One of the most annoying things about mobile phones is that they don't run off solar power, meaning that you're often frozen out of your device when the battery runs out.

With Windows Mobile devices you get a battery indicator on the home screen that shows you how much charge you have left. I find this gauge a little lacking somewhat because it isn't particularly precise, and you can only view it from the home screen.

Step forward SPBattMet, a tiny application designed to give you a better indication of your remaining battery power. The program can be installed by copying the .exe file into the start up folder, or downloading and installing it from the .cab file available on the developer's site.

The program requires no setup and starts running as soon as the file is copied onto your Smartphone. It basically consists of a green bar running across the top of your screen, that varies in length depending on much charge is left. The great thing about this SPBattMet is that it displays this bar regardless of whether you are on the home screen or in the Windows Mobile menu system.

There's nothing in the way of options or extra features in this program, and I would've liked to see a setting for changing the placement of the bar.

Nevertheless, SPBattMet does provide a very clear indication of how much time you have left before your battery pops its clogs.