How Many Applications Do You Have Installed On Your Primary Device?

[Ed Hansberry]

While at the MVP summit this week we got into a discussion on how many applications everyone had installed on their primary mobile device. I know we have asked this question before but we keep adding new members so it would be nice to get an update on this. The easiest way to see might be to go into the Remove Programs section in Settings and count the number of entries, but don't forget some of the really basic applications you may have installed simply by copying over a .exe file.

[Patrick Y.]

Believe it or not, I've over 200 applications installed.(mostly freeware) :lol:

[bmhome1]

Over 75 last time I counted including apps installed to SD card.

[Jonathon Watkins]

I'm on something like 57 myself and my guess would be that most folks around here will have over 21 apps as well.

[stevelam]

Near on 100 (I think, I may have lost count it was hard to tell).

[andyb]

Four.

I always used to have loads as well, but then decided to get rid of all but the ones I actually use regularly. And that turned out to be four.

[aNiMeMaN14]

most of the programs installed are games... spb pocket plus pretty much fulfills any needs i have

[Sven Johannsen]

Guess I'm a lightweight. Somewhere between 25 and 35. Depends on how you count some things. Is Westtek Suite one thing or 4-5. Do you include the Westek common items which shows up on the remove list, but isn't really accessible. Do you count the three things that install with Resco explorer seperately.

I load more, but I remove them if I'm not using them. I also rebuild periodically, and don't put things back on that I don't recall using, untill I miss them. I try not to duplicate functions. I don't need three music players.

[dwoloschuk]

Hm.

i must be a lightweight too with just under 21.

I expect I'll join the "over 21" club before long..does that count? :wink:

[KTamas]

Should be around 25 at these days. I used to have 50 though, but i narrowed them down.

[PetiteFlower]

I voted wrong, I guessed 6-10 but I counted and it's actually 19.

[Jonathon Watkins]

I load more, but I remove them if I'm not using them. I also rebuild periodically, and don't put things back on that I don't recall using, untill I miss them. I try not to duplicate functions. I don't need three music players.

Same here. I'm well overdue for a rebuild, but I'm worried that Dell will update the X50v firmware again the second after I reinstall the things I need. :worried: A nice problem to have - too many firmware updates. :D Still it means I have an excuse to keep my apps under control.

[Jonathon Watkins]

I voted wrong, I guessed 6-10 but I counted and it's actually 19.

Remember, count twice, THEN vote once. :wink:

I lost count when nearly done, which is why my count is 'something like 57'. :)

[Hx4700]

Ed - maybe you should have had some more categories - 50 / 100 /200...

So how do find and count these things :?:
I have 61 items in my "Remove Programs" list. I know I have a few others loaded with cab files that do not update that list.
And I have a bunch of (mostly freeware) games on a SD card I can execute directly.
So I guess over a hunderd counted that way. But maybe the SD shouldn't count.
So using file explorer I just counted the programs under Program Files in main memory, and the ones in File Store == 82!
Ron...

[that_kid]

I have around 47, maybe a few more but some programs that I have installed don't show in the add/remove screen since they were installed during initial device boot.

[crashdau]

37 currently loaded (most to IFS) but have 60 I purchased and had the fore thought to log down in my e-wallet.

[bvkeen]

Typically have 15 to 25 installed, out of about 80 owned. Just ordered an x51v, and may add more than 25 to it since memory shouldn't be (?) a concern (provided that the apps work okay with WM5).

[msprague]

I have exactly 21 installed and listed at http://www.sprg.net/pocket-pc/
There are a few other exe's on my SD card that aren't included.

[ianbjor]

Man, you guys are all crazy. 50+ apps on your PPC?

I have 9. PI, WISmail, eWallet, PhatNotes, Agile Messenger and some utilities (Resco Explorer, WisBar Advance) and a couple of games. I use most of these on a daily basis (weekly at the very least). I just don't have time to do much more...

I want to know how many of you actually use all of these apps on your device. i.e. outside of the top 10 apps you use the most, how much do you actually use #11 and lower?

[Gerard]

Just under 100. I've not had less than 21 since my first three months with a Casio E-115, back in summer of 2000.

[Clinton Fitch]

I've got 82 applications installed at the moment but only probably 15 or so are used with any regularity.

I just never remember to uninstall them after reviewing them... 8O

[Jason Lee]

I have around 90. I didn't realize i had that many.. But i am very conservative when it comes to what i put on my pocket pc. I watch every KB. I do not install anything that duplicates functionality. Alot of my apps are utilities and tools. Some i use to manage my device better, some to fix or enhance little things. Some apps i only use when traveling. Some i don't use very often but if i installed them i do need them. The thing i probably use the least would be the games.. I have about 10 or so in my sd card. they are probably the least used apps on my ppc.. :)

After a rebuild i don't install anything.. I just add aps as i need them.. or try to replace multiple apps with one that does both jobs.

[Jonathon Watkins]

Man, you guys are all crazy. 50+ apps on your PPC?

Yup. That's us. :silly:

I try to try out whatever I'm posting on and often forget to install stuff, so it accumulation.

[JoC]

I've got about 45 programs installed, not including themes or skins. Probably half are games :)

[bikeman]

Let's see:
Pocket Informant - love it!
Conduits Pocket Player - love it!
LingvoSoft Flash Cards - pretty good, for my German class.
Omega One Battery Pack - pretty good, had Journal Bar, never worked right.
Access NetFront - just installed trial, needed it for a JavaScript-based webpage I built. So far it just works (unlike PIE).

You have time to use 50+ applications? How!?

[Gerard]

I'm unclear on the politics (or emotions) behind this use of the word 'regular.' For comparison; I run a one man business restoring and making musical instruments. A few of my tools, such as a Swiss violinmaker's knife, my bench, a few small files, a low angle block plane, and a few others get used at least daily. I have hundreds of tools. Most don't get used more than a few times per year. But when I need them, there they are.

Similarly my Pocket PC programs. My current PPC, a now-ancient Dell X5 running WM2003, serves as my main computer. I use my much older (and only, ever) PC for unpacking the odd software (not so often) and ripping music and video to PPC scale. I use it lately as a media server while around the house, freeing up a lot more space on my SD card which used to house a rotation of MP3 and AVI files.

The PPC is out of date, but works, mostly. It sees constant use in business and personal email, web browsing for research and entertainment, as a word processor, for printing invoices for my clients... I use it with a CF camera to record repairs in progress, and often scale down and crop and clarify the images for emailing to clients during longer restorations. It also sees duty in composing HTML and updating my website via FTP. I've used it for a lot of other things and continue to ask a lot of my little computer.

Most of the tools installed get launched less than once per week. If I had to install these sorts of things every time I wished to use them, then uninstall when done for that session, I'd be wasting a lot of effort in maintenance, customising their setups, cleaning up after them (as many PPC apps dump lots of useless extra files and registry data into the device RAM), and just having to worry about where I put the installers... if they even have a CAB file available (some do not, and will only install via Activesync). This nonsense is not a fun use of my time, so I keep the essentials installed all the time, whether they are daily essentials or only once a month or less. It's a matter of efficiency, for me at least. Some else's opinion of the merits thereof is really not relevant. I run a tight ship; it just happens to have a lot of crew aboard. I also currently have just shy of 3,000 documents on SD. Is that 'bad' too? None of these are useless, to me.

[mcsouth]

I've got about 25 - 22 that I counted in "Remove Programs", and at least 3 or more on SD that are direct exe's.

I would echo Gerard's thoughts - I use my PPC for a lot of things. While there are 7-8 apps that I use daily, the remainder are apps that I use occasionally, such as an HTML editor, or Planmaker, which I use when doing "heavy-duty" spreadsheet work, v. light duty w/Pocket Excel.

I have "rebuilt" my PPC several times over the years like others, and have gotten my app-load down to that critical mass that I use frequently enough to justify a permanent spot in my pda.

[moaske]

I counted no less than 39 apps... Were it a phone editon (which is my second main device, but since it is a Jam is too limited in memory), it would even be at least 10 apps more :)
But there's also a fair load of synced docs in my RAM, eating away the precious space...

[Darius Wey]

Right now, I have around 40, though it varies between 40-60, depending on whether I'm testing software out for developers.

[ctmagnus]

54. 51 listed in Add/Remove Programs, plus vncviewer in \Program Files and PlanMaker/TextMaker on the storage card from several rebuilds ago.

[Leon]

I have around 90. I didn't realize i had that many.. But i am very conservative when it comes to what i put on my pocket pc. I watch every KB. LOL :lol:


But I know what you mean.

[wirelessbeachbum]

Jason Fuller's Pocket Earth
MS Global Contact Access-
Microsoft Reader and Activation
NeFa Studio nfcanvas2- graphic art tool nice free app
Sbp Pocket Plus-
Microsoft Voice Command
Resco Picture Viewer- use for viewing .tif files (faxes at work)
PHM Registry Editor-
Alexander Zavorine's NoteM- MP3 voice recorder
Jetech.org PocketNester- Nintendo emulator
KaioneSoft SprintDB- Database
Microsoft Pocket Streets
OliveTree Bible Reader-

I also have some applications on my storage card, but not installed such as Netfront, Flash or Adobe or Citrix...I keep a file on m storage card with cab files for all of my applications. So if I do have to restore them i can do so directly from that file. I've been using PPC's since the Nino and have learned that the less cluttered I keep it the more functional it is for me. (Saves me allot of money on software as well.)

[Steve Jordan]

I've got about 30 (not counting Solitaire... I NEVER count Solitaire). But my PPC has developed a tendency to crash every 3-4 months or so, and I'm leery of adding much more to it.

[MBurch]

I think a better question might be:
How many apps are there out there to put on my Pocket PC and do I have a big enough SD card to hold them all?!!
:lol:

[Phillip Dyson]

I concur with Gerard's statements. I'm always looking at the Remove Programs list to see if I can take something off to make more space. RAM is at a premium, and my SD anc ROM are nearly full.

Its important to note that many applications are more environmental (or passive). You don't actively fire up every application on my device.

Things like Vito Buttonmapper and Wisbar Advanced are running all the time. Others like Acrobat Reader are not used everyday, but when I need to read a PDF like my bus schedule I'm glad its there.