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Hi-Launcher 2.0
February 3, 2004
Hi-Launcher is one of the most intelligent third-party utilities for the Palm OS that I’ve ever seen. It performs a variety of functions, such as quick application launching, with a Windows-like “Start” menu that you can pop up in several different ways. I’ll go through all of the configuration possibilities step by step, so that you can see the true power of Hi-Launcher. Installation comes first, of course, and Hi-Launcher required approximately 172K of space on your handheld device. It comes in two versions, a “hack” version and an OS5 version. Once installed, launch the application and you will find that Hi-Launcher has a numbered menu that makes it very easy for you to customize the various options. The first one is the menu trigger, or the method that you use to launch Hi-Launcher from whichever application you happen to be using on your device. It is possible to use a hard button on the front of your device, a Graffiti area “swipe” from one icon to another, or a tap on a silkscreened icon. The last one is my preference, since it allows me to simply tap on the volume icon in the status bar on my Zodiac. Even better, Hi-Launcher allows you to select whether the application pops up with a simple press or a “tap and hold” which means that you don’t have to give up any of the default functionality of your device. After all, each of those menu bar icons is there for a useful purpose— but if you never use one of them, you might choose to have it pop up with a single press for the fastest launch experience possible.
Once you select how you’ll pop up Hi-Launcher, it’s time to actually configure the menu. That’s when things start to get really fun, because there are so many possibilities. You start by tapping the green plus sign at the bottom to add something to your menu and then select exactly what you want to add. You can choose from a submenu, an application on the device or memory expansion card, a DA (desk accessory), a special item, a system toggle or status item, or a “splitter” that adds some extra space between items on the menu. Applications are self-explanatory, though it is important to note that VFS support for memory expansion cards and DAs is new with version 2.0 of Hi-Launcher. I put my two most-used applications, Agendus and Shadow Plan, right at the top of the menu. Then I added a splitter and three submenus for games, ebook applications, and Bible software. Just under that I added the menu option to turn off and lock my Zodiac, which is perfect for me since I don’t want to use the built-in Security application and be constantly annoyed with having to enter my password, but I do want to lock my device each day when I leave the office since it’s more likely to fall into the wrong hands when I’m out and about.
A little more explanation is required for the special items, system toggle, and status items. Special items include the recent application, Home, Find, the command bar, brightness, contrast, the popup keyboard, etc. Toggle items are the backlight, beam receive, auto-off, and the system sound. Status items are the battery (which you can display as a percentage or voltage), memory (total RAM size, free memory, or used memory), and date/time (time, date, or day of week). The status items are particularly handy because they show up right on the menu— instead of having to go to your handheld’s clock or info applications, you can see what you need to see immediately, without having to go anywhere else. I find myself checking the time quite often, since there’s an automatic time out function on Hi-Launcher, if I don’t select any of the applications on the menu, it goes away and I’m left in my original application.
One of my favorite functions is the “Recent Application” switch. It allows you to quickly go back and forth between two applications, or back to the one you just left. This is an option that you can either add to your standard Hi-Launcher menu or use with a separate trigger. I just love this one since my personal planning system relies so heavily on the combination of Agendus and Shadow Plan. I have both of those applications as top-level items on my Hi-Launcher menu, which is great, but I really love being able to tap just one icon on the status bar in order to quickly go from Shadow to Agendus, and vice versa. It works for all other applications on the handheld as well, so it’s even nicer that you can exclude certain applications from the recent list, like the default launcher.
Hi-Launcher is extremely customizable, which means that it’s possible to create a menu that is just as individual as you are. I choose to bold several of the items, and used color to make things even easier to see. My menu is fairly “technicolor” but some of you might like something a little more sedate. That’s easily done by changing the background and text colors for each entry in your menu. You can also change the caption for each application and submenu, so that each one is named exactly the way that you like. You can also reorder items in the menu by using the up and down arrows, organizing your applications in the way that makes the most sense for you. It’s also a lot of fun, since the display options allow me to control exactly how Hi-Launcher appears when I activate it. I can have the menu fade or slide in, or appear in a mosaic pattern. I can set the frame around the menu to any color I choose, and also control the thickness. I can also choose whether or not I want the application icons to show, as well as the height of the menu. In essence, it does for me everything that I could possibly want in a standalone application launcher, quickly and elegantly. I don’t need a lot of fancy tools to manage applications on memory cards, I just need something that allows me to launch a variety of applications, tell me what my battery level is, and let me quickly switch between applications.
Bottom line? Hi-Launcher works flawlessly in every respect. Even with the pop-up Graffiti area on my Tapwave Zodiac set to the left-hand side of the screen, which throws most apps like this into chaos (McPhling). Hi-Launcher doesn’t miss a beat and displays perfectly every single time. For that, along with the extreme customizability of the application and sheer brilliance, Hi-Launcher earns the coveted PocketGoddess “Perfect 10” rating, reserved for the best of the best. You can try it out for yourself at the RNS Software web site or purchase a full license at PalmGear or Handango for $14.95. It’s worth every cent if you want to be able to launch a variety of applications or DAs on your Palm OS device, check the time and battery status, quickly lock your device, or almost anything else you can think of, all with only one or two taps.
PocketGoddess Rating for Hi-Launcher 2.0: 
