It’s really hard to say what kind of soft Spb Pocket Plus really is. It does many things, from being a today plug-in, to a Pocket IE enhancer and even a task manager with close button. Whatever Pocket Plus is, it’s one software that has received numerous accolades and awards from some really big name such as Handango and Pocket Gear and does not look like that will stop. So how does the latest version of Pocket Plus fare? Does it stand up to its predecessors?

First Look

The earliest known release for this software was in the year 2005 and since then it has been developed at a rate of 1 major release per year, bringing it to v4.01 (at the time of this review) for the year 2007. It works from Windows Mobile 2003 and even supports the latest WM6. At $29.95, it definitely does not come cheap, plus the 2.9MB memory foot print does make you wonder if you really need it. However, if you are not entirely convinced with Pocket Plus, they have a 30 day trial for you to try the software, without any restrictions.

To me, Spb Pocket Plus is not just one software, but more like 7 software rolled into one. With that in mind, the $29.95 price tag might not really be too much to ask for. We’ll take a look at what it has to offer and see if it deserves all the compliments it has received.

Today Plug-In

This would be the biggest thing that you notice about Pocket Plus after installation and it would also be one of the most used feature of this software. It helps you better manage all your software and settings right from the Today screen. No longer do you have to keep going to Start > Programs to run your software or even to Start > Settings to make the necessary changes. With this feature, you can add shortcuts to just about anything that is on your device. Always changing your alarms? Then add a shortcut to “Clocks and Alarms.”

It also has shortcuts to features that Windows Mobile missed such as screen toggle and soft-reset. Now you can do these actions, among many other, without having to install additional software or poking the reset hole. It really makes using your Pocket PC a lot easier because everything that you want or need to do will most probably be on the Today screen.

However, the biggest advantage of this feature is that you can group you programs/settings/today plug-ins according to any category that you want. Yes even today plug-ins can be added into Pocket Plus. As you can see below, I have tweaked the software to my preference, having tabs (categories) for things which I usually use: Entertainment, GPS and Productivity.

Internet Explorer Enhancements

If you did not want to shell out money for Opera For Pocket PC v8.65 which was recently rated as the best browser for a Pocket PC, then Pocket Plus might just be able to help you out. It brings some much-needed features to Pocket IE such as tabbed browsing as well as drag scrolling, similar to Opera’s drag-and-scroll.

On top of that, you have the option of saving pages and viewing page source. I am not sure why anyone would need the latter feature on a Pocket PC but the former has indeed proved useful to me. As I currently do not have mobile data connection (GPRS/EDGE), there were several occasions when I wanted to go to several business with websites. I just had to visit them on my Pocket IE and save their contact page and later on when I needed to access that information, it was there. No longer do I have to copy address from a website when I can have a web page showing it all.

Smart Scrolling

If you have been thinking of getting the iPhone just for it’s intuitive scrolling, then Pocket Plus might help you change your mind. It brings smart scrolling to your device so that you can now scroll through applications instead of using the scroll bar. It also has kinetic effects, so if you are scrolling through a long list of files, it will scroll quickly at the beginning and slow down after a while. Again, you can control these very easily though sometimes it might scroll a little too fast for your comfort, something which I encountered on several occasions with Pocket IE.

At the moment, it works only for standard applications such as File Explorer as well as your Programs and Settings folder. Hopefully, there will be increased support for more applications in the future.

Souped-Up File Explorer

New features in the context menu	And in the properties dialog

When you have an all-in-solution for making your Pocket PC more intuitive, you can’t leave out the File Explorer. True there are better options out there for a file explorer like program and some of them are even free like Total Commander. But for users who do not like to install too many programs, this will definitely be one option they are interested in.

Like the Pocket IE enhancements, this too adds some useful (and much needed) features to File Explorer. Besides ZIP support and file encryption, you can also view properties of the various files and folders and format your newly-purchased storage card on the go.

Real ‘X’ Button

The biggest complaint I hear about Pocket PC is that the device slows down when you open too many programs. Unknown to a lot of users, this is because the programs remain open and running in the background, even when you tap on the ‘X’ button to close it. As such, the more programs one opens, the slower the device becomes, because they are all running in the background.

Pocket Plus solves the problem by making the ‘X’ button actually close programs instead of minimizing them. However, its features do not just stop there. It also allows you to minimize programs when you want to and acts as a task-manager as well so you can switch between programs when you have to.

Additional Integration

Those are the main features of Pocket Plus but Spb has gone another step and added even more features on the back-end that you might not even notice.

File Open/Save Dialog

This feature, which is commonly used, is improved with Pocket Plus because one can now browse to any directory AND from within any application. Thus when you need to save a file to a particular directory on your SD card, you can do so easily.

Safe Mode

Like a backup application, these will come in useful when you need them but hope that you never have to use them. With this feature enabled, your device will enter safe mode when you reset more than once within 3 minutes. So if a plug-in or software that you just installed is giving you problems, just rest your device twice, enter safe mode, and remove the corrupted installation.

Additional Buttons

You can never have enough hardware buttons (unless of course you are using a device with a keyboard). With Pocket Plus, the number of hardware buttons you have is now almost doubled: one for normal presses and one for long presses. For users who have a number of favorite programs to launch on their Pocket PC, having additional hardware buttons (virtually of course) will definitely increase productivity with lesser taps.

Summary

Pros

• Value for money. At $29.95, it comes with a lot of features covering many areas of usage.
• Integrates well with any today plug-in, thus maximizing real estate space.
• Makes the device more intuitive and easier to navigate with large icons and smart scrolling.
• Allows you to only install features that you need, thus saving space. Also provides removal of components individually.

Cons

• Some features can be gotten for free with other applications.
• Has to be installed to Main Memory for best experience and at 2.9MB, it can be quite large for devices with 128MB ROM.

Conclusion

Pocket Plus is a really well-integrated program that fills the gaps left when Windows Mobile was developed. If you are looking for something to make the using of your Pocket PC a much better experience, look no further than Pocket Plus. Some may argue that a lot of the features covered by Pocket Plus can be done by other applications which are free such as using Total Commander for File Explorer and pBar for ‘X’ Button. While this is true, I say that wouldn’t it be better to have just one software that does all this rather than to install several applications?

If you have yet to try Pocket Plus, head over to Spb to download a 30 day trial of the software. If you are satisfied (and I am sure you’ll be), the software sells for $29.95 and comes with a 30 day money back guarantee.

How do you find Spb’s Pocket Plus?

Tags: commercial software