Reviews

 

Sky and Telescope

Targeted at casual stargazers, Pocket Stars is an easy way to carry a star atlas in your pocket — especially if you never go anywhere without your personal digital assistant (PDA) — and offers much more than the star-name database. While there is a “home base” edition for desktop PCs, the version for Pocket PC devices makes the best of the hardware restrictions of pint-size computers, providing easy-to-read graphics, day or night.

PocketLand.net

Pocket Stars should please users of many sorts, whether they be simple star gazers, astronomy students, or ship captains. The interface is intuitive and easy to use, and the program is thoroughly well designed. It comes as little surprise that the Pocket Stars has sold over 10,000 copies; the quality of the program is apparent from the first moment of use. Pocket PC Louisville An ex-Microsoft developer wrote the program, originally for his own use. It has matured into a commercial product with an enthusiastic following of customers. Users range from sailors to teachers to photographers. What makes this package stand out from the other astronomy programs is a very well thought out user interface, and a very rich set of features... Pocket Stars stands out, however, in how the features are implemented inside a very intuitive user interface. Tap & hold, drag, and hotspot features abound and act just like you think they should.

Just Another Mobile Monday

I have been interested in astronomy since I was a young child. It has always amazed me to view the "billions and billions" (as the famed astronomer Carl Sagan would famously say) of objects in the sky. I was probably never as well versed in the intricacies of astronomy as I liked to think I was, but I have always had a fascination in learning all that I could. Finding a tool that can satisfy this craving in an amateur, while also providing advanced tools for users of all skill levels poses a daunting challenge, and one that is well met by Pocket Stars. This program is a mandatory addition to the toolbox of anyone interested in viewing or learning about the celestial objects we look at every night in the sky. It provides numerous tools which illustrate that astronomy is much more than playing connect the dots with the stars.

Unsolicited Customer Testimonials

You have a great program! I am a university astronomy instructor and Pocket Stars is EXACTLY what I was hoping to find for the Pocket PC. The other programs I have run across have more bells and whistles, but they are mostly not functional given the small screen to view events and poorly designed navigation features.

- M.J.

Fantastic Star Gazers Utility. This is a wonderful little program. The ability to easily scroll and zoom in on every object (including galaxies) and the flexibility of the preferences makes this a superb program. The simplicity of the user interface makes the product useable within a few seconds. The complexity of the design gives the user an extraordinary depth of capability and knowledge. What more can I say? It's a truly great utility. Thanks!!!

- M. Abrams, NY, NY

I must say this is a very cool and powerful piece of software and I'm very impressed with it. It's the sort of software you'd go out and buy a PDA just to run!

- Mark S, Australia

Great job on the fastanstic program. My Astronomy friends are blown away by this kind of functionality on a Pocket PC. Cheers!

- Douglas N.

What a wonderful program! One of the reasons I bought my pocket pc was because I thought I might be able to use it for celestial navigation. I have been playing with your demo program for about a week and having a ball! Thank you.

- Wade G, Waltham, MA

By the way, Pocket Stars is easily the best piece of software I have for my Ipaq. I’m a submarine navigator and I use Pocket Stars many times day for ephemeral calculations. Nothing comes close to it. Thank you for creating such a singularly useful piece of software.

- Paul O, UK.

I just downloaded Pocket Stars as a trial. Even with the limited experience with it I can see that it's an amazing program. Congratulations!

- Gary S

I've bought Pocket Stars.... it's the best so far for the handhelds.....

- Joey

I've downloaded Pocket Stars from your website yesterday and really like it. It is very user friendly. We operate a sailing school in both Maine and the Caribbean. One of the courses we offer is celestial navigation. We will be using your software as another tool in our Celestial Navigation course.

- L.W., Portland, ME

Anyway, as a navigator in the US Navy P3 aircraft for many years, as well as an interested astronomer, I find your software terrific.

- Bob W, Chula Vista, CA

I am a navigating officer in the Canadian Navy. I recently purchased a copy of Pocket Stars which I use on my Jornada 540 - and the software has proven to be an excellent tool! ... I look forward to throwing my celesti---- into the trash bin!

- Tim M, Canada

Pocket Stars is one of those apps that when you first use it you know that you have been waiting for it most of your life.

- Beverly H, Austin, TX

Pocket Stars was one of the few Pocket PC programs that really interested the Aymara Indians.

- Scott Hibbs, travelogue in PocketPC Magazine