Add shortcuts for system indicators, most-used applications, and Web sites.
(Credit: CNET Networks)There are two ways to get to your most-wanted applications on a Windows Mobile phone. If you're lucky, your program of choice is among the icons of six recently-opened applications strung along the top bar of the Windows Mobile interface. Otherwise, you'll be picking or clicking through the randomly-arranged icons in the application explorer, the platform's inert portal to your collection of programs.
Until the Windows Mobile interface gives people more options for starting programs fast, there's Elecont Launcher, a much more direct solution for quick-launching applications. This small, simple, and handy install takes out some of that manual labor by adhering your preferred applications and files to the home screen. In addition, you can create as many Web short cuts as you'd like, which also saves you time scrounging through Pocket IE's bookmarks.
Elecont Launcher makes the second icon row a permanent fixture. The visuals vary by phone model.
(Credit: CNET Networks)A few tweaks and tune-ups, however, would tighten the launcher's presentation and utility. The tool tips naming each icon were a tad out-of-sync with my scrolling and often didn't register until after I had clicked the short cut. Web short cuts were all associated with the Pocket IE icon, which could get confusing. The product would offer better service if it allowed users to override icon assignments. Also worthy of loosening-up is the three-day trial period for this $6.95 application. We'd assign a week for try-outs, like many other mobile publishers, if we had our druthers. Elecont Launch isn't the prettiest app launcher out there, but its easy customizing mostly won us over.
Initiate's functionality is packed into the strip of buttons.
(Credit: Hobbyist Software)Having something come to you is always better than having to go to it. Like Launchy for Windows and Quicksilver for Mac, Duh Button Launcher Plus and Initiate save you time by getting your apps open fast. OK, it's not like the Palm OS app launcher is an irrevocable time suck, but these apps just make the process smoother.
Duh Button Launcher PlusLet's start with Duh Button Launcher Plus, because it's the free one. With just a little bit of work, you can map a list of your favorite apps to pop up with the press of one of four hard keys. According to the publisher, the Date book, Contacts, Tasks, and Notepad buttons are the only ones that are meant to be affected, though I found that the mapping varies by handset model. I had to disable the first and fourth hard key-mapping on the Treo 650, which corresponded to the Phone and Power buttons.
Regardless, mapping the apps from my phone memory and SD card (and desk accessories, if you've got 'em) to two hard keys worked well, and I liked that holding the key down scrolls through the list of apps--quickly!
Duh Button Launcher Plus lets you map favorite apps to hard keys.
(Credit: Supertruckersites.com)Though a quite decent launching shortcut, Duh Button Launcher Plus isn't a good choice if you want to keep original hard key functionality, and it's nothing less than puny in comparison with Initiate, the Swiss Army knife of app launchers. (Just remember, not everyone needs a Swiss Army knife.)
Initiate ProInitiate Pro reprograms the Home key with a pretty interface and a heap of functions. There's a short learning curve to find your way among the various buttons and views, but when you do, you'll be able to quickly launch apps, MP3s, memos, and bookmarks, and start e-mails and texts with a combination of typing, tapping, and even voice commands. For instance, one view sets you up to type the first few letters or even just consonants of an app to launch it. Another shows you just your music files or photos, and yet another shows all your device data, including what's on the SD card.
I like the ease of dragging and dropping apps from any view into the favorites category to further streamline launching. You can also drag items to and from the SD card, and to a button that lets you e-mail, beam it, or send it via Bluetooth. Initiate's extensive preferences include customizing trigger keys and hard keys, and downloading backgrounds and skins.
If there's a catch, it's that convenience isn't always free. The pro version costs $24.95 while the much more stripped-down Initiate Standard sets you back only $9.95.
Get: Duh Button Launcher Plus
Try: Initiate
What's faster than opening a new browser tab and typing in the URL? Opening a Web page with Launchy, of course.
Last week we showed you how to open all your media files, documents, and programs using the quick-start application (if you missed it, we've included it below). In this quick tip video, CNET editor Tom Merritt demonstrates, as only he can, how to open Web sites, start an online search, and create search commands with this must-have freeware.
Miss last week's quick tip? After the first video, stick around for a second to learn how to index all your computer files with this video.
Those already using Launchy, a completely unobtrusive and utterly invaluable quick-app launcher, swear by it. Now they'll just swear louder.
It's often hard to improve on a good thing, but developer Josh Karlin has tried, and his efforts with this freeware gift to society have largely paid off over the last few releases. Most of the heavier-duty programming upgrades occurred in release 1.2.5, and Karlin has capped them off with a glossy finish in version 2.0.--a new look based on a new set of standards.
The new Launchy sports a boxier look with greater support for skinning and customization.
(Credit: CNET Networks)Sure, there will be some who will prefer Launchy 1.0's slim rectangular face to the widgety number Karlin and friends have reworked using the Qt toolkit, but lucky for them, there are respectable skin selections in the options menu (that UFO-looking button,) including the classic Black Glass skin. You're also free to download more from the site, or create your own.
A new platform means a new configuration, so you'll have to completely uninstall Launchy before upgrading, and you'll need to choose your skins and options anew as well.
That's not all bad. As long as you're setting up the new Launchy, now's the time to familiarize yourself with its lesser-known features, like it's ability to search directory files and folders, making it invaluable for indexing and quick-launching everything you store on your computer.
Of course, that's just the tip of the iceberg. Launchy is also equipped with Web-smart plugins that snap open Wikipedia, Google, and a new e-mail composition, along with Firefox and Internet Explorer bookmarks. If you're not partial to the default search query, tweak it.
While Launchy has worked on Vista in previous iterations, support improves with this version.
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