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Tag: Windows Mobile

My Xperia, running Windows Mobile 6.1, came preloaded with Internet Explorer and Opera, and I think that both of those browsers are sub-par on this phone.

Internet Explorer, besides just being a Microsoft product, doesn’t always render pages nicely, and flash is often a problem.

Opera, which was my favourite browser on my previous phone, the Sony Ericsson P990i, does not work half as well on the Xperia as it did on my old phone, and in fact tend to favour Internet Explorer over it.

Both of these browsers have been thrown aside now, however, as I now have a new favourite browser. Skyfire is by far the best phone for mobiles.

For one thing, this blog never rendered correctly on either IE or Opera on my mobile, without using a mobile-friendly theme. Skyfire, on the other hand, shows the blog EXACTLY as it would appear on a normal pc browser, and it is readable too.

Skyfire also offers good flash support, and audio and video streaming to boot, and that is not even mentioning the very apparent speed of rendering.

Skyfire simply outshines the competition on all fronts.

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My favourite aspect of the Sony Ericsson Xperia is that with Windows Mobile, there are a wealth of games available to waste countless joyful hours.

By far the best in my opinion is ScummVM. This virtual machine allows you to run a lot of the old PC games I loved when I was younger. As soon as I got this app on my phone, I whipped out all my old games. I currently got Monkey Island 1 and 2, Kings Quest 1, 2, 3, Leisure Suit Larry 1, Loom, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Space Quest 1 and 2 and Touche running perfectly on my phone. ScummVM also supports a long list of other games too. This is truly an awesome piece of software.

Pocket Humanity is a civilization type game that is thoroughly enjoyable. You build cities and units to go off to war, just like in the original civilization. It is a little buggy though, but hopefully as the game develops those will get better.

Chess by Valentin Iliescu is one of the best Chess programs I have found for Windows Mobile.

Pocket Diablo is a Windows Mobile port of the classic game Diablo, and while it is not quite complete yet, I am taken aback that I can play this great game on my phone. It is still in beta so look for more updates in the future.

When I was younger, I used to often play Scrabble with my Gran, so when I found a version for Windows Mobile called Scrobble, I just had to have it. It is a high quality little game, and the AI is pretty decent. Great game if you love word games.

Kevtris 2 is the best Tetris clone I have found so far for Windows Mobile, and if you don’t know what Tetris is, then where have you been all your life.

Pocket Lemmings is another throwback to yesteryear. The original lemmings game in the palm of your hand. This game transforms nicely to a touch screen interface, so was so much fun to play again, tring to save all those lemmings.

Smart Mahjongg is a very decent Mahjongg game which looks pretty good too. It has several layouts to keep things interesting. It has got one or two little quirks that bother me, but I still enjoy playing this one.

There are thousands more games out there to try. If there are any more you like, then please leave a comment telling me which other games you like.

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I have had my Sony Ericsson Xperia for almost a week now, and have been playing a lot with adding new software to it. Here is a list of freeware applications that I think are a must-have….at least for me.

The Core Player Media Player is in my view one of the best media players for Windows Mobile out there. The video is a little choppy but it will play just about any video file out there. If you want a smoother player, there is also a commercial offshoot of this available. For the Xperia, the normal download for this application fails. You can find a recompiled version here that works for the Xperia.

O3gps is a very nifty GPS utility that gives your coordinates, height, speed and a host of other data. It makes having the GPS feature of the phone so much more useful.

Google Maps came preloaded on the phone and it is a very cool application to have. It interfaces with the GPS as well, and shows street maps as well as satellite views.

HomeScreen PlusPlus shows you a lot of system information on your Today screen. It can be configured to show call times, data usage, battery life, power consumption, and a whole lot more.

WeatherBug interfaces with your Today page, and shows you up-to-date weather for your location. I liked this app because it has Cape Town as a city instead of just US or European centres. The interface is very good looking too.

As I play with my phone more, I am sure to find more useful software, so keep an eye out for future posts.

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