Initiate, developed by mytreo.net 5-star developer Rob Jonson of HobbyistSoftware, isn’t what you’d expect from a launcher. The starting view looks similar to the PalmOS default Launcher (called Apps). But there are so many more options that initially you may even find the program overwhelming. Its main feature is something rather powerful called type-to-search, which allows you to simply type out the name of whatever it is you’d like to launch. This applies to not only normal applications, but also individual memos, contacts and applications on the SD card (including individual songs).

The developer has thankfully taken the complexity of the rest of the features into account. You can simply hold the stylus over any button and see a message that explains its purpose. This makes learning the application very easy. As with Butler (another great app by HobbyistSoftware), the help screens are very informative. Plus there’s an online tutorial that’s free for 4-days (including during the demo period, making it accessible to everyone). While all of these things aren’t necessary to properly use Initiate, they certainly allow the user to utilize all of the extended functions without a long trial and error process.

I say this because Initiate is not the most intuitive launcher on the market (my vote for most intuitive would go to LauncherX), something the developer readily admits. However, Initiate is probably one of the most powerful and fully featured launchers with the incorporation of its Power User and Voice Launch functions. Let’s get into Power User first, as this will be the main attraction of Initiate to most first time users.

Power User

Power User mode allows you to access everything on the Treo, or the Treo’s SD card, just by typing out what you’re s trying to find. Individual memos, songs and contacts are all searchable, as well as applications in both RAM and the SD card. Initiate can either auto-launch these as soon as it makes a match, or it can use its SmartSearch and SmartGuess to bring up all of the entries (memos, contacts, etc.) that contain the letters that were typed. Initiate can even launch bookmarks by opening up your selected web browser directly to bookmarked addresses.

In the example to the right, I’m looking for my Advanced Tips memo, but I wasn’t sure what I had titled it, though I still thought that the word “advanced” was in the title. Just by typing “Av” (with the Auto-Launch off), I was able to pull up everything with Av in it. Because I enabled SmartSearch, as long as my memo title started with the letter “A” and had a “v” somewhere in the title, I knew I would find what I was looking for.

There is a multitude of configurable options to personalize the Power User view. You can add subcategories (things like System Utilities and Games) that are shown across all views. You can even select what Initiate will display under a specific view. For example, let’s say that you don’t like having your memos listed individually when you’re in the Power User view (possibly because, if you’re like me, and forget what you’ve titled things). You simply go do Define Views and then uncheck Memos from the list.

Now, if you’d like to put in a little less work, there’s always…

Voice Launch

This is a really cool feature that gives Treo users even more functionality, this time out of the Side Button. It’s pretty self-explanatory, but we’ll take a walk through it anyway. The first thing you have to do is name a Voice Command. After that, simply record your spoken command in a quiet environment. Initiate will suggest that you make more than one recording, so that it has more samples to pull from in case you’re in a somewhat noisy environment.

Here’s a quick demo of how the whole setup works.

First, click on New and name your command (I’ve chosen Tasks). Then record your spoken command. Initiate will ask you to record 2-3 repetitions of the original spoken command, and I advise you to do this, as it allows Initiate to better recognize the command given a larger sample size.

After you’ve made enough secondary recordings, Initiate will send you to the main Launcher page and ask you to pick the program that will be activated when this Voice Command is triggered.

Here I’ve selected the Tasks application to be launched when I speak this specific Voice Command. After selecting your application, you’ll be taken back to the Voice Launch screen.

Once being brought back to the Voice Launch screen, you’ll now notice that my Voice Command of Tasks has a 3 next to it, which denotes that I have 3 sample recordings of my voice. Also, instead of saying “Pick Action” as in the first picture, now the text reads “Launch Tasks”. Now, whenever I’m in Initiate, all I have to do is press the Side Button and speak my Voice Command, and Initiate will launch the Tasks applications for me!

As of right now, this feature is not supported on the Treo 700p. I’ve spoken with the developer concerning this and can happily say that there is ongoing beta testing of an update that will be 700p friendly.

Initiate Purist

The last feature of Initiate that I’m going to highlight is something known as the Initiate Purist. While this isn’t a function in the traditional sense of the word, it is something that many users will find very attractive. The premise of this is to clean up the screen of your Treo, so much so that when you open Initiate, it will be in its most minimalist view, with the picture of your choice as a background.

Here’s a very quick walkthrough of how to set this up. Download the Purist Skin from the HobbyistSoftware site and HotSync it to your Treo. Then download the background of your choice from the Hobbyist site here. Then, just follow these directions (along with visual aides).

First, go to Preferences and uncheck the Show Tips option under the Display tab. Then, go to Define Views, under the Views tab. On this screen, click on the drop down box next to Skins and select I8 Purist. If you’d like this look to apply to all of the different views in Initiate (the default view Apps and Power User are only 2 of 7 possible views), just select the All button next to Skins. To select your preferred background, just go to Display, under the Preferences tab. Then select JPEG from the drop down list next to Background to select your picture, or pick one of the other choices (its important to note that Initiate is also able to convert JPEGs already on your Treo, giving you the option to use your own pictures). Finally, make sure that List Is Transparent is checked off and go back to the main screen. After all these steps, you should be seeing something like the image below.

Now, to get the true Purist view, simply go to Favorites On/Off, under the Record tab. Just turn Favorites on, and you’ve done it! And just to show that Initiate will still function in the same fashion as before, here is an image of me trying to find my Advanced Tips memo after being in the Purist skin.

With all of these options, Initiate definitely solidifies itself as one of the premier Launchers for the PalmOS. It is more than worthy of a test run, so try it out!

Related Links

Download Initiate here!

Buy Initiate here!

Check out the HobbyistSoftware Forum on mytreo.net!

Filed under: Software reviews