Raves

This is a special area of the blog where I give praise to products and services that I believe to be the BEST for Treo 700w users. For things I've found to be not so hot, see the Rants section. The views expressed here are my own opinions based on observations and personal experiences with the Treo 700w and the products mentioned here. June 10, 2006 Isotope244 Games Game software is hard to review because what's fun for one person may not be fun for another. So using trials are the order of the day if you really want to be sure before you buy a game for yourself. However, when it comes to production standards, that's another story. I've developed a couple of games myself (see below) and I've been a multimedia developer since 1995 so I guess I know a thing or two about quality in this area. Isotope244 is a company that develops lots of multimedia projects including a few Pocket PC games. I've played all their games and I find them to be extremely well designed. The graphics are exceptionally rich in all their games but especially in the Atomic Battle Dragons game. My favorite game is Atomic Cannon which I've played for around a year now. The play is simple, the animations are cool and it's a fun way to pass a little time. If you like Breakout style action Ackys Breakout is sure to please you. All the games have great game music and sound effects to add to the realism and fun of game play. And they're all 240x240, Treo 700w compatible too boot. The only thing that is a little disappointing with Isotope244 is that they haven't done any 3D style games yet that could take advantage of the special WM5 3D gamimg features. However, it wouldn't surprise me if they come out with one later this year though I really can't say that with any certainty. What leads me to believe this is that Isotope244 has a record of producing top quality games that people enjoy playing and 3D is certainly in demand with gamers. All in all, I highly recommend you visit them and look at what they have to offer. If you're at all interested in the game genres they offer, I doubt you'll be disappointed. June 3, 2006 Game Editor Have you ever wished you could make your own games for the Treo 700w? Well, now you can make great games for your square screen devices using Game Editor 1.3.4 by Makslane Araujo. I love finding gems like this one. (continued...) It's a complete development tool that not only creates PDA and Smartphone games but also desktop Windows and Linux games as well. It supports lots of screen sizes including the 240x240 size we need for Treo 700w games. All you need to create a game is some graphics, sounds, a few commands and a little patience. Designed for beginners and pros alike, it has lots of demos, tutorials and an online community that makes getting started easy. If you hit a roadblock,and can't find the answer on the forum, you can even contact Makslane the creator himself. He will usually get back to you with a response pretty quickly. Try doing that with Visual Studio 2005. I've been using it myself to create some simple games for around a year now. Tire Tossin is a game I whipped up in about a 10 days. Try out the demo to see what I was able to accomplish using Game Editor plus a few graphics and sounds. There are a few things about the interface that take a little getting used to for experienced programmers like myself, but after awhile you adjust and it's actually very efficient. If I have one crticism, it's that some commands such as sprite rotation could be easier. Text handling could be better too. However, the software is in constant development and future updates will most likely address that sort of thing. If you want to make a serious game or just want to dabble in it for some laughs, Game Editor will keep give you everything you need to get started fast. And at only $14.95 U.S. for a basic license, it's a bargain to boot. In 30 years, I've NEVER seen a multi-platform, rapid application development tool that even comes close to offering the kind of value that Game Editor offers at any price. It's a unique and exceptional product. Visit the site at http://game-editor.com for more details, view the forum and to download the 30 day trial version. June 1, 2006 SOTI Pocket Controller Professional If you're looking for a useful desktop companion for your Treo 700w, look no further than SOTI Pocket Contoller Professional 5. This utility allows you to view your PDA/Smartphone screen and control it from your desktop PC via your ActiveSync connection. I've been using versions of this great software for a few years since version 3.0 with several pocket pc devices that I've owned over the years and more lately with the Treo 700w. In my opinion, the best thing about Pocket Controller is that you can do remote data entry from your desktop PC. This means that you can edit data in ALL of your Treo 700w apps using a larger screen (via zoom) and larger keyboard. A real time saver in many situations like when you need to update lots of records. Other uses include: Presentation - An ideal tool for training/presenting mobile software or mobile devices by projecting your desktop/notebook computer screen File Synchronization - Synchronize files and folders between your desktop computer and mobile device There are many other uses possible only limited by your imagination. The one feature that is lacking and that I would really like to see added to this great product is a remote registry editor. This would allow technical users like myself to make changes to the PDA system from the desktop. SOTI, if you're reading this, please take note. There are lots of other features I could mention that are beyond the scope of this mini-review so the best thing if you're interested, would be to download the Pocket Controller Trial and see for yourself what a useful tool this can be. I use this tool often and highly recommend it if you're in the market for an easy remote data entry, presentation and control utility. At under $35 dollars (at the time of writing) it's worth having in your toolkit. Do you disagree? Have something worthy to add? Tell me about it by emailing me at the address on the Contact page. I'll publish your comments if they're relevant and worthy.