I come bearing gifts. This is all stuff I found over time. I can attest to the fact that all this software works on ARM devices running Windows Mobile 6 (which is actually "
CE OS 5.x"
; I'll be calling it WM5 rather than WM6).
These programs work even if, like mine, the device isn't a phone (though some need extra work if that's the case).
These are not necessarily mobile-friendly links. If you can't download from these sites directly on your device, access these sites on your computer and Sync the .cabs to the mobile.
You've probably already heard of some of these, but they're worth mentioning nonetheless.
I also added screenshots.
Total Commander (a better File Explorer)
The File Explorer that comes with WM5 can't do anything. Probably the most advanced thing it can do is create shortcuts.
But Total Commander is another story. This little thing lets you do everything you miss being able to do when exploring files on your mobile device. A full feature list is below.
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-File type extensions are shown, and can be changed.
-You can edit and view [non-unicode] files regardless of their extension with a built-in NotePad-like editor.
-The Ctrl key is placed on the toolbar so you don't have to bring up the keyboard to select multiple files.
-You can create Zip archives.
-You can associate file types and set icons.
-You can view file Properties.
-You can edit the Registry.
-You can access an FTP.
-You can access shared folders on your home network through LAN and/or Wi-Fi.
You may notice that my link is to the "
Pocket PC"
version instead of "
Windows CE."
PPC is what you want for WM5; "
CE"
refers to old Windows CE OS 2.x devices, before the "
Mobile"
moniker. Interestingly, the PPC TC will still appear as "
Total Commander/CE"
in the Running Program List.
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The Core Pocket Media Player
This is a versatile Media Player. Here is a list of supported file formats. This list was shamelessly stolen from one of several websites that appear to have shamelessly stolen it from eachother.
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Supported file containers
- AVI (*.avi)
- Matroska (*.mkv, *.mka)
- MP4 (*.mp4, *.m4a)
- Ogg Media (*.ogg, *.ogm)
- ASF (*.asf)
Supported audio codecs
- Mpeg 1 Layer III
- Ogg Vorbis
- Musepack
- Windows Media Audio
- AC-3
- AMR
- Adpcm, uLaw
Supported video codecs
- DivX
- XviD
- MPEG4-SP (plus B-frame support)
- MPEG1
- M-JPEG
- Windows Media Video
Be sure to download the available plugins.
By the way, I downloaded v0.66. I can't remember if there were complications that prevented me from getting the later versions, but the link I provided does have that version just in case.
Another warning: In order to free up resources used by TCPMP, you may have to do a hard reset. On my PDA, whether I go to File>
>
Exit or bring up the running programs list and stop it, I always get a WSOD (white screen of death) when trying to close TCPMP.
Archive utilities:
SKKV UnPacker (for [.gzip].tar, .cab files that aren't installers, and a few rare types like .lzh and b64)
Pocket RAR (for .rar and .zip)
Note 1: UnPacker is only an extract utility. It cannot make archives.
Note 2: The .exe installer for Pocket RAR is for the computer. Connect your device to the computer before running the installer and it should transfer.
Jbed (or another Java MIDlet manager)
Windows Mobile lacks built-in Java support, so it doesn't support pretty much any common cell phone applets. This program is used for managing such applets.
It is a complicated and lengthy process to get this working if you don't know where to look for information. The reason I don't provide a download link here is because what I provide may not be the right one for your situation.
But let me tell you right now: If you have Windows Mobile and want to run a cellphone app, this is the end-all resource.
The MIDlet Bible
The accompianing "Main Chart".
If you can't find the answer to your situation in there, look again.
Me? I had to first download Phone.dll and SMS.dll from the Main Chart (in Platform Compatibility: Non-phone PPC under Jeodek) and copy them to \Windows. Then I had download the Cloudyfa version of JBed. I think there's a link to a mirror in the MIDlet bible, but if all else fails, Google "
cloudyfa_esmertecjbed.cab"
.
This enables you to use a LOT of programs you couldn't use before (though most of them are games). For a Caravelgames example, Curzon's
Mobile DROD can be run in a MIDlet.
Pic:
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Web Browsing
Let's face it. Internet Explorer [Mobile] sucks. Luckily, there's Opera and Skyfire. You have three choices.
One is
Opera Mini. This is a Java cellphone app. In other words, you need a MIDlet manager like Jbed. Opera Mini is awesome to see in action and is fun to use, although it really is meant for cellphones.
Opera also offers
Opera Mobile, a browser for Symbian and Windows Mobile touchscreen PDAs. IMO, this is clunky and not very awesome. It's basically Internet Explorer [Mobile] with tabs and Javascript; yes, you CAN search the H&S board with it.
The last is Skyfire, a flash-equipped browser that can stream video. There is no link for this because you have to access the page directly on your mobile (do a mobile web search for it).
Here's a list of differences:
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×Pros and cons:
Opera Mini
+ Can be run normally on a cell phone.
+ Has very intuitive dialpad navigation and can be fully operated without a touch screen.
+ Is very aesthetically pleasing
+ Displays Favicons at the intended size, like Firefox does (not even desktop PC IE7 does this)
X For Windows PDAs, it must be run in a MIDlet manager, which means extra menus have to be sorted through to open it
X No touch-and-hold context menu
X No way to select a portion of text or an image and copy it
X The on-screen keyboard is fully disabled 90% of the time. When you click on a text box to enter text, it brings you to a text entry screen. Only there may you call the keyboard back up.
X The Start Menu and all methods of returning to the Today Screen (even holding the Windows key) are disabled. If you want to switch to another program, you must close Opera Mini or find some pointless download link (see next bullet).
X Can't download in the browser; it will switch to Internet Explorer before downloading. At least this gives you an opportunity to switch to another program without losing your page on Opera Mini.
Opera Mobile
+ Is made for Windows Mobile (and Symbian). It's always nice to see the words "OperaMobile.CAB was successfully installed" without the words "may not display correctly because this and that blah blah".
+ Supports tabs.
+ Supports javascript. Examples of this: It has full functionality on these forums; search boxes that bring up suggested phrases as you type do so; file upload/download services like Rapidshare work.
+ Has a password manager.
+ When typing in an encrypted field (i.e. password), the letter you typed shows for a second before becoming a dot
+ Uses a fixed-width font when appropriate
+ GIF's animate
X Touchscreen is absolutely required.
X You still can't call up the on-screen keyboard at demand. It will automatically come up when you click on a text box.
X Everything on the screen is bigger now. Which makes the screen feel smaller. Which not only makes things feel clunky, but it makes it feel like you're still using Internet Explorer.
X Can't select text, even that which you typed. Not even with Shift + Arrow.
X No scrollbars. All scrolling is done by sliding on the screen, which is considerably time-consuming on large pages. A little tab-like thing appears on the edges of the screen showing your relative location on the page, but you can't drag the tab.
X Every now and then, I get the striped screen of death when I try to open it.
X Randomly complains about low memory sometimes. Get used to it; there are very few PDAs out there with enough RAM to run Opera Mobile.
Skyfire
+ Is made for Windows Mobile, so no compatibility issues there.
+ Uses the touch screen well.
+ Has flash. This is NOT full-featured, but it can stream videos.
+ Has good shorcuts for a phone dialpad, but doesn't punish you for not having one.
+ Volume can be muted (although it can't be changed).
X Deactivates the Windows button. An OK button does work if you have one, so it can still be minimized (something you have to do to change volume).
X Attempting to drag something in a Flash game will make you scroll instead. So interaction with a Flash game is restricted to simple taps (which still take forever to process).
X You STILL can't call up the keyboard on demand! So flash things accepting keyboard input don't work.
My suggestion? Get them all. Opera Mobile and Skyfire have Javascript and Flash, respectively, and together these two halves of a complete browser form a whole (except for when you need Javascript AND Flash at the same time).
Opera Mini has none of this type of functionality, but it's the fastest, it is fun to use, it looks great, and since it's a MIDlet app and not a full-fledged program, it's not going to clutter up your Program list anyways.
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Opera Mini
Opera Mobile
Skyfire
And here's some stuff for you developers.
Pike (Icon and small bitmap editing) (requires PocketC below)
(Note: The screenshots in the link are from the old and very wide HP Jornada 720. On modern devices, the program is appropriately scaled down, and the obsolete "
mask"
feature is simply disabled)
I searched and searched and searched for good bitmapping software, and all I could find were 1) several sketching programs, 2) one MIDlet that could make pixel perfect bitmaps (BUT IN 1-BIT COLOR!!
), and 3) Pike, a promising icon-creation program that didn't run. Yesterday, I stumbled upon the Readme for Pike and read it a little more closely. In minutes, I installed the needed runtimes, and tried to run Pike again to find out that it is the holy grail (for me) of mobile image editing software. Here are its features:
Click here to view the secret text
×First of all, Pike is designed for making icons, so it accomodates small images well by nature. The workspace has enlarged pixels, and the palette and a preview box are kept handy.
It's painfully missing a Fill tool, but it has lines, rectangles (filled or no), selection w/copy and paste, and full image transformations (reflection and rotation).
Legal image sizes and bit depths are, like Mobile icons, 16x16 (standard) and 32x32 (large), 2-bit (4 color) and 4-bit (16 color). Of course, you can edit the palette you want each image to use. Editing the palette is easy, and it comes with features for making common tasks simpler: It lets you save custom palettes to file, and it can easily make an A to B gradient between two colors.
You can also export a selection of any size to a bitmap.
Just be aware that you cannot open the bitmap again for editing if it isn't 16x16 or 32x32, so if you feel you may want to edit the image later, keep the .ICO you made it from.
Also, I just found this out: When saving to Bitmap, the width will be expanded to a multiple of 4 (2-bit) or a multiple of 2 (4-bit). This bug is apparently by design so that Pike doesn't have to break up the bytes.
Like any icon editor, you can work on multiple images to be in one .ico file. So an "icon" file could serve as a container for your work.
Regardless, when I think of what reasons I would be motivated to use a mobile image editor like this, I think that the ease of using the pencil tool without messing up is most important, and I must say, it passed the school-bus-ride test with flying colors.
Figuratively.
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OrbWorks' PocketC Runtimes and Development Tools
Required for Pike. This too is a relic of the past, discontinued for CE after CE OS 2, before Windows devices started using flash memory for storage. But what's neat is that it's a fully functional programming language that can in fact be written on the device.
I downloaded the runtimes so I could run Pike, and the development kit came with it, so I was pleasantly surprised with this newfound ability to program on my device.
Unfortunately, it's a compiled language rather than interpreted, and the default IDE, which starts you off with a completely blank document to program in, really just tosses you out there. This is a very beginner-unfriendly language. Experience in C is
required, and so is being able to look stuff up in the documentation, because it has some really weird function names.
Nevertheless, I wrote hello world rather quickly.
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×string devt;
main()
{
devt = "Hello, world!";
putsl(devt);
graph_off();
} I must say, I'm really not sure which version of the runtimes I should've downloaded. I got the PPC version, but it wouldn't surprise me if one of the others there was more compatible with my device. You might have to experiment...
Oh, by the way, see one of my later posts for a link to a guide I wrote for getting the broken image functions to work.
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Haven't found any good games yet. I might add more stuff to this list later on.
____________________________
Also known as ExpHP everywhere else.
[Last edited by Kwakstur at 03-15-2009 10:12 PM]
