From the first day I laid my hands on a Pocket PC, I have been impressed by the fact that I could do just about anything I wanted to with it. There are some notable exceptions, of course, and one of the biggest is online money management. Microsoft offered a Windows Mobile component with the 2006 edition of Microsoft Money, but discontinued it with later versions. Some third-party programs attempted to fill the void, but none of them have been satisfactory… until now.

Familiar user interface

Recently, SplashData released the Windows Mobile version of SplashMoney, a popular money management program originally developed for the Palm OS platform. SplashMoney lets you manage your money wherever you are. You can connect to your bank online from your desktop PC or an Internet-connected touch or non-touch screen device and download transactions directly into SplashMoney.

Users already familiar with desktop PC personal finance applications like Microsoft Money or Intuit's Quicken will feel right at home with SplashMoney's straightforward user interface. Due to the constraints of screen dimension and resolution, only the most pertinent data and selectable options are displayed. This adds to the intuitive nature of the program, since its designers did a commendable job of focusing user attention on the most important aspects of money management. Additionally, the program provides several sample accounts to help you get started with entering current balances and recent transactions, further reinforcing the hierarchy and organizational style employed by the program.

SplashMoney stores all data in a single data file that can be password protected using the popular Blowfish cryptographic algorithm, which is incorporated into the program. Once you've activated this security feature, you are prompted to enter a user-defined password prior to viewing the summary screen. You don't have to set a password to use the program, but you probably should!

I liked the fact that the program opens to a summary screen showing balances of all active accounts, highlighted with custom icons to quickly identify account types. Tap on or select one of the listed accounts to display information about that account.

In addition to tracking account information, ledger entries, and budget targets, SplashMoney also supplies rudimentary pie charts to quickly assess cash flow . However, the pie chart becomes challenging to analyze as categories expand and slices become more numerous. I personally prefer bar and line charts—their absence in the program was a minor letdown.

I did encounter a few minor issues with the program's user interface on my HTC Advantage, mainly concerning the UI control overlays. For example, drop-down screen title headings and drop-down list boxes would occasionally be cropped or overlaid on top of areas of the screen that hid portions of the text or underlying surfaces (see how the Accounts Summary title is partially hidden in Fig. 1). Fortunately, these UI glitches did not prevent me from accessing any of the on-screen controls in landscape mode. Note that I wasn't able to test the program on my older Windows Mobile 2003 Pocket PC. SplashMoney is strictly for devices running Windows Mobile 5 or later versions of the OS. I suspect the WM 5 requirement is due to the online components it uses to securely converse with banks and credit card companies.