Get More from your Windows Mobile Smartphone

For all of the controversy behind Microsoft's entry into the cellular phone market, one thing is for sure: a Windows Mobile Smartphone is one of the most powerful devices you can fit into a small pocket. No other device this size can offer such robust features, Outlook compatibility, and expandability in a single device. For this issue's focus on communications, we will explore third party software specifically designed for the Smartphone.

Fizz Traveller for the Smartphone

One of my favorite new applications is Fizz Traveller 2.1 for the Smartphone. Although the Windows Mobile platform is packed with applications that make a traveler's life easier, Fizz Traveller offers unique features that make it more useful on trips. At launch, the program's Home screen displays the local time and weather for your favorite six cities, and pressing a soft key displays a 5-day forecast for the current city. In addition to the Home screen, a world clock displays the current time and weather for all six cities together with a map indicating which parts of the globe are in daylight or darkness.

But my favorite feature resides in the weather section, where detailed maps (Fig. 1) show the high and low temperatures for major cities—just like the weather man does on the evening news. You can scroll around the maps and zoom in on any region. Pressing the * key on the Smartphone toggles between the weather map and a satellite photo. In addition to the weather map and the 5-day forecast, a 48-hour weather report gives you detailed information for the morning, afternoon, evening and night of the next two days. This can be extremely useful for choosing how warm to dress if you don't plan on returning to your hotel during the day. The final compelling feature in the weather section is the airport delays screen, which provides the anticipated travel delays for more than 300 major airports around the world. Clock icons indicate potential delays and, when selected, provide the reason for the delay.

Fizz Traveller offers travel alarms, like every application in this category, but makes them especially easy to set up in any time zone—setting wake-up alarms for 9 a.m. on Monday in London, and 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday in New York is a snap with this application. An itinerary/to-do feature is included with the application, but it isn't as robust as some of the other task applications available. Fizz Traveller also offers conversions for more than 50 currencies as well as temperature, length, weight, area, volume, speed, power, and even torque. With your permission, the software will automatically update currencies either daily or weekly, and will update the weather forecasts as often as every 2 hours. Fizz Software offers the updates at no charge.

Fizz Traveller 2.1 is available in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Dutch for the Windows Mobile Smartphone and the Pocket PC for $19.99. A fully-functional 5-day trial of Fizz Traveller is available (http://www.fizzsoftware.com), and all Fizz Software customers are entitled to a free copy of Fizz Bill Now (http://www.fizzsoftware.com/smartphone/fizzbillnow/download.htm), a meal tip calculator exclusively for the Windows Mobile Smartphone.

Fig. 1: Fizz Traveller includes a scrolling map where you can view weather for the region at a glance.

Tell your Smartphone to "take a hike!"

Regular readers of the "Get More" column might already know that I'm an avid fan of GPS (Global Positioning System) software. One of the most unique uses of GPS data on a handheld is SmartHiker by BBP Software, an application available only for the Windows Mobile Smartphone. SmartHiker is a simple application that provides a compass heading for your direction of travel, current speed, average speed, and latitude and longitude of your current position all on one screen (Fig. 2). In the UK, the software also provides the OSGB Grid reference, which makes locating your position on a commercial map or government survey a snap.