If you ogled HTC Touch Diamond, but was turned off by the lack of hardware keyboard, your solution is finally here. Dubbed HTC Touch Pro (previously known as HTC Rafael), it will feature same specs as Touch Diamond - with 7.2mpbs HSDPA, 512MB internal storage, 2.8 VGA screen, 3.2 megapixel camera, GPS and the new TouchFLO 3D UI.
Spot the difference is a pretty popular game that gets tiring quickly, and Crazy Spot for Windows Mobile (and Symbian) devices suffer from the same fate. Your goal is to compare 2 photos and find the 5 differences in each photo. Sometimes it is easy to see - thanks to some bad Photoshop jobs - and othertimes, they made it maddeningly difficult.
If you think spotting the difference is a game for you, you can try the demo for free, or download the PC version for no charge whatsoever. It is perfect for short burst games while you’re waiting for something (such as the bus…) but don’t expect a marathon gameplay out of this one.
[Download Crazy Spot for PC, Windows Mobile and Symbian devices]
Live Search Mobile, first released last year for Windows Mobile, BlackBerries and other phones, has now been updated that includes many new functionalities. (I first talked about it on May 31 2007.) In addition to Map, Directions and Traffic, the application can search for Movies, display local Gas Prices, search the Web, display local Weather and even get updates from other websites such as HomeThinking and Flickr. Another big improvement is the addition of voice search. By pressing "Speak" button, you can now search without typing.
Overall, the new additions improve the usefulness of the application over and beyond what Google Maps offers. Although there are plenty of websites and applications that offer weather forecast, it is a nice idea to put it all in one place. It is easy to find out gas prices in your region (especially if your phone has GPS capability since it will know exactly where you are, and then to route to the gas station).
As this is a free download, you should head over to wls.live.com on your mobile device and download Windows Mobile version as it will complement your other applications.
[Visit Live Search Mobile website for more details | Go to wls.live.com to download Live Search Mobile]
As rumored, HTC unveiled today Touch Diamond, a touchscreen Windows Mobile device featuring VGA screen and other goodies. If official press pictures are any indication, it will be one gorgeous, fully featured device. More details (such as price and availability with carriers other than Orange) to come later. Full press release after the jump:
Based on the PC game Westward (available from BigFishGames), mobile version was developed by Astraware for Palm OS, Windows Mobile Standard and Professional. It bills itself as a Wild West adventure, and it mostly delivers. Graphics are great for a mobile game, gameplay is very engaging and deep and it is an overall fun game.
You experience the life of a frontier settler by building towns, giving your folks places to live, employ them to produce food and gold, defeat bandits as you track down Mad Russian to bring him to justice. There are over 20 levels in the game and it will give you plenty of gameplay. The game is perfect for you to be playing in short bursts as it is easy to save and return to the game later.
It isn’t exactly bug-free though. On several occasions, I encountered game-stopping bugs such as characters not responding to commands. It is also pretty difficult to control multiple characters at the same time when your town grows to a certain size, particularly with the limited input options on the Smartphone version. You basically move the d-pad to select and issue commands, and when maps get big, it’ll take a long time to scroll anywhere.
Nonetheless, if you’re interested in a town-building game with some action/adventure components, this is perhaps your only choice. Priced at $19.95, it is a reasonable deal for the amount of fun you can get out of this game provided you don’t encounter too many bugs.
[Download trial/buy game from Astraware]
*Reviewed on T-Mobile Shadow running on Windows Mobile 6.0 Standard
Conversion softwares are incredibly useful on your phone and Paragon Software’s Handy Converter is a versatile and affordable tool. Capable of handling currency, temperature, length, weight, area, volume, speed, power, clothes size and even torque, it can convert practically anything. As for currency, it will connect to the internet and download latest rates to keep the conversion as accurate as possible.
It only costs $9.95 which is a pretty good deal for the functionality you get. Granted there are other free converter softwares available but none has as sleek, easy to use interface, and currency rate download is more useful than you think.
[Download Handy Converter for Windows Mobile, and other devices]
*tested on T-Mobile Shadow running Windows Mobile Standard 6.0
Tower Defense games are everywhere, from your computer to your PS3 console. Resco Defender is a well-executed handheld version available for both PocketPC and Smartphone devices. The objective of the game is to prevent monsters from reaching your castle wall by building defensive structures to kill them. There are basic attack towers, advanced towers, rocket towers, freeze towers, glue towers, teleport towers and magic towers, each with different abilities and damage.
The game is simple to understand, but it is quite addictive. You will spend a lot of time customizing your play field, to maximize monster deaths. With each monster destroyed, you earn gold which you use to build new towers and upgrade existing ones. At about $15, this is a good purchase if you like tower defense games and would like to play on the go. The repetitive nature is perfectly suited for short-burst handheld gaming.
Back when print newspaper was relevant in daily lives, people used to do the games such as crossword and wordsearch. Pockster brings those games in addition to Crypto and Sudoku in an unappealing package that is overpriced for its own good.
It includes 50 crossword puzzles, 50 wordsearch grids, 50 crypto puzzles and 75 sudoku games for a total price of $19.99 (yes, that’s $19.99). To put it in perspective, you could get a puzzle title on the Nintendo DS (such as Brain Age 2 which comes with 17 minigames, and 100 sudoku puzzles).
How does this game stand on its own? Not so well. The interface isn’t ideal on a smartphone, the graphics look incredibly dated and the puzzles aren’t as interesting as they could be.
There are much better options if you want puzzle games on your phone than this overpriced package of mediocre games. But if you’d still like to give it a try, visit their website.
Windows Mobile’s default alarm settings are anemic, and Efficasoft’s AlarmU seeks to change that while maintaining an easy-to-use interface. You can have multiple alarms at different intervals (such as every Tuesday) instead of what Windows Mobile offers you (either everyday or every weekday).
Another feature of Efficasoft AlarmU is Schedule which can put your phone in Flight Mode (disabling all radios so you won’t get disturbed during the night with a phone call) and you can also automate phone restart which may help you deal with memory issues.
Overall, this easy-to-use application is what Windows Mobile OS should have built-in, but until that happens, $5.95 will get you added functionality.
DeveloperOne’s Agenda One is a complete contact and calendar replacement for your Windows Mobile devices. Agenda One seeks to replace Contact, Calendar and Tasks that come with the phone by offering a much more flexible and customizable experience. You can now use templates to make those screens as you’d like and you can create appointments while looking at contacts (just like in Outlook).
From one view, it is easy to navigate to another (such as going from daily agenda view to contacts). Another additional feature is search, which is curiously absent from built-in applications of Windows Mobile.
Overall for users who are unhappy with limited options in built-in applications, this is one of the best ways to add additional functionality. This robust suite, costing just $24.95, is great deal if you use your mobile to schedule lots of appointments and tasks, and were always disappointed by the limited options.
As always, there is a free demo available, so give it a try before you buy it.
