have other better freewares/shareware. Post this page to your twitter if you like it!