More Tools Than You Can Poke a Stick At

[Darius Wey]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.handango.com/ampp/store/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&productId=68923&productType=2' target='_blank'>http://www.handango.com/ampp/store/...3&productType=2</a><br /><br /></div><i>"PpcToday Tools is a collection of 11 small utilities for your Today screen. You get a Task Switcher to quickly and easily switch or close programs, take screenshots, quickly power off your device or perform a soft reset. A Clock is available with both analog and digital display. Both Battery and Memory Tools are included to give you full control of available resources. For fun, a small "Joke of the day" program is included. In addition, a Screen Saver program featuring a PpcMatrix Screen saver is included. A Notepad is also available from the today screen, enabling you to quickly jot down important notes without worrying about which keyboard to use. PpcLaunchBar gives you quick access to 10 programs x 4 categories, for a total of 40 programs from your Today screen. PpcLauncher gives you quick access to all the shortcuts created in PpcLaunchBar from any program by using a tap-and-move gesture on the PpcTasks icon. PpcPowerPanel gives you power off, soft reset and hard reset."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20041217-PpcTodayTools.gif" /><br /><br />This has to me the most variable collection of tools in one software bundle that I've seen yet. Screen saver? Joke of the day? Well, I'm sure we all have the occasional moment where such tools may be of use. PpcSoft have just released a Version 4.0 update of PpcToday Tools and it is free for existing customers. The main enhancements come by way of Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition support, and a few added features to PpcMemory, PpcJokes and PpcBattery. You can buy it or try it at <a href="http://www.handango.com/ampp/store/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&productId=68923&productType=2">Handango</a>. [Affiliate]

[Menneisyys]

Tested. (Main) memory consumption (some files can prolly be moved/hacked to storage cards/ROM storage tho): 1.35M

Pros:
- offers really a LOT for the money. I especially liked the screenshot capablity and the battery meter history view (haven't tested the latter though - dunno how it compares to other battery logger tools).

Cons:
- ugly low-res icons/dialogs in SE QVGA. The screen saver is also QVGA, and, therfore, looks awful on a VGA screen.
- the memory meter is plagued by the same problem as with other Today memory meter plugins (e.g. Battery Pack Pro - see http://www.firstloox.org/forums/showthread.php?t=2356&amp;page=2&amp;pp=15 ): it constantly polls memory status . This makes if you use it on a USB host-capable machine with a connected hard disk, it won't operate at all.


The biggest problem is the individual components of the program can't be configured/disabled. I'd consider using it (contrary to the ugly low-res icons and dialogs) if I could disable the memory polling, which renders my USB HDD totally useless. So, I stick with free (!) utilities for resetting / screen saving (PHM - http://www.phm.lu/ ), battery loggers (e.g. UpTime Meter, http://www.snapfiles.com/get/pocketpc/uptime.html ) and, for easy app shutdown (Magic Button, http://www.trancreative.com/mb.aspx ).

[Darius Wey]

Thanks for the mini-review Menneisyys. I'm sure there are some people out there wondering whether this application is worth using.

[Menneisyys]

BTW, the app left the three *.scr screen saver files, totalling 212kbytes, in \Windows after deinstalling. Pay special attention to removing them!