Menneisyys

(Note that the German Pocket PC Magazin has nothing to do with the American Smartphone & Pocket PC Magazine – the two Best * Awards 2006 contests have nothing to do with each other. As opposed to the Best Software Awards of the latter, Germany-based Pocket PC Magazin prefers collecting users'/readers' votes as opposed to a Board of Experts. I’ve added my remarks after the winners in each category.)

• Hardware > non-connected Pocket PC’s: HP iPAQ hx4700 (I’d vote for the same (albeit I'd also seriously consider the Fujitsu-Siemens Pocket Loox 720 and C550). WM5, D-pad, speaker problems and the lack of the 2700G aside, it’s clearly better than the Dell Axim x50v/x51v (the most popular VGA models as of now) in many respects. Please note that the new flagship model of Fujitsu-Siemens, the N560, which, IMHO, is by far the most popular non-converged Pocket PC here in Europe, belongs to the next (GPS) category; this is why it didn’t make to the list in this category)
• Hardware > non-connected Pocket PC’s with built-in GPS: Fujitsu-Siemens Pocket Loox N520 (remember that this is a European mag – in Europe, F-S devices are much more widely sold than in the States. This is why Fujitsu-Siemens' GPS-enabled devices are the most popular here. Also note that the VGA N560, the best GPS-enabled Pocket PC in my opinion, was released far later than the N520 - only some 1-2-3 months ago and, because of the very high demand, is still comparatively hard to get. Probably this is why the N520 has managed to beat the much better N560 - the voting process was, AFAIK, around April, before the N560 actually hit the market and, therefore, users haven't had any hands-on-experience with the device.)
• Hardware > Pocket PC Phone Edition (GSM!): T-Mobile MDA Pro (a.k.a. HTC Universal) (Agreed. Funny the Universal, sales-wise, is pretty much of a failure here in Europe - the sales of the Universal are much lower than that of, say, the Wizard.)
• Hardware > Windows Mobile Smartphone: T-Mobile SDA II (aka HTC Robbie – see this)
• Hardware > Communications: "Just Mobile" SD Wi-Fi card (a deserved win – it’s indeed very small, cheap and supports 802.11g! Also see this if interested.)
• Hardware > External GPS receiver: GNS 5843 (a European model – see for example this. A bit on the expensive side (269 euros - that is, almost three times more expensive than the cheapest BT GPS units) but it’s really cool – for example, it supports the free European-wide standardized real time data of TMC (Traffic Message Channel) and, of course, uses the SiRF III/LP chipset.)
• Hardware > Case: Otterbox
• Software > GPS navigation: TomTom 5 (well, I’d have gone for i-Go instead (some remarks here), but that’s of course only me :) Also, it must be taken into account that i-Go is a brand new product on the West-European market (not available during the voting), unlike TomTom.)
• Software > Utilities: Spb Pocket Plus (a great all-in-one tool indeed. Some of its modules, however, could be better; particularly its Pocket Internet Explorer plug-in pales in comparison to PIEPlus 2.1 beta 2 (review here) and MultiIE 4 (review here))
• Software > Communications: Skype (agreed)
• Software > PIM: Pocket Informant (opinions differ, of course, whether this title or Agenda Fusion is better. See for example this PPCT article for more comparative info.)
• Software > Applications > Office: Pocket Word (no comment – TextMaker anyone? ;) )
• Software > Applications > Graphics: Spb Imageer (well, another title I have mixed feelings of: I don’t think Spb Imageer can beat for example Resco Picture Viewer in speed/ stability/ lacking memory leaks; see for example this for a more in-depth explanation why I don’t consider Spb Imageer the best graphics tool for the Pocket PC)
• Applications > References: the German Wikipedia. Agreed. Note that English Wikipedias can also very easily be compiled for the Pocket PC following for example this tutorial (if you don’t go straight for the already-compiled TomeRaider version, that is.)
• Applications > Multimedia: TCPMP - The Core Pocket Media Player (a well-deserved win!)
• Gaming > Puzzle games: Sudoku Master (Sudoku Master is indeed an excellent title. I’d, however, would have voted for Bejeweled (2) or Super Elemental instead. See the Roundup of All Pocket PC Games Part I for more (comparative) info on the latter. That's, of course, my personal opinion only.)
• Gaming > Arcade games: Sea Battle 1.1.0: well, I’m not sure this (freeware) title deserves this position. Depending on what you consider an "arcade" title (for example, do you consider Breakout clones like Acky? Do you consider River Raid clones (vertical scroller shooter) titles like SkyForce (Reloaded)? Or, what about the hard-to-categorize ("Action" is maybe the best category) Enslave?), I think there are much better titles in this category.
• Gaming > Sports games: MicroQuad 1.1 (Agreed, at least as far as 'simple' Mario Kart racing games are concerned (for the entire sports category, I may have chosen for example Pocket Minigolf 2 2.0 (review here)). While the categorization of this title is, as with Sea Battle, is debatable (it should belong to some kind of ‘racing’ or ‘kart’ category under the Sports category), this title was also the No. 1. in my Mario Kart roundup. This is why, by the way, I made sure it got nominated in the ‘Racing Games’ category of the Best Software Awards 2006 as well.)

Source: The original list, of which the winners were published online by the MSMobiles folks, isn’t online (only in the paper version of the magazine). To check out the second and the third finalists in the above categories, you'll need to purchase the (again, German language) papermag.

UPDATE: there's an ongoing discussion of this list at PPCT.

__________________
MS MVP- Mobile Devices.

saminegm

Originally Posted by Menneisyys

(Note that the German Pocket PC Magazin has nothing to do with the American Smartphone & Pocket PC Magazine – the two Best * Awards 2006 contests have nothing to do with each other. The list have been entirely compiled by the readers and NOT the Pocket PC Magazin staff; this is why there are some miscategorizations in it. That is, in here, I only debate with the voters (independent mag readers) decisions and I am not questioning the knowledge of the Pocket PC Magazin staff at all. I’ve added my remarks after the winners in each category.) Hardware > non-connected Pocket PC’s: HP iPAQ hx4700 (I’d vote for the same. WM5, D-pad, speaker problems and the lack of the 2700G aside, it’s clearly better than the Dell Axim x50v/x51v in many respects. Please note that the new flagship model of Fujitsu-Siemens, the N560, which, IMHO, is by far the most widely liked and wanted non-converged Pocket PC here in Europe, belongs to the next (GPS) category; this is why it didn’t make to the list in this category) Hardware > non-connected Pocket PC’s with built-in GPS: Fujitsu-Siemens Pocket Loox N520 (remember that this is an European mag – in Europe, F-S devices are much more widely sold than in the States. Also note that the VGA N560, the best GPS-enabled Pocket PC in my opinion, was released far later than the N520. Probably this is why the N520 has managed to beat the much better N560.) Hardware > Pocket PC Phone Edition (GSM!): T-Mobile MDA Pro (a.k.a. HTC Universal) (well, it’s a great device, but the sales of the Universal are much lower than that of, say, the Wizard. That is, in this case, the sales figures don’t match the ‘best of the best’ votes) Hardware > Windows Mobile Smartphone: T-Mobile SDA II (aka HTC Robbie – see this) Hardware > Communications: "Just Mobile" SD Wi-Fi card (a deserved win – it’s indeed very small, cheap and supports 802.11g! Also see this if interested.) Hardware > External GPS receiver: GNS 5843 (a European model – see for example this. A bit on the expensive side (269 euros) but it’s really cool – for example, it supports the free European-wide standardized real time data of TMC (Traffic Message Channel) and, of course, uses the SiRF III/LP chipset.) Hardware > Case: Otterbox Software > GPS navigation: TomTom 5 (well, I’d have gone for i-Go instead (some remarks here), but that’s of course only me :) Also, it must be taken into account that i-Go is a brand new product on the West-European market, unlike TomTom.) Software > Utilities: Spb Pocket Plus (a great all-in-one tool indeed. Some of its modules, however, could be better; particularly its Pocket Internet Explorer plug-in pales in comparison to PIEPlus 2.1 beta 2 (review here) and MultiIE 4 (review here)) Software > Communications: Skype (agreed) Software > PIM: Pocket Informant (opinions differ, of course, whether this title or Agenda Fusion is better. See for example this PPCT article for more comparative info.) Software > Applications > Office: Pocket Word (no comment – TextMaker anyone? ;) ) Software > Applications > Graphics: Spb Imageer (well, another questionable result: I don’t think Spb Imageer can beat for example Resco Picture Viewer in speed/stability/lacking memory leaks; see for example this for a more in-depth explanation why I don’t consider Spb Imageer the best graphics tool for the Pocket PC) Applications > References: the German Wikipedia . Note that English Wikipedias can also very easily be compiled for the Pocket PC following for example this tutorial (if you don’t go straight for the already-compiled TomeRaider version, that is.) Applications > Multimedia: TCPMP - The Core Pocket Media Player (a well-deserved win!) Gaming > Puzzle games: Sudoku Master (Sudoku Master is indeed an excellent title. I’d, however, would have voted for Bejeweled (2) or Super Elemental instead. See the Roundup of All Pocket PC Games Part I for more (comparative) info on the latter.) Gaming > Arcade games: Sea Battle 1.1.0: well, I’m not sure this (freeware) title even belongs to the Arcade category. Strictly arcade titles (if you also count in action titles like Acky, Enslave and vertical River Raid clone shooter titles like SkyForce (Reloaded)) would have been much better and worthy nominees. Gaming > Sports games: MicroQuad 1.1 (Agreed, at least as far as simple Mario Kart racing games are concerned (for the entire sports category, I’d have chosen for example Pocket Minigolf 2 2.0 (review here)). While the categorization of this title is questionable (it should belong to some kind of ‘racing’ or ‘kart’ category), this title was also the No. 1. in my Mario Kart roundup. Incidentally, no wonder I made sure it got nominated in the ‘Racing Games’ category of the Best Software Awards 2006 as well.) Source: The original list was published by the MSMobiles folks – thanks for doing this as the list isn’t online (only in the paper version of the magazine). To see the second and the third finalists in the above categories, you'll need to purchase the (again, German language) mag.

Thanks for the Infol As I live in germany would you recomment reading the mag?

Menneisyys

I haven't read the latest issue as yet; will pop in the local newsstand to see whether they have one (I also live in Europe).

__________________
MS MVP- Mobile Devices.

Rambler358

Originally Posted by Menneisyys

[*]Hardware > non-connected Pocket PC’s: HP iPAQ hx4700 (I’d vote for the same (albeit I'd also seriously consider the Fujitsu-Siemens Pocket Loox 720 and C550). WM5, D-pad, speaker problems and the lack of the 2700G aside, it’s clearly better than the Dell Axim x50v/x51v (the most popular VGA models as of now) in many respects.

I looked at the HP before getting my X50v and now X51v, but felt the Dell suited my needs better. I guess that's why there's so many choices! :approve:

patrickj

That's a great roundup - cool to see what (at least part of) Europe is thinking - thanks ...