Home
Reviews
Riverland Screensaver
June 16, 2004
Screen savers used to be a necessity, in order to prevent “burn in” on older displays. Now they’re a great way to personalize a desktop computer, and quite a few of us have either downloaded a free one or purchased one. So it comes as no surprise that screen savers are now available for Palm OS devices. While not strictly necessary, they are fun and can certainly add a bright spot to your day, especially if you generally leave your handheld in a cradle on your desk. The first one, The Matrix screensaver, was just too cool— an ever-changing cascade of green characters fell down the screen, just like in the box office smash movie trilogy. This entry into the series is more whimsical than cool, but that doesn’t make it any less cool in and of itself.
Riverland is a lush world full of detail. It starts out simply enough, with a large house next to the river. But as day turns into night you see the loving attention to detail in the way the sun moves across the sky, in the people, cars, and boats that move around, and in the way the lights in the house turn on when the sun goes down. Birds fly through the air, and there’s even a sunbather that appears on the beach from time to time. It’s like looking through a window into a completely new world! And then there are the little surprises, like a river creature that looks suspiciously like the Loch Ness monster…
The graphics are breathtakingly gorgeous, and the program as a whole is very well designed. In order to access some of the advanced functions, you’ll need to install SSManager as well, a fully-featured utility that allows you to control when and how Riverland is launched. You can set how long it takes before the screensaver launches automatically, whether you want the device to go off after a certain delay, even if it is in the cradle, etc. You can also choose to display an analog clock, so that your handheld can serve as a desk clock as well as a living piece of art on your desk.
Riverland requires a Palm OS 5 device with a color screen, as well as 800K of memory. The SSManager utility requires only 26K of space. There’s a free demo available, or you can purchase Riverland for just $4.95, as it’s currently on sale for 50% off at the Handy Entertainment web site.
PocketGoddess Rating for Riverland Screensaver: 
