Personal mobile software roundup: April 10-28, 2006

Chapura announced that its PocketMirror Professional Outlook synchronization software for Windows Mobile devices, now supports Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC and Pocket PC Phone Editions. For details, see chapura.com. The software is also available at Handango, although the WM 5.0 version is not yet listed there.

Laplink announced that the basic version of secure peer-to-peer file-sharing software ShareDirect, previously priced at US $40, is now available for free. ShareDirect allows PC users to share files with other people straight from their desktops, instead of emailing them, setting up a limited network, or placing files on a third-party server. Files are designated by users and never leave the user's hard drive until the user invites someone to download them. All files are protected by 128-bit encryption, and can securely travel through existing firewall settings. To download ShareDirect, go to laplink.com. For quick information on Laplink, see the company's summary page on MobileVillage.

Oxygen Software released an update to Oxygen Phone Manager II for Smartphones, a utility that lets smartphone users manage their smartphone data from a PC, including contacts, calendar entries, and multimedia. According to the company, Oxygen Phone Manager II supports all major smartphones, including recent models. The latest version adds support for Nokia 9300i, and lets users dial a number directly from their computer. The new version also features automated control over calendar entries and deletion of the outdated ones. An individual license costs 35EUR or US $43, while family and business licenses are priced respectively at 59EUR (US $72) and 89EUR (US $108). Registered users receive free technical support and a yearly subscription to program updates. An evaluation version is available at oxygensoftware.com.

Prevalent Devices announced its Phraze-It on-screen text entry software for Windows Mobile Pocket PCs. Phraze-It offers a choice of eight on-screen keyboard layouts, including full keyboard mobile typing, one-handed or two-handed typing, or thumbing input to enhance the mobile user experience. Phraze-It is customizable and also comes with keystroke reduction options, portrait or landscape modes and multilingual support. Each full program includes the extended version of the Phraze-It Game, a game using the Phraze-It keyboard to decode the secret words and phrases while testing your score against par. Phraze-It is available at prevalentdevices.com or at Handango. A 7 day trial version with limited functionality is also available.

SplashData has added Windows Mobile 5.0 support to its SplashID and SplashPhoto applications. SplashID safely and securely stores all kinds of personal identification information, and SplashPhoto helps Windows Mobile users to manage and synchronize their photo libraries with a desktop PC. For info see splashdata.com. Handango also carries SplashID and SplashPhoto, although the WM 5.0 version is not yet listed there.

Telmatik Network Inc. has launched an audio mobile email service called Bluffmail. The service, powered by voice recognition technology, allows subscribers to send audio email messages via any type of phone (cell phone, landline, Blackberry, etc). Bluffmail users can reply, store and file audio messages like any other email, and also send audio messages to up to five recipients at once. Subscribers can send up to 15 free Bluffmails per month for as long as they use the service. The company did not provide service pricing. For details, see bluffmail.com.

TransMedia launched Glide Mobile's Glide Effortless, which allows Mac and PC users to enable rights based management, preview, upload, download and sharing of unlimited files (video, audio, images, documents, contacts etc.) from virtually any mobile handset or PC regardless of Operating System or file format. Users can send up to 40 GBs of files from a mobile handset to anyone in a 5k email, according to TransMedia. Rights can be assigned to files and contacts and managed equally well from a PC or mobile handset. Glide Effortless is available now for handsets running Windows Mobile 5.0. On May 17, Glide Mobile will be available for the Motorola Razr and Nokia 60 series handsets, and on May 25 for Sony Ericsson handsets. For more info, see glidedigital.com.

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