Donka's iPhone Rambles

Conduits have released version 3 of their award winning Pocket Artist. I'm also happy to say that all the issues reported in the last beta version have been resolved which is great news. If you are keen on digital imaging and have a Pocket PC then you owe it to yourself to check this application out. You can get more information from the Pocket Artist website.

With all the talk of late of Windows Mobile 2005 or Magneto by its codename, I was interested to see how Pocket Office is developing. Word and Excel have both reportedly been updated and with the introduction of Powerpoint Mobile, things do seem to be improving. Things are still not too rosy though, as while Excel is quite a good mobile equivalent, Word is still very lacking compared to its desktop partner and the new Powerpoint is only a viewer which means you can’t create or edit on the go. So what is the point of this post? Well three things, namely WordMaker and PlanMaker from SoftMaker as well as Conduits Pocket Slides. I know Microsoft seem happy to give us the basics and let third party developers provide us with the more powerful options at an optional cost however with the introduction of more powerful and capable Pocket PCs and increasing screen resolutions, I would love to see Microsoft licence these applications and offer them up in a Window Mobile Professional platform for our devices. Is it just me that thinks we should be getting more meaningful upgrades to these productivity applications?

With a major software house about to release a new today plug in for Calendar appointments, it still amazes me how nothing has come close to replacing tAgenda on my Pocket PC. This highly customisable today screen plug in has been an ever present on my device since installing, mostly because it allows me to see the largest amount of upcoming appointments in the least amount of Today screen real estate and all this for free! The screenshots on the developer’s website don’t do justice to how streamlined and efficient this app can be – I have mine set up to offer even more information with a clearer presentation. Email and tasks are also covered and this is one app I would be lost without. Check it out at A.Kohgo's Workshop.

I have been on the beta program for the latest release of Pocket Artist 3 and it is shaping up very nicely indeed. If you have ever used Photoshop on a desktop, image Pocket Artist as a form of Photoshop lite for Pocket PCs. Don’t let this tag fool you though, this is a very powerful piece of software than can make the vast majority of imagine manipulation when away from the desktop possible. Sure a Pocket PC at present can’t fully compete with a powerful PC and Photoshop combination but this is by far the closest you can come and will surprise the majority of users with just what is possible. You can get more information from the Conduits website. Expect the release of Pocket Artist 3 in the coming week or two.

TapText from DinarSoft has been upgraded to v1.1. For those of you who don’t know this app, it works as a form of macro where by tapping on a user created entry from its menu will paste the text associated with that entry into your current working document. This makes it easy to enter addresses, signatures and various other forms of text you need to input regularly with the tap of a stylus. The various entries can be sorted under group headings etc. to keep things organised and the icon for TapText sits on the top title bar meaning it is always available when required for text entry applications such as Pocket Word, Email etc. Check it out at Handango.

SoftMaker have announced the immediate availability of localized Spanish and Portuguese versions of its software. Both TextMaker and PlanMaker have been updated and although this is not something I would normally write about - these two applications really are very formidable. If you want the best word processing or spreadsheet capabilities on your Pocket PC then this is the way to go. You can get more details from the Softmaker website and pick up a saving this week.

Being a big fan of reference material on my Pocket PC, I have been on the lookout for apps that share knowledge of all things I have an interest in. In searching I found a few titles that stuck out and they were all made by the same developer. Pocket Earth Guide, Pocket Space and Medical Book all share an easy to use interface with many true facts and some hypothesis - Medical Book aside! Look out for some mini reviews in the future but in the meantime, drop by the Lyma Design website and check out what is on offer.