There are many areas in Windows Mobile in urgent need of improvement. Spb Pocket Plus 4.0 jazzes up and optimizes the system so well in lots of ways. At first glance it is not at all obvious where the tool package applies its hand. The optimizations are ubiquitous and yet very discreet.

To start with, it makes sense to activate the supplied plug-in that inserts itself directly into the Today screen. In its configuration window the plug-in can be configured completely according to one's wishes. In this way it is possible to display various indicators that show, immediately after the Pocket PC is turned on, the status of the battery, memory, storage card and main storage. In addition, it is possible to add program icons, own documents and system functions to the Today screen. These little goodies for the Today screen make working with the Pocket PC much easier for the user.

Integrated into the individual program windows, the close button is useful. This allows one to really close an application, whereas normally they are only swapped in memory. The button also has a handy context menu that can be filled with commands at will. Commands such as "close all", "volume up" and "rotate screen" are sometimes very useful. In any event, it is now possible to immediately throw all open programs out of memory in one go, so that there are no slow-downs or memory eaters any more.

A particularly well-done upgrade is found in Internet Explorer. Here there is a new icon available that allows one to create the popular tabs. In this way it is possible to load multiple web pages in separate layers and then to quickly swap from one page to another with the tabs. As soon as too many tabs are created the pages appear in a context menu, so that it is also possible to access the loaded pages here.

Thanks to Spb Pocket Plus 4.0 there is also lot happening in File Explorer. In the context menu there are new commands allowing one to compress selected files to a Zip archive, format a storage card, add files to the Today screen and, for security reasons, encrypt files.

What else can the new Spb Pocket Plus 4.0 do? The program offers a particularly finger-friendly scrolling, a new open and save function that includes every folder and it even provides a quick search in Internet Explorer. The test version can be used for a full 15 days without restrictions.

Carsten Scheibe

Spb Pocket Plus 4.0

System:	Windows Mobile 2003, 5.0 or Windows Mobile 6 (Pocket PC or Smartphone with Touchscreen)
Author:	Spb Software House
Download:	» Spb Pocket Plus
Price:	29,95 euros
Language:	English