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Microsoft’s replacement of ActiveSync for Windows Vista just received an update. So what’s new in Windows Mobile Device Center 6.1? This is a fairly minor update and it:

• enhances support for Windows Mobile 6
• allows you to synchronize files with your WM6 Classic and WM5 Smartphone devices
• synchronizes HTML-formatted emails
• allows WM6 devices to open documents protected with Information Rights Management

[Download Windows Mobile Device Center 6.1 for 32-bit Windows Vista in English]

Here’s a list of Windows Mobile 6 (WM6 Standard) and Windows Mobile 5 programs that I find useful, most of them available for free. They work on my T-Mobile Dash (HTC S610) but they should also run on Samsung BlackJack, Motorola Q and other Windows Mobile 5 smartphones as most of them aren’t specifically coded for WM6.

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Google Maps (added on April 15 2007)

Cost: free
Link: download app

Description: Google Maps for your smartphone is as versatile as the full-size version. Featuring maps, satellite view, directions, traffic report (select locations), GPS capability (select phones) it allows you to quickly find addresses, businesses and landmarks. Just be aware that all these nice graphics can cost you a lot if you have pay-per-kb data service.

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Live Search (added on April 15 2007)

Cost: free
Link: download app

Description: Microsoft’s Live Search makes search on the go easier featuring business listings by categories, maps, directions, traffic report (select locations)Â as well as GPS capability (select phones). Unlike Google’s offering, Live Search only works in select US and UKÂ cities: Canadian users are better off with Google services.

[This is now built-in to Windows Mobile 6.]

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Mobipocket Reader (added on April 19 2007)

Cost: free
Link: download app

Description: Mobipoket Reader allows you to read eBooks purchased from online eBook store or acquired from other sources. This versatile application lets you manage your eBook library, highlight and even annotate your reading materials. You can also download eDictionaries and read RSS feeds making sure you won’t be out of reading materials when you need them.

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SmartToolkit (added on May 31 2007)

Cost: free
Link: download app

Description: SmartToolkit does everything from improving the interface to adding text edition functionality. It installs a new Start menu that’s more akin to what’s available in full-version Windows, allowing you even set up quick launch shortcuts. It also has task manager built in and easily accessible by the 2nd softkey which lets you close applications and even take screenshots. With directional keys, you can control the volume and have easy access to battery and memory meters. Finally it adds the most requested functionality of copy and paste! Overall it’s a versatile application that every Windows Mobile smartphone shouldn’t be without.

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Weather Watcher Mobile (added on April 19 2007)

Cost: free
Link: download app

Description: get convenient weather forecast updates from weather.com thanks to this mobile application. Add your city among the 77,000 cities currently available and receive current conditions, hourly forecast, daily forecast, detailed explanations of the weather to come as well as severe weather alerts such as tornado and hurricane (only in US)

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On Friday, T-Mobile released its latest ROM updating the Dash to Windows Mobile 6 Standard making it the first carrier in the States to offer WM6 to consumers. Update itself is about 45MBs and requires ActiveSync 4.5 or Windows Mobile Device Center on Windows Vista. Unfortunately when I tried installing it from a Vista machine, the update wasn’t succesful… at least it didn’t completely break it! Using ActiveSync on a XP machine I managed to complete the update and overall I’m quite happy. It’s not a revolutionary step up from WM5 but there are enough beneficial changes to never want to go back to the previous OS.

Now there are more bundled applications such as mobile version of Adobe Reader (perfect for reading those e-mail attachments, or e-books). Microsoft is also including pocket versions of Excel, Word and Powerpoint which mean you can finally view and edit documents without having to rely on 3rd-party alternatives.

WM6 also comes with the entire suite of Windows Live: first there is the Windows Live application, Windows Live Messenger and Windows Live Search. Granted Messenger was previously available as well, but the latest version brings a number of improvements that make mobile IM even more useful. It doesn’t seem like there’s any change to the Search application (versus the standalone version).

There are many tweaks to existing functions. Default view for Messaging received minor visual upgrades so it’s easier to easily distinguish between mailboxes. This will prove to be valuable if you keep track of many different e-mail addresses. They also use the left soft-key for delete (instead of having to use the menu and then selecting delete) which I’m not sure why it wasn’t the case since the beginning… but at least now it’s more intuitive.

Even more noticeable upgrade is the support for rich-text e-mail including images. Before WM5 was only able to display texts in received e-mails which severely limited the types of e-mails you could get. It’s still true that some of those e-mails won’t be properly formatted due to display’s small size but you’ll no longer have to deal with all those pesky codes.

I’ve covered some games that work well on Windows Mobile 6 Standard (WM6) so I’ve decided to put it in a single post. They work on T-Mobile Dash (or HTC S610) but they should run on other Windows Mobile 5 smartphones such as Samsung BlackJack and Motorola Q as well since most of these aren’t specifically coded for the new OS.

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ArithmeTick (added on April 15 2007)

Cost: free
Link: download game

Description: perform as many calculations as possible before the time runs out. The game features 3 difficulty settings and allows you to solve addition, substraction, multiplication and/or division problems.

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Smoresoft Sudoku (added on April 15 2007)

Cost: free
Link: download game

Description: the uber-popular Sudoku puzzle game invades Windows Mobile smartphones. Fill the grid making sure each vertical line, horizontal line and equares contain numbers from 1 to 9 only once. You can also download additional levels and themes from the website.

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I’ve decided to test Microsoft’s Deepfish project by throwing these 3 popular sites at it: you can clearly see the differences.

The other big announcement from Microsoft is the release of Deepfish technology preview available to the public. So what exactly is Deepfish? It’s a browser that’s miles ahead of the Pocket IE (and this could possibly be the next versione of Pocket IE) allowing you to fully view properly formated websites that were designed for computers.

As you’re already aware, Pocket IE first displays mobile device optimized websites if they exist which were designed specifically for devices with limited screen real-estate. However almost the entirety of the internet isn’t mobile-friendly, and when you go to a regular website, the layout becomes horrendous. Deepfish allows you to look at the website just the way they were meant to be - very similar to what Apple has promised with the iPhone.

When you press the middle button of the d-pad, a grey rectangle appears allowing you to zoom in (so you can read the text).

Once you’re zoomed in, pressing the same button once more will allow you to control a cursor with which you can select hyperlinks.

 And now, the ultimate test: Apple touted iPhone’s ability to display New York Times, and now with Deepfish, Windows Mobile devices can do so too!

Overall, this is a great upgrade and I can’t wait for it to be finalized. Since this is just a technical showcase, many features don’t work (such as Active X controls, AJAX, cookies, Javascripts and HTTP Post). But if you want to test-drive it you can download Deepfish from Microsoft Live Labs. Just be warned that they keep track of where you visit in order to test the technology.

ArithmeTick
ArithmeTick by SpaceTime Arcade is a simple game: you calculate addition, substraction, multiplication and division problems as fast as possible. With 3 levels of difficulty and pleasing presentation, it serves well as a minor diversion.

Download here

Convert It 3
Conversion softwares are always useful when you travel to new countries or to those not using the metric system and still rely on Imperial measurements. This program does one better and supports currency exchange as well! All those values can be updated online with very little hassle.

Download here and transfer the CAB file to your WM deviceÂ

A valid criticism of Windows Mobile devices is, even though the home screen is customizable, it basically looks the same albeit with different graphics and colors. Now Samsung is looking to fullly customize the GUI with their latest Samsung Ultra Messaging (basically Cingular AT&T Blackjack for the Asian markets). From what I can see in this blurry video, the interface looks surprisingly similar to Media Center on Windows Vista with vertical and horizontal navigation: vertical movements allow you to select main categories - such as Favorite Contacts - and horizontal movements allow you to select individual items.

Overall, it looks much better than what’s currently offered and it looks more user-friendly as well. This may very well push Samsung above other Windows Mobile offerings.

Visit Engadget for screenshots and video of the new interface