It’s been a while since an application has generated this much buzz, but TealOS certainly deserves it. Announced last week, TealOS is a revolutionary replacement launcher for Palm OS based on the looks of WebOS. Featuring advanced graphics and animations, as well as a pop-up wave launcher, TealOS is a one-of-a-kind launcher. We’ll be taking a look at some of TealOS’ features in this review. Read on for the full review!

Pricing and Ordering

At a price of $14.95, TealOS is in the same price range as other replacement launchers. It can only be purchased from TealPoint’s website at this time, but a free 30-day trial is also available.

Features

Before I begin, let me put this out there: I had been informed that TealOS wasn’t given a full-length beta test by the developer, so updates and bug fixes will be released frequently.

Key features of TealOS that are emphasized are the thumbnail image cards, translucent applications screen, customizable background images, and pop-up wave launcher. However, honestly speaking, none of these features impressed me as much as something else I noticed. I will get into later, so first, let’s take a look at these highly-publicized features and see if the application lives up to the hype.

Thumbnail Cards

A handy feature of WebOS and the Pre is multi-tasking through application “cards” of recently opened applications. The transitions “into” and “out of” the cards is smooth, and if your application usage is regular, the cards allows you to quickly go to apps.

As Palm OS is unable to truly multi-task, this TealOS feature is only a look-alike. And it can be deceiving at times. For example, if you leave the Pictures & Videos application when a folder is opened, the thumbnail will be of inside the folder, but when you tap on the card back in TealOS, the main Pictures & Videos screen with the folder list will be opened. Granted this shouldn’t be a surprise if you understand Palm OS, but do keep in mind that it isn’t like Windows’ Alt+Tab key shortcut.

One advantage of the cards is that you can view the app without actually opening it. If I wanted to check my calendar, I can look at the screenshot of Agendus, which is much faster than opening and exiting the application. This won’t work to check VersaMail for new emails, but for material that doesn’t change frequently, it is rather useful. However, the screenshots are degraded because of resizing. According to TealPoint, the screenshots are taken in 320×320 resolution and immediately scaled down through an “integer scaling routine” to 160×160. Then they are resized again to become the final image on the cards. This results in a massive loss of color and clarity, but all of the capturing and resizing does happen rather quickly. I personally wouldn’t mind a slightly longer delay for better quality screenshots, and they have informed me that they are working on improving them.

Translucent Applications Screen

The applications screen can be a source of controversy. Application icons seem to be discolored, and there is no “type-to-find” feature, meaning that you must touch the screen to launch an app. I personally prefer a UI that is more button based, however, using the 5-way to scroll through the pages seems to be faster than the stock launcher’s method of using the 5-way to scroll through icons. If you prefer to scroll through icons like me, simply pressing the Enter key will toggle icon scrolling.

TealOS’ categories is separate from the stock launcher’s. This can be good or bad, depending on how you look at it. Separating the categories makes TealOS independent of the stock launcher, but that also means that initial setup is more complicated (I had the help of Screenshot5 to remember what applications were in which categories). I ended up setting up TealOS just like the stock launcher, but TealOS allows you to have a maximum of 15 categories.

Customizable Background Images

This simple feature that the stock launcher lacked is a no-brainer for a replacement launcher. I quickly located my Windows 7 background from my card and set it as the background. It took a while to import the image, but importing is a one-time thing, so it’s not a big deal.

Pop-up Wave Launcher

I was unable to capture a screenshot of the wave launcher in action, so the image here is from TealPoint. The pop-up wave launcher works in any application. Just swipe your finger or stylus from the bottom of the screen, and the wave will pop up. While keeping your finger pressed down, you will be able to scroll between five applications of your choice. When the application you want to launch is selected, let go and the application will launch. Pretty simple, but it does take a bit of practice to master the swipe. If you swipe too slow or from too high up, the bar won’t open. I’ve found that swiping from the black border of the screen to the middle works every time.

The BEST Feature (in my opinion)

            

And now, it’s time to discuss my favorite feature of TealOS. When I first pressed the Menu key in the application, I was amazed by the items in the Apps menu. Did I really see Info, Beam, Send, Copy, and Delete? A quick tap of each of those features confirmed what I had been hoping for. TealOS is a true “replacement” launcher! One of the reasons I have not been using a replacement launcher is that not a single application had all of those features laid out in the stock launcher’s easy-to-use manner. The closest I have come to getting a replacement launcher was Treo Launcher, but it completely lacked the menu features, which was a deal-breaker for me. The menu features in TealOS alone is single most compelling reason for me to use TealOS, and I must say, the implementation of that completely took me by surprise.

Conclusion

Like the Pre’s UI but still want to keep your favorite apps? If so, then TealOS is the application for you. TealOS is a versatile complete launcher solution with advanced WebOS-like features, while maintaining the familiar structure and features of the stock launcher. It’s definitely worth the $14.95 registration fee, download the trial from our downloads section and see for yourself!

TealOS

• Pros
  • Advanced graphics and animations
  • Thumbnail cards for quick application checking
  • Wave launcher to launch five applications of your choice
  • Unique replacement launcher that includes Menu features
• Cons
  • Large file size (1600KB on my device, but actual size will vary from user to user)
  • Fancy animations can slow you down
  • Complicated initial setup

Related Links

Download TealOS 30-day trial

Purchase TealOS

Filed under: Software reviews