Ask the Experts: Communications Software

Table of ContentsBy Mike Riley and Tim Hillebrand, June/July 2008

Software Review

Over 90 experts judged more than 850 nominations for the Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine Best Software Awards 2007. Our judges had plenty to say about their favorite products. In this issue we are publishing their comments about the programs nominated in the Communications software category. We will publish their comments on other software categories in future issues.

The purpose of publishing the comments is to give insights into a variety of products—not to show how the judges voted. For the sake of brevity, we've included only 1-3 comments per product and edited them for clarity and conciseness. A listing of the 2007 winners and finalists can be found on our Web site (smartphonemag.com/awards/main.asp).

Touch ScreenThe comments in this section were for the touch screen version of the application. We indicate if a non-touch screen version is available.

Bluetooth

BlueMouse

teksoftco.com

Touch screen only

BlueMouse works as advertised! I installed the app easily and was immediately able to use my Bluetooth mouse without any problems. Where has this product been all my life? (Amy Zunk) They could improve the product by adding a macro edit feature to assign custom triggers for more advanced mice with more buttons. (Mike Riley)

BlueMusic

teksoftco.com

Touch and non-touch screen

BlueMusic redirects any audio sent to the speaker through the Bluetooth transmitter on your device to a Bluetooth headset. It even gives you control over ringtone volume and will automatically resume music after you end a phone call. It works well not only with music, but with VoIP and GPS. (Steven Hughes) The setup process is complicated. The developer needs to combine the three-file setup into a single installation file. The installation also occupies a lot of memory. (Mike Riley)

Bluezard

wm-soft.com

Touch and non-touch screen

This easy-to-use Bluetooth connection manager also allows you to send files, messages, and check security settings on other devices. (Steven Hughes) The interface could be nicer. (Chris Brunskill)

Sniper

gadgetapps.net

Touch and non-touch screen

Sniper allows you to scan for Bluetooth devices in your vicinity and send them messages and files. (Steven Hughes) It did not work on my WM 6 device. (Chris Brunskill)

Call and SMS autoblocker/rejecters

Call SMS Blocker

winmobileapps.com

Touch and non-touch screen

This application is simple to use, but the interface could use some work. It was tested on and worked with a Palm Windows Mobile device, which handles SMS a bit differently. (Jon Westfall)