In the first of our looks at the pre-loaded software that comes with the Nationite MIDNite Xpress MID we’ll focus on the office tools available.
Using the Internet on an MID is a vital task but if there’s any other software that can assist while you’re out the office it more than doubles the devices usefulness and essentiality.
Luckily the MIDNite Xpress comes with ‘Textmaker’ and ‘Planmaker’, a word processing app and a spreadsheet app respectively.
Running on the tried, tested and ultra-reliable Windows CE they should be smooth as silk. Let’s take a look…

Textmaker

Essential Microsoft Word without the huge fees, Textmaker is a crisp and clear parallel that outshines OpenOffice’s version of Word in terms of looks and useability.

It starts off with a ‘Tip of the Day’ which can be turned off but the first one that popped up was actually quite helpful, explaining how to increase viewing space for documents.

When that’s out the way you’re presented with a nice white, clean page to begin writing.

All text must be inputted via the onscreen keyboard and stylus combo but the large viewing area of the document window and the sensibly sized keyboard add up to an easy typing experience and before you know it you’re tearing through documents (remember those first few SMS’ you sent? You soon got used to it).

Compatibility

There biggest bane with free word processing software has always been compatibility.

Considering this, the Textmaker software’s a dream come true as it supports the following:

.tmd documents
.tmv templates
.doc, .dot Microsoft Word documents
.odt OpenDocument text
.swx OpenOffice text
.rtf Rich Text Format
.psw Pocket Word-Pocket PC documents
.pwd Pocket Word-Handheld PC documents
.htm, .html HTML 4.0 text
.txt Text files (+DOS/UNIX/Unicode)

The only common file type it doesn’t open is the Microsoft Word 2007 .docx file type but that’s such an esoteric and exclusive format that no one really uses it anyway as not even older versions of Word can open it.

Useability

The DTP standard toolbars that have been commonplace for 20 years are all here and all straightforward.

Along the top there’s the regular drop down menus (File/Edit/View/Format/Insert/Object/Table/Extras/Window/Help).

Below them there are the useful icon-based options including new, open, save etc.

The third line of options is the drop-down text formatting optiong, font selection, font size, font cover, formatting and more.

All-in-all, all bases are covered and it’s an excellent portable word processing program that looks and performs far above its ‘free’ status and feels no lag when used alongside Internet browsing.

PlanMaker

This time it’s the MID take on the spreadsheet/database/most other things tool we commonly refer to as Excel.

Again this starts off with a Tip of the Day and again it’s pretty helpful.

The first striking thing about this is how clear and spacious it appears, despite being on a small device.

The design has clearly been well thought out and the fresh looking blank document is a welcoming start to work.

Compatibility

Again, there’s a whole host of compatible files. Namely:

.pmd PlanMaker files
.pmv PlanMaker templates
.xls Microsoft Excel files
.xlt Microsoft Excel templates
.pmw Planmaker 97, 1.0, 2.0 files
.sdc StarCalc documents
.skl SYLK files
.rtf Rich Text Format
.dbf dBase (+DOS/Windows/Unicode) files
.DIF files
.txt Text files (+DOS/UNIX/Unicode)

Useability

This is a pretty perfect example of an Excel-style program. There’s nothing ommited, you can knock up formulas, graphs, spreadsheets and anything else Excel can do, all simply and easily and all under an unconfusing and straightforward interface.

There are even some nicely inventive flourishes. As space is obviously an important issue, when creating graphs you select the data to be used and then set the size of the graph on the page by dragging a box to the desired size. Once it’s chosen the graph rendering is instant, even when running PageMaker and IE - another testament to some excellent processing power. Also, the choice of graphs is huge and another excellent turn from the software developers.

Verdict

This pair of programs elevates the MIDNite Xpress from pocket browser to essentially mini-PC, all without the trappings of processor lag as they can all run alongside eachother with no slow-down at all.
The fact that they are all compatible with the software you’ll have on your home or work computer is another huge plus point.