If you need to carry a powerful calculator around all the time for either your work or studies then perhaps it's time you minimized your baggage by installing PocketCAS on your Pocket PC.

PocketCAS is a free scientific calculator that allows you to perform complex equations on your mobile device. In fact, it's just as powerful as even some of the most advanced pocket calculators on the marketing. Among its capabilities, PocketCAS enables you to perform symbolic and numeric integration and derivation of non-trivial functions, and to solve differential equations.

PocketCAS also boasts support for a huge range of linear algebra problems, like solving linear equation systems, multiplying and inverting matrices, finding eigenvalues (and eigenvectors, of course) and much more.

The PocketCAS environment is fully programmable and it contains a number of predefined keys for much quicker inputting.

Bear in mind that PocketCAS is designed to perform advanced mathematics, and if you just want a calculator for more simple equations, this one may confuse you a tad, especially as there is little help inside the program.

Nevertheless, PocketCAS makes for an excellent scientific calculator for Windows Mobile.

Download PocketCAS in Softonic

If you still hold fond memories of those old-fashioned dial phones, then you may want to install Old Phone on your Pocket PC.

Old Phone replaces the default Windows Mobile phone component, adding a real dialing disc in the style of those telephones. You can then 'dial' your number using Old Phone simply by clicking on the number on the display. The dialer will then spin around and the digit you entered will be displayed at the top.

There are a few options in Old Phone that you can tinker around with, such as the ability to toggle between a normal call and a hands-free one, switch back after a set number of seconds, and enable or disable the dialing sound effect (which is very realistic, incidentally).

Old Phone is great fun to play around with for a while, although after a while you get a bit annoyed by its slowness. It can take a couple of seconds for each number dial to animate, so I wouldn't recommend it for making emergency calls!

Ultimately Old Phone is a bit gimmicky, but it makes for an interesting customization for retro fans.

Download Old Phone 1.2 in Softonic

Why phone someone when you can chat with them using instant messaging? I guess there are about a million answers to that one, but nevertheless if you're hooked on IM then you may wish to text chat via your mobile phone. Slick is a free instant messaging client that allows you to talk online with your friends via the most popular IM networks.

Specifically, the client lets you connect and communicate with friends on ICQ, Yahoo!, AIM and MSN Messenger. Besides just sending and receiving messages you can also add emoticons (not enough to choose from for my liking though), change your status and add new contacts.

The interface is not too taxing to find your way around and owes much of its design to the popular IM clients. Thankfully, it also brings with it some of the more advanced features of these clients too, including the ability to share files, view chat history, and set up all manner of alerts.

If you're looking for a no-nonsense way of chatting with your IM contacts on the bus then Slick provides a, well, slick, means of doing so.

Download Slick 0.43 in Softonic

What can we say about one of the most addictive, amusing and competitive games on the market? How about, … now you can play it on your PocketPC!

You heard right! One of the most hair-raising arcade games of all times is now available in its PPC version. And what's more, this reedition is very loyal to the original. All the characters, scenes, weapons, objects and extras are all on your PocketPC.

With graphics identical to its most recent 16-bit versions and very similar audio effects together with the high level of addiction and an awesome playability, SuperBomber is quickly recognised as a first-rate title that your device should not be without.

What's more, thanks to the connectivity resources offered by your device, you can play in multiplayer mode with up to four simultaneous players.

Classic, highly enjoyable game you can play alone or with friends.

Download SuperBomber 0.95 in Softonic

Let's face it, using the Internet on your Pocket PC can leave you with a lot of crap clogging up your device. Not only does this eat into your memory, it can also slow down your device. Therefore, it makes sense to remove the stuff you don't need. ClearTemp helps you to do this without any hassle by locating, sorting and removing all types of temporary files stored on your device.

From the main ClearTemp environment, you can view the size of all temporary files available, including the temporary cache, browser history, temporary installations, URLs, cookies, and a lot more besides.

To remove them, simply select the type of file you want to delete and click 'Apply'. These files will then all be removed automatically, freeing up that valuable memory space on your PPC. Be careful though, because once they're gone then there's no way of getting them back if you really need them.

All in all, ClearTemp provides a quick way of clearing memory space by wiping out unneeded files from your device.

Download ClearTemp 1.0.3 in Softonic

Skype is a little program for making free calls over the internet to anyone else who also has Skype. It’s free and easy to download and use, and works with most computers.

Download, register, install, plug in your headset, speakers or USB phone and start calling your friends. The calls have excellent sound quality and are highly secure with end-to-end encryption. You don’t even need to configure your firewall or router or any other networking gear. It just, you know… works. And now you can use the world famous program on Pocket PC! Is this the end of the telephone?

Download Skype for Pocket PC 2.2.0.45 in Softonic

Brand new version of the popular shareware utility for Pocket PC, Total Commander 2.0 adds new functionality to an already good program.

New in version 2.0

• Support for portrait/landscape switching
• Save column widths in full view
• FTP client, registry editor, and access to LAN (local area network)

Original features, still as good as ever:

• Copy, Move whole subdirs

• Inplace rename, create dirs

• Delete (no recycle bin)

• Zip and unzip

• Properties dialog, change attributes

• Built-in text editor

• Search function (also for text)

• Select/unselect groups of files

• Select with [Sel] button

• FTP client

• Registry editor

• LAN access

• Send/Receive via Infrared (OBEX)

• Brief, full and large icons mode

• Single or two file window mode

• Option to hide all files in ROM

• Directory hotlist as in Total Commander

• Directory history through dropdown list

• Tree view

• Configurable button bar

• Simple help function

• Supported languages: English, German, Catalan, Czech, Danish, Dutch, French, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish and Swedish

Add many features to your PocketPC with this great piece of shareware!

Download Total Commander 2.51 in Softonic

StyleTap Platform allows you to run applications (and games!) originally written for Palm OS handhelds on your Windows Mobile Pocket PC handheld. With more than 20,000 applications for the Palm OS platform available – many of them free – you will be able to do so much more with your Windows Mobile Pocket PC handheld.

Sample screen shots of StyleTap PlatformStyleTap Platform is fast, compact and comes with everything you need. Just add your favorite third-party applications for Palm OS Platform and you're ready to go!

• Supports most of the thousands of application programs written for the Palm OS 5.2
• StyleTap Platform is fast, compact and comes with everything you need to get going
• Applications written for Palm OS show up as native Pocket PC programs
• Cut and paste text and bitmaps between applications
• Backwards compatibility enables both older and newer programs to update screen
• StyleTap takes full advantage of high density VGA screens for maximum readability
• Works great with standard size Pocket PC screens as well

Download StyleTap 1.1.010 in Softonic

Music is great for dancing to, but did you know that it's also makes the perfect accompaniment to chopping wood, playing tennis and making sandwiches? Install Jaybot's Catchy Cadence on your device and you'll find out why.

Catchy Cadence is a free game where you must test your rhythmic abilities by tapping the screen to the beat of a song. It includes more than a dozen games each with its own song and unique storyline and graphics.

What I loved about Catchy Cadence is the sheer diversity of the gameplay. One minute you find yourself hopping on pipes as a robot in a futuristic world to techno music, while the next you're entering a latin dancing competition in a Simple Simon-style beat-matching game. The graphics in Catchy Cadence are colorful and well rendered and all the scenarios are wonderfully presented.

In terms of the music, Catchy Cadence doesn't contain any licensed tracks, so you won't recognize any of the tunes. Nevertheless, the original songs are very catchy and you'll find yourself humming many of them for some time after you've finished playing.

The control system is ultra-simple and you just need to tap the screen in the right place at the right time. Mastering the games in Catchy Cadence is not so straightforward though, as they move at a very fast pace most of the time. Because you can't progress to the next game until you've completed the previous game, this can become frustrating.

Although there's no two-player mode to speak of, Catchy Cadence still has enough to keep you coming back for more, and the novel Extras menu, where you can unlock songs and other goodies provides a good incentive to stay glued to your screen.

If you're a fan of games like Guitar Hero, Rockband or Frets on Fire, then you'll love playing Jaybot's Catchy Cadence.

Download Catchy Cadence 1.0 in Softonic

Skype is great for making free or cheaper calls from your computer. But what if you're out and about and want to speak to your Skype contacts on the move? Then you need iSkoot.

iSkoot is a free program that puts Skype on your Pocket PC. As a result, you can make calls to people, chat via IM and even receive Skype calls to your mobile. You can also use iSkoot to make cheaper international calls using the SkypeOut service.

Setting up iSkoot is a painless procedure. You just need to select your model, download the installer and enter your Skype ID and password once the client is installed (you can create a new account if you need to). Your Skype contacts are automatically displayed and you can start calling right away by clicking on the name. Anyone familiar with Skype will be able to pick it up straight away, but there is a handy online help section if you need some assistance.

Call quality in iSkoot is generally excellent, and data connection speeds aren't really an issue, due to the way the system works. iSkoot basically connects you to a server which is in turn connected to the voice network via a regular mobile call. The only problem with this method is that it means you may get hit with long distance call charges, since you don't know what the number will be until the iSkoot server makes the call. The upshot of this is that if you're using your phone abroad you could end up racking up a large bill calling home as you will get hit with roaming charges. For making Skype calls in your own country though, the service is great as you bypass the need to pay call charges.

Provided you're only using it close to home, iSkoot offers a great way to chat cheaply on your mobile.

Download iSkoot 1.1 in Softonic

Since getting wireless installed at home, I can never imagine being chained to a modem ever again and love the fact that I can do my banking in bed or check the football results in the bath (in theory obviously. Don't try that at home).

If you want wireless but don't fancy buying a wireless router, or if you're trying to establish a connection away from home then get a load of WMWifiRouter. As the name suggests, the program transforms your Pocket PC into a mobile router for wireless Internet access.

The free software utilises the UMTS or EDGE protocols to link up with others connected via wireless devices. The application takes a bit of setting up and you'll need to enter lots of data concerning the wireless network. Unfortunately there's precious little help available within the program itself for doing this.

Once all these settings have been established, the program automatically sets up an ad-hoc network called 'WMWifiRouter'. If, for any reason the installation fails you can access the appropriate network parameters via WMWifiRouter_NoNet.CAB.

If you have the patience to get the thing set up, WMWifiRouter provides you with a handy way to use your Pocket PC as a wireless router.

Download WMWifiRouter 1.05 in Softonic

If you're looking for a complete cleaning, reorgqanising and all round general cleansing solution for your Windows Mobile device, then SKTools comes packed with a bunch of tools to make your life easier.

This is a genuinely powerful maintenance toolkit with so many tools included it's hard to know where to start. All of them combine to ensure that your registry is clean, your hard drive spic and span and that your RAM is completely flushed clean. Tools at your disposal include those to clear your temporary and cache folders such as IE contents, IE history, Mail attachments, Terminal Server client cache, Opera cache, NetFront cache and custom folders. In addition the program finds and deletes temporary, empty and obsolete files, malicious or corrupted registry keys and values, faulty shortcuts and other files that are deemed to be taking up valuable space on your portable device but are not needed anymore. It also of course empties recycle bins and deletes temporary files. The FreeUP RAM tool is probably one of the nicest feature of this toolkit allowing you to free up to 50K-2M of RAM. It can be set to kick in whenever your RAM reaches below a certain point and close tasks that are hogging your RAM. Note however that it can sometimes struggle to deal with excessive RAM usage and end up slowing down your system more than speeding it up.

This is a handy set of tools for Windows mobile devices that does an efficient job although apart from the RAM cleaner, doesn't perform anything you wouldn't normally expect from such a package.

Download SKTools 4.3.1 in Softonic

Living in a castle is great but it does have its downsides. One of the main ones being that you're prone to attacks by invaders who want to get into your castle, as you'll witness in Defender.

An interesting mobile strategy game, Defender charges you with the task of defending your citadel from waves of attacks by nasty monsters. In order to block their path you need to build towers strategically in the land in front of your castle. Bricks don't come for free though, so you'll need to think carefully about where you put them and which kind of towers to use in order to maximize your defense system.

It doesn't take long to get used to the way Defender works, thanks to an interactive tutorial at the start, which walks you through the process at a gentle pace. The control system in Defender is straightforward enough and just involves clicking on the square you want to build your defense, before selecting a tower from the menu that pops up.

Overall, the game is well packaged with intricate graphics and an awesome soundtrack. The only criticism I would level at Defender is that the pop-up, tower-selection menus are incredibly small and so it's sometimes difficult to work out what you're doing.

Rather like a computerized version of Crossbows and Catapults, Defender provides an immensely fun challenge for Windows Mobile users.

Download Defender 1.20 in Softonic

Pocket PC users are often on the move and this explains the large number of applications geared towards helping travellers wherever they go. One of the most successful travel programs available for handheld computers is this free guide to the subway systems in over 300 cities worldwide.

Métro has a very basic interface which can be a little tricky to read if you haven’t taken a look at the user guide. Once used to the controls, though, the average user will have no further trouble with this program. Use it to plan journeys, guide you between subway and railway stations, or to help you find places of interest such as museums or government buildings.

For such a small application, it holds a surprising amount of details and with frequent updates, you don’t need to worry about out-of-date information.

Download Métro 5.6.9 in Softonic

I'm no Picasso, but I do enjoy scribbling the odd work of 'art' on the back of a cigarette packet on the way to work in the morning.

Actually, these days I don't use a cigarette packet as my canvas, but rather my mobile phone, which I find to be a much more workable solution. MiTo Team Paint is one of a number of drawing apps for Pocket PC and offers you the chance to doodle onto your device with your finger or stylus, using the touchscreen.

This utility is very much at the low end of the graphic design app scale, and is a bargain basement bin version of the likes of Adobe Illustrator or Corel Painter. There's only really one tool - the pen tool (obviously), which you can use to create pretty pictures on screen.

You can choose one of five different pen widths and change between seven colors, although you can't mix your own from a palette like most graphics software lets you do. Once you've finished your creation you can save it onto your device to preserve forever. Unfortunately you can only save as a BMP file though.

MiTo Team Paint is essentially a very basic drawing tool with no added bells and whistles. It is free though, and is better for the environment than doodling on endless bits of paper.

Download MiTo Team Paint 1.2 in Softonic

GSPlayer is a free audio player for your PocketPC.

A simple, clear environment with all the basic features you'd expect, as well as the use of playlists. The player includes codecs for several formats including MP3, RMP, MP2, MPA, OGG and M3U.

A practical, free audio player.

Download GSPlayer 2.29 in Softonic

Tunneling, or port forwarding, is a way to forward otherwise insecure TCP traffic through SSH Secure Shell for Workstations. You can secure for example POP3, SMTP, Telnet, FTP, VNC and HTTP connections that would otherwise be insecure. You can control not only SSH server but all computers in your intranet network.

ZaTunnel is a SSH tunnel and port forwarding program for devices supporting Microsoft Compact Framework 2.0.

ZaTunnel boasts a handful of improvements that make remote administration of Unix and other servers via Telnet/FTP/VNC protocol using mobile devices safely and more efficient.

Download zaTunnel Free 0.92 in Softonic

MobiBlogr is a free blog software for Windows Mobile. With MobiBlogr on your Windows Mobile mobile phone, you can blog at anytime and anywhere. EThis means you can enjoy all the freedom of blogging on the go.

Features:

• Standard blogging: publish post to web, edit/delete published post, get recent posts
• Photo blogging: edit and publish blog enclosing local photos
• Richtext editor supporting most of richtext tag
• Full HTML featured viewer
• File Upload, one-click photo upload to your online album
• Built-in gallery view for photo browsing and uploading
• Auto blog/upload newly captured photos

Download MobiBlogr 1.5.1 in Softonic

If you fancy yourself as the next Bruce Lee then you can now put your skills to the test while you're sat on the bus, thanks to this Windows Mobile game.

The plot outline is the same as virtually every Kung-Fu movie I've ever seen - your girlfriend has been kidnapped by an evil family, who just so happen to be experts in hand-to-hand combat. Your mission is to rescue the girl using the wisdom passed onto by your late Kung-Fu master.

If the story sounds unoriginal then just wait until you play the game. It really is like going back in time to 1992 and heading to the nearest arcade. Your little Kung-Fu man must keep walking right, defeating all the other little Kung-Fu men that come his way. It seems that under the tuition of his late Sensei your character has learned an impressive array of two moves - a punch and a kick, which makes this game somewhat annoying.

Sure, the graphics are OK, but with just two pathetic moves to choose from it's kind of a waste of the motion capture technology that the developer of Kung-Fu Master has employed. The sound too is pretty crummy and at times it sounds more like a squabble between two toddlers than a serious martial arts game.

There are lots of bonus levels, special weapons and end-bosses that help to add a bit of variety to Kung-Fu Master, but in terms of its gameplay, this one becomes boring pretty quickly.

Download Kung-Fu Fighting 1.0 in Softonic

Personally I detest creepy crawlies and there's nothing I hate more than walking through a spider's web and enduring the ensuing panic as I try to pull it all off my face before Incy Wincey comes along.

Someone told me the best way to overcome your fears is to confront them. I wasn't ready to dip my head into a big bucket of spiders though, so I thought I'd try out this Windows Mobile game to improve my web-untangling skills without having to face a real-life arachnid.

When you first start out, TangledBugs seems a little complicated. You're faced with a tangled mess of spindles that you must unravel by moving around the bugs that each end is attached to. You can't move to the next level until none of the lines are crossing each other.

Once you've checked out the in-game demonstration it becomes easier to understand. You soon realise that when the lines turn green it means that they don't intersect another line, leaving you free to concentrate on untangling the rest of the web.

Of course, you could just sit there randomly moving the lines around until they all go green, but in the timed, sudden-death mode a little more logic is required in order to get out before it's too late. The graphics are pretty slick and being able to control the game using the touchscreen is a real boon, but ultimately I found the game gave be a headache because of the sheer complexity of some of the puzzles.

Nevertheless, TangledBugs is ideal for anyone who wants to keep their brain engaged on a long trip.

Download TangledBugs 1.36 in Softonic