Pocket PC Magazine Best Software Awards 2005

Pocket PC Magazine has announced the nominees for its Best Software Awards 2005 for three software sections: Pocket PC, Smartphone, and Developer. Each section has multiple categories. I took a peek at the developer category and promptly lost interest. No disrespect to developers for without them, there’d be no great software for nominating. I won’t go into a babble about why I never too an interest in serious programming though I enjoy learning new things regarding PHP and more recently, Coldfusion. But I am getting off topic here.

As the owner of a Pocket PC and PalmOne devices, I took a look at the Pocket PC category. Many of the nominated apps are also available for PalmOne. Astraware appears a few times in Games. I notice it because I’ve been a fan of their games for years and get addicted to them. Recently, I played Insaniquarium for the first time and regretted it. Thankfully, I’m watching the spending otherwise I’d buy it and get little else done.

’80s / Generation X gamers will recognize a few classics like Galaga, Pocket Slurpy (Q-BERT), Ms. Pac-Man, Galaxian, and Sim City. I also remember two old DOS games that I enjoyed playing: Lemonade and Trucker. Lemonade has come back with lots of color and flair as Lemonade Tycoon. Ooh, tempting.

Poker is also hot this year thanks to the growing popularity of Texas Hold ‘Em, so a few nominees there in the Poker section as well as Casino Games category. Can’t imagine how they separated the two categories.

Information Managers includes lifestyle applications, so it’s more than just super-powered PIMs and add-ons as many of us assume when the term “info manager” is used. But it’s accurate because you get and organize information in the areas of dining, finance, health and fitness, security, and sports.

Lots more categories, I’ve barely hit the surface. Internet has utilities for browsing, chatting, messaging, emails, and news readers. Multimedia, Text and Reference, Travel, and Utilities all have their sub-categories. Huge list, obviously. It’s amazing how innovative these companies get. Props to all the developers and creators behind these nominations. See the complete list at Best Software Awards 2005. I’m Meryl, your mobile reporter. Back to you, Lockergnome.