There are a number of benefits to joining Microsoft's free Windows Mobile Owner's Circle club, particularly in the way of free downloads. To join Windows Mobile Owner's Circle, visit the
sign-up page and create an account by providing an e-mail address and password. You can opt out of e-mail services if you're not interested in getting newsletters or promotions.
Photo Contacts 3.0
Photo Contacts, a contact and Photo Caller ID manager for your Windows Mobile smartphone, features full screen and Business Caller ID. It fully integrates with your device's contact database and uses "intelligent" search to find contacts quickly. Windows Mobile Owner's Circle members can get a free three-month trial of the software.
Free Multimedia News
MSNBC.com's "Multimedia on Mobile" is an application (free to Windows Mobile Owner's Circle members) that offers news and entertainment in the form of videos, photos, and text for Windows Mobile devices. Users can watch NBC News videos from "The Today Show" and the "Nightly News with Brian Williams." The slideshow feature allows you view photos from MSNBC.com, including "The Week in Pictures" and "The Week in Celebrity Sightings." (Currently, the software only works on Windows Mobile 5 and earlier.)
Customize Your Device with Themes
Microsoft offers a decent selection of downloadable themes—free to Windows Mobile Owner's Circle members—that enable Windows Mobile users to personalize their Pocket PCs and smartphones by applying background images to their Today page. Categories include Tropical (sharks, angelfish, beaches, etc.), Abstract (geometric designs, abstract images), Mountains/Snow (mountain peaks, glaciers), and Space (planets, the moon). Some of them, such as "Distant Neptune," in the Space category, include color schemes that make the text onscreen more difficult to read than others.
