Carlette DeLeon: Tech Time: Software

The mobile app explosion has birthed a whole new glut of software for our favourite mobile device, popularly (yet inaccurately) referred to as phones. Though Blackberry, iPhone, Windows Mobile and promising upstart Android claim the heap as the most prolific mobile phone platforms, there are several other good platforms, which we can’t explore due to space and time limitations.

For Crackberry addicts an exploration into apps starts with Blackberry Appworld, for iPhone fanboys, the search for apps starts with iTunes.

That said, all mobile phone users may want to consider adding the Opera browser to their device. Apps for Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, document viewers, music streaming apps such as Pandora, Slacker Radio and Last.fm are popular across all platforms and really, can be considered a requirement for the truly mobile savvy. Other cool, multi-platform apps include World Mate Live, Dictionay.com, UberTwitter and Tweetdeck.

Android devices have an ever increasing pool of apps to choose from, including Voice Recorder, Twidroi, Shazam and Sound Hound, all of which top the cool meter.

iPhone is becoming a serious handheld game console, rivaling the dominance of the Nintendo DS series and PSP incarnations thanks to the introduction of hot titles like Guitar Hero, Angry Birds, Call of Duty, ESPN 2010 FIFA, Tetris and Sims 3.

Windows Mobile stands out by being one of the few platforms that support Skype, with new phones on the market making use of Windows Mobile, we can expect to have more apps from which to choose.

Windows 7 Tip: Press and hold the Windows key and the space bar to make every active window transparent and reveal your desktop. Release the Windows key to return to the previous view.