Well, I may have paid out the nose for it, but I have to say I’m pretty darn happy with my Treo. It’s fulfilled all my expectations and then some. Not having to carry a seperate PDA and phone is great, and I’ve gotten to play with a lot of new fun software lately.
I’ve definitely updated the programs I’m running since my last post, so it’s a pretty long list that follows. If you’ve got a palm I can just about guarantee you’ll find something new and interesting, I’ve run across a ton of cool programs lately.
I’m going to divy up the sections based on the tabs in my launcher. Of course, that means the launcher itself would otherwise be left out, so ZLauncher ( $20 ) should get special mention first.
PIM
Of course, most of the PIM applications are built in. I don’t really have many needs beyond those, though there are of course a plethora of replacement and add-on tools.
- Directory Assistant ( Free ) - Excellent phonebook, map and direction finder, and general all around useful utility. Author accepts donations and is extremely responsive (built a version with proxy support when I asked), so give him some $$ if you use it.
Docs
I had some issues trying to divide up my categories. I finally realized that I had enough programs that were specifically for document reading and editing that they deserved their own category.
- DB ( Free / GPL ) - While I haven’t used it much yet, I’ve got grand plans to use pilot-db to create databases of all my books, cds, stuff like that.
- eReader ( Free / $9.95 ) - The basic version’s free, but somewhere along the line, I bought the Pro version, though I don’t remember why.
- MobiPocket ( Free / $19.95 ) - I’m still using the free version of MobiPocket. I’m not a huge fan of the interface, but it happens to be the format that the Baen Webscription books are available in, and I’ve bought tons of them.
- MyBible ( $10 - some translations extra) - Bible program. Long-time user, pretty happy with it.
- Plucker ( Free / GPL ) - Best offline html viewer. Great for converting large HTML documentation into a handy format to keep with you.
- SiEd ( Free / GPL ) - Excellent text editor for doing document or code editing on the pda itself.
Media
- Bhajis Loops ( $26.99 ) - Haven’t purchased it yet, but I’m pretty tempted. This is far and away one of the most impressive and complete programs of any sort I’ve seen on the palm. If you are at all interested in writing your own music, you must check this program out.
- TbmpEdit ( Free / GPL ) - Very cool bmp editor for either editing or creating graphics for use within palm programs, or just doing general doodles.
- TCPMP ( FREE / GPL ) - Absolutely outstanding media player. Not only is it GPL and free, but it’s better than most commercial players.
- Pocket Tunes ( $14.95 / $34.94 ) - Haven’t actually loaded it up yet, but I’m considering it. I’d really like the streaming audio ability. I’m hoping TCPMP comes out with streaming mp3 support instead though.
Games
I don’t have nearly as many games as last time loaded up. In fact, both Snails and Warfare Inc I own, but haven’t installed yet.
- BeCrossword ( $7.00 ) - For commercial software, this is very cheap, but the quality is amazing. It even supports downloading new puzzles straight from the web! (Unfortunately I’m still waiting on them to add proxy server support, though in the meantime I can download them via the built-in web browser)
- Bike or Die ( $14.95 ) - Best. Game. Evar. I’m serious, this game rocks. Check out the website to see all the user-submitted videos (the game records them and can upload them itself!). On the downside, still waiting on proxy support, but author says he’s adding it soon. Registered this one the day I first started playing it. Awesome.
- Gem Heist ( Free / GPL ) - Decent you know what clone.
- Rick ( Free ) - Rick Dangerous for the palm. Excellent game, loved it in the pc and linux port, love it on the palm.
- ScummVM ( Free / GPL ) - Haven’t installed it or set it up yet, but common, you can’t beat being able to play all the old lucasart games on your palm!
- Doom, Quake, Hexen, Crazy emulators ( Free / GPL) - Man, this guy is doing some good stuff. Haven’t loaded any yet and am not sure how well it’ll run on a Treo compared with some of the faster palms, but it has to be mentioned. Oh yeah, the Little John emulator apparently does GB, SNES, NES, and Genesis. Crazy.
Net
- Verichat ( Expensive ) - Tried verichat out for a little bit and while I really liked it (and it actually worked right through the T-Mo firewall without teaking), it’s just way to expensive to justify purchasing it. Either $25+$20/year or $40+$35/year, but both are too expensive. I’ve used palms for a decade now, I like to think that I’ll keep good software around for a while so I really don’t want to tie myself into something this costly over time.
- Chatter Email ( $32 ) - A little more costly than some of the other programs I’ve registered, but I’m considering it seriously. Evaluating it now and I have to say that it’s got phenominal IMAP (with SSL no less) support and a pretty good interface. Considering it’s much less than its competition, and has all the features I could want and then some, I may end up buying it.
- pssh ( Free / GPL ) - Author is continually improving it, and it’s open-source so hack it if you don’t like it. I use it all the time, pssh is far and away the best OS5 ssh client out there.
Utils
- Barcode/13 ( Free ) - Brought to you by J.F.Morreeuw, the author of many other fine Treo programs (BrightCam is an especially interesting one I haven’t played with — brightens or darkens the backlight and keyboard based on a quick light measurement from the camera), barcode isn’t really super functional, but it’s pretty fun. Uses the camera to scan a barcode and turn it into a number. I’ve toyed with integrating this into pilot-db for my cd/book collection database, but it’s probably faster to just type them out.
- Filez ( Free / GPL ) - File management utility. Great for poking around inside of palm programs or managing all the files on my SD card. Essential palm utility.
- RsrcEdit ( $15 ) - Most excellent utility to literally open up and edit inside of palm programs. Change and create forms, very useful for hackers and developers. Not sure what registering it does; there’s no mention within the program of it, only the website. Doesn’t really support OS5 all that well, it occasionally soft-resets the device. Still, a great little utility to have around.
- Palm Insider ( $18 ) - Haven’t registered yet and not sure if I will. Combination of Filez, RsrcEdit, and other utilities in one, but why bother if the others are free?
- Secure It ( Free ) - Program I use to store passwords. Strong encryption, two factor authentication (must have the PDA, must know the password..
). I’ve looked at Keyring ( Free / GPL ) before, but for some reason I don’t remember now, preferred Secure It. - Tracker Dog ( Free ) - Most excellent idea and program I just came across a few days ago. Can check all the programs installed on your device and connect back to the internet (through treo network or hotsync) to the tracker dog website and let you know what applications have new versions.
System
- Butler ( $11.95 ) - Bunch of useful Treo utilities and hacks in one program. Mainly using it to disable the default LED and turn on LED notification for missed calls, voicemails, etc. LEDOff is supposed to that as well (and is free), but I never got it to actually turn on the LED when I missed something as it was supposed to.
- RFBackup ( Free / GPL ) - Simple program to backup all databases onto an external SD card and allows selective restores. Similar to VfsBackup ( Free / GPL ).