PDA Power: Add-Ons for Your New Palmtop

Utilities Proliferate on PDAs

Pocket PCs handle Word documents out of the box, but you can add this capability to Palm devices. The latest version of DataViz's Documents to Go ($39.95) lets you read and edit Word and Excel files on your Palm OS-based device. While you can't create new documents on the PDA, here's a work-around: Create blank ones on the PC, and access and edit them on the handheld after you synchronize.

PalmGear.com president Kenny West says a new application called WordSmith "offers full-blown Word for the Palm with formatting and fonts." Smith also recommends QuickOffice 5.0, a $39.95 Documents to Go competitor that includes QuickSheet, QuickChart, and QuickWord.

For Palm-based printing, check out PrintBoy, also on PalmGear.com. This $14.99 utility lets you print from your Palm on certain printers, including Epson and Ricoh models and Hewlett-Packard DeskJets.

Utilities A-Plenty

According to PalmGear.com, some of the more popular free downloads for the Palm platform include the BigClock alarm-clock utility, Launcher III application launcher and organizer, DiddleBug sticky-note tool, HandyShopper shopping-list aid, and FireViewer image and video viewer. Another useful tool, HackMaster, creates a platform for a range of other utilities that change the Palm interface or add new capabilities--larger fonts, for example.

If you're willing to pay a little for added functionality, CIC's QuickNotes and BugMe ($20 each) both let you scribble notes with a stylus right onto the screen of your Palm. Of course, the Palm M100's built-in notepad tool already does this.

PalmGear.com's West says he can't live without the $24.95 DateBk4, an advanced replacement for the Palm datebook, to-do, and memo applications.

Pocket PC utilities are scarcer than Palm programs, but there are a few good ones. Ruxon's MSN Messenger client lets you send and receive instant messages whenever your handheld is online. Pocket Informant is a PIM tool. Another utility, Jimmy Software's $9.99 JS Landscape, lets Cassiopeia owners run applications in landscape view.

Many Pocket PC applications focus on multimedia and games, says Ed Suwanjinder, product manager in Microsoft's Mobile Devices division. He recommends Pharos' image editor and viewer. Stargazers should check out The Sky, a Pocket PC application that provides details about the constellations and where in the sky you can find them.

Palm-Size Gaming

A host of free and low-priced games for Palms and Pocket PCs make for great time-killers when you're in a doctor's waiting room or at a boring conference. For Palms, games like PacMan, Pocket Chess, and Froggy recall classic board and arcade games. Other favorites include Zap!2000, a throwback to early '80s-style arcade fun, and Dope Wars, a New York City theme game involving the purchase and sale (hopefully for profit) of virtual controlled substances.

A new version of Zap!2000 called Zap!2016 takes advantage of the 65,000 colors on the new Visor Prism, Smith says. "It blows away the experience of playing it on the Palm IIIC," which has a 256-color display.

Fiction bills its new game, Race Fever, as the first 3D racing game specifically designed for the Palm platform. Multimedia games for Pocket PCs include CeCraft's IGolf, an interactive 3-D game with several preloaded courses. It's on sale for $16.95 at Handango.

Not all PDA games are free downloads. Some Pocket PC games come on preloaded CompactFlash cards, and a few Visor games come on Springboard modules that slide into the rear of the device much like a little GameBoy cartridge. Pocket Express bundles Tetris, Lode Runner, PocketChess, Poker, Solitaire, and others into one module for $39.95, says John Hurst, manager of developer relations at Handspring. Handspring even has a $39.95 GameFace that puts a joystick on top of the Visor faceplate and controls.

According to West, two of the most popular Springboard content modules are Franklin Electronics' King James Bible and Merriam Webster Dictionary, which has more than 300,000 definitions. You can also get e-book Springboard modules, including the Lonely Planet's $49.95 CitySync.