ZLauncher and Initiate (or Propel) – Awesome!

[From Shelly E. Middleton] Hey Sammy! Thanks for keeping PalmAddict so informative. You and the people who work with you continue to consistently do an excellent job! This is one of the main sites I use for staying up to date on all of my Palm info (as well as info about Mac and a few other mobile devices). :-)

I have been a loyal user of ZLauncher for years and used it with every Palm device I had. It may not be that simple to use, but once a person really learns how to use all of its settings, there's very little this launcher can't do. Being aesthetically minded, having the ability to change themes and backgrounds on ZLauncher (as well as being able to change the size and color of my fonts and how I show my application lists) is wonderful! I can change its look as often and as drastically as I want. I find being able to handle any task I want to perform with managing my applications through ZLauncher to be very efficient. It has plugins you can use to make it even more personalized and effective. ZLauncher is an AWESOME application – IMHO – for regular, non-Treo Palms.

Which brings me to Initiate. Actually I find Initiate and Propel to be the exact same applications, so either one will do. At this writing, I'll say Initiate because that's what I'm using. I am an avid user of ZLauncher and use it on my TX. I also used it on my Treo until I found out about Initiate. Initiate does practically everything ZLauncher does (excluding the File Manager), but it goes a step further for Treo users. You can begin to type in the name of the application you want to launch and it will search out all of the applications that have the same letters that you're typing in them. If you have only one application with those letters, you can set Initiate to automatically open that application. I can still have a beautiful Launcher AND manage my applications from the launcher AND quickly search for and launch my applications through my Treo's keypad. An added benefit is that there are plugins for 4cast, TAKEphONE, and other applications that work in Initiate (I'm not sure about Propel). Using Initiate Pro I can also play music and phone contacts all from the launcher. I can launch applications or made other commands on Initiate Pro with your voice. I use Initiate Pro on my Treo and absolutely LOVE it! I don't even miss the file manager, since I mostly use Filez.

Either launcher can be made to look even better by using Fonts4OS5 and FontSmoother along with it. Each launcher is extremely flexible and very useful. I guess what I'm really trying to say is that having Initiate (or Propel) is kind of like having ZLauncher made with Treo in mind.

Again, I hope to continue to be able to read PalmAddict for a long time to come. Sammy and all at PalmAddict – Keep up the great work!

Initiate: http://www.hobbyistsoftware.com/initiate-more.php
Propel: http://www.iambic..com/propel/palmos/default.asp
ZLauncher: http://www.zztechs.com/product.php?prod=ZLauncher
Fonts4OS5: http://www.handango.com/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?productId=93813
FontSmoother: http://www.mobihand.com/product.asp?id=5849&n=FontSmoother
TAKEphONE and 4Cast: http://www.shsh.com/