Brain training games are all the rage these days, and Resco Brain Games brings an accomplished take on the format to Windows Mobile devices.

Brain Games is designed to help you improve your mental capabilities by following a course of different tests and puzzles. There are 36 in all, which test challenge your skills in mathematics, memory and analysis. Each of the 36 brain games are broken down into ten separate tests of rising difficulty, and you can't progress to the next difficulty level until you've finished the previous test.

You're awarded stars out of five depending on how many questions you get right and how quickly you finish the brain games. A glamorous teacher is on-hand to award you your points, or simply to give you instructions on what to do.

The control system is Resco Brain Games has been very well designed and makes for intuitive use via the direction pad or touchscreen. The layout of the answer buttons means you have no excuse for being slow to answer, as they're incredibly simple to access.

There's no doubt that the tests in Brain Games are great for boosting your brain power, and as I could clearly see from the comprehensive statistics section, I found myself steadily improving over time. My only slight qualm would be that the games aren't diverse enough. Perhaps some word puzzles or reflex-testing games would've made Brain Games a more well-rounded app.

Nevertheless, Resco Brain Games is without doubt one of the best Windows Mobile brain trainers around.

Download Brain Games 2.10 in Softonic

Reckon your a bit of a card shark? If so, you may want to test how good you really are by installing EdgeWay Turbo 21.

This Windows Mobile game sees you play Blackjack against the clock, charging you with the task of getting as many '21s' as you can within a given time limit. You are given four columns in which you can build your stacks of cards up to 21. Cards are drawn from the pack and then you simply tap on a column or use the directional buttons to select a stack.

Points in EdgeWay Turbo 21 are awarded for making Blackjack (a picture card and an Ace), a Trik5 (21 with 5 cards), or 21 in any other way. Points are deducted for every time you pass or card, or if you go bust. To progress to the next level you need to reach the points target within the given time.

EdgeWay Turbo 21 may not score highly for its presentation but it's certainly an addictive and challenging game that will have you coming back time and again to try and reach the next stage. Aside from a special higher-or-lower bonus round though, there isn't much variety to EdgeWay Turbo 21 and the lack of any game options or multiplayer mode means that it soon becomes repetitive.

Nevertheless, Edgeway Turbo 21 does provide an interesting twist on the Blackjack game format.

Download EdgeWay Turbo 21 1.0 in Softonic

Lexisgoo English Dictionary and Thesaurus version 2.4 is the new and enhanced version of the previous bestseller and award winning Lexisgoo English Dictionary for Pocket PC. Now just by one tap you can lookup words from Pocket IE - and it is fully compatible with Windows Mobile 5.0!

Highlights of the application include:

• Support square devices hw6500 series new
• Windows Mobile 5.0 ready new
• Enhanced best-match searching new
• Arrangeable wordtype in definition new
• New smart text selection that will help you to lookup words from Pocket IE (compatible with MultiIE, Pocket Plus ) by one tap or from editable applications more easily See the illustrated picture as below Special & New
• Not similar as other dictionaries, the dictionary inherits full-data from original database (all examples and word-links) Special
• Contains 182,000 entries, 1.4 million links, 3.18 milliion words, 4140 Idioms and full list of irregular verbs
• Auto-scroll in definition window
• Support anagram search
• And much more!

Lexisgoo English Dictionary is an award winning dictionary with a huge range of features.

Download Lexisgoo English Dictionary 3.1.1 in Softonic

The speakerphone is one of my favorite mobile phone features of all time, and it's great to be able to talk and have your hands free at the same time.

Unfortunately, setting speakerphone as your default way of answering the phone isn't really possible on the Windows Mobile platform - unless you have SpeakerPhone installed on your device. This simple, free utility automatically switches on the hands-free mode when a call comes in, or even when you make an outgoing call.

Configuring SpeakerPhone is a very straightforward proposition. You simple need to enable the appropriate option in the Incoming or Outgoing call menu in the program. You can also set the application to auto-answer, specifying the delay time.

Once launched, the application will hide itself and display an icon on the home screen, which you can use to open it and adjust its settings. This makes SpeakerPhone very simple to operate, although it would've been nice to have seen some extra features tagged onto the interface, such as in-call volume control or a Hold switch.

But if you just want a quick and easy way of automatically switching your device to speakerphone, this app is ideal.

Download SpeakerPhone – Auto On 1.05 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 4.4.1 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 3.9.6 in Softonic

If you're the sort of person who needs to stay on top of weather information for either your business or social life then Tenki will help you do so wherever you roam.

Tenki is designed to transform your Windows Mobile device into your own pocket weather center. The application feeds you with a wealth of meteorological information for a given location on our planet.

Unfortunately, I found the Tenki interface rather clunky. The main screen is confusingly laid out and it's hard to know where to start. What's more, if you live outside the US then you need to load your web browser and obtain your city code via the Internet, which is rather annoying. It would've been nice to be able to enter your location based on your GPS location too.

Once you've finally got your location loaded into Tenki though, you'll realize it was worth all the effort just for the sheer amount of weather information at your disposal. There are three different views available: Current, Forecast and Station, and each is packed with up-to-the-minute readings on everything from temperature to humidity to sunrise and sunset times.

Despite it's rather awkward user interface, Tenki proves to be a comprehensive and reliable guide to your local weather.

Download Tenki 0.90 Beta in Softonic

If you can't get enough of Twitter and want to keep tweeting even when you're not at a computer, then give Tiny Twitter a try.

Tiny Twitter allows you to check your Twitter feeds and send tweets from your Windows Mobile device. Ultimately, it represents a much cheaper way of spreading the word from your mobile than using Twitter's SMS-sending function.

Using Tiny Twitter is a straightforward affair for anyone who has used the Twitter service before. Once you've signed into your account, you're presented with a list of the latest updates from the feeds you're subscribed to. Adding your own updates is simply a matter of clicking 'Tweet' and tapping in your message. Tiny Twitter lets you know how many characters you've got left as you type. Like the full Twitter, the app allows you to insert photos, taken from your camera phone into your message. You can even enter your precise location automatically by harnessing your device's GPS capabilities.

Although there are some useful interface customization tweaks and synchronization options in its settings menu, Tiny Twitter is still very much a stripped-back version of the Web service, and many of the profile management and people-finding tools of Twitter aren't included.

Nevertheless if you're keen to keep up with updates and spread the word about what you're doing every second of the day, then Tiny Twitter represents a handy mobile solution.

Download Tiny Twitter 1.8.4 in Softonic

These days if you want to know the weather forecast you don't need to wait for it on TV or buy a newspaper.

WeatherBug Direct is a Windows Mobile add-on that provides you with live local weather information wherever you may be. This information is displayed on your Smartphone's home screen, outlining the forecast for today, tomorrow, and the next day. The data is presented in a very clear way with a weather icon, plus the temperature (only displayed in Fahrenheit, sadly) and the outlook.

Using WeatherBug Direct is pretty straightforward. You set up the application simply by entering the name and country of your location and selecting the nearest point to you from the list of local weather stations. There are more than 8,000 different WeatherBug Direct stations, so it's never that difficult to find one close to you. You can add as many different locations as you like, then set the 'Current location' to the place you're in now.

You can also use WeatherBug Direct to view current (well a few hours old at least) satellite images, weather cameras and radars. Note though, that the radar and camera image features don't always seem to be available, as it depends on your location.

In terms of its accuracy, WeatherBug Direct wasn't perfect in our tests. In fact, as I speak the program is telling me there's only a 32% chance of rain today. It's raining.

While it may not give pinpoint readings, WeatherBug Direct displays live forecasts in a very clear manner and boasts a few interesting features.

Download WeatherBug Direct 2.2.0 in Softonic

pRSSreader is a useful application that allows you to read RSS and RDF (also known as Web Feeds or Web Syndication) feeds quickly and simply on your Windows Mobile device.

Some of pRSSreader's main features are:

• Support for RSS (0.90, 0.91, 0.92 and 2.0) and RDF (1.0)
• Incredibly small
• Support for multiple site reading
• Marking of unread items
• Properties of site
• Sequential reading of items
• Customizable appearance
• Import of OPML files
• Customizable location of cache
• Open news in an external browser
• Caching online content for offline browsing
• Caching images within feed items
• Editing feed name
• Hiding read items
• Sorting items

Popular RSS reader for PPC.

Download pRSSreader 1.4.2 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 4.01.2930 in Softonic

Pocket Sudoku is a sudoku application for Pocket PC (Windows Mobile), written in C#. It's currently capable of generating sudokus using five different difficuties, and solving sudokus. It's designed for Pocket PC but can run on any device (handheld or desktop computer) with .NET 2.0

The application's current capabilities:

• Background generation of puzzles (i.e. You don't have to wait for puzzles since the next one is generated when you're solving the current one)
• Solve puzzles
• Pencil marks (automatic and manual)
• Painless interface
• Undo, redo
• Save and load sudoku (.sud) and text (.txt) files
• High Scores

Download Pocket Sudoku 1.0 in Softonic

There are lots of areas of your mobile device that it's nice to be able to keep an eye on, but the default Windows Mobile interface isn't really cut out for this.

PDAStatus addresses this issue, allowing you to view all manner of information about your Pocket PC's status from the Today screen, through a series of large, customizable icons. Once installed, the application makes it much easier to check information without having to delve through the Windows Mobile menu system.

The program displays lots of useful information including battery charge, available memory (ROM, RAM and external card space), and even the amount of balance remaining to make calls if you're on a pay-as-you-go plan. The software also includes a backlight manager, allowing you to manage when your light comes on, and giving you the opportunity to save precious power by doing so.

It's pretty easy to set everything up and I really like the fact you can customize everything from the icons themselves to the position they appear on the Today screen. It would be nice to be able to map other information onto here, such as unread messages or news alerts.

Nevertheless, PDAStatus certainly provides an interesting way of presenting status information on your Today screen.

Download PDAStatus 1.1.6 in Softonic

For most of us, bowling is just something to do on a Saturday night when there's nothing good on TV, but for the guys in the PBA it's literally a way of life.

This game sees you come against real players from the Professional Bowler's Association as you fight it out on your mobile to be crowned king of the pins. It's a pretty good effort at a bowling sim for Windows Mobile, and is one of the most realistic you'll find on the platform.

The control system used in PBA Bowling is a lot more natural than you'll find in most bowling games. You simply need to line up your ball using the directional buttons, choose your trajectory, then stop the curved power bar in the right place. If your mobile has a camera on board, you can even use the motion sensor support to bowl down the lane like you would on a Wii.

In terms of its presentation, PBA Bowling is second to none. The 3D in-game graphics are excellent and the sound effects are so realistic that you'll think you're actually at a bowling alley. What's more, there are so many different game modes (tournament, multiplayer, Spare Challenge, single game), bowlers, locations and balls to choose from that it'll be a long time before you get bored of this one.

The only really annoying thing I found with PBA Bowling is that you can't skip through your computer opponent's turn, meaning you need to wait and watch each of its shots before you can take yours.

That minor point aside, this is probably the most polished bowling game you'll play on your Windows Mobile device.

Download PBA Bowling 1.0.5 in Softonic