Recommendations from the Experts

[gurachn]

Just got my Ax 51v yesterday and feeling total noob. It seems like it comes with some basic programs but I am sure there are better solutions out there.

So I am hoping that you guys could give me some recommendations on things I should get, or even just to confirm that the stock programs are my best option.
Here is what I want to do:

-Create and Edit MS Word docs (2007 variety if possible)
-Create and Edit Excel docs
-Create, Edit and give presentations (including sound and animations ) withPowerPoint
-Play Mp3s and Video (DivX, Avi, Mpeg, etc)
-View pdfs and if possible use the commenting functions in read 7+
-Basic image editing
-Browse the internet and use email (including free ones like gmail)
-Play games
-Change the desktop themes

Basically I want to not have to carry my laptop when I am on the road!

If you have any suggestions for one or more of these, I would greatly appreciate hearing about 'em!

Thanks for any help with this

G

[mostlylisten]

Adobe mobile works good for viewing pdfs

[cravaus]

-Create and Edit MS Word docs (2007 variety if possible)
-Create and Edit Excel docs

Check out the SoftMaker products--TextMaker and PlanMaker for Word and Excel. They are worth the price. You can find discounts on E-Bay and about every 90 days they have some type of discount promotion.

-Create, Edit and give presentations (including sound and animations ) withPowerPoint

The built in PowerPoint is sufficient for me. I have never had a need to edit slides on my PDA.

-Play Mp3s and Video (DivX, Avi, Mpeg, etc)
I like MortPlayer--it is free. For music it is good.

-View pdfs and if possible use the commenting functions in read 7+
Adobe is the way to go for reading encrypted ebooks as far as I am concerned. It is a poor program. There are other PDF readers that are faster and lighter. But they will not decrypt the ebooks that I have purchased. For annotations I prefer the MobiPocket format. It is very flexable. It is free.

-Basic image editing
DAVA is what I use. It is basic but it is free.

-Browse the internet and use email (including free ones like gmail)
I use NetFront 3.3 and Opera. I like both for different reasons. I think most people prefer Opera. Both are comming out with upgrades soon.

-Play games
-Change the desktop themes
I do not do games and one theme is all I use.


Basically I want to not have to carry my laptop when I am on the road!
Get a ThinkOutside Bluetooth keyboard. I think it is the best.

Regarding replacing the laptop: You can almost do that. The PDA is crypled in some ways. TextMaker is very good but on larger files it is very slow. That is frustrating. The machine will freeze on you and you will have to do resets. I use my Axim about 6 hours out of a day. I have to reset it at least once or twice a day. That means some work will be lost. For presentations, it needs to be tethered to the projector. That frustrates me. I prefer to use my laptop for that. I have used the PDA to trigger slides and that works ok (bluetooth).

[Jogga]

You'll gets lots of opinions about what application is better than the rest May I suggest that you take time to look through some of the excellent View MyPDA submissions? Click Resources (at the top of each page) and select My PDA or just click on the links below the member's details in each post.

[psionandy]

-Create and Edit MS Word docs (2007 variety if possible)
-Create and Edit Excel docs

The built in apps will create and edit word and excel files with some limitations.. You won't have all the nice formatting,. and anything that relies on VBA is gone.

For word then Textmaker is pretty much your only choice as a replacement.. even Microsoft have recommended it as a way of keeping .. For excel there are some others apart from Planmaker.. SpreadCE and Ptabs also have their fans

-Create, Edit and give presentations (including sound and animations ) withPowerPoint

As I'm sure you've noticed.. the built in app only lets you view slides.. I'd recommend Clearvue pro (v3) as it allows you to edit them as well (no embedded video) and gives higher resolution output when using the VGA out cable... Oh yes, you'll also need the VGA out cable ;) plug into a monitor or projector and you're good to go

-Play Mp3s and Video (DivX, Avi, Mpeg, etc)

TCPMP... or the commercial version of it known as coreplayer... (TCPMP is very good)

-View pdfs and if possible use the commenting functions in read 7+

Read is no problem.. the adobe reader is very good if you use the VGA hack (tweaks2k will do it for you.. or just find the mui file somewhere on aximsite).. otherwise there is the clearvue reader (not very good imho) and some other free ones

-Basic image editing

Pocket artist.. resco image explorer.. and others are about

-Browse the internet and use email (including free ones like gmail)

there are the built in apps.. but try the demo versions of Opera mobile and netfront. Tabbed browsing and they take advantage of that VGA screen, a version of netfront (minimo) exists.. but it is rather slow and clunky at the moment

-Play games

check out the games forum... I'd recommend the Arvale series, 3d pool, and Broken Sword.. but check the demos

-Change the desktop themes

There are plenty of free themes (and makers ) about.. and 3rd party apps like Wisbar Advanced2, iLauncher, Pocket Breeze, Pocket+ etc.. that will allow you to completely skin your axim (there is a performance overhead though)

Most apps have a demo.. I'd really recommend you try anything before you buy.

And my final suggestion is get a decent backup utility.. either SPB backup or Sprite Backup.. these will take a complete copy of your axim and allow you to go from hard reset.. to fully loaded in less than 5 mins if you ever need to hard reset... or if a bit of software has done something 'odd' to your axim
Basically I want to not have to carry my laptop when I am on the road!

[Menneisyys]

-Basic image editing

http://www.winmobiletech.com/PICVIEWERS

-Browse the internet and use email (including free ones like gmail)

http://www.aximsite.com/boards/showthread.php?t=150925

and

http://www.aximsite.com/boards/showthread.php?t=118470

-Play games

http://www.aximsite.com/boards/forumdisplay.php?f=12

[knightsofwar]

get one of these http://www.oqo.com/products/index.html