images from www.resco.net

Since not every user will be interested in all of the modules, during installation (both .cab and .exe files are available) the main Explorer program, the Today plug-in, the registry add-in, and the FTP add-in are separated so you can pick and choose which pieces you want as well as where to install each one. The .exe installer adds similar options for the desktop components, which include file sending and encryption utilities.

For a multi-featured program like this — especially one dedicated to giving you complete control over your device — the customizable installation is a great touch, and I would be surprised Resco didn’t go further if the program options didn’t take care of so many other tweaks. Still, installation stays simple enough that it should be easy for most users savvy enough to consider needing this program in the first place.

File Manager

The common denominator of all the modules is that they give you control over your files. Since you can’t control files without being able to find them, the file manager is the centerpiece of Resco Explorer.

The first time Explorer starts up, it asks you how you want to interact with it: touch mode, standard mode (list), or compact mode (list + tree). Touch mode is brand new to Explorer 2008 and is one of the biggest reasons for old users to consider upgrading. Since you can easily turn tree view on and off from inside the program, the only real choice is between touch and standard. Do you want to be able to finger-scroll, or would you rather deal with scrollbars? Yeah, me too.

Touch Navigation

The rest of this review will focus on touch mode for several reasons. One, it’s new. Two, it’s cool. Three, I’m the one having to navigate around to come up with all these screenshots and I like using touch. Last, if there are going to be interaction wrinkles they’ll most likely be in touch mode, and I want you to know about them.

Ever since the iPhone hit the streets, Windows Mobile developers have been adding finger-friendly interaction to their programs — some better than others. Resco Explorer 2008’s touch interface isn’t bad. Long vertical swipes scroll nicely, with an eye-candy springy bounce at the top and bottom of lists. Short jabs open a folder or file, and while opening when I meant to scroll was rarely a problem, a double-tap option can be activated for extra protection. Tap-and-hold works in the usual way — like a Windows right-click — bringing up item-specific options.

For plain coolness my favorite touch feature is the Letter Navigation Scroller, which pops up during a scroll and lets you jump directly to items beginning with a certain letter. Unfortunately, sometimes it jumps to folders and sometimes to files, and I could not find a way to jump to one when it took me to the other. Still, most of the time it was a huge help in navigating long directories like \Windows.

Bars and Views

Looking again at the file explorer screen, at the top is a folder bar with a magnifying glass (Quick Search) and a star (Favorites). Then come the files. Next is the status bar, which is really more of a stats bar. The customizable toolbar sits at the bottom. All of the bars can be easily hidden.

When tree view is activated, the tree goes in on top of the file list. Tapping a folder in the tree brings up its contents in the lower window. This view makes it easy to move and copy files. Unfortunately, touch scrolling does not work in the tree window, even when Explorer is in touch mode.

File Operations

Resco Explorer can do just about anything to files except make them sing the national anthem. That includes move them, copy them, delete them, rename them, associate them, email them, Bluetooth them, infrared beam them, MMS them, encrypt them, and ZIP them. It’ll even format your storage card.

Explorer makes it so much easier to work with files that you’ll probably be doing a lot more manipulation in delicate places. That means you’ll probably make more mistakes. If you accidentally delete a critical system file, no worries — Resco Explorer gives you a Recycle Bin so it won’t be gone forever.

Multi-Select

Multi-selection mode is handy for working with batches of files. Checkboxes for selection appear over the icons. Multi-select works adequately in touch mode, where running a finger down the column of checkboxes selects consecutive files while finger-scrolling works normally on the right two-thirds of the screen. Out of touch mode, multi-selection is even easier: tapping (or swiping) anywhere on a row does the job.

Search

The magnifying glass in the folder bar turns into a search bar with a tap. A new feature in Explorer 2008 is Quick Search. Typing in the search bar immediately brings up all the items in the folder that start with whatever string is being typed. This function is nifty, but if your search string isn’t at the beginning of your target, you’ll have to go through the search function at Menu -> Find. An option for Quick Search to match a string anywhere in the name after X number of letters (say, 3 by default) could make this feature killer.

The Find tool allows you to hunt down files not only by name but also by age, date, size, and attributes, and the awesome Find Text feature lets you locate documents by a word inside them.

Virtual Folders

Another new addition to Resco Explorer 2008, virtual folders are a handy way of grouping files of the same type, even if they have different extensions and don’t have any normal searchable features in common. Your songs are automatically gathered from wherever they might be stored on your device, whether they’re mp3, wav, or wma. Folders for Documents, Encrypted Files, Images, Music, and Videos are set up by default. So you don’t have annoying problems like hundreds of program icons swamping your photographs and wallpapers, you can also set folders to be excluded from the Virtual Folder search. Although Virtual Folders might require a bit of tweaking to be as useful as they could be, they’re a clever innovation with a lot of potential.

Speaking of images, Resco Explorer comes bundled with a built-in image viewer. It won’t beat a standalone image application, but it works with several common image formats and also handles .txt, binary, and hex files as well as Explorer-encrypted documents.

Remote Files

The files on your PPC aren’t the only ones that Resco Explorer can sink its teeth into. The Network Browser allows mapping of shared network folders, and Explorer 2008 sports additional advanced network settings. The FTP add-in lets you browse and manipulate files on an FTP server. Because I don’t currently have any shared network folders or FTP servers handy, I was unable to fully test these features.

I’ve barely scratched the surface of what the File Manager can do, but Resco Explorer has other tricks up its sleeve.

Today Plug-In

Part of keeping control of your device is knowing how its resources are being used. Although the Resco Explorer Today plug-in has some launcher functions, its main purposes are system info monitoring and task management. (Remember how Windows Mobile task management used to be such a nightmare? Now everyone and their goldfish puts a task manager in their programs. Including, finally, Microsoft. Ironic, isn’t it?)

Skinnable monitors show battery, RAM, and device and storage memory. In a nice touch, the memory monitors’ displays can be toggled through free, used, total, and % used. On the other hand, the latest versions of Windows Mobile have made huge improvements in native task and resource management, and dedicated launchers like Spb Pocket Plus or SBSH iLauncher handle these tasks, and many more, much better. I’d like Explorer’s plug-in better if it simply focused on system information and ditched the substandard launcher. Although the Today Plug-In is a thoughtful addition to Resco Explorer, it’s not worth buying the program for.

Registry Editor

I’ve never been very interested in tweaking my registry — messing around with system files that deep is not my cup of tea. But a lot of people love doing it, and for them Resco Explorer has a tool for registry editing.

<- I have no idea what any of that means.

Conclusion

Resco Explorer 2008’s powerful file management features make it a must-have for power users, and the glossy new interface will probably make it a broader hit. Although there were some difficulties at launch, the early glitches have been worked out in the current 7.02 version, which combines a hard-hitting feature set with intuitive use. Especially once I got Explorer 2008 tweaked to my liking, it just felt… friendly. And friendly is a pretty impressive accomplishment for a 9-in-1 device management octopus.

What’s Good: Massive but easy-to-use feature set that greatly increases your control over your files, attractive new touch interface, strong and innovative search features

What Could Improve: no touch scrolling in tree window, Quick Search limited to starting letters, unimpressive and out-of-place launcher function in Today plug-in

How to Buy: Resco Explorer 2008 is $29.95, on the high side for a mobile program but not so bad a value when you consider everything it does. Resco offers a 7-day free trial. Grab the program from Resco or here at the JAMM Store.