Pocket PC Award Winners 2001

Most of us don't have the time or inclination to test lots of Pocket PC software. We would rather have someone we trust simply tell us the name of the best Pocket PC database program, the best action game, or the best video program. We're about to do that for you. However, in truth things aren't so simple.

As it was, we ended up with 49 categories of "bests." The reason for so many categories is that your best game might be shoot 'em Metalion and mine might be Pocket Chess. Maybe you want a relational database with lots of functionality, and I want a simple list manager. We created these many categories to accommodate such distinctions. Even with all these categories our Board of Expert judges commented that it was often hard to compare programs. For example, which is more important, ease of use, lots of features, beautiful graphics, price, this feature set or that one? Suffice it to say, many users could benefit from the product winners and finalists listed below as well as the vast majority of our nominations at www.PocketPCmag.com/nominations/2001nomin.asp.  These programs are all useful or fun, reasonably priced, and relatively bug-free.

As described in myPocket View column, over 20 experts from around the world examined over 300 products in depth. Below you will find the winners and finalists, plus the judges' thoughts about the products they tested.

IMPORTANT: My goal in selecting and editing judges' comments was to come up with the most useful, insightful, non-redundant information for you, the Pocket PC user. Therefore, from reading the judges' comments, you cannot necessarily infer how the judge voted, since we often published his thoughts about second or third place products. Similarly, the comments were not selected to "prove" why a product won. A product won because they got the most votes (5 points for a first choice vote, 3 for second, 1 for third).

Biggest thanks go to the many developers of Pocket PC products. Creating useful and fun software is normally a labor of love, not a get-rich-quick scheme. We may have missed or didn't select as the winner your favorite product or the one that you developed. The process was good but not foolproof. Next year, we plan to add hardware accessories and Web sites to our Best Product Awards. Whether you are a judge, developer, or end user, email me athal@PocketPCmag.com  with your comments and ideas of how we can make the process even better next year.

COMMUNICATION

Synchronization

WINNER: Peacemaker Pro
www.conduits.com/products/peacemaker 

Finalist: Intellisync
www.pumatech.com/Intellisync_Palm_CE.html 

David Shier:

Peacemaker Pro lets you share information using IR with those less fortunate souls using a Palm device.

Intellisync is for users of ACT!, Lotus Notes or those that need to support multiple mobile devices. Features are similar to ActiveSync, but supports Palm OS and alternate desktop applications.

Hal Goldstein: Pocket PC 2002 is OBEX compliant, so it supports better IR data exchange with Palm and cell phones.