Windows Phone Thoughts: Spb Pocket Plus 2.5: How Good Does it Get?

Figure 2: Pocket Plus puts monitors and icons right on my sporty Pocket PC Thoughts-themed Today screen. Also, notice the "Main," "Connect," and "System" tabs in the middle of the screen.

What Can Pocket Plus 2.5 Do for Me?
While it's no good for clearing up acne and it's totally useless for helping shed those post-holiday pounds, Spb Pocket Plus 2.5 can benefit any Pocket PC user. Back in the days of yore, shortly after I got my first Pocket PC, I heard of Pocket Plus through some of friends. They had Pocket Plus on their Pocket PCs and were all giddy about it (it wasn't a pretty sight). So, I knew that it had won some awards, and I saw some reviews by some technogeeks singing its praises. Big deal, I thought. One day, while feeling unusually adventurous and ambitioius, I decided to download a trial version, and then I finally saw why so many people hold Pocket Plus in high regard. Among my list of shortcomings, which includes big ears and an irrational dislike for country music, I have the navigtational skills of those brown beetles that contantly slam into the side of my house on summer evenings.

My point, you ask? Pocket Plus removes the need to remember where to find those obsure applications and settings that we feel inclined to play with, from time to time. Everything is right there, on my Today screen. If most of us would agree that we bought a Pocket PC to organize and simplify our contacts and keep track of things, then how valuable is a program that simplifies using the Pocket PC? This simplification has a lot do with why I find Pocket Plus to be, perhaps, the most important application on my Pocket PC.

Although Figure 2 and Figure 3 illustrate the default set of applications and settings that are grouped under the Today screen tabs, the tabs are totally configurable. Choose from small or large icons, drag icons from one tab to another, remove or add icons, rename or resize the tabs themselves... etc. You can even put icons for every application on your Pocket PC on your Today screen, if you're feeling wacky and get the urge. You decide what appears on your screen and how it's arranged. This is a key element that makes Pocket Plus such a powerful utility.


Figure 3: The default applications accessible under the Today screen's "Connect" tab include Internet Explorer, E-mail client, Active Sync, Infrared, and modem connections.


Figure 4: The default applications accessible under the "System" tab includes, among others things, soft reset, regional settings, menu settings, button mapping, and add/remove programs.