In the beginning, there was an awesome media player for Windows Mobile called ‘BetaPlayer‘. It could handle all kinds of audio and video codecs that the mobile version of Windows Media Player couldn’t. Eventually BetaPlayer turned into TCPMP (The Core Pocket Media Player), a freeware media app. And it was truly awesome. Then, all of a sudden, TCPMP dropped support for files downloaded from iTunes for legal reasons, and TCPMP became a little less useful. From this, the commercial CorePlayer was born. CorePlayer allows developers to collect some revenue and pay licensing fees for proprietary codec support.

I’ve been using CorePlayer for quite some time now and I love it. It does everything I want it to do: movies, video clips, audio files, YouTube, podcasts, JPGs, FLV files… and tonnes more.

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QUICKLIST:

System/OS/Device Requirements: Pocket PC 2000, Pocket PC 2002, Pocket PC 2003, Pocket PC 2003 SE, WM5, WM6, WM6.1
Price: $29.95 ( 20% off for the month of November with coupon code “WMCoolOpen”!) Free trial also available.
Company: CoreCodec, Inc.
Download: Available at our store for only $29.95!

KEY FEATURES:

• YouTube support, with built-in browse and search
• BlueTooth Stereo (A2DP) and Remote Control (AVRCP) support
• Programmable Hotkeys
• Supports over 15 Languages
• Media library (Manage your RSS Feeds, playlists, podcasts, bookmarks)
• Podcast Support (Standard and Enhanced)
• Streaming support (HTTP, UDP, RTP, RTSP, RTCP, SDP, Unicast, Multicast)
• IPTV/DVB-H/DVB-SH Ready
• Audio: MP3, WMA, AAC, MKA, WAV, OGG, Speex, WAVPACK, FLAC, MPC, AMR, GSM, ADPCM, ALaw, MuLaw, MIDI
• Video: WMV, CoreAVC� (H.264), AVCHD, MKV, MPEG-1, MPEG-4 part 2 (ASP), DivX, XviD, MJPEG, MSVIDEO1
• Images: JPG (420, 422, 440), BMP, PNG, GIF, TIFF
• Containers: FLV, Matroska�, ASX, ASF, TS, PS, M2TS, 3GPP, MOV, AVI, MPEG-4, NSV
• GPU support: Intel 2700g, ATI Imageon, Qualcomm QTv
• CoreUI / Universal Skins (Custom interface)

VERDICT:

There are a number of ways to watch YouTube videos on your mobile phone, but CorePlayer is the coolest and easiest way I’ve found, hands down. It uses minimal memory, runs very smoothly, the mp3 player shows album art, allows both mp3 and aac equalizer usage, and it can play back 700×600 DivX avi files without dropping any frams which is very cool.

The only problem I actually encountered with it was that the download did not include a help file, which would have been very useful. But there are plenty of resources online that provide help and CoreCodec themselves offer an email helpline to those in need. So it’s not all bad news on the help front.

RATING: (out of 5)

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Handy Weather software for Windows Mobile keeps you connected with updated weather forecast anytime and anywhere. Plan more efficiently with the best weather tracking software for WinMo and be prepared for anything Mother Nature has in store!

All you need is an internet connection on your device to get weather news and forecast for 40,000+ preset cities. Weather data is provided by the Intellicast, the world’s leading meteorological company. No more complicated menus to scroll through to find the info you need. Just add Handy Weather to your Today screen and enjoy exact weather forecast. You will wonder how you ever got by without it, trust me.

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QuickList:

System/OS/Device Requirements: Windows Mobile 5.0-6.1
Price: $17.95
Company: Paragon Software (SHDD)
Download here or grab the FREE trial here

KEY FEATURES

Current weather condition includes:

• Current temperature in Celsius or Fahrenheit
• Weather type images (clouds, sun, etc.) and description (for example, Partly sunny, Snow Shower etc.)
• Real feel (Rf) temperature (what temperature really feels like)
• Wind direction and wind speed in mph, km/h or m/s
• Barometric pressure in inhg, mb or mmhg
• Relative humidity in %

Detailed description of daily weather forecast includes:

• High and low day temperature in Celsius or Fahrenheit
• Weather type images (clouds, sun, etc.) and description (for example, Partly sunny, Snow Shower etc.)
• Wind direction, gust and speed in mph, km/h or m/s
• UV index (the sun’s ultraviolet intensity level) and description (high, low, etc.)
• Relative humidity in %

Special Features:

• 5-day weather forecast from your Today screen for several locations world-wide
• Two handy pre-defined layouts of Today plug-in to your taste: large icons of weather condition with average daily temperature or small icons. Current temperature display and low/high temperature forecast display for upcoming days along with small weather icons
• Monitor the weather forecast in your area with different types of maps: Current Temperature Maps, Satellite Maps and Surface Analysis Maps.
• Different scales of maps (actual size; fit-to-the-screen and full-screen) make map viewing very handy and visual on any Pocket PC device
• Four handy and good-looking view modes: current condition, detailed daily forecast, 7-day weather forecast, 5-day high and low temperature graph
• Automatic updates. You can set to update weather forecast in a certain interval (2, 4, 8, 12 or 24 hours) or at preset time. Weather forecast will be automatically downloaded on your phone, no matter if Handy Weather application is running or not. This option helps to have weather forecast always up-to-date and do not waste your time on manual downloads
• Multilingual interface: Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Spanish and Swedish.
• Variety of supported Internet connections: GPRS, Wi-Fi or using Desktop computer
• Requirements
• To get weather forecast you should have enabled Internet connection. Handy Weather supports different Internet connections: GPRS, Wi-Fi or Internet connection from your Desktop computer with help of ActiveSync program.

CONCLUSION

Check out the pictures gallery for yourself! This software is super functional and did exactly what I wanted it to do and more. My only warning is to be careful using it if you are on a limited data plan, because it really does what it says — keeps your weather information up to date constantly… which is great for those of us with unlimited data, but pricey for those of us without.

RATING (out of 5)

Check out the Handy Weather image gallery on the next page!

Being a history graduate (go on, make your nerd jokes now), I pride myself as being the Queen of Trivial Knowledge – but even I need a refresher now and again. If I’m lucky enough to be sitting by a computer (which I’ll admit is quite often) the internet has almost every answer I could possibly need in seconds thanks to Wikipedia. But what if I’m not in front of my computer?

Here’s the perfect solution: Wikipedia… on your Windows Mobile phone! I know what you’re thinking. Data. Data is expensive! And Wikipedia is full of images and links and then you have to worry about having the right browser to view it in properly… grah! So here it is…

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There are several ways to do this, of course. I’ll outline two in this how-to guide.

The Easy Way

MDict + Wikipedia data library

Step 1: Head to Octopus Studio and download MDict. This app is a multi-language dictionary for Windows Mobile that isn’t actually a dictionary in itself, but is instead an ‘empty’ dictionary program that you can fill with libraries built by users like yourself. (ie. importing Wikipedia data files!)
It supports multiple libraries at once, supports multiple languages, has online word pickup functions, and best of all – is totally and absolutely free for personal use.

Step 2: Grab the latest Wikipedia data library from some kind of torrent, let’s say. Oh, I dunno, let’s say this one from September 2008, for example. (Psst – you didn’t hear it from me.)

Step 3: Read MDict’s manual.txt file to learn how to import your Wikipedia library into the app (very, very simple).

Step 4: It’s great to learn!

The Even Easier Way

Pocket Wikipedia

Step 1: Download Pocket Wikipedia.

Step 2: Drink some tea and read about the Eastern Imperial Eagle!

Is Pocket Wikipedia better than MDict? It’s a tough call, really. Like MDict, Pocket Wikipedia is absolutely free for personal use. MDict allows you to add new libraries at any time and its user interface is much more user friendly. I use MDict because it’s up to date as of September 2008. But you may prefer Pocket Wikipedia. Check them both out and decide for yourself which one earns the permanent spot on your mobile device!