These aren’t power toys, or even hard to setup. They are just freewares that I have found essential to the Shadow’s everyday use. They fill several needs nicely while at the same time enhancing the power of the Shadow. They enable me to communicate via chats, photo and voice messaging, find my way, take screenshots of the device screen, find the time easier, use the Shadow as removable storage, manipulate zip files, edit the registry and even use FTP sites. Read on for a short description of these fine applications.
The native instant messaging client on the Shadow is OK however Palringo steps it up a few notches by allowing for nearly all the instant messaging services under one login. You have the ability to be in multiple chats across different services; you can send photos and even voice messages. Results vary from service to service on how these show up. IT can be set to automatically startup when you power on your Shadow so you can stay connected with family and friends. There is a desktop version as well. I find myself using this on a daily basis and it has become an essential addition to the Shadow. You can get the most recent version at Palringo.com
We’ve talked about Google Maps before, but it needs mentioning again. Between the included Live Search w/ Voice and Google Maps it is hard to decide which is better however Google Maps is used everyday never the less. Since it doesn’t come preloaded I have included it here as an essential freeware. The directions are the same top notch directions available through the desktop browser Google Maps and the My Location feature is awesome for those without GPS. You can get Google Maps from m.google.com or read more about it in our article about the simulated GPS ‘My Location’.
It doesn’t do much except make a 12 or 24 hour digital clock visible at the top of your screen. Many times I will be using some application and need the time and have to switch the Today Screen to view it. With Clock On Top I simply look at the top of the screen. It isn’t memory or processor intensive and makes a worthwhile addition to any Smartphone. Go here to read more about free Clock On Top.
It is free and functional. If you have some large file transfer and your USB cable then you can turn your Windows Mobile device into Removable Storage. This is handy when getting files from friends PCs without having to install Activesync or
The native File Explorer for Windows Mobile is limited in scope and functionality. That is where Total Commander comes in. You can select multiple files for moving, copying, deleting or even pack them into a Zip file. Total Commander also comes in handy for various registry hacks that you might come across in our forums. For those of you that find a need to access FTP sites on occasion, Total Commander also has a simple FTP client built in. Free is good and Free Total Commander is even better. Go here to find the most recent version of Total Commander for Smartphone.
Whether you are writing a review or describing a problem you are having in the forums, it is always helpful to have a visual representation of what you are writing about. Smart SS is simple enough and allows the user to take screen shots of their device. Screen shots are saved as bmp’s and automatically numbered ss000.bmp and upward. You can get it from Lou Terrailloune’s Blog or a version with more options as well.
There they are the six essential freeware I load onto my Shadow and recommend to anyone. I hope you find some of these as useful as I do and if you know of an essential freeware that you use everyday let us know in the comments. Enjoy!
March 28th, 2008 at 12:45 am
Good stuff man. Thanks. Keep up the good work!
March 28th, 2008 at 1:15 am
Thanks for the info! Total Commander is a big help. Anyone know of a good hack so you can copy and paste? I can’t seem to figure it out.
March 28th, 2008 at 5:55 am
Thanks for the freeware tips. Personally I like SmartExplorer as a replacement for Windows Explorer. Whilst it doesn’t have the same array of features as Total Commander, Smart Explorer has a polished UI and some nice touches such as letting you send files via Bluetooth.
SmartExplorer:
http://www.binarys.com/SmartExplorer_en.asp
March 28th, 2008 at 6:03 am
great post thanks! I have most of these but some I want to try out. Too bad WM5 Storage doesn’t work as well as using the SD card reader, hopefully they make a program that would make transferring speeds the same without having to take out my damn card everytime i have to load larger file sizes. Hopefully there can be more apps added onto this list because the shadow does so much.
March 28th, 2008 at 6:07 am
also for palringo does the IM services run like the one on the phone? meaning if i use AIM it won’t use up my text msgs whenever i IM someone?
March 28th, 2008 at 11:47 am
Another nice freeware is “Vito Copy & Paste” if you want to be able to copy and paste text on your smartphone
March 30th, 2008 at 10:09 am
Chris, it Palringo shouldn’t do that. You can give it a try to gind out. Load it up, enter your AIM settings and send some messages, then log into T-Mobile My Account and view the most recent accountdetails to see.
Then to be sure you are looking at the right page send yourself a text message and see if that shows up.
April 2nd, 2008 at 11:10 pm
THanks Freddy, I don’t know how I forgot about that one.
April 8th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Hey mike thanls to you im getting a shadow i think t-mobile (if they don’t already).
Thanks again!
April 8th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Sorry what i meant to say was that tmobile should pay you if they dont already.
April 14th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
[...] to show what you are talking about. This is where screenshots come in. We mentioned it in our 6 Essential Freewares post, SmartSS is a screenshot capture utility. You can download it from LouTerrailloune.com. After [...]
June 17th, 2008 at 4:12 am
[...] Unlock – enables certain programs to fully operate (i.e. Google Maps ‘My Location’ [...]