Acky's XP Breakout

This game is highly-rated by Allen Gall, our games editor, and is also available in normal and high-resolution (VGA) versions. You can blast your way through 150 powerful levels in the ultimate arkanoid-type game. Discover unique power items, brick types, and fun in Acky's XP Breakout. The gameplay is always changing with a dynamic mesh of particle effects, point bonuses, and object morphing to keep you mesmerized. Enjoy enhanced gameplay with XP Mode, and customize the game to your own personal liking.

Price: $12.95

www.isotope244.com

Use With: P/PC ARM, P/PC2002, and Windows Mobile 2003 (and VGA screens)

Download Demo

Download Demo-High Res.

PocketToolman

Here's a tray utility that provides quick access to all of your settings and functions on your Pocket PC. This is a specially created "trial" version for the "hot download" pick this week!

Price: $5.99

www.handango.com

Use With: P/PC ARM, P/PC2002, and Windows Mobile 2003

Download Demo

Pocket Bowling

A bowling game that scores a perfect 300 for the Pocket PC! Ball motion realistically reflects the laws of physics. You also can curve the ball by drawing an arc with the stylus. Your score is displayed at the top of the screen, and the game has realistic sound effects and a high score screen. The trial version can be used for 14-days.

Price: $14.95

www.megasoft2000.com

Use With: Pocket PC devices

Download Demo

MS Reader

Open the world of eBooks on your Pocket PC with the new Microsoft MS Reader! The eBook reader has been updated in version 2.3 with support for pan and zoom capabilities with embedding graphics and landscape support for Windows Mobile 2003 (Second Edition) devices with screen rotation. Need an eBook to read? We have you covered because you can actually read each issue of Pocket PC magazine on your Pocket PC! Download a free sample issue of the magazine using this link.

Price: $Free

www.windowsmobile.com

Use With: P/PC 2002, Windows Mobile 2003, and Second Edition

Download Free

neoFTP

Here’s a FREE FTP (File Transfer Protocol) program for the Pocket PC that enables file transfers to and from a Web site. It can upload and download files and create/delete/change directories and permissions.

Price: $FREE

www.playseven.com

Use With: Windows Mobile 2003 and Pocket PC 2002 w/.NET installed

Download free

DVD to Pocket PC

Watch DVDs on your Pocket PC or Portable Media Center player—squeeze a feature film onto a 128 Mb memory card in the Windows Media Player 9 format. Turn your Pocket PC into a Pocket DVD Player; convert a DVD* and watch it in great quality, with stereo sound and in full-screen landscape mode. You can use a headset or the built-in speaker to listen to the audio. Subtitled and foreign languages DVDs are also supported. *For converting your home-made, non-copyright-protected DVDs.

Price: $27.95

www.makayama.com

Use With: Desktop PC, for playback on Pocket PC and Portable Media Center player

Download Demo

Leonard Maltin's 2005 Movie Guide

A "must-have" movie guide that places essential facts for over 21,000 films at your fingertips, including ratings and capsule reviews, appraisal of plot quality, and helpful tidbits of information. It will help you organize and keep track of your DVD/VHS collections, (plus who you've loan them to, and when they're due back). The guide is also updated via ActiveSync with the latest film and movie information, keeping your film info always up-to-date.

Price: $19.95

www.landware.com

Use With: P/PC 2002 and Windows Mobile 2003

Download Demo

Stocks and Weather Today

This is a special custom-made version of this software for this week's Hot Download Pick. Stocks and Weather Today is a Today screen plug-in that allows you to view weather for up to 6 cities and monitor up to 60 stocks; it works seamlessly with ActiveSync and wireless (802.11 and GPRS) networks. Also included for FREE in this version are the "Pro" icons, which are normally a $4.95 add-on. This extended trial version will work until September 2004 (the normal trial version works only one day).

Price: $19.95

www.StocksAndWeatherToday.com

Use With: P/PC 2002 and Windows Mobile 2003

Download Demo

SkyForce

Try this classic arcade shooter featuring 3d interactive objects on your Pocket PC. It has outstanding graphics, special effects and a cool soundtrack. Rest up your trigger finger before you start to save the Earth from its enemies: you'll need it!

Price: $9.95

www.clickgamer.com

Use With: P/PC 2002 and Windows Mobile 2003

Download SkyForce Demo

Spb Extended Theme Generator

A free tool for creating landscape and VGA themes for Pocket PCs. It is installed as an add-in for the Microsoft Theme Generator (also free download) and offers an additional step when using the Microsoft Theme Generator program to create enhanced themes. It also supports Spb Pocket Plus 2.0, and includes 20 predefined Today indicator sets, and 11 predefined Taskbar indicators.

Price: N/A

www.spbsoftwarehouse.com

Use With: Windows 2000/XP

Download Spb Extended Theme Generator

Download Microsoft Theme Generator

Egress

An advanced, yet easy-to-use application to display your favorite RSS/RDF/ATOM feeds directly on your Pocket PC's today screen! * Supports RSS (.09, .91, .92 and 2.0), RDF (1.0), and ATOM (0.3) *( Supports the landscape orientation in Pocket PC 2003SE * Integrates with the Today screen * Caches and displays inline images * Background download of feeds * Supports HTTP proxies * Configurable item retention * Configurable news feed storage location * Configurable fonts and colors * Supports alternate web browsers * Supports Radio Userland-style automatic subscription (Web page coffee mug icon)

Price: $10.00

web.newsguy.com/GarishKernels/software.html

Use With: Pocket PC, Pocket PC 2002, Windows Mobile 2003

Download Demo

Virtual Pool

Rack 'em up, road warriors! Virtual Pool is so realistic that it may actually improve your “real” life game! The physics and 3D game play are so good; it’s like carrying a pool table in your pocket. Career mode includes movies of Curly the hustler guide you through 6 pool rooms and 120 opponents. Game modes include: Practice, Play your buddy, Tournaments, Trick shots, and Career.

Price: $24.95

www.celeris.com

Use With: P/PC 2002 and Windows Mobile 2003

Download demo

Special Price for Pocket PC magazine Hot Downloader’s: $17.47 (one week only!) with this link and promotion code: vpm8724

Viewer by PDAmill

A FREE image viewer that supports JPG, GIF, BMP and PNG formats. It features a high-quality JPG viewer that has a full-screen mode and an image browser with a thumbnails display. It also as an automatic zoom and rotation for JPG images, Gamma correction, and a slideshow mode.

Price: $Free

www.pdamill.com

Use With: P/PC ARM, P/PC 2002, and Windows Mobile 2003

Download Free

BioPocket

Is today a cycle-high for you? Here’s a program that can show your biorhythms and let you know when you are at your peak! Biorhythm charts are based on the idea that our lives are affected by physical, emotional, and mental cycles, and that these can be predicted. You can even compute your compatibility with someone else in order to predict the highs and lows in your relationships with them.

Price: $6.99

world.kyuran.be

Use With: P/PC ARM, P/PC 2002, and Windows Mobile 2003

Download demo

30% Discount for PayPal Users: Click Here!

PocketBreeze

A very popular Today plug-in that replaces the built-in Calendar and Tasks on your Today screen, offering a much more powerful solution. View up to 30 days of appointments and tasks. Choose your layout, fonts and colors, even your category and status icons. It integrates with Agenda Fusion, Pocket Informant, or the default PIM. Manage your tasks with unlimited grouping and sorting capabilities and jump ahead to any date.

Price: $12.95

www.sbsh.net

Use With: P/PC ARM, P/PC 2002, and Windows Mobile 2003

Download demo

Special Price for Pocket PC magazine Hot Downloaders: $10.36 (one week only!) with this link and promotion code 0D44D9A.

Pocket 12C Financial Calculator 1.50

Are you in school or considering a major purchase using a loan? Here’s a financial calculator with more than 130 built-in functions, plus it’s programmable. You can use this calculator for doing normal distribution, time value of money, cash flow analysis, amortization, bonds calculations, depreciation, odd period calculations, dates calculations, and statistics. If you need a financial calculator, it’s hard to go wrong using this one!

Price: $19.95

www.lygea.com

Use With: P/PC, P/PC 2002, and Windows Mobile 2003

Download demo

Pocket-DVD Studio for Pocket PC

This software compresses DVDs* onto a memory card. It includes cropping and quality settings that are customizable to produce file sizes ranging from 90 MB to 600 MB. Output video files are in AVI format and are playable on a desktop PC using the provided codec and on the freeware PocketMVP player (included) for Pocket PC. (*For converting your home-made, non-copyright-protected DVDs.)

Price: $32.00

www.pqdvd.com

Use With: Desktop PC, for playback on Pocket PC/Smartphone

Download demo

Special price for Hot Downloaders this week—only $29.95 using this LINK.

The Travel Collection

A collection of six of the most popular board games for your Pocket PC. Designed by the creators of Snails and Dr. Pocket, It includes Chess, Checkers (aka Draughts), Reversi (aka Othello), 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe, 4-In-A-Row (aka Connect 4), and Dots. They’re sure to keep you busy during those long trips this summer!

Price: $9.99

www.pocketadventures.com

Use With: P/PC ARM, P/PC 2002, and Windows Mobile 2003

Download demo

PhatPad

You don’t need to carry a “fat” notepad with you when you have this advanced handwritten notes creator/organizer for Pocket PC. It allows you to draw pictures, jot text notes, or put a mix of pictures and typed text on a virtual scratch pad. The program utilizes new digital ink technology which provides very smooth ink flow, so it feels like you’re writing on a piece of paper. All the standard editing commands, and Draw/Select/Drag/Erase modes, are just a tap away!

Price: $14.95

www.phatware.com

Use With: P/PC, P/PC 2002, and Window Mobile 2003/SE

Download demo

Special price for Hot Downloaders this week from PhatWare—buy CalliGrapher and PhatPad together and save $5 using this LINK.

Tiny eBook Reader

Now you can read MS reader (.lit) e-Books on your Smartphone! If you thought that reading it on the small screen of a Smartphone wasn’t very good; think again! You will be amazed how well you can read an e-Book using this program. Pages load very quickly (maybe faster than on the PPC) because it pre-paginates the file when you first load an e-Book. There are color-coded links within the pages to view image intensive e-Books (like Pocket PC magazine) by merely pressing the corresponding number key on the Smartphone. Table-of-contents can be access by pressing the “0” (zero) key, and you can skip forward and backwards using the # and * keys. If you like to read and have a Smartphone, this is a MUST have program!

Price: $12.00

www.goldencrater.com

Use With: Smartphone 2002 and 2003

Download demo

Demo version can always view TXT files and ALL PPC Magazine MS reader (LIT) versions for free as long as it's installed. Bookmarks, find, LIT/ZIP format are disabled and only work using the full-version. Demo version can always read Pocket PC magazine!Download a FREE copy of Pocket PC magazine you can read now on your Smartphone.

Seymour

You really can "see more" with this utility that lets you view two Pocket PC applications, in two separate windows on the same screen! The windows in which the applications are viewed are scrollable. The Seymour splitter that splits the two windows can be skinned with customizable label and background coloring using BMPs, GIFs, JPGs or Gradient Color Schemes. The applications displayed in the two windows can be swapped. You can center and maximize the running applications. It has cut, copy, and paste support for all applications.

Price: $15.95 (15 day trial version)

www.jarosoft.com

Use With: Pocket PC, Pocket PC 2002, and Windows Mobile 2003 (These are CAB files and are installed directly on Pocket PC.)

Download demo for Windows Mobile 2003

Download demo for Pocket PC 2002

Download demo for Pocket PC 2000

Special Price for Pocket PC magazine Hot Downloaders: $9.57 (this month only!) with this link: click here

1-Pass

A security program using a password or combination of hardware button presses to gain access to your device. Password screen displays a large keypad for on-screen entry. Appointments and owner's information are displayed on the password screen (handy if you lose your device so it can be returned to you). If you use Journal Bar or Battery Pack, those can also display on-screen along with a day and date and a large analog clock with the time digitally displayed below it. This program is skinnable so you can use one that has already been created, or make your own background theme!

Price: $14.95

www.omegaone.com

Use With: Pocket PC 2002, and Windows Mobile 2003

Download demo

Special Price for Pocket PC magazine Hot Downloaders: $9.99 (one week only!) with this link and promotion code-09798E: click here

IM+ Mobile Instant Messenger

An "all-in-one" universal Instant Messenger for MSN, ICQ, AOL, and Yahoo for the Pocket PC and Smartphone. It works by making a direct connection to the supported services without any "gate" in the middle and connects you to your favorite services as a full-rights user. You get all the messages and events immediately just as if you were connected with the standard client.

Price: $29.95

www.shapeservices.de

Use With: Smartphone 2002/2003, Pocket PC, Pocket PC 2002, and Windows Mobile 2003

Download demo for Pocket PC 2002/2003

Download demo for Pocket PC 2000

Download demo for Smartphone

Agenda Fusion 6

This is a full-featured Personal Information Manager (PIM) for the Pocket PC. Compatible with all of the existing data on your Pocket PC, it delivers a powerful and easy-to-use calendar, task and contact management, and control over your schedule like you'd never had before! It supports the upcoming Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition release with VGA support!

Price: $29.95

www.developerone.com

Use With: Pocket PC, Pocket PC 2002, and Windows Mobile 2003 & SE

Download demo

Special price for Pocket PC magazine Hot Downloaders: $19.95 (one week only!)

1-Calc

Of all the calculators with full scientific calculator, unit converter, currency converter, and base converter capabilities that I've seen, this is one of the easiest to use. It even has scrolling keypads that change for each specialized calculator you select. The currency converter automatically retrieves exchange rates from the Web for a large variety of currencies. The unit converter converts a wide range of measurements, from distances to hat sizes. Buttons are all customizable and the calculator itself is skinnable.

Price: $14.99

www.omegaone.com

Use With: Pocket PC 2002 and Windows Mobile 2003

Download demo

LogoLogin

A free security application made especially for this week’s Hot Download pick that uses a tap on the Pocket PC magazine logo to access your Pocket PC. Show your Pocket PC magazine pride by downloading and showing it off to all your friends.

Price: FREE

www.softava.com

Use With: Pocket PC 2002 and Windows Mobile 2003

Download free application

Kevtris

A free Tetris clone that has imaginative graphics and sounds, customizable controls, and a variety of game play options, including previews of the next piece to drop.

Price: FREE

www.angelfire.com/indie/caywen/

Use With: Smartphone, Pocket PC 2002, and Windows Mobile 2003

Download free game for Pocket PC, desktop installation

Download free game for Pocket PC, direct installation

Download free game for MS Smartphone

You can either download the first link to your Pocket PC, transfer the file to your desktop PC, and then run the .exe file from there, or you can download the second link to your Pocket PC and tap on it to install it. Smartphone users download the third link

MortgageCALC

Have you ever been in the process of buying a new car or taking out a loan, and wished you had a loan calculator with you? Now you can with this free mortgage calculator that calculates amortization schedules for major purchases. It can compare up to 10 different loans and includes graphing. Data can be pasted into other Pocket PC applications.

Price: FREE

members.optusnet.com.au/~gm_fisher/

Use With: Pocket PC, Pocket PC 2002, and Windows Mobile 2003

Download free application

Proximity Mail v1.4.3

A free chat application that turns groups of Bluetooth PDAs into spontaneous "random area networks" without servers or base stations. Unlike SMS, IM, or email, ProximityMail allows spontaneous and anonymous communication without the need for other users' PDA id, phone number, or email address. You can also transfer business cards and set-up groups from within the application to form a piconet.

Price: FREE

www.inventop.com

Use With: Pocket PC 2002 and Windows Mobile 2003

Download free application

Supported Pocket PCs with built-in Bluetooth: HP iPaq 19xx, 22xx, 38xx, 39xx, 54xx, 55xx and CF/SD cards: Socket Communications, BrainBoxes, Anycom and others.

Flash Themes Pro

If you like animated themes on your Pocket PC, this is the program to check out. It allows Flash-animated Today screen themes to run on the entire screen while showing all your calendar appointments, tasks, and other important Today screen data. Watching fish swim by really makes the time pass when you’re waiting for that important meeting to start. You can use the theme rotator to schedule automatic theme changes. And there’s more! It’s also a task and device management application! You can start or stop tasks or soft-reset your device by merely tapping a selection from the drop-down task menu. There is also a battery-level meter that lets you know how much power you have left in your batteries.

Price: $13.95

www.netwasp.com

Use With: Pocket PC 2002 and Windows Mobile 2003
Requires: Macromedia Flash Player (version 6)

Download trial application

Clowns Rampage

If you like to “clown around,” then this is a great pie-in-the-face game for you. It’s a turn-based artillery game featuring clowns Cleo and Klyde, who fire objects at each other out of cannons. Offensive weapons include a football and spiked, Viking, and Crusader helmets. Defensive weapons include a shield, cotton candy, rubber skin, concrete, and a sphere. Just when you think it can't get any more difficult, they force you to take wind conditions into account. So, start clowning around and download the game!

Price: $4.95

www.MimicGames.com

Use With: Pocket PC 2002 and Windows Mobile 2003

Download trial application

Spb Imageer

Spb Software House, known for their excellent software, has just released this imaging program for the Pocket PC. It’s very powerful with tons of features! It is a very fast photo viewing and editing tool featuring one-tap slideshows, album creation, and multi-threaded thumbnail generation. It supports all the common image file formats, including JPEG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, and PNG. Editing features include: red-eye reduction, cropping, auto-level adjustment, brightness, contrast, hue, saturation, lightness, and RBG color channels. You can also batch optimize photos and publish them to the Web!

Price: $14.95 (15 day free trial)

www.spbsoftwarehouse.com

Use With: Pocket PC 2002 and Windows Mobile 2003

Download trial application

PocketRSS v1.21

Read news, sports, Weblogs, and other RSS feeds directly on your Today screen using PocketRSS! This is a stand-alone application with a Today screen plug-in which allows the display of various types of RSS/OPML-compliant data. There are hundreds of sources in the public domain from which it can draw data. Pocket PC magazine now has an RSS feed (see link below) you can read using PocketRSS. It requires a connection to the Internet, but is designed to function offline as well using cached files. (Pocket PC magazine's RSS feed)

Price: $5.00 (15 day free trial)

www.happyjackroad.com/AtomicDB/index.asp

Use With: Pocket PC, Pocket PC 2002, and Windows Mobile 2003

Download trial application

@Sat Orbiter Locator+

This application tracks and displays the real-time trajectories of spacecraft such as the International Space Station, the Hubble Telescope, the Space Shuttle, and the Mars Rovers. You can download the latest images from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Mars Rovers missions and view them on your Pocket PC.

Price: $18.45

www.SurvivorSoft.com

Use With: Pocket PC 2002, Smartphone 2003, Windows Mobile 2003. (Requires Microsoft .NET Service Pack 2.)

Download trial version. Non-expiring; limited image downloads; overpass information for 1 city only.

All-In Hold 'Em

This is one of the best versions I’ve seen for the Pocket PC. It’s a Texas Hold ‘Em poker game that allows up to 7 computer players to compete against you at one time using REAL tournament play rules. It uses superior AI and a great graphics engine to give you a very realistic poker experience. If you’re itching to hit the “big time” in Vegas, this is the one that will get you ready!

Price: $11.95 (10-day free trial with limited betting)

www.birdsoft.net

Use With: Pocket PC ARM, Pocket PC 2002, and Windows Mobile 2003

Download trial application

Pocket QuickView (PQV 3.0)

This program is the "Swiss Army knife" of imaging programs. It’s very fast at loading multi-mega-pixel digital camera images and has lossless JPG image rotation. You can view, edit, and save in a wide variety of file formats. Play AVI and MOV video clips from digital cameras without needing to convert them. Capture screen shots in BMP, GIF, PCX, or JPEG format. Display a slideshow with various transition effects with audio comments.

Price: $19.99; 30-day free trial

www.bitbanksoftware.com

Use With: Pocket PC, Pocket PC 2002, and Windows Mobile 2003

Download trial application

Collins English-Spanish Bilingual Dictionary

Whether you are traveling to a Spanish-speaking country or learning Spanish, this dictionary can be an excellent aid. It has over 110,000 translations and 80,000 references in English to Spanish, and vice-versa. You can see the translation of a word, an explanation, and an example sentence in which the word is used. You can search for a word, earmark words to return to them later, and you can search for anagrams and get word suggestions for solving crossword puzzles.

Price: $34.99

www.tomtom.com

Use With: Pocket PC, Pocket PC 2002, Windows Mobile 2003

Download trial application

Christmas Rush

This is a gorgeous 3D action game for the Pocket PC, and it’s FREE!

It’s Christmas Eve, and Santa's in trouble! He needs your help delivering presents this year! So go get your Pocket PC on the double and help out jolly old Saint Nick! Guide the sleigh as you drop presents to villages from the sky. The towns are quaint and aglow with light but there's no time to dally—you're busy tonight! Can you deliver all the presents in time?

We hope you enjoy "Christmas Rush" and wish you Happy Holidays to all from the elves at NDL and Pocket PC magazine!

Price: Free

www.ndl.com

Use With: Pocket PC ARM and Pocket PC 2002

Download free game

Snowed In 2

Snowed in for the holidays and have some free time before Santa arrives? Here’s a FREE game to help pass those hours.

Collect presents and keep the “Grinch” away from your goodies. Simply make a horizontal or vertical row of 3 or more matching holiday symbols. Gain extra points for matching 4 or 5 symbols. After each match new symbols will cascade down the screen, opening up more possibilities. The more matches you make, the more points you earn.

Price: Free until end of January 2004 (You must register the game.)

www.clickgamer.com

Use With: Pocket PC, Pocket PC 2002, and Windows Mobile 2003

Download free game for ARM processors

Download free game for MIPS processors

Download free game for SH3 processors

(On your Pocket PC, go to Start > Settings > System > About to see which processor you have.)

Registration

WorldMate Pro

If you travel, this is a really useful tool that can save you time and major headaches in managing your trips. Enter a 3-letter airport code and the day you wish to fly, tap the "update" button, and a list of all the available flights is displayed on-screen. You can then tap any line to expand the flight information. The worldwide flight schedules are provided by OAG. Also included are weather forecasts for over 38,000 locations worldwide from The Weather Channel, an itinerary manager, a tip and tax calculator, a day/night map, a world clock, up-to-date currency exchange rates, international dialing codes, a packing list, clothing measurements, and more!

Price: $49.95 (Includes one year of Premium Online Services)

www.mobimate.com

Use With: Pocket PC 2002 and Windows Mobile 2003

Download trial application

Journal Bar v.2 with Expansion Pack

The Journal Bar is one of my most favorite programs and one of the applications I always install first on my own Pocket PCs. It’s a Today screen plug-in for Pocket PC 2002 and Windows Mobile 2003 that displays large amounts of useful information in a small, scrollable window. Displays weather (2 locations), news, stocks, movie times and reviews, TV listings, and sports scores. The Expansion Pack adds an additional 5 weather screens and over 100 news sources from around the world. Information is updated from the Internet.

Price: $9.99/Journal Bar v.2 and $6.99/Expansion Pack

www.omegaone.com

Use With: Pocket PC 2002 and Windows Mobile 2003

Download trial application

PPX Application Navigator

A graphical file/folder navigator and program launcher that includes forward and backward navigation. Uses either the native Pocket PC icons, one of several icon sets that are bundled with the application, or your own custom icons and images for folder icons and backgrounds. Additional icons can be downloaded from their site.

Price: Free

www.ppx3k.com

Use With: Pocket PC ARM, Pocket PC 2002, and Windows Mobile 2003

Download free application