The virtual wallet market is popular with software developers. Nearly all PDA users make use of some sort of virtual wallet program to store their credit card numbers, email passwords or other personal data. eWallet, already regarded by most as the leader in its field has improved on its already excellent reputation with version 4, a feature packed virtual wallet application which is near perfect.

Whatever information you want to keep safe, eWallet is designed to help you entering and retrieving your data with the least hassle possible. Like most virtual wallet programs, it includes a range of categories to choose from as well as a ‘custom’ category option. However, because eWallet’s range of categories is so expansive (check out the ‘internet settings’ option with space for IP addresses, default gateways and more), you may find that you never even need to create a custom category.

When you create a new card (a card can represent an actual credit card or any other record), you’re immediately given a range of customisation options which exceed the offerings of other programs. Change the colour of your card, add a custom .ico icon file, or even a sound effect to make each entry unique and easily recognisable. Cards can be created in the main set of your data store or in unlimited levels of subcategories, offering a level of organisation which is simply unavailable in other applications.

eWallet’s level of security is also impressive. With frequent requests for your passcode, you can be sure that no one can simply pick up your PDA and gain access to your cards. eWallet offers 256-bit encryption where some of its competitors still don’t encrypt your data at all. It also offers you the option to set password hints on individual items, a handy and popular data-protection technique often employed on websites. With top level stability, eWallet can be relied on to stand up to the job, even if you use your virtual wallet application frequently.

As you may be able to tell, we were pretty happy with this version of eWallet! It has so few flaws that the biggest issue we had was with the non-alphabetic listing of icons in the card-editing screen – hardly a critical issue. Synchronisation via SyncPro is actually far better than using ActiveSync, given that it doesn’t need to upload/download the entire database each time it syncs: SyncPro is capable of only updating the latest changes you’ve made, saving you precious time.

eWallet performs its core role with simplicity and ease of use and then offers you a higher level of customisation than any of its competitors. It’s not only the best in its category but one of the few absolute ‘must have’ programs for Palm, Pocket PC and Windows Smartphones. With practically no negative points, it just can’t get a higher recommendation!

Download eWallet 6.1.3 in Softonic

Let's face it, the built-in Calendar in Windows Mobile for Pocket PC isn't up to much. It's clunky and fiddly to operate and makes it difficult to quickly check the date and make appointments.

ThumbCal is designed to replace the default calendar on your handset with one that's easier to use. It's certainly a lot clearer, with big buttons as the dates that can be easily touched with a finger. If you run the app with its bundled skin you'll get a slick black interface with white numbers and grey highlights.

By clicking a date or tapping it with your fingers you can access a menu where you can select 'Today' to return to the current day on the calendar. You can choose 'New' to make an appointment for a particular date. Or at least, that's the theory. In practice, I couldn't get the feature to do anything, probably because this is an early alpha version.

Nevertheless it's good for checking dates in the future and goes up beyond the year 2100, so you can literally plan the rest of your life on it. As you flip through the years, the calendar scrolls upwards, which looks pretty cool. Again though, it's hit and miss as to whether this feature will work.

ThumbCal is a great looking, easy-access Pocket PC calendar app which is unfortunately let down by bugs and glitches.

Download ThumbCal 1.0.7 in Softonic

Pool is one of those games that you think you're going to be really good at until you step up to the table and realize that it's actually much tougher than it looks.

Vegas Pool Sharks gives you the chance to hone your skills in the hustlers' playground that is Las Vegas. You'll get a chance to fleece money from some of the most canny players in the casino. Alternatively you might lose your house.

The game sees you compete against four different computer opponents who vary in their level of skill. I would've liked to have seen a few more characters just to add a bit more variety, but there are three different game modes to help you mix things up a bit.

Vegas Pool Sharks boasts some surprisingly accurate ball physics making it a fairly realistic pool simulation for a mobile device. The 3D views are great and you can zoom in and out or tilt the angle of your cue fairly smoothly. Thanks to some helpful aiming hints it should be quite easy for you to get to grips with the game.

Although it lacks the all-important two player mode, Vegas Pool Sharks is a fairly accurate pool simulation that will keep you amused for some time.

Download Vegas Pool Sharks 1.03 in Softonic

Winner of the multiple awards in 2004/2005/2006 from the Shareware Industry Conference and Pocket PC Magazine, FlexMail is a full fledged email client for your Pocket PC. It supports reading and replying to ActiveSynch email for basic operations or through its infinitely more powerful POP3/IMAP4 services to your email server. With support for industry standard SSL and SOCKS proxies, you can connect to almost any email provider including GMail!

With FlexMail's many options you can customize your email usage much more than the Pocket PC Messaging app allows. Receive your email via ActiveSync and respond via your POP3/IMAP4 SMTP account. Have FlexMail only hold the last 5 days of your IMAP folders. Create local folders and server folders. Synchronize by age, size, and synchronizations status on a per folder basis allowing you to get only the last 5 day's worth of email in your Inbox but the last months in your Personal folder, for example.

FlexiMail's awesome features include:

Rules Engine

Full featured Rules Engine lets you move, reply, mark messages and more based on custom rules with an easy to use GUI

Searching

Search single or multiple folders for email within IMAP/POP3/SMS or ActiveSync accounts

Fast

Uses the WinMobile internal database engine for performance and reliability

Updated User Interface

More usable interface on Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PCs

Meeting Requests

Accept and Reject Meeting Requests

Address Auto-Complete

Quick Selection of matching contacts

Flags

Reply/Forwarded and Flagged Messages now displayed and synched

Push Email

Using IMAP IDLE, FlexMail gets immediate notifications of new messages

Folder Synchronization

Under IMAP, each folder can have separate Download/Upload/Delete characteristics

Sent/Drafts

Assign IMAP Sent/Drafts Folders

Notifications

Per Account and per new message notifications

HTML Viewing

View HTML Email through POP3/IMAP with or without images

Pocket Informant

Integrated with Pocket Informant for editing contacts and creating tasks/appts from an email

Views

3 pane view, 2 pane view, 1 page view

Preview Window

Display a Preview window to read your email more quickly

Signatures

Per Account Signatures

SOCKS

Full proxy support

Full SSL Support

SSL POP3/IMAP with standard and custom ports

Full Authentication SMTP

With SSL, Authentication, and POP3 check before send plus separate authentication for Send and Receive

ActiveSync

Supports ActiveSync or Exchange ActiveSync

Account Test

Test your SMTP Account Settings

Immediate Send

Send emails immediately

Character Sets

Extensive character set support (non-Asian)

Storage Cards

Store accounts on Storage Cards

Download FlexMail 4.01 in Softonic

It’s hardly a secret that Microsoft’s native handwriting recognition software for Pocket PC leaves much to be desired. Calligrapher 8.3 fills the gap left by Microsoft and adds plenty of extra features to sweeten the deal.

Calligrapher allows you to enter text directly into the main window of any application, rather than forcing you to write in the small field at the bottom of the screen. This makes for a lot more freedom than in other handwriting recognition tools, gives you more space to work in, and clearly helps the program to recognize characters and words more accurately.

As well as the standard features, Calligrapher boasts a built-in spell checker which is a nice touch, but it is the accuracy of the recognition engine which really impresses. You’ll need to take some time to learn how to use this application, but it’s easier to use than many of its competitors so this is shouldn’t prove to be a major issue.

In all, Calligrapher 8.3 is a major improvement on your Pocket PC’s default handwriting recognition software and is recommended to anyone who has struggled with Microsoft’s disappointing effort.

Download CalliGrapher 8.7 in Softonic

PPCDesktop is an application that allows you to modify the environment of your PocketPC system.

Thanks to this application you can create short-cut icons, add desktop wallpaper to suit your taste and manage all the applications resident on your device, in the same way as if you were using the default desktop.

Improve access to your applications.

Download PPCDesktop for Pocket PC 1.20 in Softonic

Use Chronos to to save valuable time and avoid looking at the clock every minute. Chronos fills the gap in Windows Mobile operating system by offering:

• Unlimited number of highly customizable alarms
• Unlimited number of countdown timers
• 2 multi-stage lap timers

Chronos alarms offer complete control over alarm behavior:

• Alarms can be set to signal only on certain days of the week, they can be one-time or repetitive.
• Alarm can notify you by playing sounds (unique: MP3 support), turning on/off vibration, blinking the LED.
• You can select custom sound stored in memory or on the storage card.
• The sound can be played with ascending volume and in loops (i.e. as many times as you need).
• Vibration (requires hardware availability of the feature) can be set to work before or with the sound. Pulsation is customizable too.

Countdown timers are used to notify you when certain amount of time elapses. Countdown timers can have two time periods (second period starts after first period of time is complete). You can completely customize sound and vibro notifications for the timer (in the same way as for alarm). Settings of each countdown timer can be saved as a template for future use.

Two multi-stage timers let you count time of some action and compare results of two attempts. You can use timer to fix intermediate results (for example when you run 5 laps, you can track time of each lap).

An extensive, full featured 'time tool' for your Pocket PC.

Download Chronos 3.9.4 in Softonic

This technical piece of software allows you to save and share your mapping data in common shape format. You can measure and view distances, areas and lengths using your mobile and then load these images onto maps created using the free AgMapper Image Converter.

AgMapper comes from Australia so it's no surprise the software is recommended for bushtreckers, walkers and farmers.

Download AgMapper 1.4.8 in Softonic

If you're looking for a complete cleaning, reorqanising 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 4.3.2 in Softonic

If you've got a Pocket PC then did you know you can convert it into a portable DVD player too with just a few clicks?

Xilisoft DVD to Pocket PC Ripper is a fast and easy to use DVD ripper which helps you rip DVD to Pocket PC supported file formats. The quality of conversions is generally excellent and the conversions speeds are fast. However, note that this may not work as well with all portable PCs. The developers claim that it has been optimised for use with HP, Dell, Toshiba and other popular brands but there can be no guarantees for other brands. The program allows you a certain level of control over such aspects as bitrate and video size although the number of formats it can convert to seem generally limited to WMV, MP3 and WMA. Overall, the interface is simple and easy to navigate around with a preview window in the bottom left to help you review conversion or select which part of a DVD you want to convert.

Fast and easy to use, this conversion tool could do with converting to a few more formats but it's more than enough for most Pocket PC user's needs.

Download Xilisoft DVD to Pocket PC Ripper 5.0.40.0729 in Softonic

Pocket Player 3.2 is a rockin' way to enjoy music and video on your Pocket PC or Smartphone. Through multiple media and playlist formats, Internet connectivity, plugin extensions, and an intuitive interface, Pocket Player means less taps, more music!

What makes pocket player different?:

• Full music and video support: MP3, WMA, WMV1 2, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, and WAV!
• Protected WMA support, u-Law, A-Law, AU, and ADPCM WAV (used in Voicemail attachments) playback
• 10-band Equalizer and Preamp, with presets!
• Universal Plug-and-Play (UPnP): browse and play content from your desktop!
• Web radio guide and podcast streaming, with pause, auto-resume and seek functionality!
• Voicemail playback (WAV attachments), integrates to your Inbox!
• Visualizations and downloadable Album Art support
• Media Browser, handles 1000+ tracks with ease!
• Full Pocket PC and Smartphone support, including version 2002, 2003, WM5 and Windows Mobile 6 compatibility!
• Skinnable (Pocket Player, WMP, and WSZ skins)
• Skin hue adjustment: change skin colors
• Themed and skinned Today plugin
• HTTP, Windows Network, Shoutcast, Icecast streaming
• ID3 v1/v1.1/v2 reading; scans device in background
• Gapless playback with variable crossfading
• Automatic Microdrive buffering support
• "Local Content" playlist auto-detects all tracks on device
• Playlist manager, auto-generating smart playlists!
• Pocket PC Notification Icon playback controls
• DSP Plugin support, including Bass Boost
• User-managed Bookmarks support; jump to a file and time
• For Podcasts and audio books: "Seek to last position", Auto-resume
• Hardware button mapping, button locking, one-handed navigation, including support for the Smartphone scroll wheels
• Bluetooth Remote control and headphones support
• Optional sleep timer
• Automatic screen shutoff

Download Pocket Player 3.7 in Softonic

SplashPhoto turns your Pocket PC handheld into a mobile digital picture frame. Simply load your favorite images with the included desktop software and you're ready to view images while on the go. Images can be viewed by thumbnail, individually or in a slide show.

Additional features include:

• Capture images using the built in camera on devices like the Treo, P900 and Zire 72
• Read images on memory cards taken directly from a digital camera
• Send images to other mobile devices via infrared, Bluetooth, or email (where supported)
• Pan and Zoom on the handheld application
• View images in a Slideshow with transitions and background music

View images on your Pocket PC with SplashPhoto.

Download SplashPhoto 5.01 in Softonic

If you use a Windows Mobile Pocket PC then you'll probably have noticed that the built-in clock on the today screen isn't particularly thrilling.

If you want to add a more attractive and functional clock to the main screen of your device then you could give Pocket Digital Clock a try. The application replaces the network provider information section on the Today screen with a large white-on-black digital clock display. The clock displays hours, minutes and seconds, and it also shows you the date above the timepiece itself.

The program is a bit awkward to install - you need to reset your device after installing the CAB file and even then I had to play around a bit with files and registry keys. Once it's running it looks pretty slick though and has a very small memory footprint so you shouldn't notice any adverse effects on your device's performance, like so many plug-ins cause these days.

Ultimately though, Pocket Digital Clock doesn't really add any amazing new functionality to your device. The fact that the preset Windows Mobile time and date display appears above the clock highlights the fact that this app is merely duplicating what you already have.

However, if you want a clearer way to quickly check the time, Pocket Digital Clock does an adequate job.

Download Pocket Digital Clock 1.1.8.1 in Softonic

Resco Keyboard Pro is a powerful input method. It gives you the ability to write texts and control your applications faster than ever before. In addition to the system keyboard, there are three numeric layouts, including a "Writing Calculator" for typing numbers or numerical expressions.

In addition, there is a special keyboard that allows you to customize your Pocket PC for fast insertion of frequently used phrases. The keyboard is fully skinable and supports more than 20 national keyboard layouts.

Some of the features of Resco Keyboard PRO include:

• National keyboard layouts - gives you the ability to write in more than 20 languages
• Gestures and auto-repeat support
• Three numeric layouts including Calculator
• Frequently used phrases
• Custom keyboard layout

Powerful tool for entering text in your Pocket PC applications.

Download Resco Keyboard PRO 5.11 in Softonic

If you frequently travel on business trips you may find it difficult to keep track of all the expenses you need to claim back when you return to the office.

You may want to check out Easy Expenses, which is designed to log all of your work-related spending on the move. Although the user interface within Easy Expenses takes a bit of getting used to, once you've got the knack it does facilitate quick, finger-friendly data entry.

Once you've clicked the 'New Item' option in Easy Expenses you can choose from a list of three currencies, before entering the amount of your expense just by clicking squares which correspond to each decimal placing. You can then record other information into Easy Expenses such as the expense type, date, source and the payment method. All of this entering is done via drop-down menus, and, as with entering the amount, it would've been nice to have some way of entering values manually.

Nevertheless, it is possible to edit the default values in Easy Expenses, so you can choose your own currencies, expense types, payment methods, etc. Easy Expenses also lets you export the data as a text file for viewing and editing in other applications. It would've been nice to have a few more advanced features in the program, such as currency conversion or an option for recording where you were on each trip.

On the whole though, Easy Expenses provides a useful way of recording your expenses as they happen.

Download Easy Expenses 0.91 in Softonic

I love using my Pocket PC but I've never found the experience of navigating files on the device as slick as it is in the native version of Windows.

Resco Explorer replicates the look and functionality of Windows Explorer on your Pocket PC. Granted, Windows Explorer isn't perfect, but it's a whole lot more intuitive than Windows Mobile's hotchpotch of a file manager, as this neat application proves.

The program is installed painlessly via Windows onto your Pocket PC, and once in place, provides a much quicker and easier way of navigating through your files. Initially, folders are displayed in a column, though the layout can be tweaked to the max, by applying a tree structure view, changing icon and folder sizes and sorting using a range of variables.

Open the 'Menu' and you'll uncover a treasure trove of settings that allows you to completely customise your file management experience. There's a Send option for quickly sharing files via email, Bluetooth or Infrared; a fast and reliable Find tool, file encryption, an Edit menu for performing file commands, and a comprehensive Help menu too. Delve into the 'Options' menu and amazingly you'll discover there's yet more settings for personalising your file manager.

If you're looking for a quicker and easier way to navigate and manage files in Windows Mobile, I doubt you'll find anything better than Resco File Explorer.

Download Resco Explorer 2008 7.05 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 1.10 in Softonic

One of the main problems in my life at the moment is that I keep seeing more and more people on the street listening to their iPod Touch or iPhone. That in itself is not the problem, of course. The problem is I don't have one. And I want one.

Luckily though, I stumbled across this Pocket PC app that allows you to replicate the iPhone/iPod Touch audio player on your Windows Mobile device. Although the design of the app isn't completely the same, the interface is very similar and as such it provides you with a novel way of listening to music on your mobile - without the stylus.

On booting up S2P you'll probably notice that it doesn't auto-detect your MP3s, which is a little irritating, but quickly solved by ensuring that all of your music is organised well into folders, allowing you to navigate this way, rather than through a list.

Other than that, the program handles like a dream, with large buttons that can be easily tapped with a finger, and a scrolling menu system that animates smoothly. S2P can handle album art too, and if it doesn't detect any it's very simple to import. Playback is just as intuitive as navigation and again the buttons are very large.

You'll need a fair amount of system memory on your device because it is pretty RAM-hungry, but if your unit is up to it it's a great way of experiencing iPod Touch functionality without actually buying one.

Download S2P 0.50 in Softonic

phoneAlarm is a Today screen plugin - giving you total control over your Pocket PC Phone. Never miss an important call, SMS or Email again. Automatically switch profiles and quickly access Inbox, call history and control the state of bluetooth directly from the Today screen. Optimised for one-handed and in-car use.

phoneAlarm key features:

• Provides repeating alarms on new SMS, Email, missed calls & voice messages
• 7 Custom Phone profiles with manual / time-based automatic switching.
• Alarm notification on weak battery and phone signal (WM 5.0 only)
• Customise sound, volume and options for each alarm type in each profile
• Mute device and phone volume
• Skinnable user interface (How to create skins)
• Bluetooth and Flight mode control via profiles (also for Widcomm/Broadcomm stack)
• Auto-profile change on <'ActiveSync'> (Work) and <'Power - no ActiveSync'> (Car), also based on time or Appointment category
• 1-hand skin navigation and quick-dialer for last 10 numbers (only for WM 5.0 & WM 2003 SE)
• Icons provide direct access to Inbox, missed call history etc.
• Task-switcher pop-up to close running applications
• Option to cycle radio (off/on) to change user on dual SIM
• English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Danish, Norwegian, Dutch, Czech, Hungarian, Russian and Chinese user interface
• Supports VGA display
• Optimised for fast performance and maximum platform support
• Simple installation

Download phoneAlarm 2.06 in Softonic

Spb Mobile Shell is the first program a Pocket PC user needs to install. It dramatically improves the standard user interface and adds features that most users expect from a modern PDA phone. Spb Mobile Shell introduces the next generation user interface while keeping all advantages of a Windows Mobile device. Enjoy your Pocket PC!

Features:

• The most important information on one screen Phone style menu
• Weather forecasts
• Photo speed dial
• World time
• Launcher
• Big dynamic tabs on Today
• Color based themes
• Smart contact search
• Auto-hide mode for Today plug-ins

Download Spb Mobile Shell 2.1.2 in Softonic