With society pushing us to be online and available in our every waking moment, it is hardly surprising that there are a plethora of instant messaging programs available for PDAs and mobile phones. IM+ offers connection to a wide range of networks without becoming too bloated or over-complex. The first thing we noticed after installing IM+ was the simplicity of its user interface. As soon as the program opens, you can get to work configuring your accounts. IM+ lets you access the popular MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, ICQ, AOL (AIM), Jabber and Google Talk networks, meaning that whoever you need to stay in touch with, IM+ will be able to help you out.

On Windows applications featuring such a range of connectivity, it’s normal to see a complex list of options when the configuration process starts. IM+ simplifies the process of setting up your accounts, and beyond message alerts, contains practically no options to configure. This may put off more advanced users who enjoy tinkering with their accounts but we thought it was a good move on the part of Shape Services (IM+’s creators). The only problem we noticed when setting up our account details was that the ‘backspace’ key on our device’s touch screen keyboard didn’t work. This is of course a small issue, but it slowed us down when we made a mistake.

The contact list display (or ‘Roster’) in IM+ should be immediately recognisable to anyone who’s used an instant messenger service before. Giving you the choice of whether to view all your contacts or just those online, IM+ also sorts your contacts by groups if requested. Selecting an online contact immediately initiates a chat with them, while the holding your stylus on the contact will provide some limited options referring to that contact, such as ‘rename’, ‘delete’ and ‘info’. We were disappointed that ‘info’ didn’t try to display a contact’s full profile rather than just their email address. We thought that a more full extract of the contact’s online profile would have been useful, at least including their birthday, homepage and interests.

Entering the text for sending messages was simple enough. As usual, we found the Transcriber feature to be the easiest and most accurate method of text entry, but this is very much a matter of personal preference for the individual user. IM+ also allows you to copy and paste text from other applications into your chat window; particularly useful if you’re using the program to collaborate on a work project, or even just to send your friend a link. IM+ also supports the most popular emoticons for instant messaging, for those times when words just can’t convey your feelings.

Up against some stiff competition, IM+ is an excellent chat program for your Pocket PC. While it has a couple of small issues and omissions, it is easy to use, relatively small and very stable. In other words, an excellent way of staying in contact even when you’ve got a good excuse not to!

Download IM+ (IMPlus) 8.0.1 in Softonic

The superb user interface in PockeTwit maximizes screen space by having one main screen dedicated to latest tweets, then separate menus that slide out from the left and right by swiping your finger.

The left-hand menu in PockeTwit is used for global tools such as posting updates, viewing messages, and changing settings. The menu on the right side is more contextual, relating to the user whose tweet your are viewing. Here you can quickly perform actions such as retweeting, quoting, emailing their status, viewing their timeline or adding to your favorites.

There are plenty of interesting features within PockeTwit, such as the ability to organize your Twitter contacts into groups. This is great if you follow a lot of people, because it allows you to categorize them, making them easier to view.

Other neat features of PockeTwit include support for multiple Twitter accounts, URL shortening and automated uploading of images from your device to services such as TwitPic and yfrog. Overall, this makes PockTwit a more powerful alternative to Tiny Twitter.

Our only small gripe with PockeTwit is that it's easy to hit the wrong option by mistake, because of the fact you have to hold down on the menu to drag the timeline back across. A couple of times we even ended up unfollowing people on PockeTwit because the screen got stuck while we were dragging across with the 'Unfollow' button inadvertently pressed down.

Overall though, PockeTwit is an impressive free Windows Mobile Twitter application, which acts the perfect hub for Twitter activity on your Pocket PC.

Download PockeTwit 0.86 in Softonic

Using Sniper you can send/receive and reply to text messages from other BlueTooth equipped phones (including non Windows Mobile devices such as Nokias and Sony-Ericssons). Sniper also contains a BlueTooth scanner which will locate discoverable BlueTooth devices in your vicinity to start socializing with. Sniper will also allow you to transfer files between devices as well as messages. With just a few clicks you can designate folders (on the storage card if you wish) for Music, pictures or any kind of file. Sniper is skinnable and comes with a range of cool skins. More skins may be easily added.

Sniper also includes a Bluejacking feature which means you can send files or messages to all devices within range at the same time. A useful feature for sending out Business cards at meetings! Since BlueTooth is short range 10-12 meters and does not use a Wireless carriers data network, all this messaging and data transfer is FREE.

Download Sniper 1.3.469 in Softonic

In Classic mode, players of the board game will find comfort in its familiarity, while experiencing the benefits of automated card selection, rolls of the die and token movement. Flash mode offers a ladder-style version of the TRIVIAL PURSUIT game in which one to six players take turns answering questions. Players move up the ladder with every correct answer and the first player to reach the top rung and answer the final questions is the winner. Play in single player mode or against two to six opponents in local hot seat mode and multiplayer.

Features include:

* Over 1600 multiple choice and true/false questions

* Two modes of play

- Classic play, the beloved original in a snazzy setting
- Flash mode, a quick fix TRIVIAL PURSUIT® game

* Multiplayer support of 2-6 players over IR (Infrared)

* Multiplayer lobby offers a meeting place for a networked game including chat among players

Download Trivial Pursuit 1.02 in Softonic

Bambuser is similar to the excellent Qik, in that it allows you to capture video of yourself using your PDA's camera then stream it to a channel online. It’s very easy to start using the program. You just need to sign up for a free Bambuser account then activate the camera, either in outward or inward mode.

As soon as you start recording, Bambuser shows you the address where the video is being streamed to. You can then share this with your friends via Twitter or Facebook and anyone can come to the page and see and hear what you’re doing live. Actually there’s a delay of a couple of seconds, but this time gap is much less than it is in Qik.

While broadcasting there are a raft of options available to the viewer. They can see your location on Google Maps, share the video with their friends, or chat with all the other viewers in the built-in chatroom. After you’ve finished recording, all of the footage is saved on the Bambuser site, so it can be watched again by anyone who missed the live broadcast.

There are a few different settings you can play around with. You can tinker with the audio and video quality, set a title for your video, and toggle visibility between public and private.

It’s worth bearing in mind that Bambuser is a heavy consumer of both power and data. So I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone who hasn’t got a flat rate internet plan (unless you’re using WiFi) or who doesn’t want their battery drained quickly.

Overall though, Bambuser offers a quick and easy way to broadcast yourself live over the internet.

Download Bambuser 1.1.3.1 in Softonic

Specifically, Slick 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.

Slick's 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 0.63 in Softonic

This mobile version of the Skype VOIP client also lets you call phones with Skype credits, as well as allowing you to receive calls on your online number, send instant messages, share files, and more.

Using Skype on your phone is dead easy. Once launched, the program gives you all sorts of warnings to notify you that it will be using your mobile Internet connection. Then it's just a case of signing in with your regular Skype account details to get started.

Your contacts will all be imported and displayed in the main window, along with details of their statuses. To call a person, just tap on their name and hit the phone icon. The call quality in our tests was excellent, and as long as your connection is stable you shouldn't experience any drop outs.

Instant messaging features

The IM feature in Skype for Windows Mobile is easy to use and includes a range of emoticons, templates for one-click replies, file sharing, and the ability to add other participants to the conversation. We did note a few lags in the time between the messages being typed and arriving at their destination.

Skype keeps a record of all your text conversations, as well as logging your call history, voicemails, and files exchanged. You can view this information at any time just by clicking the 'History' button from the well-organized main menu.

Skype settings

There are a few settings you can tinker around with that help you personalize your Skype experience. For instance, you can choose to enable or disable the Mood message prompt, forward calls to another number, and block calls from people you don’t trust.

If you're expecting a fully-fledged version of Skype that has all the features of the PC or Mac version of the program then you'll be a little disappointed. There's no video conferencing or games, for example, and there are no tools for organizing your contacts into categories.

Sadly, Skype is no longer officially supported for Windows Mobile and the developer says it has no plans to release more updates for Windows phones in the future. However, you can still download the app from Softonic and use it for free.

It’s worth trying, because Skype for Windows Mobile offers everything you'd expect from a mobile version of the great VOIP app - it's easy to use, it's fun, and it's free!

Download Skype for Pocket PC 3.0.0.256 Beta in Softonic

The path to perfection has no borders, so as the new bubble game. Smiling Bubbles are not only chatting and laughing, entertaining you but also give you a chance to improve your skills - they are clever and cunning you see.

At first you will need some time and attention to clear up who is who (there are both positive and negative characters). Then you should develop your own strategy, using your quick mind and acuity of vision.

An amusing and entertaining game for your Pocket PC.

Download Smiling Bubbles PPC 1.36 in Softonic

Microsoft has been busy of late ramping up its Windows Live offering, and now all of these communication tools are available in one place on your Pocket PC.

Windows Live for Mobile provides you with instant access to Windows Live tools from within your device. It's designed to make it easier for you to stay in touch with your contacts on Hotmail and Windows Live Spaces, as well as performing web searches. The app even lets you download and sync your Windows Live contacts with your mobile phone.

The installation process for Windows Live for Mobile is a very straightforward one, and simply involves entering your Windows Live ID and following the set-up wizard. You're given the option to import all of your Hotmail contacts, which will then show up on the device itself, allowing you to email them or chat via Live Messenger (which needs a separate install) from your contacts menu.

Whenever you launch Windows Live for Mobile, your Hotmail inbox will be displayed along with a Windows Live Search bar. If you're a fan of Microsoft services this is ideal and makes for a great starting point for the Internet on your mobile. This Windows Mobile version of Windows Live for Mobile also includes a home screen plug-in that displays your newest emails and adds a Live Search bar.

Windows Live for Mobile is fully customizable allowing you to tweak email settings, schedule syncs, alter what is displayed on the home screen, and much more. I felt it could've done with more options for managing contacts within the program though.

If you're a user of the Windows Live services then you can't afford to be without Windows Live for Mobile on your PDA.

Download Windows Live Mobile Client 1.0.9000 in Softonic

If you can't bear to be out of touch with your Facebook buddies for more than a few minutes then you might like to try out fim.

fim (Facebook Instant Messenger) is a tool that optimizes the Facebook Chat service for Windows Mobile devices. To set the program up, you need only insert your Facebook account details and fim will display a neat list of who is online along with each person's profile picture and current status.

Using fim to chat couldn't be easier. Just tap on the person you want to speak to and a chat window will appear where you can just start exchanging messages. Unfortunately, the chat features in fim are very thin on the ground (as is true of Facebook Chat itself), so don't expect anything fancy like emoticons, file sharing, or picture messaging.

Aside from instant messaging, fim also lets you access other areas of Facebook, such as Home, Notifications and, rather neatly, Phonebook, from where you can call people with a single click on their number. The presentation of Facebook in fim is rather clunky and doesn't really offer that much advantage over browsing the site in Internet Explorer.

fim does its job without any fuss, but if you want the best Facebook IM experience on your Pocket PC I'd recommend something like fring or Nimbuzz over this one.

Download fim 2.2.8.0 in Softonic

Making long distance or international calls from your mobile phone can be so expensive that it's almost better to not stay in touch. Install Nimbuzz on your Pocket PC, and you'll be able to talk to people all over the World for free - at least in theory.

Nimbuzz allows you to make calls, chat online, exchange instant messages and send files from your phone for free. The application pulls all your contacts together in one place, so you can exchange messages with all your friends on networks such as MSN, AIM, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk, Jabber, Facebook, or MySpace.

The user interface combines all of your contacts from all these various networks into one place, and you can see who is online at any time. If you want to get someone's attention, you simply 'buzz' them, and Nimbuzz will be launched on their phone.

Of course, all this talk of 'free' long distance calls and messaging is a little misleading. That's because you'll still get charged for Internet access when using Nimbuzz. This is fine if you're using a WiFi connection or if you have a flat-rate data plan, but if you pay for data by the Mb then using Nimbuzz could work out to be very costly if you're not careful.

However, if you have a flat-rate plan, Nimbuzz makes for a fun and cheap way to stay in touch with friends and family around the World.

Download Nimbuzz 1.2 in Softonic

When I was a boy, the only way of getting in touch with someone was to phone them up, write them a letter, or go to their house. These days though, there are countless different new ways to communicate thanks to email, instant messaging, VoIP, social networks, and the like.

This is great, but it does pose problems in that it's often difficult to work out the best way to reach someone. You might have separate buddy lists for Skype, Google Talk, Yahoo!, MSN, and Facebook, and constantly logging in, launching apps and finding your online pals can be a real chore. fring is designed to change all that, providing you with a single platform, based on your mobile, where all of your online friends are available in one place.

fring supports most of the major chat services including Skype, MSN Messenger, Google Talk, ICQ, Yahoo!, and AIM. You can also use the program to check Facebook updates, view Twitter feeds, and even listen to music with friends on Last.fm.

fring is simple to install and set up. Once you've registered for a fring account you can import your online contacts very easily. You just go to the 'Add-ons' section, click a service you want to access (e.g. Skype, Yahoo!) and sign in using your normal log-in for that account. The contacts are automatically pulled into fring and displayed in the main window, and you can quickly view who is online and who isn't.

Not only can you chat via instant messages but fring also lets you make cheap or free calls to your buddies via SkypeOut/SkypeIn. This means you can ring people from your phone's contacts locally or internationally, at vastly reduced rates. Of course, you'll need to be in a WiFi hotspot for this to be of any benefit but thankfully, fring comes with a tool for automatically logging you into your favorite hotspots.

There are a few extra chat features of note within fring, such as file transfer and a history view. However, its functionality is still vastly inferior to what you'd expect from most of the chat services themselves. For instance, there are no emoticons, games, video conferencing, etc.

Overall though, fring makes for a great way to manage all of your contacts on all of your networks from one, easy-to-use application.

Download fring 3.40 Beta in Softonic

If you're bored of talking on phone and want a different way to communicate using your device then try imov Messenger.

The application is designed to allow you to chat with friends and family via IM, using your phone's Internet connection. imov Messenger is compatible with all the major instant messaging networks, including Google Talk, AOL, ICQ, MSN and Yahoo! Messenger. It also supports Jabber clients, so you can communicate with people on private networks.

Setting up imov Messenger is a fairly painless process and thankfully there is a setup wizard to guide you through the account configuration procedure. Once you've got past this stage you'll be taken to the main interface which I found a little too clumsy for my liking. The options at the bottom are strangely placed and the icons are poorly designed.

That said, once you've got used to where everything is in imov Messenger, you'll discover it's actually a pretty powerful messaging clients. It boasts some neat features such as offline message queuing, SOCKS5 proxy server support, and can be configured to offer location-based services. I'm also a big fan of the 'QuickPhrase' function, which offers a fast way of inserting commonly-used expressions without having to type. Unfortunately, the emoticon support in imov Messenger isn't great, and there doesn't seem to be a pop-up where you can choose from a range of smilies.

On the whole though, imov Messenger offers powerful IM capabilities for your phone.

Download imov Messenger 2.33 in Softonic

If you're addicted to Twitter and can't stand not having access to what your pals are doing then install ceTwit onto your mobile.

This free Twitter client for Windows Mobile lets you send and receive tweets from your Pocket PC. In order to start using the program you simply need to install the .cab file then register your Twitter account details into the system via the 'Account/Net' option within the ceTwit settings menu.

Once you've set it up, ceTwit will pull all of the latest updates you've received from friends and display them within the client. You can set the program to 'Auto Refresh' to make sure you're always up-to-date with what everyone is doing. ceTwit has a full range of options for dealing with incoming tweets, available by choosing the 'Action' option while a message is highlighted. From here you can reply, send a direct message, open a link, favorite, follow/unfollow the poster, and much more.

Of course, ceTwit also lets you post your own Tweets, which it does very simply. You just click on the 'Status' button and choose whether to post using Twitter, TwitPic, or Ping.fm.

What I really love about ceTwit is that, unlike many mobile Twitter clients, it doesn't skimp on features and functionality. There are a huge range of options and settings for you to customize your Twitter experience to the max. For instance, you can choose to view your last communications, set a rate limi, and even alter the appearance of the interface by applying and editing themes.

On the downside, accessing all these options is a bit cumbersome because all of the settings are buried within context menus, rather than being clearly available through the ceTwit client interface itself.

That said, ceTwit offers one of the most effective ways to manage Twitter when you're on the move.

Download ceTwit 2.1 in Softonic

We've all been in those awkward situations where we wished there was an excuse to leave a party, a meeting or a date. Fake Call offers you an escape route from these kind of scenarios by allowing you to simulate an incoming call.

Fake Call is dead easy to install and set up. You start by programming in the time you want the bogus call to come in. You can choose from an interval of one minute of five minutes, pick from more preset intervals, or enter an exact time and date yourself.

Then you need to select a contact who you want to pretend is ringing you. This can be anyone from your address book, or you could even create a new contact and use Fake Call to pretend it's them ringing you. This could be good for playing pranks on your pals, convincing them that Paris Hilton is phoning you for a chat, or that you're being invited to lunch with George Clooney.

The simple, touch-friendly user interface makes Fake Call very easy to use. However, it would be nice if there were a few more options, such as a feature for saving the fake calls to your call log, or simulating incoming SMS messages.

If you want a quick and foolproof way of getting out of an awkward or embarrassing moment, Fake Call provides a handy solution.

Download Fake Call 1.1 in Softonic

If you've got a bit of a competitive streak and are fed up with playing games against a CPU opponent all the time then you should give SPB Online Games a try.

SPB Online Games contains four different board games for playing against other people online: English Checkers, Russian Checkers, Hexagon, and Reversi. All of these games are selectable with a single-click from the well-presented front screen. This screen also lets you create a user profile by clicking on the 'My Profile' icon. Here you can select from a range of pre-installed avatars and enter a nickname. Unfortunately, that's as far as the social profiling goes, but it would've been nice to have had some more options for personalizing your SSPB Online Games games experience.

The games themselves are fun and easy to play. You just click on the game you want to play and within a few seconds you'll be connected to another player. If you've never played any of the games before then don't worry, because each has detailed instructions available, and you can choose from three difficulty levels.

Playing against other users is great fun and somehow makes SPB Online Games more exciting than most Pocket PC games. I also liked the fact that you can talk mid-game with other players through a straightforward chat interface. Unfortunately, it seems like there aren't always 'real' human opponents available and often you'll end up playing against a bot, which kind-of defeats the object really.

I guess the only question you need to ask yourself before you install SPB Online Games is if you really want to incur Internet costs just to play a mobile game.

If you have a flat-rate data plan though, I would definitely recommend SPB Online Games as a fun way to pass some time and make new friends.

Download SPB Online Games 1.1 in Softonic

Agile Messenger is the world's premier mobile MSN®, ICQ®, AIM®, and Yahoo!® instant messaging client. Innovative features include our patent pending Push to Talk technology which enables users to send voice messages from mobile to mobile and mobile to PC.

Agile Messenger features include:

• sending and receiving instant messages
• Unicode and BIG5 support for international characters
• split screen messaging interface
• separate tabs for each conversation
• conversation history
• smiley support
• automatic download and updating of the contact list
• contact status information and presence management
• adding, removing, renaming contacts
• data usage counter
• auto update downloader and installer
• picture messaging with camera support
• "Today" plug-in

Download Agile Messenger 3.85 in Softonic

mChat, is an ICQ/Jabber/Mail. ru Agent client with Cyrillic language support, with many cool chatting functions. It contains support for storing chat history, changing the chat icons, supports VGA devices, HTTP/Socks5 proxy connections, contacts in 2 column, additional status messages, and changing password options, amongst many options.

Download mChat 2.3.0.6 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

The speakerphone is a great feature of the Pocket PC, and is perfect for chatting to your friends without holding your mobile phone. Unfortunately, accessing the feature in Windows Mobile is a little clunky and you have to wade through the menu system to switch it on and off.

Download Speakerphone 1.2 in Softonic