I have previously outlined the features of the HTC Touch Dual in my review of the phone, but there was one major oversight, which was that it only briefly mentioned the software that you can install on the phone. Without which the smart phone becomes... a phone.

After owning the Touch Dual with Windows Mobile 6 Professional for a few months I believe that I have finally collected and decided on the perfect software for my needs. This did however take many hours of installing and uninstalling applications and the frustration that goes along with it, and so in an effort to avoid this for others I am going to share my experiences with the main contenders for various software areas such as; Internet Browsers, Messengers and Media Players.

Searching the internet for but a few seconds in search of software on either your phone or your home PC you will be bombarded with plenty of sites, all with hundreds of applications for everything you can possibly think of. This new software can then be installed in one of three ways; if you downloaded them using your phone you can install them with the actual phone which includes a Java installer, or you can use MS Activsync to install them from your PC straight onto the phone or memory card.

Internet Browsers

An important aspect of modern PDAs and smart phones is their ability to connect to the internet, but with the screens on these devices tending to be quite small resolutions (usually 320x240) the internet browsers have had to adapt to make up for this small resolution size and other restrictions.

Internet Explorer (Pocket)
The default internet browser Windows Mobile 6, has many good features such as three views; One column, Default and Desktop, which determine the layout where one column is the best for smaller screens. It does however lack some of the more useful features we have come to expect on devices with touch screens such as dragging web page with your finger.
Picsel Browser
A browser made for a Samsung smart phone which has been made available by some clever people, the browser therefore has issues with stability on certain pages. Picsel browser has a very good interface and scrolls very well by blurring the page as it scrolls smoothly and focusing once it has stopped, this works surprisingly well, though if this is an issue the browser also has the feature of switching to the single column view like Internet Explorer. (Update: The instability experienced was due to the application needing more memory as it does not compress images like IE, this can be fixed if you set it to not display images in the settings.
Opera Mini
Free and very fast browser, due to the pages being reformatted by Opera before they are sent to the browser on your phone, this does however lead to a WEP style version of each web page. Opera Mini has an awkward interface for entering new web addresses which involves confirming each entry several times, trust me this will get very annoying very quickly.
Reensoft PIEPlus
So useful that I actually paid money for this one (after a trial of course) PIEPlus is a plug-in for Internet Explorer which adds menus and features such as tabbed browsing meaning several pages can be switched between with ease, this is a feature we have come to expect thanks for Firefox and without it I found myself frustrated. Another added feature is 'touch scrolling' where you can drag a web page and flick the pages up and down. One of the major changes is that it adds buttons to the base of the screen, this includes; Back, Forward, Refresh, Home, Favourites, Full screen and a toggle for the 'touch scrolling' function. All in all the features added by this plug-in improve the browsing ability of Internet Explorer and so I had to buy the full version.

Recommended Internet Browser
Though Internet Explorer (Pocket) has a many flaws, the PIEPlus plug-in makes the browser more than usable, and where there are web pages that are more complex that IE refuses to display correctly, I simply switch to the Picsel browser any this seems to be the best workaround I have found.

Media Players

One of the truly great thing about Windows Mobile 6 is its ability to be used a media centre in your pocket, and if you have a memory card then you can enjoy hours of your favourite films.

Windows Media Player
Integrated media file player for Windows Mobile 6, it has very good controls as you would expect from its full version on the PC. Though the support for video codecs is also the same as the PC version, and for this reason you will be guaranteed to need another player installed.
mPlayer Mobile
A very basic video player which supports video formats that Windows Media Player does not, and this is about all that it does, as with its full version counterpart for PC this player has next to no controls or menus making it very basic and this is its one (very large) failure.
TCPMP
A free media player with a wide range of formats supported and more preferences than you are ever likely to need, it also has video codecs such as DiVX already installed and ready to use. When you have loaded your video file into the player simply pressing the centre of the screen once will maximise and play the video, and pressing again will pause and show the controls/menus again.
HTC Audio Manager
Audio Manager is a very simply application with no 'faffing' involved. Just select the player, choose an album/artist, hit the massive 'play' button and relax with your favourite tunes.

Recommended Media Player
For playing videos you really can't go wrong with TCPMP, with its simple use and advanced settings it should suit any mobile device and your personal preferences. For playing audio I use the default player with all HTC PDAs; the Audio Manager which is a very simply application.

Today screen plug-ins

The Today screen in Windows Mobile is essentially the desktop and in a similar way to using widgets on Windows Vista you can download applications to make the use of your device considerably easier.

Chi-Tai Dang BatteryStatus
BatteryStatus shows the status of your battery with an animated bar and also the number in text to the right of it, this means there is no more pressing the battery meter in the top left to see more than just three bars for information. This application can also be configured to display the temperature of the CPU, current mobile operator and the power drain on your battery, these are all useful to know but only for nerds such as me.
Cai Systems cLaunch
cLaunch is an application designed to give you an intuitive and customizable space on the today screen for adding links for applications you have installed, simply import your start menu and all of the applications are there to be displayed how you want them. You can change nearly everything about it from having different categories accessed by tabs to displaying and resizing icons however you want them. All of this makes it very useful if you prefer to use fingers instead of stylus when accessing something quickly from the today screen.

Recommended Today screen plug-ins
I use all of the above on my Today screen, the batter meter allows me to quickly glance at my phone and have an accurate idea of how long the battery will last, and the cLaunch application has all of my commonly used applications on the screen ready to be pressed with my finger with great ease.

Messengers

With internet on your phone you would have to be mad to spend your allowance on texts when you could simply be using a messenger client such as MSN messenger for free (provided you have a service such as T-mobiles web'n'walk)

Palringo
A free application which can be used with many different messenger services from MSN to AIM. does not have the feature of assigning a picture or comment for your self, both of which are the bread and butter of the messenger applications on PC. Palringo does have a few faults in that you will have to sign up for a Palringo account before you can use it.
Slick Messenger
Another free messenger application with support for all of the usual messenger services, it also has all of the features, and without the annoying small things that are present in Palringo. It is simple to install and even simpler to use, it just generally works well.
Windows Live messenger
A free web-based application that MSN have decided all windows mobile device owners should use, this is a terribly buggy application when used on a PC and when being used with Windows Mobile the issues become ten-fold. When you are messaging a friend you can only have the one window open hence you can only talk to one friend, and to check your friends list will require you closing the current talk window. All of this before you realise that to receive a message you will need to refresh the page manually... Bad MSN, Bad!

Recommended Messenger
Slick messenger is as perfect as a messaging solution as you are liable to find for free on Windows Mobile.

Interactive Maps

If like me you sometimes need help finding your way around new places, an interactive map on your phone is essential, these can also show you directions or aerial photos of the area you ar in or need to be.

Google Maps
A very good map which can use GPS/GPRS to determine where you are located, also can download satellite images in the same manner as on the PC, can be used for directions (text and map only) Displaying both the route on the map and also in text at the base of the window make finding your way around an unfamiliar place very simple. You can easily plan a route by selecting points on the map rather than adding the name in from a list of places.
Windows Live Search
This application is nearly identical to Google Maps and choosing between them may simply come down to personal preference on the menus or style of maps. Unfortunately to plan a route on the Windows Live Search you will have to select a separate directions mode from the start screen instead of just selecting points on the map you are viewing as in Google Maps.
Tube 2
Maps of tube stations and connections for cities all over the world can be bought and downloaded to your phone using Tube 2, this is very useful for navigating large cities such as London by their underground connections.

Recommended Interactive Map
I use Google Maps on both my PC and my PDA phone, the directions and route planner are only available on my phone version and this is where it is most useful. Not sure how I could have coped with my recent house hunting without having the application on my phone to guide me.

So there you have it
I hope that this has opened your eyes to the potential of your Windows Mobile device or if you are looking to get one the possibilities you will have when you do get one, and if you have a mobile windows device and have some software that I have not discovered please let us know by leaving a comment.