[Editor's Note: This is a joint review written by Doug Goldring and Lauren Weigand. Throughout the review, Doug's comments will be in black, and Lauren's will be in blue] VS.

Doug: Before we get started, I think it is appropriate to give a little background here. Several months ago, SBSH released iLauncher 3, an update to its popular today screen plug-in. Of course, at the time, we determined that a review would be appropriate for JAMM. Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, that review never got written. It looked like the review was just going to fade away, but "Hey-Hey-My-My, Good Reviews Will Never Die!" And with that in mind, Lauren stepped up to the plate and agreed to take on the review. Like a good Hollywood action movie, it had gone through several different directors, and a script change or two, but the review was back on track. At the same time, Spb Software House was hard at work updating their popular today screen plug-in, Pocket Plus. When they announced the availability of Pocket Plus 4, Lauren emailed me and said that she would be interested in taking a head to head look at the two. Now, reviewing one of these excellent programs alone would be a daunting task. Looking at them together is near to impossible. In fact, suicidal comes to mind.

Lauren: Hey now! Naive, maybe. Overambitious, even. But suicidal? No, in fact I was thinking of you guys. When I bought my Axim this summer, one of the first decisions I had to make was which launcher program to purchase. Every message thread I found during my research turned into a bloody flame war between SBSHites and Spbophiles within about five posts. I could have substituted "Red Sox" and "Yankees" and learned as much about the programs, so I figured there had to be a better way. Anyway, I ended up going with iLauncher and have been using the current version since August.

Doug: Lauren is absolutely right. SBSH vs. Spb may be even uglier than Mets vs. Yankees…at least among the mobile enthusiasts that read this site. Fortunately, I had been planning to review Spb Pocket Plus 4 anyway, since I had been an early adopter through their beta testing program. So, I wrote Lauren back and suggested we work together on a joint head-to-head review. Lauren’s suggestion of a head-to-head review was extremely attractive because our readers have been demanding such a review for months. Many of you have written comments requesting that we look at offering more head-to head reviews, particularly where SBSH and Spb offer similar programs. Both companies are perched high atop the Windows Mobile software ladder, and the two frequently seem to find themselves in direct competition with each other, developing many similar programs. We have already started responding to this call for a head-to-head review. Although my look at Pocket Player and CorePlayer fell flat on its face, Brandon recently compared DinarSoft’s MemMaid to SKKV’s SKTools. And continuing with the SBSH-Spb powerhouse deathmatch, watch for Brandon’s look at Spb Phone Suite vs. SBSH Phone Weaver, coming soon. A final note about this review, in looking at the two programs, Lauren and I quickly realized that while there are many features in common between the two programs, there are also a variety of features which are unique to one or the other. As such, in order to avoid comparing apples and oranges, we have divided the review into two sections. The first section will compare apples to apples, looking at the features Pocket Plus and iLauncher share in common. The second section will look at the oranges and review those features which are unique to each program. OK, enough of this long windedness, let’s dive right in and start dissecting these programs.

Lauren: What Doug said. Hit the jump to get started.

Common Features

Installation and Registration: Doug: Both programs install in the usual manner. Download each from their respective websites, or the JAMM store, and load them onto your Pocket PC via ActiveSync or Windows Mobile Device Center.

In addition to offering a 15 day, unlimited trial, Pocket Plus 4 is unique among many programs in that you can choose to install only those components which you wish to use. During the installation process, you will be presented with a checklist of features. Simply check those you will use, and uncheck those which you do not want. This is a fantastic space saving feature which I think more large programs should attempt to employ.

Lauren: iLauncher is available either as a complete desktop package or as a CAB file that you can download directly to your device. There’s nothing unusual about its installation. Pocket Plus is a bit of an octopus, sending tentacles throughout your OS. I appreciate that Spb now allows you to cut off the tentacles you don’t want, rather than force you to leave them wriggling around and getting in the way. iLauncher is mainly a task launcher that has been extended to add a few basic utilities; there would not be much memory gain if SBSH offered selective installation, and any functions you don’t want can be easily disabled from within the program.

Memory Consumption and Speed: Lauren: The speed issue was one of the main reasons I chose iLauncher over Pocket Plus this summer. iLauncher was built to be compact and snappy, and to do its job so you can move on. I have it pretty heavily customized, and I have noticed absolutely no slowing of my Axim while it’s running.

• The desktop package is 3.8 MB. The CAB file is about 2.3 MB.
• My iLauncher folder is roughly 1.8 MB, and that includes all the custom icons and meters I’ve added. iLauncher runs happily off my SD card.
• Loading time is very fast. Refreshing iLauncher takes perhaps a second.

Doug: Lauren raises a good point. In the past, one of the biggest complaints about Pocket Plus was that it was a memory hog, which could slow down your device generally. In fact, just to get it running with a basic configuration took over 2MB of program memory. Add some customized tabs, and you could be looking at well over 3 MB.

With Pocket Plus 4, Spb has worked extremely hard to resolve this problem, and has made significant improvements in the memory footprint, overall size, and speed of the program. Most notably, Pocket Plus 4 requires only 1.4 MB, or nearly half as much program memory as previous versions. This is critical when so many programs are fighting for the minimal scraps of program memory available on most devices. Similarly:

• The desktop installer package has shrunk from almost 5 MB to roughly 1.5 MB

• The ROM or storage memory required on a device has gone from over 4 MB to just under 3.

• The time required for Pocket Plus to load has been cut nearly in half to five seconds.

Because Pocket Plus 4 uses considerably fewer resources than previous versions, I found a significant improvement in the usability and performance of my device overall when it was running (vs version 3.2).

Meters: Lauren: Since we are talking about memory and system requirements, both programs offer an impressive smorgasbord of system meters to monitor the status of your device. Windows Mobile has a settings screen that allows you to check the status of your battery, but it takes a few clicks and is not very accessible or intuitive, not to mention it takes you away from whatever you were actually doing. Wouldn’t it be great if you could know how much battery life you had left at any time with just a glance? Wouldn’t it be even greater if you could easily check on your device’s memory usage or how much space you have left on your SD card? SBSH thought of all this, and a few more things, too.

The first method iLauncher offers to show meters is as icons. Seven meters are available: battery, backup battery, memory, filestore, main storage, SD card, and CF card. Meters may be placed in several spots on your screen: in a tab (as you would expect), in the top bar, or in the shell tray just above the softkeys. All three locations are shown in the screenshot above. Meters in the top bar are visible inside most programs (i.e., ones that are not full-screen), not just from your today screen.

Second, meter information can be displayed as an indicator bar a few pixels high at the very top of the screen. The information is displayed visually as a red-to-green gradient bar that is filled based on the percentage the battery is charged, the memory card is full, etc. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to change the appearance of the bar, for example to a solid color to coordinate with your Today theme. Skinning the bar is technically possible but is for advanced users only.

Icon meters are skinnable with a bit of effort, meaning that you have to download compatible meters you like, place them in the correct folder inside iLauncher, remove the default meter from your tab, and select your new meter to add. Depending on the meter, a percent or an absolute number may be shown, but in general you cannot toggle between the two.

SBSH has given their meter displays amazing functional flexibility. When you combine the top line indicator with a meter put directly in the top bar, you have instant access to two monitors from almost any screen. Depending on how you configure your settings, tapping on the top line indicator can do nothing, bring up a menu that allows you to switch what you’re monitoring on the fly, or generate a summary popup describing your device’s status. iLauncher gives you a number of different ways to have your device’s vital information at your fingertips so you can choose the type of data and how to access it that best fits your mobile style.

Doug: This is one area in which I think Pocket Plus and iLauncher are extremely comparable. The primary difference is simply where and how you like your information displayed.

Pocket Plus offers two varieties of meters. The first is in the taskbar on top of the screen, and displays your battery status. In previous versions of Pocket Plus, this battery meter had been a huge source of confusion. Rather than appear as a meter in the taskbar, it appeared as a dashed blue line at the top of the screen. Many users took this as some kind of an error or bug. In order to respond to this criticism, Pocket Plus now offers the option of displaying the classic style meter, or a more tradition battery meter icon in the taskbar. Either way, this allows you to constantly monitor the status of your battery from virtually any screen on your device. I was disappointed, however, to find that I could not add a memory meter to my taskbar. The ability to monitor my available memory from anywhere would have been extremely useful.

In addition, there are a variety of meters (Pocket Plus refers to them as indicators) which can be added to any tab within Pocket Plus. There are six different indicators which you can use, including:

• Brightness/backlight: This actually a slider,which can be used, not only to monitor the brightness settings, but also to directly adjust them.

• Battery: This can be toggled to display the percentage of battery life remaining, or the amount of usage time left in the battery.

• Memory: This will display the amount of program memory available for use. Again, it can be toggled between displaying the information as a percentage or as the number of available MB.

• Storage: This shows the amount of space remaining in the built-in storage (RAM). Again, it can be toggled between displaying the information as a percentage or as the number of available MB.

• Two Storage Card Indicators: Not many devices have space for two external storage cards anymore. This was one of the great features of my old Dell Axim. It had space for an SD card and a CF card. Nonetheless, Pocket Plus can monitor up to two different storage cards at the same time. Again, it can be toggled between displaying the information as a percentage or as the number of available MB.

The Today Screen Plug-in: Doug: Of course, the meat and potatoes of both programs is the today screen plug-in. While there are many other features, I think it is fair to say that most purchasing decisions are based upon the today screen plug-in of either program.

The Pocket Plus plug-in has evolved significantly from previous versions, without losing its functionality and feel. It remains a customizable tab based plug-in, which allows you to create tabs on your today screen and populate those tabs with programs, files, and many other items which you would want to access quickly and easily. Additionally, with version 4, Pocket Plus may now be moved to the non-scrollable area of the Today Screen. This means, if your plug-ins extend beyond the bottom of your screen, and you need to use the scrollbar to access them, Pocket Plus will always remain on top of the screen, and will not scroll. Additionally, you can now auto-hide the plug-in contents, so you don’t have to worry about using up the whole screen.

One big change from version 3.2 is the customization of the tabs themselves. In version 3.2, the tabs had the traditional Pocket Plus look of file folder tabs sticking out at the top of the plug-in. Since that time, however, Spb Mobile Shell has introduced us all to a larger, more convenient button tab format. In the new version of Pocket Plus, you can select whether to use the traditional file folder tabs, or the more modern looking button tabs. Additionally, you can decide whether the tabs will float at the top, down at the bottom, or stack vertically on either side.

Having setup the look and feel of the tabs themselves, it is now necessary to get the necessary information onto each tab. One of the biggest complaints about Pocket Plus in the past, however, was that although you could place almost anything into a tab, you could not label it on the screen. As such, you ended up with a tab full of potentially unidentifiable icons. This simply would not do. In version 4, this problem has been fixed, allowing you to label any icon in a tab. Additionally, Pocket Plus allows you to control the size of the icons, with two different sizes to choose from.

In fact, both of these options (labels and icon size) can be applied to a single item, or to all of the items in a tab using the new group operations function. This allows you to control all of the icons contained in a tab together as one, allowing you to keep a consistent look and feel within the tab.

Another complaint about previous versions of Pocket Plus involved third party today screen plug-ins. Specifically, the fact that they could not be used. The only today screen plug-ins which could be used with Pocket Plus were those created by Spb itself. Even then, it was one per tab, which resulted in a lot of clutter and a lot of wasted space.

With the new update, not only are third party plug-ins supported, but also, you can add multiple plug-ins to a single tab. This preserves a significant amount of space, and also allows you more control over the customization of your device. Above, you can see an example, in which I have added two plug-ins (Conduit’s Pocket Player and GX5 Ultimate Search), as well as several item shortcuts.

Finally, as with previous versions of Pocket Plus, the look and feel of the plug-in is fully skinnable. There are two skins included with Pocket Plus 4 (classic and default). However, dozens of skins are available by selecting the "download more" option from the skinning menu.

Lauren: As Doug said, the Today plug-is the heart of both of these programs. iLauncher’s Today plug-in is very powerful. Practically every aspect of it is fully customizable, but we’ll start with the basics first. Like Pocket Plus, iLauncher is a tab-based program launcher. It allows you to place programs, files, special actions, and other shortcuts right on your Today screen for easy access. Here are examples with large and small icon sizes. (Note the "Soft-Reset" and "New Appt." icons. They really work!)

While by default iLauncher has short file-folder style tabs at the top of the plug-in, this is not the only way it can be configured. The tabs can be placed at the top or bottom, you can allow iLauncher to set up a classic one or three-tab arrangement or build your own, the height of the tabs can be made as tall as you prefer, and the tab labels can have text, an image (which you select), or both. Tabs can even be hidden. Unfortunately, the tab label images cannot be made large to fill tall tabs, but this feature will be coming soon in a future update.

Setting up your tabs is easy. Once your tabs are created, the next step is to populate them. Types of shortcuts that you can add include files, programs, control panel applets, meters, "new" items such as new contact or Word document, and special functions such as Soft-Reset or Power Off. These special functions and "new" item shortcuts are an extremely useful feature that lets you perform tasks faster than ever. As you can see, shortcuts can be added to almost any place on your Today screen.

One of the consistent themes in the way iLauncher is built is that you can access nearly everything within it from several locations. If you decide you aren’t quite happy with your arrangement, it’s easy to tweak the look straight from your Today screen. You can make all the icons in a tab small or large to keep your style consistent, choose how the icons are aligned, or turn captions on and off. Or, you can change the settings for individual shortcuts. Moving shortcuts around just takes a drag and drop.

One of my favorite aspects of iLauncher is the ability to modify icon images. I’m the first to admit that the SBSH’s included icons will never win any beauty contests, but there are numerous attractive and free icons available on SBSH’s fantastic forums, which are a great place to go to for any kind of support or resource for their programs. Right now I’m using an Apple-style pack.

To sum up everything I’ve discussed already, the basic philosophy of iLauncher is that if you can click it, you can customize it. While this sounds intimidating, SBSH has made it very easy. There are so many additional options (even though many users would be happy with the defaults) for customizing iLauncher that I can’t possibly go through them all without taking this review from "Moby Dick" to "War and Peace" length. But they say a picture is worth a thousand words…

Task Manager: Lauren: Task management is one of the inexplicably forgotten features of Windows Mobile. Microsoft in its infinite wisdom decided, when they designed their mobile operating system, that users would get better performance if programs they were not using ran quietly in the background so they could be restarted quickly when they were called up again. Therefore, the "X" button minimizes a program instead of closing it. This is silly for too many reasons to go into here. Aside from the fact that everyone knows from Windows that "X" = "close," most modern mobile devices have snappy processors but are scant on program memory, meaning that programs can be called up from scratch quickly but having a bunch running at once really slows down your device.

iLauncher gives you the option of turning the "X" into a bona fide close button. However, task management in iLauncher is much more than just the true close function. By default, tap-and-holding on the top right of the screen brings up the task manager. This feature allows you to switch, close, or open programs or perform other actions. The task manager is fully customizable with a number of commands, including close all, close all but current, soft reset, power off, screenshot … you get the picture. You can even choose to include direct program shortcuts or a "Launch" menu that links to all the programs and commands you put in your Today screen tabs. I’ve officially lost count of the number of ways that iLauncher allows you to open a program without wading through the dreaded "Programs" folder.

Doug: The true close button is one of the original features of Pocket Plus. In fact, it is one of the reasons that drove Spb to create Pocket Plus in the first place, and remains a cornerstone of the program today. In fact, in version 4, the close button consists of three separate activities: the true close button, the task manager, and the task switcher (alt-tab).

Like Lauren said, It is no secret that from day one, tapping the "X" button on a Windows Mobile device does not close the program, it merely minimizes it. Of course, this has lead to considerable confusion as Windows users have been trained for years that "X" means close. Pocket Plus (and, in fact many other programs) offer a true close button. Just tap the "X" and the program will close rather than minimize.

Additionally, if you tap and hold the "X" button, the Pocket Plus task manager will be displayed. This will allow to to view all running programs, close them, switch to them, and even minimize them all and return to the Today Screen. This menu is fully customizable, so you can determine what actions can be performed from here.

Finally, Spb offers a task switcher. This is the equivalent of the age old "[Alt]-[Tab]" function in Windows. Simply assign this switcher to any button on your device. When you push it to activate the task switcher, you will be presented with a window displaying all running programs. Simply scroll through the icons and select the one you want to access. The look and functionality of this feature is identical to the "[Alt]-[Tab]" feature of Windows.

Safe Mode: Doug: Anyone who has used Windows for more than a few minutes is probably familiar with Safe Mode. Basically, if your computer has any problems booting up or if it shuts down unexpectedly, you will be prompted to boot in Safe Mode. Safe Mode will then boot your computer using only the minimally necessary drivers, allowing you to troubleshoot to determine which program may have been causing a problem.

Not surprisingly, Microsoft did not include this important feature in Windows Mobile. Once again, therefore, it is Pocket Plus to the rescue, with a Safe Mode feature which cleverly runs in the background, appearing only when needed. Typically, it will be needed when a today screen plug-in or autolaunch program dows not load properly, resulting in repeated soft resets. Anytime your device soft resets more than once in a three minute period, you will be prompted to reset in Safe Mode.

Like its desktop counterpart, Safe Mode loads only the minimal requirements for your device to operate. This allows you to troubleshoot all of your other programs and, hopefully, determine wherein the problem lies. This is an extremely useful program which should have been included in the Windows Mobile Operating System.

Pocket Plus allows you to boot in safe mode on every reset or only when there is a problem.

Lauren: iLauncher has this, too. Not a lot more to say here.

Integration with Other Programs: Lauren: Honestly, integration is not one of iLauncher’s strong points. It is mainly a lean, mean, task-launching … um, program. Therefore, there is not a way to place third-party (or even SBSH’s own) Today plug-ins inside iLauncher. SBSH’s main all-encompassing solution for the Today screen is Pocket Breeze, and iLauncher will run as a tab in that. Personally, I am not a huge fan of most Today plug-ins, since my opinion is that the majority of them just clutter up the screen with information that you don’t really need to see all the time. However, some people will certainly see this lack of integration as a drawback.

Doug: One of my favorite things about Spb is the way all of their programs seem to work together. Of course, Pocket Plus is a huge piece of that. First, any Spb program with a today screen plug-in (such as Weather or Time) can be turned into a Pocket Plus tab.

Additionally, if you use Diary to keep track of your contacts and schedules, Pocket Plus can fully integrate the Diary tabs. To do so, however, Pocket Plus will add each of the active Diary tabs individually. I felt this gave Pocket Plus a somewhat cluttered look. I would have preferred to see a single Diary tab, with the individual Diary tabs as sub-tabs. Fortunately, however, I was able to accomplish this with Spb Mobile Shell.

Speaking of Mobile Shell, Pocket Plus can also be fully integrated with Mobile Shell, making two of the best programs available for the Pocket PC even stronger. Simply create a tab in Pocket Plus, and you will notice one of the items options which can be added are items from Spb Mobile Shell. Almost any action Mobile Shell can perform can be added to a Pocket Plus tab.

Of course, this integration works both ways. Pocket Plus may be added as a fully functional tab in either Diary or Mobile Shell (shown above). As such, Spb has ensured that their programs will facilitate your usage habits. Unlike many programs, it will not require you to change how you use your device in order to enjoy a fully functional program. This is one of the most important things Pocket Plus has achieved, it allows you to use your device any way you like.

Unique Features

Pocket Internet Explorer Enhancement: Doug: Raise your hand if you have ever tried to surf the Internet from your Windows Mobile device. OK, now keep your hand up if you had to use Pocket Internet Explorer. Finally, keep your hand raised if that experience left you ready to throttle whomever subjected you to this miserable experience. I mean, face it, surfing the Internet with PIE leaves a lot to be desired.

Well, Spb is here to help with numerous enhancements for Pocket Internet Explorer. Among the new options are:

• fast search

• open link in a new window

• save a web page

• copy link shortcut to the clipboard

• view page source

  

With version 4, Pocket Plus also added tabbed browsing. Yes, Pocket Plus has finally brought PIE, kicking and screaming, into the 21st century, allowing you to open numerous websites as tabs in a single window, rather than separate windows. Frankly, Spb easily could have stripped the PIE enhancements out of Pocket Plus and sold them as a stand alone program. Tabbed browsing alone would have made it a best seller.

Smart Scrolling: Doug: One of my favorite new features is the smart scrolling. Finger controls are all the rage in the Pocket PC world, thanks to the iPhone and HTC TouchFlo interface, and Spb has taken full advantage of this. When you are browsing a page, just touch the screen. Go ahead, touch it. You won’t break anything. Now, slide your finger around the screen. The page will follow your movements. No longer must you rely upon the tiny scroll bars on the left and bottom of the screen. Now, you can "grab" the page from anywhere on the screen and move it with ease…or with just the touch of a finger…so to speak. Although smart scrolling is designed to work with a myriad of native and Spb programs on your device, I found it worked best with PIE. Unfortunately, there is currently no support for third party programs, such as Resco Explorer. This is a huge drawback, which is expected to be remedied in future updates.

Unfortunately, there is simply no way to make a screen grab of this to show you how well it works. If you head over to Spb’s website, however, they have a great video demonstartion of it.

File Exploring Options: Doug: I am going to be honest here and tell you that I use very few of the File Exploring features in Pocket Plus 4. Resco File Explorer is simply unmatched in its features and abilities, and I have been relying on it almost as long as I have been using Windows Mobile devices.

That being said, I imagine there are a lot of users out there looking at Pocket Plus right now and thinking: if I buy this one, then I don’t have to buy a separate file exploring program. That will save me just enough money to take the honey to a movie. And to be fair, unless you are an extremely advanced user, that is probably accurate. Pocket Plus 4 offers a number of file exploring tools which were inexplicably left out of the native Windows Mobile File Explorer. Among them are:

• archive and encrypt files

• view file extensions and attributes

• a new file open/save dialogue

As with the PIE enhancements, these features are included exclusively as additions to the native file explorer program, not as a standalone program of their own.

Button Mapping: Doug: Not an awful lot to say here. Button mapping is included as a feature of the Windows Mobile Operating System. It is handy if you want to be able to quickly access specific programs or commands.

One thing you will notice, however, is that button mapping is significantly limited. Only certain buttons can be mapped and the commands which you can assign are few. Pocket Plus 4.0 significantly enhances this feature. It now allows you to add commands both for a standard press and a long press. Pocket Plus also offers significantly more assignable commands, and allows you to assign commands to several buttons which the native button mapper may not have been able to recognize.

Lauren: To a limited extent, iLauncher also offers button mapping features which amount to a workaround for some of Windows Mobile’s limitations. Four special "tabs" for QuickLaunch shortcuts are available. Any shortcut, command, or even menu can be assigned as a QuickLaunch. For example, say I assigned soft reset as QuickLaunch 1. Next, I would simply go into the Windows Mobile button mapper and map QuickLaunch 1 onto that useless "home" hardware button. Then I could soft reset without having to poke around for the tiny little hole on the back. This method is somewhat more complicated than good button mapping should be and is not as powerful as some other button mapping solutions, but it beats the native system.

Screen Capture Tools: Lauren: You may have noticed there hasn’t been much blue in this section. iLauncher is designed as a leaner program than Pocket Plus, and the tradeoff of being compact is that it doesn’t have all the nifty side features. Its lone genuinely random added tool is a screenshot utility. As a reviewer, and before that as a frequent entrant into JAMM contests, the ability to take screenshots is absolutely essential to me. This utility does what it says on the tin, and that’s about it. The screenshot utility can be placed into the task manager so that it can be accessed from anywhere. It only offers a delay, not a button trigger, which limits its usefulness in full-screen programs. Output is only .bmp, and there is no way to customize the way that screenshots are named. I have actually disabled this feature and am using Ilium’s free ScreenCapture program, which has a few more bells and whistles, instead.

Doug: This is a feature which Pocket Plus 4 lacks. While it would be nice if it had been included, there are plenty of other options, such as the free screen capture utility from Ilium, which Lauren mentioned, or Resco’s screen capture utility which is included with Resco Photo Viewer.

Lauren: Before we wrap up, it’s confession time. I tested Pocket Plus 4 for several days, and while I ultimately went back to iLauncher for my Today plug-in and task manager, I did end up keeping Pocket Plus’s PIE enhancements, smart scrolling, and file explorer. These are all features that make me question Microsoft’s sanity for leaving them out of the native OS. A fruit basket to Spb for letting me uninstall everything else.

Conclusion

Doug: Anytime you offer a head-to-head comparison of two programs like Pocket Plus 4 and iLauncher, the one thing everyone wants to know is what is the bottom line? Which one is better? Or, more to the point, which one should I spend my money on?

To be honest, however, it would not be fair for us to answer those questions for you.

Lauren: Of course not. However, it would not be fair for us to completely cop out of those questions, either.

The fact is, these are both fantastic programs, efficient and powerful. With Pocket Plus 4’s newfound slimness, both are comparable in terms of task management (including true close) and launching. Pocket Plus obviously has more features, and only your particular needs can tell you whether they are worth the increased price ($30 for Pocket Plus vs. $15 for iLauncher). Beyond that, your preference will come down to how you like to interact with your programs.

iLauncher definitely takes more effort on the front end to set up your tabs and icons just the way you like them, whereas Pocket Plus is completely functional out of the box (so to speak). It’s a philosophy choice similar to the Apple/Microsoft dilemma: do you want things immediately pretty and easy, or would you rather put in some work to arrange things how you want them instead of how a big company thinks you should want them? There is no wrong answer here; however, you will likely find that one of them will be better for your needs and style.

Doug: Both Pocket Plus and iLauncher offer an excellent use of your system’s minimal resources. They are both efficient, and able to perform a significant amount of complex tasks without devouring system resources. Both also offer a stunning today screen plug-in, which offers a myriad of features, including full customization.

What really impressed me about Pocket Plus, however, were the extra features which are not found in the today screen plug-in. Features like the significant improvements to Pocket Internet Explorer, Smart Scrolling, the Task Manager and File Explorer, and particularly, the true close button. When taken as a package, Pocket Plus 4 is an enormous step forward from Pocket Plus 3.2. These features, along with the integration with Mobile Shell and Spb Diary are the main reasons I chose Pocket Plus over iLauncher (although I have gone back and forth a few times in the past).

Nonetheless, we are not here to compare Pocket Plus 4 to previous versions of itself. Instead, the point of this review is to compare it to iLauncher. Do any of these features make Pocket Plus a better program or a better value than iLauncher? I don’t know the answer to that question. It really depends upon your needs. If, for example, you use Resco Explorer like I do, then the file explore features may be meaningless to you.

Which one would I recommend for you? Neither. Or, to be more precise, BOTH!

Lauren: Ah yes, my current setup.

Doug: Both programs offer a feature rich solution to many of the known problems with the Windows Mobile Operating System, however, there remains room for improvement in each.

My recommendation, therefore, is to download both trials. Take them each for a test drive, kick the tires. Learn about the faults, as well as the strengths of each program.

Lauren: I couldn’t agree more. We’ve told you what we chose and why, but you’re not either of us, you’re you. I highly recommend that you download both free trials and test them for yourself.

Doug: Then, you will likely find that one or the other fits your mobile lifestyle better. That is the one you should purchase.

Vital Stats:

Spb Pocket Plus 4

Developer: Spb Software House

Price: $29.95

Available from the JAMM store.

SBSH iLauncher 3

Developer: SBSH

Price: $14.95

Available from the JAMM Store for $9.95 until November 19.

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2. Spb releases Pocket Plus 4!
3. Review: iLauncher Spiffs Up In Time For The Holidays
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5. Solsie.com iLauncher Review