What's on my Q9h?

Here at Morning Paper, I do a lot of reviews for Windows Mobile software so that you don't have to be bothered with the junk but can find the good in the sea of choices.

But that never answers the question: What's on my Q9h?

Some people might be surprised at how lean I tend to keep my phone, I only leave on it what I use and consider essential.

I excluded the things that came with the phone like Documents to Go, Opera as well as what ships with the OS from Microsoft (games, etc.) to show you what I've added.

Here's what I have that I think every WinMo Standard user should have:

Facade

Agenda One

Alarm Master (review coming soon, I promise)

Those three address every shortcoming that many say is the problem with Windows Mobile. For some people, the stock works fine. But for those of us who love Windows Mobile (like me) but want to improve upon it, those three should be your place to start.

Next up are the applications that are on my phone that, while not being essential, are very useful. Kinda like a highly (highly) recommended addition to the top three.

SmartToolKit

SmartPhone Notes (gee, maybe I should do a review of this one?)

Google Maps

Although SmartToolKit is still in beta, I've found it to be the most handy launcher I've used thus far for the Standard version of Windows Mobile 6. SmartPhone Notes is super handy because only the Professional version of WinMo allows Notes to be synced with Outlook. Smartphone Notes gives you the same functions and syncs all notes with Outlook. I'm either in desktop Outlook or Mobile Outlook so that is practically essential to have the ability to create, edit, sync and save notes. I think Google Maps is self-explanatory.

Lean and mean, six applications that I wouldn't want to do without.

I've also got some a few other things on there that I'm still on the fence about.

OneNote Mobile but SmartPhone Notes really competes with the use of ONM. OneNote on my Tablet PC is great, but OneNote Mobile? The jury is still out on that one.

I'm experimenting with the trial version of ListPro but haven't used it very much.

I've learned ways to use my Calendar and Task list to do essentially the same thing so why do I need a checklist program?

The beta to Pocket Music for Smartphones is there as well but after playing around with it, I'll keep using Windows Media Player Mobile until Pocket Music gets to an official release.

As I said, nice and lean. Hope this helps to know how a dedicated Windows Mobile user uses third-party applications on my phone.

Let me know if I missed some apps you think everyone should have in the comments section.

Choice is good :D

Comments

[GoodThings2Life]

This is a great list of apps. I've been pretty happy with the stock apps and UI for WM6, but Alarm Master and Smart Toolkit sound very appealing. I've been thinking about how much a print-screen utility would be nice, and Smart Toolkit's other features make it a good candidate.

--Aaron

[Contributing Writer, Aaron J. Walker]

Thanks for the comment GoodThings2Life.

I really try to keep things lean on my machine, not a lot of fluff is allowed to stick around long on my device.

But I do find the stock Windows Mobile 6 lacking in some areas (UI, PIM) which is why most of the apps I have are to get it to work the way I want to work as opposed to someone else telling me this is the way I have to interact with my own device.

However, as much as I like STK, I don't believe there is a version for Windows Mobile 6 Professional.

You might want to try Spb's Diary as more of an all in one solution.