Windows Phone Thoughts: One for the Plus Column - Pocket Plus 2.0 by Spb Software House

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Tuesday, May 11, 2004

One for the Plus Column - Pocket Plus 2.0 by Spb Software House

Posted by Doug Raeburn in "SOFTWARE" @ 10:00 AM


Closing Time
Few design decisions that Microsoft made with the Pocket PC OS have elicited as much controversy as the Close button. Rather than closing the application as in desktop Windows, tapping the Close button actually "minimizes" the application on the Pocket PC. This means that the application actually remains in memory. As the Pocket PC needs memory for other things, the OS will automatically close some of these applications that are open in the background. The rationale behind this is that commonly used programs will remain in memory in the background and for that reason switching to them is faster than if they have to reload into memory.

Many Pocket PC users have indicated that they're less than happy with that approach, and I include myself in that group. I don't like the idea of program memory being clogged up with programs that I know for certain I want to close. Also, rumor has it that the process that manages closing these programs when memory starts to fill up has some quirks to it.

Products that offer alternatives to the Close button approach are common. But Pocket Plus adds its own unique spin to this type of utility, which they integrate with their Task Manager.


Figure 23: Close button options

Pocket Plus offers 3 options for the Close button: Close, Minimize and Show Menu (for the Task Manager). These can be assigned to three Close button actions: tap, tap and hold and gesture (tap and slide down).


Figure 24: For you, I'll make an exception…

A feature that makes Pocket Plus' Close button solution stand out is the ability to assign an application that will always be minimized when you tap the Close button. This could be useful if, for example, you make frequent use of one of the "super PIMs" like Agenda Fusion or Pocket Informant. To speed things up, you may want to leave such an application minimized so that it comes up more quickly the next time you access it.


Figure 25: The Task Manager

Figure 25 shows the menu that Pocket Plus displays for its task manager. This menu has comparable functionality to other task manager products.

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