Conduits Releases Pocket Launcher for Smartphones

[Mike Temporale]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://software.smartphonethoughts.com/product.asp?id=10236' target='_blank'>http://software.smartphonethoughts.com/product.asp?id=10236</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Pocket Launcher 3 organizes applications into tabbed categories and seamlessly integrates with your Pocket PC or Smartphone, providing an enhanced, customizable user interface. Additionally, launch your documents and manage running tasks! Pocket Launcher integrates a collection of large, icon-based lists of applications that are installed on a device. Icons represent their respective applications, and when tapped once, the application is launched. The list of icon shortcuts and categories is initially taken from your current layout of the Programs screen, and then copied to another place so that Pocket Launcher can use the shortcut. Pocket Launcher also links a tab to the My Documents folder, providing quick access to your documents from within the program. You can navigate into sub-folders and add tabs that link to any other folder on the device."</i><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/images/Temporale-20070123-PocketLauncher3.gif" alt="User submitted image" title="User submitted image"/> <br /><br />Conduits has taken their very cool Pocket Launcher application and added support for the Smartphone! This has been one of those apps that I've always wanted to try and now that we have a Smartphone version, I can. :) <br /><br />You can download a trial version or purchase a copy for $9.95 from our <a href="http://software.smartphonethoughts.com/product.asp?id=10236">affiliate store.</a> Keep in mind that all monies raised from the affiliate store in January will be donated to charity. For a chance to win the tax receipt, and possibly something even greater, be sure to buy before the end of the month. More information about the charity drive can be found <a href="http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/index.php?action=expand,13261">here.</a>

[Tim Williamson]

Can't wait to try this out! Does it load faster than the built-in Start Menu? It seems like after I've done a soft reset, each folder in the built-in Start Menu take a few seconds to open while it caches the icons.

[mpaquette]

So has anyone tried this out yet? I'm a bit puzzled on its functionality. Does it replace the home screen or just the screen that's displayed when you hit the Start button?

[Jason Patterson]

It does not replace the Home screen, but replaces the Programs screen (what normally pops up when you press Start). You can categorize your applications into tabs (instead of one long list of items), and on Smartphones with a keyboard, type in the name of your application (something that's not supported normally) to quickly launch the application you desire.

The tabs can have special features - a tab can list all running tasks, and you can close tasks from that tab. Another tab replicates the "Recent Items" that you normally see on the Home screen. And yet another feature is to have a "transparent" tab actually show your home screen on the tab itself, so you never really have to leave Pocket Launcher

Regarding T-Will's question about icon caching: when you start Pocket Launcher, it loads icons for the first tab and then displays itself. It then loads the icons for the other tabs in the background. This allows Pocket Launcher to show up and be as speedy as possible.

[mpaquette]

Jason, thanks for the reply. Sounds interesting, I'm going to check out the trial.