One of the areas in which Windows Mobile continues to excel, particularly when compared to that "other smartphone" is in the ability to be used as a "mini-computer", particularly with regard to word processing. The problem is, despite significant improvements to the overall operating system with the introduction of WM6, Office Mobile remains a somewhat anemic version of its desktop cousin. In their review, CNET puts it this way–

"… the editing capabilities are pretty light. In Word, you’re pretty much restricted to adding and deleting text and formatting type (such as bold, italic, underline, and highlight);

Fortunately there are third party applications that can replace Word Mobile on WM devices. Soft Maker has an excellent suite called Office for Pocket PCs which fully replaces the Office Mobile suite and is quite powerful. The biggest problem, it costs almost $70– ouch!!!

If you are looking only to replace the WM native document program, True Text from Breed Software may be just the thing.

True Text works with devices running WM 2003 and later that already have .NET Compact Framework 2.0 installed. The Breed Software site describes the program as a lightweight

"desktop-class NotePad-like text editor. It is outfitted with many features to help you view, edit and save your text files from your Pocket PC."

TrueText can be set as the default text editor for your device and it reads and write document files to/from any location you choose. I tested it out for a few days and found that it worked as described. Among the features I liked the most were the ability to insert a date or a time stamp with just a few clicks and the ability to perform a text search as well as an "auto replace" as you would in any feature-rich desktop word processing program. Thing is though, these features are found in Word Mobile, as well. In fact, feature for feature the two stack up largely the same.

There are some difference, though. Among the features I found TrueText to include that Word Mobile does not were- the ability to choose font sizes from 1-100, and the ability to instantly get a character count (both include a word count).

Word Mobile, on the other hand, includes numerous features I could not find in True Text such as, a spell check, the ability to choose paragraph alignment and indentations and saving in multiple file formats.That’s right, as far as I could find in TrueText files can only be stored in .txt. format. This is surprising/disappointing in a program that purports to be a "feature rich" replacement for Word Mobile since the latter includes the ability to save documents in .doc, .dotx, .rtf and .txt formats.

At just $9.99 it is significantly cheaper that SoftMaker’s suite. That said, however, it is $9.99 more than I am willing to pay, especially when Word Mobile is included as part of Windows Mobile. Maybe with extended use there are aspects of TrueText that make it worth the ten bucks, especially compared to… FREE. The bottom line is this– each of us uses our handhelds in ways unique to us. For some, Word Mobile isn’t a favorite. If that is case, TrueText might be worth a look before you shell out big bucks for the competition. For someone like me though, who is not looking for my handheld to be a laptop replacement, Word Mobile would be enough if I were using WM on a daily basis. If you don’t like Word Mobile TrueText might be worth a look. Otherwise my recommendation is… take a pass.
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1. Review: SoftMaker Office 2006, the All Inclusive Word Processing Suite That Is Big Enough To Handle Any Job, but Small Enough to Fit in Your Pocket.
2. Edit Word Docs on iPhone (and lots more) with Glide Mobile
3. ThinkFree Mobile Office For Netbooks
4. Windows Mobile 6 Mobile Office Suite ported to Windows Mobile 5 Smartphones
5. Review: Word Monaco. Vacation, With a Twist of Spelling…